The more up-to-date info, the better, says Falken

Falken Tire Corp. is partnering with TARGUSinfo to not only drive incremental sales, but also grow market share.

TARGUSinfo will support Falken's goals with information services, specifically the company's Site & Market Scoring solution powered by the ElementOne Analytics Platform. It includes the following quarterly updates:

* demographics, based on the preceding quarter;

* consumer-segmentation data;

* shopping-center locations;

* consumer-expenditure and demand-potential data; and

* business composition and locations.

Falken also will receive data updates on "competitive and co-tenancy landscapes" on a monthly basis.

According to TARGUSinfo, Site & Market Scoring doesn't rely on outdated U.S. Census-based data, which it says can miss population shifts and increase the probability of poor site decisions.

The solution uses a highly intuitive, Web-based system to visually map growth and declining market opportunities. The platform automatically integrates high-frequency data updates, while adjusting retailers' site-decision models so that they can make precise site selection or store performance analysis.

The patent-pending demographic estimates and projections employ constant updates from the United States Postal Service, ensuring that newly developed areas -- or those in rapid decline -- are clearly identified. TARGUSinfo says its approach to building demographics tracks actual neighborhood population shifts from the bottom up -- using actual household counts.

"Integrating our internal and industry data with the most current and accurate market data is crucial given the tough economic times when there's so much churn in consumer demographics," says Andrew Hoit, Falken's director of marketing.

"With TARGUSinfo's platform, we can access the most up to date and robust market analysis to meet our strategic objective of identifying where we need to concentrate our growth."

"The tire industry is a competitive market with a diverse and complex demographic mix that varies widely depending on make, model, year, etc.," adds Keith Peterson, senior vice president of TARGUSinfo.

For more information, visit www.TARGUSinfo.com.