DSA Business Recruitment Survey

Results

Summary of participants, sector evaluations and

unrestrained suggestions

Uncommon Marketing 210/31/2011

Purpose of Study Primary endpoints

– To solicit feedback of persons who live, work or shop in Somerville of their opinions of the current mix of Retail, Restaurant and Services within the Borough of Somerville.- To gain a sense of their preferences of types of businesses in each category to solicit to open in Somerville.

- Develop a list of potentially desirable tenants to work with existing property owners to establish mutual goals and communication; ultimately creating an improved and diverse retail culture on Main St.

Uncommon Marketing 310/31/2011

Purpose or Study (continued)

Secondary Endpoint- To gain insight into the demographics and willingness of people to participate in electronic feedback for future programs.

● Tertiary EndpointConnecting with any potential responders interested in opening a business.

Uncommon Marketing 410/31/2011

Survey Organization

Survey was conducted from June 1 – September 15.

Survey was conducted both on-line and with response cards provided at selected locations.

404 Total Responses including 55 response cards.

Response cards and web based survey were developed by Y Ito Marketing.

Uncommon Marketing 510/31/2011

Tabulation Survey results were combined between

reply cards and on-line XML file producing a filterable spreadsheet.

Tabulation of results by demographics was performed as well as for the whole.

Free form responses were categorized into broad similar groups. Then the ones with the most similar responses were analyzed.

Survey content and analysis was produced by the DSA Business Recruitment subcommittee and Uncommon Marketing.

Uncommon Marketing 610/31/2011

Data Collected

Segmentation questions – gender, age, home zip code, work in Somerville (& which sector)

Experience Level – how often they come, why they come (dine, shop, events, services etc.), Which events they attend

Rating choices – Excellent ‘Consistently delivers all the choices I need’, Good ‘Generally serves my needs’, Fair ‘Sometimes has what I need’, Inadequate ‘ Does not serve my needs’

Uncommon Marketing 710/31/2011

Data Collected Continued Each of 4 categories was rated by the 4 level

criteria – Restaurant, Retail & Specialty Shops, Consumer Services (hair, dry cleaning etc.), Professional Services (financial, legal, Health etc.)

What is missing from each category – free form unrestricted answer space – some people used this area to give feedback on existing as well as suggesting new

Additional questions – Stores you’ve seen elsewhere that should come to Somerville, Are you interested in opening a store, what size, what additional events should we use to attract business and shoppers, e-mail for future surveys

Uncommon Marketing 810/31/2011

Basic Responder Segments

Total Responders as of Sept. 15 – 405

Male/Female – 33%/67%

Lives in Ville/Not – 49%/51%

Works in Ville/Not – 24%/76%

Segment of Somerville Employment

Retail – 10.3% Restaurant –

14.4% Professional –

45.4% Government –

25.8% Services – 5.2%

Note: Survey scheduled to be open for 3 months was extended by 1 week due to technical difficulties in the first week.

Uncommon Marketing 910/31/2011

Basic Responder Segments (Continued)

Age Group Under 25 – 5.2% 25-40 – 32.7% 41-60 – 48.0% 61+ - 12.9%

Frequencies of visit to downtown Yearly – 1.7% Quarterly – 6.2% Bi-monthly – 6.2% Monthly – 15.8% Semi-Monthly – 17.6% Weekly – 26.2% Twice Weekly – 9.2% Daily – 17.1%

Uncommon Marketing 1010/31/2011

Why Do They Come to Downtown Somerville89.9%

63.4%

24.0%16.8%

75.7%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

Dining Shopping professionalservices

Consumer Services Events

Reasons for Coming

Professional Service – Legal, Medical, Financial

Consumer Services – Massage, Beauty, Dry Cleaning

Uncommon Marketing 1110/31/2011

Quality of Responses

238 or 59% or respondents provided an e-mail address to be contacted to be involved in future market research

83% of respondents provided some form of unique suggestion or feedback

150 Responders provided specific examples of stores in other towns that they want in Somerville

Uncommon Marketing 1210/31/2011

3.2

2.7

3.8

3.43.2 3.2 3.3 3.20 3.27

TOTAL In-tow n Out of Tow n Under 25 25-40 41-60 61+ Male Female

Series1

Restaurant RatingsExcellent

Good

Fair

Inadequate

Uncommon Marketing 1310/31/2011

Food Choices Most Desired268 comments

High quality Mexican/Latin American (Momma Mexico, QDoba, Chipoltle)

