Then you must identify your company's success factors, for example, your ideal customer demographics, competing store locations, and complimentary stores locations. Determining your business's success factors usually requires company-wide input from various departments including operations, marketing, and real estate. You'll set yourself up for failure if you base your data needs on one person or one department's perception of your success factors. Once your success factors are identified, it becomes pretty clear what your data needs are going to be. For example, if your best-performing stores are located near certain mass merchandisers, then you need a database that locates those merchandisers in your target markets.
Today there is a wide range of data products available.