Optimizing new chain retail store area by using Voronoi diagram technique

This study probes into a large-scale retail chain store in the central business district (CBD) and discusses how chain stores avoid competitors and its own market fields to explore availabilities of commercial opportunity and economic development. This study adapts Voronoi diagram technique, which is applied as a new method in the field of technology management, in order to optimize the selection of new locations. In this study, the concept of center place theory (CPT) provides an important value of studying industrial market development of Voronoi technique using geographic information system (GIS). This study constructs an algorithm to optimize the decision-making in the selection of new chain store location. According to the literature reviews, three most important factors affecting the decision-making of selecting a new location for stores are transportation, population, and site. It is necessary to calculate the optimal service ranges and conduct the comprehensive analysis of weighted Voronoi diagram (WVD) for these three critical factors. The biggest weight in WVD is chosen in this study as the general goal area of a new chain location, and then using the concept of Cone of Influence to find a smaller area for the specific store location within the WVD areas. This optimized new store location should be the ideal selection for business development of large-scale retail chain stores.