Final Customer Purchasing from an Intermediary of the Product

Acquire Steps: Acquire steps include all activities the customer completes preceding the purchase of the product. These steps include the customer's efforts needed to identify and evaluate Intermediaries and travel to the Intermediary location.

B.
Resources: Reduce resources required for the use of the product

2.
Time: Reduce the time the customer must spend with the product

A. Reduce steps the customer must use with the product.

Bring products closer to the customer
Bring current products closer to new customers
Serve new customers in a new geographic market

Expand in many directions

No.	Year	SIC	Note
1	2003	5200	Store growth is continuing at Tractor Supply. The chain boasts almost 460 stores in 30 states, with concentrations in Texas, Ohio, and Michigan. Officials plan to add 10% more stores a year.
2	2003	5311	Kohl's discount department store has become a strong retailer because it offers suppliers the growth that other department stores cannot. It is one of the only retailers opening stores in large numbers, adding an additional 95 stores next year to its existing 542 in 36 states.
3	2002	5331	99 Cent Only plans to take on the much larger Family Dollar and Dollar General chains with a national expansion. One difference between 99 Cents Only and the other stores is that 99 Cents prefers to go into middle class neighborhoods.
4	2005	5411	Whole Foods Market has grown exponentially in the past decade. It now has 168 stores throughout the country and expects to increase its square footage by 57% by 2008.
5	2001	5521	AutoNation's rapid rollout in sought-after markets and continuous tweaking of its sales strategy undermined CarMax's growth and the credibility of the used-car superstore concept.
6	2005	5600	Over the next five years, Polo RL expects to open 50 to 60 stores in the U.S. and 20 to 25 in Europe.
7	1999	5632	Due to its efficient operating system, Steven Madden Ltd. Has been able to grow rapidly in a largely lackluster shoe market. U.S. retail sales of shoes inched up only 3.5% to $37.6 billion. Madden's sales have climbed an average of 73% a year since 1995. The company also has built a thriving Internet business, which should do $1 million in sales this year, up from $200,000 in 1998. The company plans to expand its retail chain to fuel growth. Madden has 43 stores, up from 32 at the end of 1998 and four in 1996. It plans to have at least 44 stores by year's end and will add 10 annually for the next several years.
8	2004	5712	Last year Aaron opened 38 stores from scratch and added 59 via acquisitions. It currently has 900 stores in 43 states, Puerto Rico and Canada. Aaron is set to open 140 stores this year, half of which will be franchised. It plans to open another 20 via acquisitions. Aaron's biggest rival is Rent-a-Center. It has more than 2,600 stores in 50 states.
9	1993	5731	Circuit City, reporting good results, plans to open 180 new superstores to place it in most major US markets within 3 years.
10	2002	5731	Best Buy plans to open about 60 stores in the U.S. this year. The main focus will be in New York. It is opening stores at a 12% annual rate.
11	1995	5734	McDonald's has the advantage as far as convenient locations go. It owns & develops restaurant sites then charges franchisees rent for the property. So McDonald's commits more capital/unit to its franchises, but it's in very convenient locations.
12	2001	5812	Sonic plans to open up 190-200 new stores this year which is 175 more than last year. 40 of these stores will be company-owned. This expansion is important to get more brand awareness; two or three of Sonic's 50 markets are saturated.
13	2002	5900	Bath & Body Works is opening 42 new stores in 2002 for a total count of 1,642. Crabtree & Evelyn is opening 10 new stores for a total of 145.
14	2000	6021	Northern Trust wants to run 100 personal financial services offices around the country by 2003–that would put it in range of 40% of millionaire households. It currently has 81 offices in 12 states with an emphasis on the Sunbelt, where its clients retire.
15	2001	6141	Currently, AmeriCredit Corp. is focused on expansion, planning on reaching 220 offices by mid-2001, continuing on with a 10% yearly growth rate.
16	2001	7841	The Movie Gallery mostly has stores in rural or secondary markets. It doesn't even bother to compete against Blockbuster and Hollywood, the top two players in the video rental industry. Movie Gallery opens stores in towns with 5,000 to 20,000 people.
17	2002	7841	Netflix is expanding its network of distribution centers to increase its ability to offer over night delivery of DVD movies in 10 net metropolitan areas. It already has 3% of the San Francisco Bay Area households as subscribers.
18	2002	7841	Seventy percent of the U.S. population lives within a ten minute drive of Blockbuster.

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