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THE CHALLENGE

  • Where are people coming from to shop and dine in Georgetown?
  • Who are they?
  • How can we increase the momentum of retail development downtown?

Those are the questions the City of Georgetown’s Economic Development Department had about retail traffic in the community.

THE SOLUTION

To get answers, the department commissioned a License Plate Study conducted by The Retail Coach. A License Plate Study is conducted by cataloging the license plate numbers of consumers shopping in the community, and searching and mapping their addresses to determine their origination. This consumer information is collected from multiple retailers in the morning, afternoon and evening on both a weekday and weekend day.

A License Plate Study is conducted by cataloging the license plate numbers of consumers shopping in the community, and searching and mapping their addresses to determine their origination. This consumer information is collected from multiple retailers in the morning, afternoon and evening on both a week day and weekend day.

For the Georgetown study, The Retail Coach project team collected the data at four different locations: Wolf Ranch Town Center, Walmart, The Monument Cafe and throughout downtown.

THE FINDINGS 

Pinpointing the flow of shoppers into Georgetown brought a surprise. In analyzing retail flow before the study, City leaders felt a bulk of Georgetown’s out-of-town traffic came from the north, especially the Dallas/Fort Worth area. However, The Retail Coach’s study found most shoppers were driving in from the opposite direction.

“Georgetown has people coming from up to 30 miles to shop and eat, and the trade area extended further south into Round Rock and the Austin area then was originally thought,” said Aaron Farmer, vice president of The Retail Coach. “Georgetown actually has a lot of people who are probably trying to escape from the traffic and shopping in Austin.”

Previous maps of the Retail Trade Area did not extend further south than Westinghouse Road in South Georgetown. The new study, however, has shown that local shoppers from Round Rock, Cedar Park and Leander contribute significantly to customer traffic.

PUTTING THE DATA TO USE

The City will use the insight to boost the number of new visitors traveling in for events by increasing its marketing in different areas of the region.

“By doing this analysis, we found that there are a tremendous number of people in Round Rock and the eastern edges of Cedar Park and Leander. That area appears to be a very, very rich area for us to think about for marketing,” said Mark Thomas, the City of Georgetown’s Economic Development Director.

The Economic Development Department also released the results of the study at a public meeting, and the data is now available for businesses and the general public.

“By sharing this information with existing retailers and businesses, the City is able to help them make more informed decisions about their marketing strategies,” said Farmer. “When you know the locational source and demographics of your target market, it’s much easier to determine the best ways to reach them and what messages, services, and products will draw them to your establishment.”

“When you know the locational source and demographics of your target market, it’s much easier to determine the best ways to reach them and what messages, services, and products will draw them to your establishment.”

Community

Georgetown, Texas

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