The importance of context in store forecasting : the site visit in retail location decision - making

The aim of this paper is to investigate how practical store location decision-making balances formal modelling with the less well-studied informal qualitative inputs. By using case studies from one major UK food retailer, we find that informal knowledge has to be considered seriously alongside quantitative models despite the inclusion of such knowledge often proving challenging. In particular, the site visit has a key role in contextualising factors that are difficult to represent in formal “modelled” data, and in calibrating the inputs to models that are becoming increasingly advanced. We conclude that conceptualising the role of knowledge management in retail store decision-making has been under-theorised but can offer a key to advancing our understanding of this process still further.