A knowledge-based system for developing retail location strategies

This paper proposes a knowledge-based system to support the analysis of problems and formulation of actions in the field of retail location planning. The decision table is used as a formalism for representing an exhaustive and exclusive set of decision rules typically used by Dutch planners and retailers. The proposed model is implemented in a knowledge-based system where it can be used interactively in combination with conventional spatial models for predicting and analysing retail system operations. A case study in the area of daily good facilities demonstrates the approach. The major conclusion is that the knowledge-based approach and in particular the decision table technique may assist planners/retailers to effectively structure complex retail location problems.