Retailer use of geodemographic and other data sources: an empirical investigation

The competitive nature of the UK retail environment in the 1990s places ever increasing importance on information as a vital resource. The need for pertinent information is not confined to decisions regarding location and catchment analysis, but also encompasses issues such as category management, merchandising, marketing communications and relationship marketing. This need for information, it might be presumed, could be met through the utilization of marketing databases, but there is an apparent lack of evidence relating to the extent of database utilization in this context. Explores the development of database and geographic information systems (GIS) as an aid to strategic retail decision making and reports on an empirical research programme exploring the extent of such applications. Although the findings suggest widespread employment of databases by UK multiples, there is clear evidence of a lack of integration at a strategic level.