TYPES OF RETAIL LOCATION

1. Free Standing Locations – No other retail outlets in the vicinity. Depends on its own pulling power and promotion to attract customers. No competition, Low Rent, Better visibility. Disadvantages like lack of variety for shoppers, difficulty in attracting customers etc.
   1. Neighbourhood Stores – Located in residential locations and serve a small locality. Sell convenience products like grocery.
   2. Highway Stores – Intersection of two highways and attract customers passing through the highways. 

1. Business associated Location – Locations where a group of retail outlets offering a variety of merchandise, work together to attract customer to their retail area, but also compete against each other for the same customers.
   1. Unplanned Business districts
   2. Planned Shopping centers

Unplanned Business Districts – Two or more retail stores locate together on individual basis and not on any long term collective planning. Provides advantages like variety of goods, services and prices, access to public transport, pedestrians traffic etc. Disadvantages like congestion, older facilities, lack of space, parking problems, high rents etc. These reasons led to the growth of planned shopping centres.

4 Kinds of Unplanned business districts :

• Downtown or Central Business District(CBD) – CBD is the hub of retailing activity in a city. Draws customers from across the city and suburbs. Eg Chandni Chowk.
• Secondary Business District – Unplanned cluster of stores located on a major intersection of the city. Attract customer from large part of the city.
• Neighborhood Business District – Small cluster and serves the neighborhood area.
• Suburban Business District – Stores located on the town’s periphery. They have lower rent and relies on traffic generated by downtown and may sometimes offer parking facilities.

Planned Shopping Centres – A group of architecturally owned or managed stores, designed and operated as a unit and surrounded by parking facilities. 

• Regional Shopping Centres / Malls - Largest Planned shopping centres. Serve a large trading area and have high rents. Attract customers from city and suburbs.
• Neighborhood / Community Shopping Centres – Have a balance mix of stores including few grocery stores, a chemist, a variety store, few other convenience stores etc. serving the needs of the residents of the neighborhood.
• Specialized Markets – Famous for a particular product category. A wide variety of merchandise is available within those product categories in such markets. Provide an established retail area to the prospective retailers to start, where they have to make little effort to attract customers.
• Periodic Markets – Established at a particular place on a particular day in a week. Retailers operating here have mobile setups which they keep moving from one marketplace to another depending on the day of the week. Most of these operate evening hours. Serve lower and middle income class customers.

TYPES OF CONSUMER GOODS AND LOCATION DECISION

• Convenience Goods :
  • Products that carry a low unit price
  • Purchased Frequently
  • Little selling effort
  • Eg Candy Bars, Cigarettes.
  • Quantity of traffic is important.
  • Corner of Intersection and large window display.
  • Purchased at easily accessible stores in the neighbourhood.
• Shopping Goods:
  • High unit price
  • Purchased infrequently
  • Involves intensive selling efforts.
  • Automobiles, Furniture.
  • Quality of traffic is important.
  • Prefer location like suburb or malls with parking facility.
  • Next to a department store with huge traffic flow of customers
  • Easy accessibility from residential area is important.
• Speciality Goods
  • High unit price
  • Bought infrequently
  • Require huge sales effort
  • Exclusively franchised outlets
  • Precious jewellery, branded perfumes.
  • May use isolated location as they can generate their own traffic.
  • Locate in the type of neighbourhood where the adjacent stores and other establishments are compatible with the Speciality store's operations.

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