Coffee/Tea House (Rock N’ Joe, T.M. Ward, Starbucks) Sports Bar/Bar & Grill (higher end, Egans, Willie McBrides,

Pluckemin, Chimney Rock, Famished Frog) Casual Family (chain) Carrabas, Outback, Joe’s Crab Shack,

Perkins, Chili’s, CrackerBarrel, Chic Fil’ A, 5 guys) Healthy/Organic

‘Real’ Ice Cream / dessert shop (open in evening Crumbs, Cold Stone)

Vegetarian or more Indian choices BBQ/Soul Food High Quality Jewish/Italian Deli (Nana’s Livingston,

Saladworks) Late Night Dining/Entertainment Steak House(Ruth’s Chris, Roots) Brew Pub (Triumph, Trap Rock)

Uncommon Marketing 1410/31/2011

All ResponsesAll Restaurant Feedback

34

11

3

12

20

2

27

8

16

7

24

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3

9

2

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Uncommon Marketing 1510/31/2011

2.55

2.13

2.96

2.432.17 2.24 2.28 2.24 2.25

TOTAL Residents Non-Residents

25 & Under 26 - 40 41 - 60 61 + Male Female

Retail & Specialty Shops

Retail/Shopping RatingExcellent

Good

Fair

Inadequate

Uncommon Marketing 1610/31/2011

Retail Top Choices Total of 378 suggestions by 252 people. Obviously Clothing and Shoes topped the list (86

& 46 Total votes – 34.1% and 18.3%) Some specific areas of Clothing and shoes were

common and tallied – most were generic requests.

Top Other Retail Gift shops 8.7%(Vera Bradley, Back Door, Glassware etc.) Specialty Foods 8.3% (Trader Joe’s, chocolate, nuts,

butcher, cheese, seafood, cigars, Carter & Cavero, Spice Store(Westfield) )

Book store 7.5% (Used, Specialty, Independent) Health Food Store 7.1% (GNC, Vitamin Shop, Organic

Grocer, Jersey Fresh Store)

Uncommon Marketing 1710/31/2011

Retail Top Choices Cont’ Craft Stores 5.6% - (Fabric, knitting, scrapbook, etc.) Cookware/Houseware 5.2% (W. Sonomo, boutique retailers,

Container store) Art Gallery, Store, Retailer 5.2% (N.B. Art Coop Designer

Craftsmaen, Frog Hollow VT) Sports/Recreation 4.8% (hiking/camping equipment,

Spiritware-jerseys etc.) General Goods/ Hardware 4.0% Music / Video / Video Games 4.0%

Home furnishings / Linens / other home goods 3.6% Toys 3.6% (Learning Express) Name brand drug store 2.4% (CVS) Coffeehouse 2.4% (addition to Restaurant including selling

books / entertainment / meeting space) Bakery 2.0% (especially one open in evenings) Electronics 2.0% (Computers, Computer Repair, Gadgets) Art Supplies/Framing 2.0% Cooking Classes 2.0% (Thyme Westfield)

Uncommon Marketing 1810/31/2011

Clothing Breakdown Clothing Total 34.1% Generic Clothing 7.9%(Anthropologie) Normal Mid-priced 6.3% (Gap, Banana Republic,

small mall chains, Pendelton, Orvis, LL Bean) Women’s 4.8% (PC Lavin Anne Taylor, Lane

Bryant, Lauren B’s-morristown) Boutique / High End (Jos A Bank, Talbots, unique

lines)

Men’s Clothing 3.2% Kid’s Clothing 2.8% Consignment / Swaps 2.4% Specialty Clothes 2.4% (Leather-ware, sports,

wedding/bridesmaid, western, LuLu Lemon-exercise ware)

Ethnic Clothing 0.4%

Uncommon Marketing 1910/31/2011

Shoe Breakdown

Shoe Total 18.3% Generic shoes – 10.3% (BiltRite, Foot

Solutions) Women’s – 2.4% (Avenue,

Catherines) Budget – 2.4% (Payless, shoe outlets) High End – 1.2%

Uncommon Marketing 2010/31/2011

Retail – Other Notes

10 Other suggestions less than 2% Comments around too much antiques,

second hand, urban clothiers Many comments about how all is high end

& low end – no middle Several comments missing ‘Back Door’ for

gifts About a dozen comments regarding

closing too early ‘dinner = no shopping’ 1 suggestion around having directories

similar to mall at parking lots and along main street.

