In the context of this article, 'location' is a marketing term, while 'site' is a physical, real estate term. And because location and site characteristics can interact in a positive or negative fashion with a store's merchandising, operations and customer service characteristics to produce a level of sales and profits, it is important that retailers understand just what those characteristics are. Let's look first at location characteristics, which include such things as population density, retail synergy, and trade area access. In general, the greater the population density around a store, the more convenient that store becomes to a larger number of people. For example, it is fairly well known that the incidence of college graduates in a target population is positively related to store sales at a co-op.
Retail synergy is another characteristic of a co-op's location.
The word 'synergy' is derived from synergism, the concept that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. When considering the consumer demographic characteristics that constitute the target market for co-ops and natural food stores, it is evident that these same people tend to patronize bookstores, cafes and coffee shops, art galleries, certain types of clothing stores, specialty restaurants, etc. Consumer co-ops generally have the potential for having relatively large trade areas. Visibility has a varied impact on a store's sales potential. It is important when a shopper is trying to find the store for the first or second time.