Three Essays for the Retail Planner: Spatializing Bass Temporalizing Huff and Visualizing the Ensemble

This dissertation integrates and extends an ensemble of classic spatial and temporal models seeking to contribute to retail trade area theory. The manuscript represents an integrated approach to location intelligence across retail trade areas. It is divided into three studies. The first chapter sets up the theoretical framework and mechanisms, demonstrating how the Bass model of retail innovation diffusion can be extended with Bayesian analysis to generate trade areas. The second chapter focuses on operationalizing the spatial interactions and generating processes of the Huff model to capture incremental periodic end state market area equilibria. The third chapter presents a novel and innovative three-way factor node analysis with a visualization called "Avatar". It can be either a 3D printed object or a 3D software visualization operating in a special 3D Excel add-on.