What is a catchment area?
The catchment area corresponds to the place from which a point of sale’s customers come. Each catchment area must take into account the specificities of the point of sale, the population recorded in the area and the competitors present. Depending on the type of business, the influence will not be the same.
How to establish a catchment area?
Isochronous
This method takes into account the travel time between the point of sale and the customers’ home. In this case, the primary zone will be for example 5 minutes around the point of sale.
Isometric
This method takes into account the metric distance, for example the primary zone will have a radius of 5 kilometers.
The different zones
Your catchment area is then made up of three different zones:
The primary zone
This area corresponds to where most of your customers come from. They are, for example, less than 5 minutes from the point of sale.
The secondary zone
The secondary zone is the widest in terms of distance, it includes many customers but also competing companies. Customers are located, for example, 5/10 minutes from the point of sale.
The tertiary zone
The tertiary zone has low attractiveness since it is located quite far from the point of sale. Customers take, for example, 10 to 20 minutes to get to the point of sale from their home.
The catchment area as an analysis tool
The catchment area can be used as a tool to influence the choices made by a company.
The location
The choice of the final location of a point of sale may be impacted. After analyzing the catchment area, a company may decide to establish itself in a different area where there is lower competitive intensity.
Implementation of a local communication plan
Analysis of the catchment area will help to promote the implementation of local communication and marketing actions. By knowing more about prospects, customers and competitors, messages can be personalized and adapted, which will optimize ROI.
Forecast of turnover and necessary resources
It is important to make forecasts in terms of turnover, this can be calculated based on the traffic and potential traffic in the area. The necessary resources will also be adapted according to the flow at the point of sale.