A decision support system for locating convenience store through fuzzy AHP

Location selection plays a very prominent role in retailing due to its high and long-term investments. It is very difficult to make up once an inappropriate convenience store (CVS) location has been established. The conventional approaches within this domain can only provide a set of systematic steps for problem-solving without involving the relationship among the decision factors globally. Therefore, this study dedicates to develop a decision support system using the fuzzy sets theory being integrated with analytical hierarchy process (AHP) for locating a new CVS. The proposed system consists of four components: (1) hierarchical structure development for fuzzy AHP, (2) weights determination, (3) data collection, and (4) decision making. The model evaluation results, based on 7-ELEVEN joined retailing system, showed that the proposed system is able to provide very good solution both in accuracy and speed for the top managers.