Nursery World - Questions and answers

Market research will form the backbone of your business plan, says Martin Pace. It is a measure of the number of potential customers around your proposed location and a snapshot of their childcare needs. Looking closely at your marketplace will provide information to enable you to answer the following key questions:

Looking closely at your marketplace will provide information to enable you to answer the following key questions:

* Are there enough customers for my nursery?

* What service do they want?

* How much can I charge?

Know your markets

Dividing the marketplace into segments is the easiest way to conduct your research. You will want to look separately at the 'residential market' (people living within a 5-mile radius of your proposed nursery location), the 'corporate market' (people working within a 3-mile radius) and the 'commuting market' (people driving by on their route to and from work). If your potential location is densely populated you can halve these distances.

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