Trade Area Analysis

START FREE NOW
to Start Using Maps in Trade Area Analysis Today! – Take a FREE 1-month Trial

Defining a specific trade area is a fundamental step in any business market analysis. Determining a trade area helps to establish boundaries around the geographic regions where up to 75 percent of your customers are likely to come from. A thorough trade area analysis can also help you uncover key demographic information about your customers that allows you to more precisely target and maximize your marketing efforts.

Types of Trade Areas

Trade areas can be broken down into two basic types:

  • Convenience: A convenience trade area analysis takes into consideration the products and services consumers need/purchase on a regular basis. Examples include food, gasoline and household products. Consumers typically prefer to purchase these commodities from businesses that are close to home.
  • Destination: This refers to the purchase of “big ticket” items such as appliances, vehicles and furniture. A destination trade area tends to be larger in scope, as customers are more willing to travel in order to find the best deal.

Key Trade Area Factors

A trade area analysis should be conducted on a regular basis and should take into account a number of factors. Examples include:

  • Population: In general, the larger the population base, the larger the given trade area will be. A population increase or decline within a geographic region will have a direct impact on the trade area.
  • New store locations: Adding new stores within a trade area can have an effect on your overall sales, such as when a store is opened too closely to another in an already saturated market. The appearance of a new competitor is also likely to have an influence on the trade area.
  • Additional attractions: The addition of new attraction in a trade area can have a dramatic impact on existing businesses. For instance, a new sports arena or stadium can draw customers who will frequent the shops, bars and restaurants in the surrounding neighborhood.
  • Nearby business districts: The proximity of competing business districts will impact your trade area. As a general rule, the farther away a competing district is, the less likely consumers will travel to that area to shop.

Using Maps as Trade Area Analysis Tools

Business Maps are an extremely valuable trade-area analysis tool as they help you visualize specific areas of interest exposing hidden sales opportunities and possible gaps in your marketing strategies. MapBusinessOnline is an affordable, easy-to-use online mapping software that is an effective trade-area analysis tool helping you:

  • Design and visualize specific marketing territories.
  • Perform comprehensive market analysis across multiple locations.
  • Illustrate key Census demographic data by ZIP code, county, state or census tract.
  • Create color-coded map views that emphasize customer densities or purchasing trends within a trade-area.
  • Easily share trade-area web maps with your colleagues.

Discover how easy it is to create trade area analysis maps by taking advantage of our free mapping software trial offer!

Learn How Our Customers are Succeeding with MapBusinessOnline

"I had an excellent experience with MapBusinessOnline because my company works in the agriculture industry and makes maps showing where our fields are and these maps need to be viewed and shared in a database. Your product seemed to fit our needs. Overall good support, ease of use, and quality of maps created!"

Seneca Foods

"I have had the pleasure of using MapBusinessOnline for the past 5 years and it is an excellent and affordable tool for my clients. I am a franchise consultant, and many of my clients are just starting to get into franchising. The first main question many of them have is they don’t know the demographics around their current location, so they don’t know how to create territories for their franchisees. I am able to easily utilize MapBusinessOnline to draw a prototype territory around their existing location, do a deep dive into the many different demographics that MapBusinessOnline offers, and help the client determine the basics of their new territories, including mileage, population, household count, purchasing habits and age distributions. This tool has been so helpful that many of our clients obtain their own accounts as they begin to sell franchises and grow their business. Thank you, MapBusinessOnline, for providing such a helpful tool that is affordable and easy to use!"

Colette Bell
Director of Business Development
SMB Franchise Advisors

"I wanted to thank my customer service rep Jason for always going above and beyond every time I call for answers...AND THIS IS WHILE I AM USING A TRIAL VERSION!!! With this kind of service, why would you ever use another software company?"

David imports his USA-wide network of restaurant service suppliers and uses the map to visualize his contacts for instant access.

"Every time I use MapBusinessOnline…and I always get what I need."

David Ziviello
Sales
RositoBisani