Northwest and Northcentral Kansas Retail Market Gap Analysis 2022
The Docking Institute was commissioned by Kansas Small Business Development Center -- FHSU Region to conduct a retail market gap analysis for its 29-county region comprised of counties in northwest and northcentral Kansas in 2022. This webpage provides a dynamic and interactive platform for users of the analysis to organize and display the research results in a customizable fashion.
To help you explore the data, this interactive report is organized in the following sections:
Section 1: Introduction
Section 2: Methods
Section 3: Survey Questionnaire
Section 4: Purchase Location and Reasons for Non-local Purchase
Section 5: Non-local Purchase Cities
Section 6: Goods/Services Most Desired Locally
Section 7: Additional Desired Locally-Sourced Goods and Services
Section 8: Business-to-Business Desired Locally-Sourced Goods and Services
Section 9: Retail Activity and Retail-Associated Indicators
Appendix 1: Survey Sample Demographics
Appendix 2: Written Reports
The principal feature of this analysis is an original survey measuring perceived gaps in 73 categories of consumer retail goods and services. A random selection of households within each county was surveyed using a multi-wave mail-out/mail-back questionnaire. Final survey completions across the 29 counties ranged from 77 (from the county with the lowest population of households) to 214 completions per county. Read More ... This results in a survey margin of error (MoE) at the county level ranging from +/-6% to 10% for 28 of the counties. MoE exceeded 10% only in the county with 77 completions (MoE is +/-11%). The demographics of respondents in each county are presented in Appendix 1. For all counties, the age profile of survey respondents is notably older than the general population of adults. Relatedly, the average number of people living in the household and the number of children in the household in counties are both smaller in the survey sample than in the general population of households. The findings of this feature can be found in Sections 4 - 8 below.
A secondary feature of this analysis provides a profile of the county from existing data sources of retail activity and retail-associated activities in the county. Retail business is an umbrella term that covers businesses that sell goods or services to final consumers. This diversity means that the more retail businesses associated with a community, the more likely that people will shop locally. For example, a community with only an isolated restaurant is less appealing than one that has two or more restaurants. Because if one restaurant is too busy, then another may have an available table. Likewise, a community with more types of retail is more likely to attract consumers than one with fewer types of retail merchandise. Competition is an expected part of every enterprise and thus growth and change are necessary for successful enterprises. Our approach is to look for patterns that are revealed in comparisons with the larger region and with other counties, ranges of values based on demographic characteristics, and connections between locations. The findings of this second feature can be found in Section 9 below.
Using address-based sampling (ABS), the Docking Institute’s Center for Survey Research conducted a multi-wave mail survey of 44,260 randomly selected households across 29 counties of northwest and northcentral Kansas from March 2 to May 17, 2022. The Docking Institute purchased the address-based sample of households from a national expert sampling vendor. The questionnaire cover letter asked that “the adult (18 or older) in the household with the most knowledge of the household’s purchases of goods and services” complete the questionnaire. Read More ... The self-administered questionnaire booklet was designed to be taped shut and dropped in the mail upon completing the questions, as the back cover is printed with business-reply postage and pre-addressed for return to the Docking Institute. Representatives of both the Docking Institute and KSBDC-FHSU signed the cover letter, with an invitation to respondents to contact either representative by phone or email should they have questions or concerns. On March 28 a follow-up wave of questionnaires was sent only to those who had not yet responded to the initial wave. A final invitation wave using postcard reminder was sent on April 18, and the postcard offered the option of responding to an online version questionnaire hosted on the Docking Institute’s website, with respondents using their mailing tracking number to authenticate. In consultation with KSBDC-FHSU Region, it was the responsibility of the Docking Institute to develop survey items that were technically correct and without bias. A .pdf copy of the questionnaire booklet can be downloaded in Section 3 below.
The Docking Institute uses Fort Hays State University’s educational nonprofit mailing permit, providing a substantial cost savings over using First Class mail. While this does prevent undeliverable and any returns to sender from being detected, the ABS survey mailings are also checked against the USPS National Change of Address database, keeping these types of dispositions to a minimum. Of 44,260 randomly selected households invited to participate, 24 were determined ineligible due to the targeted residence being vacant or all at the targeted household being deceased/disabled. The Institute learned of these dispositions because someone collecting mail for the targeted residence courteously informed the Institute by either calling or emailing our office or by writing a note on the questionnaire and returning it to us. A total of 4,298 usable completions were achieved from the presumed 44,236 eligible households invited to participate, resulting in an overall response rate of 9.7%. Ninety-one of the completions were submitted using the online response option. Wave 1 yielded about 70% of the total response, with wave 2 of the questionnaire mailing and the postcard reminder wave accounting for the remaining 30%. Final county-level completions across the 29 counties ranged from 77 (from the county with the lowest population of households) to 214 per county. This results in county-level survey margins of error (MoE) ranging from +/-6% to 10% for 28 of the counties MoE exceeded 10% only in the county with 77 completions (MoE is +/-11%). Appendix 1 reports demographic characteristics of the survey sample in each county. A secondary feature of this analysis provides a profile of the county’s retail activity and retail-associated activities available from existing sources of data.
