Retail Market Power Report

The Retail Market Power report can be used as a way to understand supply and demand in a trade area by presenting what is known as a gap analysis. The report is divided into multiple pages, with both gap and growth pages by both merchandise line and retail store type.  It can be used in conjunction with a Ranking Areas - Variable report to look at the RMP variables in more detail.  You might also want to look at household and population variables for the trade area. A retail opportunity gap appears when expenditure levels for a specific geography are higher than the corresponding retail sales estimates; the demand is greater than the supply (i.e., a positive number). A retail surplus appears when expenditures are lower than the retail sales estimates. In this case, local retailers are attracting expenditures from other areas into their stores and the demand is less than supply (i.e., a negative number). RMP estimates demand in an area for all expenditures from both businesses and households.