Source: University of Wisconsin-Extension
Contact: Professor and Extension Specialist, Steven C. Deller
Phone: (608) 263-6251
E-mail: scdeller@wisc.edu
Communities naturally ask “are local retail businesses reaching their fullest potential or are there weaknesses that need to be addressed?” In order to address these basic questions communities need to have basic insights into the relative strengths and weaknesses local retail and service markets. One approach to identify these local strengths and weaknesses is to examine patterns in current sales activities using the tools of Trade Area Analysis.
The power of Trade Area Analysis (TAA) is the simplicity of the tools and the ease of interpretation. Community economic development practitioners have found that this simplicity has led to community leaders, businesses and concern citizens to adopt the tools and insights gained from TAA.
