Store Site Selection System enables users to select a suitable site to open a chain store by using SuperGIS Desktop. SuperGIS Desktop is geographic information system (GIS) software for creating, visualizing, managing, and analyzing geographic data. In this case, complete spatial data of stores are very important base for advanced analysis. SuperGIS Desktop assists users in recording the attribute data of existing stores in the survey area and displaying the positions of stores on the map.

In terms of analysis methods, Buffer and Service Area Analysis are applied in this case. Buffer is the method used to recognize and select the features located in or out of the area of buffer. Users can understand whether the selected sites are located in or out of the buffer zones of the existing stores to avoid the problem of overlapping customers. On the other hand, Service Area Analysis provides service area and service accessibility of each store by considering the route length and driving time to get the most complete and precise analysis results.

In recent years, the rapid development of chain stores makes each store need to participate in fierce competitions. If a chain store is run at a wrong site where there are only a few target customers or there are too many stores providing similar services, it would waste time and money for the wrong investment. Using Store Site Selection System can not only efficiently select a suitable site but save a bunch of money and manpower to do the field survey. In this system, two main functions are provided to obtain a precise result.

Firstly, users conduct Buffer to draw the buffer zones of existing stores by setting specific distance on the map. These buffer zones are the service area of existing stores so that users have to give up the sites located on these buffer zones to avoid the problem of overlapping customers. Therefore, the rest of sites would be the candidates for opening the store.

The number of customers is an important factor to decide whether the site is a good place for opening a store. An appropriate location for opening a store must be near the place where crowd gather, like MRT Stations, etc. Therefore, users use Service Area Analysis to illustrate the service area of a place, such as MRT station, etc. according to the activity area of target customers. Then, the sites located within the service areas would be suitable for opening chain stores.

It is very crucial to choose a good site to open a chain store if there are already many similar stores existed in this competitive environment. Instead of spending a lot of time and money hiring people to do field survey, shopkeepers can utilize GIS as the best solution to analyze and select new sites for opening chain stores. Store Site Selection System assists users in applying Buffer Analysis to select the sites near which there is no similar store. Then, users can use Service Area Analysis to further evaluate whether there are enough customers near the sites selected by Buffer. To sum up, to construct the Store Site Selection System will bring the maximum benefit for the owner to efficiently find the ideal locations and save money and manpower at the same time.