Male, ages 20-34, professional, middle income, fitness conscious. 2.Young families, parents 25 to 39, middle income, home owners.3.Small to medium sized magazine and book publishers with sales from $500,000 to $2,000,000. Determine trends by talking to trade suppliers about what is selling well and what is not. Check out recent copies of your industry’s trade magazines. Search the Business Periodicals Index (found in larger libraries) for articles related to your type of business. Step 2 Establish the approximate size and location of your planned trading area. Use available statistics to determine the general characteristics of this area. Use local sources to determine unique characteristics about your trading area.How far will your average customer travel to buy from your shop? Where do you intend to distribute or promote your product? This is your trading area. Estimating the number of individuals or households can be done with little difficulty using Statistics Canada [or U.S.] census data. Statistics Canada’s Family Expenditure Survey can identify what the average household spends on goods and services. BC Stats has population forecasts for areas in British Columbia. Information on planned construction is available from a variety of sources. Directories like Contacts Target Marketing, BC Manufacturers Directory, or the Yellow Pages can help identify names of companies located in your trading area.Neighbourhood business owners, the local Chamber of Commerce, the Government Agent and the community newspaper are some sources that can give you insight into unique characteristics of your area. Step 3List and profile competitors selling in your trading area. Get out on the street and study your competitors. Visit their stores or the locations where their product is offered. Analyze the location, customer volumes, traffic patterns, hours of operation, busy periods, prices, quality of their goods and services, product l...
