Growth is fundamentally important in any business, and in the retail industry growth is about opening new stores. But it's not an easy job to find the right stores in the right locations, to come on-stream at the right time. It so often happens that the property people find deals they consider to be good, only to have them queried by senior management who may be unconvinced about the location, sizing, market potential or rentals.

Douglas Parker Associates has developed a programme to identify the market potential for a retail chain for every single town and shopping centre throughout South Africa. The programme provides an accurate assessment of the sales potential as well as the ideal store size. It is based on an Analog / Regression analysis of chain performance.

These Development Guidelines are then ranked from best to worst, to provide the property executives with a mandate in terms of the chains premises needs. Knowing what sized store is needed in each locality, and knowing what turnover can be achieved there goes a long way toward facilitating the process and ensuring that the company makes the right decisions.

This process also allows the company to secure longer term footholds in tightly held areas, and gives the property executives greater leverage in dealing with agents.

The Douglas Parker Associates Development Guidelines is used extensively by many of South Africa's top retail chains.

No more shooting in the dark!