Uncommon Marketing 2110/31/2011

Consumer Services Rank

2.55

2.13 2.05

3.00

2.57 2.52 2.58 2.52 2.57

TOTAL Residents Non-Residents

25 & Under 26 - 40 41 - 60 61 + Male Female

Excellent

Good

Fair

Inadequate

Uncommon Marketing 2210/31/2011

Professional Services Rank

2.55

2.13

2.732.90

2.69 2.65

2.94

2.68 2.70

TOTAL Residents Non-Residents

25 & Under 26 - 40 41 - 60 61 + Male Female

Excellent

Good

Fair

Inadequate

Uncommon Marketing 2310/31/2011

Consumer & Professional Services Requests

170 people gave feedback but only 68 was considered substantive

Exercise/Gym etc 6.5% (yoga, Pilates, gym) Boutique Movie Theater/ Performing Arts Center – 5.9% High End Spa Services 5.3% Shipping, Copy, Printing Store 3.5%

18 Others under 2% including : computer repair, photo printing / framing, pharmacy, Educational Classes, ethnic hair salon, Affordable Taylor, Pet Sitting, higher class hair salon, Eye Doctor, English language School, Green Dry Cleaner, 24 hr Laundromat, shoe repair, Art Studio, Resoration Consultant

Alternative Medicine Retail Brokerage Firm

Uncommon Marketing 2410/31/2011

Comparing Groups

Restaurant Retail Consumer Professional

Under 25 25-40 41-60 61+

2.73

2.13 2.13 2.13

3.76

2.96

2.05

2.73

Restaurant Retail Consumer Professional

Somerville Out of Town

3.20

2.242.52 2.68

3.27

2.252.57 2.70

Restaurant Retail Consumer Professional

Male Female

Uncommon Marketing 2510/31/2011

What Events are Most Popular to Bring People Downtown

227 220

280

201

299

113 96133

208

88121

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Note: Friday Cruise Nights, Concerts & Street Fairs are multi-day events. Most popular single day events are St. Patrick’s Day Parade & Memorial Day/Races. Total of 405 responders.

Uncommon Marketing 2610/31/2011

Event(& Other) Ideas Submitted

Rock Music on Thursday nights (or improve Friday Night Selections for younger audiences – several similar suggestions)

Ethnic Food Day Better hours for farmers market (repeated many times) Sidewalk sales during other events (ex. Trick or Treating) Octoberfest (wine tasting) Chef tastings / presentations Keep business’s open in evening especially Friday Exercise in the park-court lawn Ghost tours

Facebook specials for Tues, Wed, Thurs Frequent purchase rewards (entered purchases on-line from

participating retailers, build points) Movie nights on Courthouse lawn Pet friendly stickers Blues in addition to Jazz Pedestrian Stroll Days (close street but for kids/families on

bikes/walking) Fashion Show Think 4th of July Chili cook-off

Uncommon Marketing 2710/31/2011

Conclusions Although the restaurant sector is viewed

favorably there were significant suggestions for improvement/expansion.

By far the weakest response was for the retail sector – there were some very good viable suggestions for businesses to initiate or recruit.

Consumer and Professional services overall were viewed favorably however there were some excellent suggestions to improve this sector as well.

The age demographic from 25-45 viewed the services and products with a keen eye to provide a desirable experience and give “us a reason to come back.”

Uncommon Marketing 2810/31/2011

Recommendations

Events Work !!! Update and continue with new events.

Director should spend time each month on the road recruiting businesses to open additional new locations in Somerville.

Keep up with contacts, who submitted this study for further input.

Develop and share recruiting plans with property owners and work towards common success.