Section 3: Survey Questionnaire
Click here to download a .pdf copy of the questionnaire booklet.
Section 4: Purchase Location and Reasons for Non-Local Purchases (73 Categories)
For every category of the consumer goods/services in the survey, respondents were asked to indicate whether they make purchases of the good/service in the county, by traveling to another county, and by purchasing online/by phone. Then from a list of four possible reasons for out-of-county purchases (not available locally, lack of variety or quantity, lack of quality, priced too high), select all that contribute to why they make out-of-the county purchases. The link below will take you to the interactive Tableau page where you can view survey responses to these “location” of purchasing questions and “reasons” for any out-of-county purchasing for all 73 categories of goods/services. You can select one or more counties and one or more categories of goods/services by checking the options in the COUNTY and TYPE OF GOODS/SERVICES boxes on the right side of the Tableau page.
To access the interactive Tableau page, click HERE and then the Purchase Location and Reasons for Non-Local Purchases (73 Categories) tile.
Section 5: Non-Local Purchase Cities (73 Categories)
Maps showing the cities where out-of-county purchases are reported can be viewed in this section. The link below will take you to the interactive Tableau page where you can view maps of the cities. The initial map view includes only cities in Kansas and in portions of Colorado and Nebraska. You can zoom out to view a larger region, although purchases in states other than these three are very infrequently mentioned. If there is no mention by respondents of a city where out-of-county purchases occur, no yellow circles (which represent the locations of the out-of-county purchases and volume of mentions) will appear in the map. You can select one or more counties for one category of goods/services by checking the options in the COUNTY and TYPE OF GOODS/SERVICES boxes on the right side of the Tableau page.
To access the interactive Tableau page, click HERE and then the Non-Local Purchase Cities (73 Categories) tile.
Section 6: Goods/Services Most Desired Locally (73 Categories)
Following the questions about purchase location and reasons for non-local purchase within a category of good or service, respondents could offer up to three possible specific goods/services from that category that they would prefer to purchase in their county. From open-ended mentions of these locally desired goods/services themes were coded and reported in tables. The link below will take you to the interactive Tableau page where you can view those tables. When those tables contain only 0.0% for every theme, it means none of the county respondents offered an answer in this open-ended question. You can select one or more counties for one category of goods/services by checking the options in the COUNTY and TYPE OF GOODS/SERVICES boxes on the right side of the Tableau page.
To access the interactive Tableau page, click HERE and then the Goods/Services Most Desired Locally (73 Categories) tile.
Section 7: Additional Desired Locally-Sourced Goods and Services
The survey asked respondents to provide any other goods/services that were not listed as a category in the questionnaire, but they would buy in their county and they felt someone could offer the goods/services as a viable business. Responses were coded and reported in tables. The link below will take you to the interactive Tableau page where you can view those tables. You can select one or more counties by checking the options in the COUNTY box on the right side of the Tableau page.
To access the interactive Tableau page, click HERE and then the Additional Desired Locally-Sourced Goods tile or the Additional Desired Locally-Sourced Services tile.
Section 8: Business-to-Business Desired Locally-Sourced Goods and Services
A final component of the survey asked those respondents who own or operate a business in their county to indicate any goods or services that they currently must purchase out of county but would prefer to purchase in the county if they believed it could “feasibly be sourced locally.” Themes from the business owner/operator responses are provided in tables. The link below will take you to the interactive Tableau page where you can view those tables. You can select one or more counties by checking the options in the COUNTY box on the right side of the Tableau page.
To access the interactive Tableau page, click HERE and then the Business-to-Business Desired Locally-Sourced Goods tile or the Business-to-Business Desired Locally-Sourced Services tile.
Section 9: Retail Activity and Retail-Associated Indicators
Besides the survey results, this analysis provides a profile of the county’s retail activity and retail-associated activities available from existing sources of data. The data are organized into tables. The link below will take you to the interactive Tableau page where you can view those tables. You can select one or more counties by checking the options in the COUNTY box on the right side of the Tableau page.
To access the interactive Tableau page, click HERE and then one of these four tiles: Quarterly Workforce Indicators, Retail and Wholesale Employment and Labor Income, Selected Economic Indicators, and Selected Demographic Characteristics.
Appendix 1: Survey Sample Demographics
Survey sample demographic information are organized in tables. The link below will take you to the interactive Tableau page where you can view those tables. You can select one or more counties by checking the options in the COUNTY box on the right side of the Tableau page.
To access the interactive Tableau page, click HERE and then the Sample Demographics: Household and Age Information tile or the Sample Demographics: Other Individual Information tile.
Click HERE to download the written reports in .pdf format.