Catchment area

The catchment area of a selling point is the geographic area of origin of customers.
This zone is defined using criteria such as distance, access time, attractiveness of the selling point, and competitor selling points.
For example, in the project of opening of a new selling point, the catchment area will be defined according to the travel time for potential customers and distances.
For an existing selling point the catchment zone is defined using data collected in the sales operations, such as customer addresses collected in payments by cheque, fidelity cards or a simple request of postal code in the payment process.
The catchment zone is often divided in primary, secondary and tertiary zone corresponding with different travel times (for example : 5 minutes, from 5 to 10 minutes, from 10 to 20 minutes) that vary depending on the nature and attractiveness of the selling point.
Reflection on the catchment area of a selling point enables marketers to better define the marketing approach.
A deeper marketing study can be conducted in this zone in order to optimize advertisement investments (display places, local press).