These models are aimed at retailers and at ed alle B-2-C service providers and retail financial companies who wish to identify the areas currently not covered by their distribution network (hence "White Spaces") which have the highest potential for a new opening (from both a coverage expansion or a coverage rationalization standpoint).

Objective
To provide the Client with a list of prioritized areas where to focus the «scouting» on the property market for planning the opening of new stores.

Methodology
The elaboration of the model is developed in the following phases:

1. Definition of Trading Areas (actual or estimated) for the existing Stores.
   
   
2. Calculation of «Respect Areas»: To avoid overlaps we exclude from the analysis the Census Blocks included in a range equal to twice the average extension of the Trading Areas.
   
   
3. The potential estimate of each possible location is done through a recursive procedure at Census Block level.
   For each Census Block (which was not previously excluded) a micro-territorial potential indicator is calculated, obtained by assuming the opening of a new store at the center of the census block and applying a Contendible Potential model.
   
   
4. Selection of Area of Interest. After calculating the potential for each census block, all census blocks are then sorted by a decreasing score. We will then go through a recursive process:
   
   
   • The top-ranking census block is selected and around it we will draw a «Respect Area» (the same size as used in step 2 above for existing stores). This will become the first Area of Interest.
     
     
   • As we did previously for existing stores, we will exclude from the remainder of the analysis all census blocks within the «Respect Area» of the selected census block.
     
     
   • We will then select the top-ranking census block among those still included in the analysis and around it we will again draw a «Respect Area» which will become the second Area of Interest.
     We will then exclude from the remainder of the analysis all the census blocks that fall inside it.
     
     
   • The procedure will be repeated until all census blocks will be processed (either by selecting or by excluding them).
     
     
5. Benchmark on existing stores: TO allow a better assessment of the opportunities on the ground, the potential indicator is calculated also for the census blocks where existing stores are located.
   
   

The final resul will consist in a list - sorted by decreasing score - of Areas of Interest, which can be prioritized at regional or national level.