City of Ellensburg Visitor Center

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2.1.2 Trade Area Definition Although the number of visits provides an overall view of customer origin,a more accurate way to evaluate customer loyalty is to frame customer visits in the context of the population of each zip code.This method corrects for zip codes that have exceedingly large or small populations that might skew the market penetration data.The primary trade area (PTA)is the geography where the most loyal and frequent customers to community businesses reside. Tables 1.1 and 1.2 reveal customer visits per thousand residents,showing an index that allows for an equal comparison of market penetration per zip code.It shows customer visits per thousand people for the highest representative visits to the Ellensburg community during both survey periods in 2015. Visits per Zip Name Population Visits Thousand 98926 Ellensburg INúlDE †$,$74 fiž¼242 98926 Ellensburg QUWSIDE 13,002 150 1'Idi CWU Central Washington Univ.11,799 71 6.0 96934 Kittitas 1;¾83 20 12.0 98922 Cle Elum 1;109 40 40.7 Table 1.1:Customer visits per 1,000 population in July of2015. Visits PerZipNamePoppiationVisitsThousand 98926 EIIgrisburg 1NB1DE †8Ú74 708 37.7 :96926 Ellensburg Optside 13;002 219 14.8 CWU Central Washington U.11,799 366 31.0 98934 X1ttitas 11;587 78 49.3 98922 Cle EIDm 11,12¶46 70Ž Table 1.2:Customer visits per 1,000 population in October of 2015. Determining the primary trade area can sometimes be more "art"than science.At times, significant breaks in customer visits are not obvious.In Ellensburg's case,the division is clear; Ellensburg,Kittitas,and Cle Elum emerge as the "most loyal"zip codes for area businesses and are thus identified as the primary trade area.Additionally,visits from Central Washington University students also fall into this range during the October survey but not the survey conducted in July.This suggests that for the months that school is in session,CWU students contribute significantly to the Ellensburg market. 8