Retail Site-Selection Scorecard: Weighted Criteria, Knock-outs and Occupancy Cost

Choosing a store location is one of the largest and least reversible decisions a retailer makes — a lease, a fit-out and years of rent. Yet many decisions are made on one visit and a broker's enthusiasm. A scorecard does not replace judgement, but it makes the judgement explicit, comparable and reviewable.

Step 1: Choose and weight criteria

The workbook starts with eight criteria (weights illustrative): footfall at the frontage, visibility and signage, access and parking, catchment fit with your customer, competition nearby, co-tenants that draw your customer, unit size and frontage, and lease terms and landlord. Edit them to suit your format — a pharmacy, a quick-service restaurant and a fashion store weight these very differently. The weights must add up to 100%; the sheet shows the total.

Step 2: Score each site 1–5

Score each candidate site on each criterion, with a short note on the evidence: your own footfall counts, photos of visibility from each approach, the catchment checklist. Use the same person or the same rules for every site; scores from different people drift.

Step 3: Apply knock-outs

Some failures cannot be compensated by high scores elsewhere: no clear title or approvals, no fire safety clearance where required, rent beyond budget, a zoning or use restriction. The workbook has two knock-out questions (edit them) and marks a site ineligible if either is “No”, regardless of its score. Ranking is among eligible sites only.

Step 4: Check the economics

Occupancy cost — rent, common-area maintenance and other fixed occupancy charges — as a percentage of sales is the test most site decisions eventually come down to. Enter rent, CAM and other occupancy costs for each site and your own sales estimate. The sheet calculates the occupancy-cost ratio. We do not supply benchmarks: an acceptable ratio depends on your category, gross margin and city. Use your existing stores' actuals as the benchmark.

Where the sales estimate comes from

• Analogue stores: your existing stores with similar catchments, footfall and size.
• Footfall × conversion × average bill, with conversion and bill from your stores.
• A range rather than a point — low, base and high — and a decision that still works at the low case.

Lease terms to check

• Lock-in period and exit rights; rent escalation and its frequency.
• Rent-free fit-out period and who bears which approvals.
• CAM: what is included and how it is revised.
• Registration and stamp duty on the lease, which vary by state and lease length.
• Signage rights, exclusivity (no competitor in the same mall), and operating-hour restrictions.

Decide, then review

Record the decision with the scorecard and the evidence. Twelve months after opening, compare actual sales and footfall with the estimate — this is how your scorecard weights improve over time. PlacePulse keeps the scorecard, the catchment map and your stores' performance together, with the source and date of each data layer shown.

Worked example (illustrative)

A retailer compares two sites. Site A scores 3 on every criterion; Site B scores 4 on footfall and visibility but 2 on access and parking. With footfall weighted 20%, visibility 10% and access 10%, Site B's weighted score is slightly higher. But Site B fails the knock-out on approvals — the landlord cannot show the building's occupancy certificate — so it is ineligible and Site A ranks first. On economics, Site A's rent, CAM and other charges of ₹3 lakh a month against a sales estimate of ₹3.6 crore a year give an occupancy cost of 10%, which the retailer compares with its existing stores before signing.

Common mistakes

• Weights that do not add to 100% or change between sites.
• Scores from a single visit at a quiet hour.
• No knock-out rules, so a high score hides a fatal flaw.
• A single sales estimate instead of a range.
• No post-opening review.