Consumer segment trends
Why is it important?
Consumer report indicate behavioral spending in relation to services and goods provided.
Strengths/Weaknesses
A consumer report can indicate how much people spend on housing, goods, services, entertainment and historical examination of these trends can indicate shifts in consumer preference for a particular neighborhood, city, state and country. The reports can narrow down to 1 mile distance from the site which would help the investor to get a better understanding of customer base.
The service sharing platforms have changed how customers use real estate. For instance, now hotel market research has to include alternate consumer choices such as AirBnb and office space providers have to integrate the Wework model in their future projections.
Resources
Bureau of Labor Statistics provides annual expenditure survey per city/state. Independent websites such as Esri provide retail goods and service expenditure reports for specific address, borough.
Void Analysis (retail)
Why is it important?
Void Analysis is a very important tool for operators in the retail industry. It provides you with an easy to use tool to identify retailers that are not present in the immediate market.
Strengths/Weaknesses
It provides you with a targeted tenant mix based on the retail types you would want in a center. Through a Void Analysis you can identify the types of tenants you are looking for and learn which retailer categories are not represented in the immediate market area and for which one there might be a demand. Void Analysis includes also service oriented categories, whose prominence in shopping centers has been increasing in recent years. On the restaurant service categories the void analysis includes national and regional players.This is an important tool as it provides insight into local players, who depending on the number of locations and proximity to one another may indicate their market presence and expansion efforts which is vary valuable for an investor considering to invest in retail centers.
Resources
Paid service through private databases such as SiteSeer, TenantCetric, SiteUSA (Regis).