 Retail Coach is a company out of Texas that, according to Farmer,
has worked with more than 200 communities to expand and revitalize
their retail markets. Farmer named the cities of Ottawa, Roscoe and
Waterloo specifically as being Illinois communities the company has
served.He also told the council his firm works to recruit major
franchise businesses into communities. His slideshow presentation
included naming Target, Kohl's, and Barnes & Noble as a few of his
firm's clients.
Retail Coach is a smaller-scale company than Buxton, which gave a
presentation to the council a few weeks ago. Retail Coach has a
total of 10 employees. It was founded by C. Kelly Cofer in 2000.
Farmer is vice president.
Farmer opened his presentation by saying he had spent the greater
part of Tuesday in Lincoln exploring the city and identifying the
areas that need work.
He said that if his company is chosen to be the city's marketing
firm, they would focus on three issues: bringing in new retail
development, redevelopment of existing properties and downtown
retail revitalization.
Farmer said that in looking at Lincoln, he wanted to begin with a
trip to the city when he could invest five or six hours looking
around. He had done that on Tuesday, had stopped at a few businesses
and talked to a few retailers.
He said that as the city's marketing consultants, his company
would have people in Lincoln at least three times doing work similar
to what he had done on Tuesday.
He said the visits would also involve a community meeting as a
kind of kickoff to the project. He told the council that in order
for his firm to serve Lincoln, it has to know Lincoln and has to
know what is going on in the town. He said that would assist them in
determining what the market demand is and give them the basis for
building an action plan and a marketing strategy.
Farmer said the studies his firm would do would include an
analysis of land use, which would help show what properties are
available for development or redevelopment.
They would study how and why shoppers are drawn to Lincoln. He
said there are several methods, but what they do is a retailer and
resident survey program that shows the retailer-defined trade area.
Like the previous firm, Farmer said the city needs to know how
far people are willing to drive to shop in Lincoln and why.
The firm will also study demographics -- the population,
population growth, race, age and more -- and psychographics, which
defines consumer attitudes, values, shopping and eating preferences,
and more.
Another study will be a retail gap analysis. Farmer said the firm
will look at what people have to leave town to buy because it isn't
offered in Lincoln. He said that on his first visit, he has already
seen what part of the city's "leakage" is. He said he talked to
people in town and asked them what the city needed. Several noted
the need for more national brand sit-down restaurants and the need
for more clothing retailers.
Farmer said his firm doesn't just reach out to retailers; they
also reach out to developers. He noted that buildings such as the
former Wal-Mart store that is currently empty can be marketed to
developers who would possibly divide the large space into smaller
spaces for specialty stores.
Farmer said that once all the analysis is completed, his firm
will identify a specific list of retailers and developers that
should be in Lincoln. He said they would design specific packages
for the businesses they were going to go after, so the retailers or
developers would know exactly why they can't afford not to come to
Lincoln.
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He said Retail Coach would stay with the city 12 to 18 months,
work with the city on designing customized proposals, help get face
to face with retailers and stay throughout the process. He said the
city should expect that it would take about a year to start seeing
visible results.
In addition to all this, Farmer said the firm would establish
information for Internet access that can be placed on the city of
Lincoln website, as well as on the Retail Coach website. He said
this was advantageous in that no matter where a developer is, if
Lincoln comes up, that developer can pull up maps of the city,
locations that are available and much more.
During discussion Jonie Tibbs asked what Farmer's first step
would be. Farmer said there need to be meetings with local retailers
already here, meetings with real estate agents who have knowledge of
the area and what is available, and with this information the firm
would begin to establish the city's retail trade area.
Sue McLaughlin, city administrator, asked about the firm's
success rate. Farmer said that 75 percent of the retail clients were
return customers.
McLaughlin also asked if there would be a plan for the downtown
area.
Farmer said that he sees different sub-markets in Lincoln, maybe
three to four. The downtown area would be one, and the interstate
area would be another. Farmer said each sub-market area needs
individual attention and will draw specific types of retailers. He
said studies would include what businesses would be attracted to
each sub-market.
Tibbs commented that many of the downtown businesses have been
there for quite some time. They know who their customers are and can
tell Farmer where they come from.
Farmer said that working with existing retailers and gaining
knowledge from them would be an important part of the process. He
said that in this project, the existing retailers will become
partners in the process.
McLaughlin asked how often the studies would need to be updated.
Farmer said the shelf life of the studies would be about three
years. He noted the demographic study would be the exception and
should be done annually. He also indicated that this study could be
done for about $200.
Farmer was also asked how his firm charges for their services,
and he said they set the fee based on population.
Jeff Hoinacki asked how involved the firm would be in recruiting
new business: Would it be a matter of providing contact information
for the city to follow up with, or would the firm be actively
involved?
Farmer said his firm would be hands-on, actively working with the
city, and would be present when the city was working to draw a new
retailer or restaurant into the area.
Melody Anderson asked if the firm would work with the local
economic development organization. Farmer said including economic
development and chambers of commerce is an important part of being
successful.
Currently, there are no motions on future agendas for hiring a
marketing consultant firm. It is expected that this will be
discussed further in workshop sessions before the city makes a
decision that would call for a vote.
[By NILA SMITH]
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