Portuguese food retailers – Exploring three classic theories of retail location

Abstract

This article sets forth results from an exploratory empirical study that aimed to test the predictive validity of three classic location theories: central place theory, spatial interaction theory and the principle of minimum differentiation. Correlation, linear regression and analytical procedures in a Geographic Information System were used to reveal relationships between variables. The results show that all theories find significant support. It was possible to relate store location with distance to the centre, population density and competitor's location. It was also found that store location is related to consumer's proximity to the store (when stores are smaller) and the store's attractiveness to the consumer (when stores are larger).

Understanding Location Decisions of Energy Multinational Enterprises within the European Smart Cities’ Context: An Integrated AHP and Extended Fuzzy Linguistic TOPSIS Method

“…In the existing literature, many techniques for assessing the determinants of location decisions are based on the use of quantitative variables measured in numbers [17,30] or qualitative variables modelled and categorized by crisp numbers [32]. These traditional methods of gathering information cannot capture the hesitancy or imprecise nature of some linguistic variables.…”

A Comparative Analysis of Fuzzy TOPSIS and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the Location Selection of Shopping Malls: A Case Study from Turkey

“…Given the importance of the issue, retail location decision has become the subject matter of different disciplines such as marketing, urban sciences, economics, geography, applied mathematics and geomarketing and different retail location theories, models and procedures have been proposed. In this sense, it is possible to say that retail location theory is comprised of four broad theoretical areas that are central place theory, spatial interaction theory, land value theory and the principle of minimum differentiation [38,[40][41][42][43][44][45].…”

“…Finally, the disadvantages or problems of an initially wrong decision in retail store location are extremely difficult to overcome as the location decision represents a long-term, fixed investment which is immobile and unique [37][38][39].Given the importance of the issue, retail location decision has become the subject matter of different disciplines such as marketing, urban sciences, economics, geography, applied mathematics and geomarketing and different retail location theories, models and procedures have been proposed. In this sense, it is possible to say that retail location theory is comprised of four broad theoretical areas that are central place theory, spatial interaction theory, land value theory and the principle of minimum differentiation [38,[40][41][42][43][44][45].Central place theory provides a powerful explanation of the spatial structure of retail facilities and considers the behavior of consumers and retail firms in a spatial market. In the framework of this theory, distance to the supply point and transportation costs are the most important factors.…”

Online Store Locator: An Essential Resource for Retailers in the 21st Century

“…Some authors have analyzed the three classic location theories: central place theory, spatial interaction theory, and the principle of minimum differentiation in the retail sector. Reigadinha et al (2017) have used a GIS to analyze these theories in a geographical area and concluded that decisions related to store location are related to the population density, since the larger the population density the smaller the store's distance from the center, and the larger the center the larger the market area and the store density.…”