All businesses take a period of time for their stores to achieve their full potential patronage. As time passes more customers become aware of the store’s existence and sales to existing customers tend to increase. The length of time an individual store takes to reach its plateau varies according to the type of industry, marketing levels, site factors, and the intensity of competition. Other factors such as Area Type and regionality can also play a role.
Not taking store maturity into account or inaccurate estimation can prove fatal to marginal store opportunities, meaning the difference between positive contribution to corporate sales growth and a drag on corporate performance.
SPR evaluates historical sales patterns and produces store maturity curves which are applied to sales forecasts for the initial periods before full maturity is achieved. An example maturity curve is presented below.
