Select-A-City for Demographic and Economic Opportunities, Using an Online Database

Michelle B. Kunz, Morehead State University using the Merlot site: http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=81842
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Summary

This scenario activity can be designed or adjusted to fit many classes and topics, using the ERsys.com website that provides a comprehensive collection of demographic and economic profiles for approximately 2600 US cities. A scenario problem asks the student to select a city which will provide the best opportunity /choice of location, using the data available from the ERsys.com website.

In a principles of marketing class you might ask students to select from two or three cities the best place for a specific business to locate, or to pre-test a new product. If you are teaching a consumer behavior class, you might ask students which city in a pre-selected option would provide the greatest customer base for a specific product, retailer, or service provider. In a marketing research class, you might use this site to have students analyze population or economic variances, or to compare population density maps of major cities in a state.


Learning Goals

In this exercise students will
  1. Analyze demographic data and statistics of multiple cities available via a public database
  2. Critically analyze multiple cities for best location strategies, based upon the problem assigned

Context for Use

This activity can be designed for several different course applications, including principles of marketing, consumer behavior, retailing, and marketing research. The basic premise of the scenario is to have students compare demographic, lifestyle and economic statistics available on the ERsys.com website, for multiple cities, and then select the best location for the specific assignment.

In a principles of marketing course, the assignment might be to ask students which city of a pre-chosen list of 2-4 cities on the site, would have the highest concentration of consumers in specific age, income or educational categories. In a consumer behavior class, I might give students the assignment to determine the best city to sell a specific product or service, based upon ethnic-specific or age/income-specific variables. The best city to select for a retail site/store location might be the assignment in a retailing class. Students in a marketing research class might be asked to select the best location to survey potential consumers, or to conduct a research investigation on a product or service specified by the instructor.

Description and Teaching Materials

Review the ERsys.com website and determine what specific information is appropriate for the given assignment. I develop scenarios a little differently, depending upon the class. The basic scenario is this: the student is assigned 2, 3 or 4 different towns available on the site, to consider for the problem. The problem indicates the need to find a population that has age, income, housing, educational level or ethnic requirements to support the company's plans. I provide the scenario(s) to the students, along with the ERsys.com webite link, along with some pre-requisite introduction to the site. Information available includes age, income, educational level, ethnicity and other statistics by state, and then by major cities in the respective state.

It is important to note that larger metro areas are listed separately from more general population cities. The large metro area information also includes graphic density maps, NOT available for the small cities. These density maps are a good way to introduce students to GIS mapping results, as well as to provide a more visual means of analyzing the statistics of the larger metro areas. Charts as well as lists provide age, ethnicity, income as well as other demographic and lifestyle data for all the cities available.

Here is a sample scenario that you can adapt to the course and specific assignment:

Your company is getting ready to expand their product offering into a new state, and you have been asked to determine which of these following locations would provide the best market to attract new customers. The target market for your product has the following characteristics:

  • Age: 30-40
  • Education attainment: some graduate school or master's degree
  • Income: $60-75,000
  • Marital/Family: married with children over the age of 10

The four cities the company is considering, and has asked you to review and select from are:
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Peoria, Illinois
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Using the data available at ERsys.com, review each of the four cities, and select the one you think will provide the best opportunity for the company to develop a new consumer market. Write up a brief summary describing the market potential based upon the target market for each of the four cities, and then select the city you recommend for the new market. Justify your selection, based upon the data available to you at the ERsys.com site. Student Handout for ERsys assignment (Microsoft Word 27kB Aug10 10)

Teaching Notes and Tips

I find the students will do a better job with this assignment if I take about 10 minutes in class to introduce them to the ERsys.com site, and show the maps, charts and tables of information available. I sometimes have to show them that smaller towns/cities will NOT have the density maps, but the tables and charts of data are available for all cities and towns.

If I give the assignment in a retailing class, the table of travel times can be useful information when making location decisions for store expansion assignments. I have found students are disappointed when they discover their hometown, or town of interest in not listed on this site, because after completing the assignment, they get curious about places they have or are living, and want to research them. This is a good problem to have!

Assessment

The most obvious assessment is the justification students write for their selection. Additional questions you might want to include are:
  1. What specific demographic data comparison was key in making your selection?
  2. Did you find two of the towns/cities similar in some characteristics? Is so—what/why?
  3. Would there be any reason why you might NOT recommend any of the cities on the list? If so, what data/why?

References and Resources