Milestone’s Benchmarking Service

Truly understand a centre’s performance compared to a database of around 5,000 towns and cities

Truly understand a centre’s performance compared to a database of around 5,000 locations.

Milestone’s benchmarking service builds on the Town Profile Report so that a town or city can compare its performance with other towns and cities nationally.

For the first time the town or city is able to identify the extent to which it is over or under performing relative to a range of benchmarks, and to be able to clearly understand the type and quantum of change that is required to enable to achieve its potential. These benchmarks include:

  • UK average
  • Regional average
  • Location grade average
  • Town type average

Integral to this is the fact that a town can differentiate between trends that are local and specific from those that are more general and a function of national or regional trends. Such knowledge is critical to establish a cohesive strategy, to specify effective tactics and to measure success.

Benchmarking 
questions answered...

As importantly, it provides the intelligence that is required for a town to be able to demonstrate its potential to inward investors, for example:

  • Does the town’s employment profile demonstrate a greater than average supply of appropriately skilled employees?
  • Is the business sector expanding to a greater extent than the average for the UK or the region, or does it have a lower than average unemployment rate?
  • Is the trend in property values more favourable than for the UK as a whole or across similar towns nationally; and/or in the light of other favourable indicators of performance, does it offer an opportunity to capture greater than average growth?
  • Does the town/city have an above average spend and market share within its catchment, and does this indicate a favourable trading environment for retailers?
  • Is the retail offer in the town/city strong relative to key benchmarks, and is the positioning of the town/city’s retail offer complementary to retailers’ formats, reinforcing its above average potential as a trading location?