East Harlem Merchant Survey Analysis

EAST HARLEM MERCHANT SURVEY ANALYSIS

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Sam Law

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Working with Local Businesses and the Community to enrich the qual i ty o f l i fe on East 125th Street by engaging in creat ive init iat ives to improve the area

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http://www.nhema125th.com

Executive Summary

Since its inception in 2013, the New Harlem East Merchants Association (NHEMA) has strived to provide an organization where business owners, developers, property owners, residents, workers and community members can collaborate and improve the area for those who live and work in this diverse and vibrant community. While East Harlem is made up of 4 distinct retail corridors where the majority of retail and services are located, NHEMA focuses specifically on the retail corridor on 125th street between 5th Avenue and 2nd Avenue. According to a 2011 retail analysis report , this corridor is the second most active retail corridor in East Harlem, accounting for 17% of the 1

businesses in the four corridors.

This corridor however faces significant problems. A detailed expenditure analysis conducted by the Community Board 11 found that local businesses were capturing only 30% of the 1.2 billion dollars East Harlem Residents annually spent. A survey of customers, the majority of whom were residents, conducted by NHEMA found that much of this phenomenon of outshopping was caused by negative perceptions of the retail corridor. While some negative perception revolved around issues like the large number of street homeless individuals and methadone clinics in the area, people in the survey also indicated that they perceived the retail corridor lacked diverse retail options.

The concerns outlined in this first customer experience report largely corresponded the types of merchant organizing NHEMA was already doing- marketing, aesthetic improvements and placemaking. However, a challenge NHEMA has consistently faced is low participation from our merchant members. To better understand the challenges faced by the merchants themeselves and how NHEMA could better serve and represent them, we conducted the Merchant Survey in the spring of 2015.

This survey provides a clearer picture of the merchants who are along the corridor, their own marketing efforts, the challenges they face and the areas in which they feel the merchants association could better serve them.

“East Harlem Retail Analysis” conducted by Paul Costa, fellow at Community Board 11 of Manhattan 1

N e w H a r l e m E a s t M e r c h a n t s A s s o c i a t i o n E a s t H a r l e m R e t a i l M e r c h a n t A n a l y s i s

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Table of ContentsIntroduction 2 The Businesses 3 Marketing and Other Assistance 6 Common Challenges 8 Conclusion 9


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Introduction

Since its inception in 2013, the New Harlem East Merchants Association (NHEMA) has strived to provide an organization where business owners, developers, property owners, residents, workers and community members can collaborate and improve the area for those who live and work in this diverse and vibrant community. While East Harlem is made up of 4 distinct retail corridors where the majority of retail and services are located, NHEMA focuses specifically on the retail corridor on 125th street between 5th Avenue and 2nd Avenue. According to a 2011 retail analysis report , this corridor is the second most active retail corridor in East Harlem, accounting for 17% of the 2

businesses in the four corridors.

This corridor however faces significant problems. A detailed expenditure analysis conducted by the Community Board 11 found that local businesses were capturing only 30% of the 1.2 billion dollars East Harlem Residents annually spent. A survey of customers, the majority of whom were residents, conducted by NHEMA found that much of this phenomenon of outshopping was caused by negative perceptions of the retail corridor. While some negative perception revolved around issues like the large number of street homeless individuals and the oversaturation of methadone clinics in the area, people in the survey also indicated that they perceived the retail corridor lacked diverse retail options.

The concerns outlined in this first customer experience report largely corresponded the types of merchant organizing NHEMA was already doing- marketing, aesthetic improvements and placemaking. However, a challenge NHEMA has consistently faced is low participation from our merchant members. To better understand the challenges faced by the merchants themeselves and how NHEMA could better serve and represent them, we conducted a Merchant Survey (Appendix A) . This report presents the findings from this survey about the merchants, their businesses and the challenges faced by the merchants and a brief conclusion that discusses how NHEMA envisions addresses challenges faced with merchant organizing based on results from this survey.

“East Harlem Retail Analysis” conducted by Paul Costa, fellow at Community Board 11 of Manhattan 2


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The BusinessesOut of approximately 90 merchants along the East 125th Street corridor (defined here as the area between 126th and 123rd street from 2nd to 5th avenue), we collected surveys from 29 different merchants. Collectively, the merchants surveyed represented more than 125,000 square feet of retail space, employed 250 employees and served an estimated 23,000 customers a week. The stores on average had been in operation for 14.57 years, with the most recent being 3 months old and the oldest (Apple Bank) being 152 years old. A reoccurring of customers surveyed in our previous customer Survey report was the lack of minority or resident owned businesses. In our survey, 16% of business owners lived in East Harlem. The ethnic makeup of merchants is hard to determine due to a large number who preferred not to answer the question, but, as can be seen from the chart 1, there are indeed a sizable number of minority owned businesses in the retail corridor.

CHART 1 : ETHNICITY OF SURVEYED MERCHANTS

The businesses surveyed were a representative of businesses in East Harlem: Restaurants, banks, clothing stores, pharmacies, electronics stores, bakeries, laundromats, cafes, art supply stores, cellphone providers and furnitures stores (see chart 2 for distribution).


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40%

20%

16%

4%

20%

Africian American Asian American Latino/a WhitePrefer not to Answer

CHART 2 : DIFFERENT TYPES OF BUSINESSES SURVEYED

As a diverse assortment of businesses, it is not surprising to find that many had different daily and seasonal variation in frequency of customer sales. Some businesses, for example, reported the summer months as their most busy months, citing increased foot traffic. Others however reported that holiday sales in December accounted for a significant percentage of their overall sales. Overall, however, the data indicates that December was the busiest month for most merchants, followed by June and July. September and October appear especially hard with no merchants reporting them being busy shopping months. Chart 3 shows the months that merchants reported being the most busy.

CHART 3 : BUSIEST MONTH OF THE YEAR


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ShoesClothing

BankBarbershop

PharmacyElectronicsCellphones

ServiceRealty

LandromatFurniture

BakeryGrocery

RestaurantCafe

TakeoutPrinting

Art Supplies0 1.25 2.5 3.75 5

JanuaryFebuary

MarchAprilMayJuneJuly

AugustSeptember

October NovemberDecember

0 1.75 3.5 5.25 7

Similar variation could be found in the frequency of the days of the week reported being the most busy (Chart 4). Some businesses (like printing services) reported being busier during weekdays, while many businesses reported being the busiest on weekends and on Fridays when people receive their paychecks.

CHART 4 : BUSIEST DAY OF THE WEEK


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Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

0 2 4 6 8

Marketing and Other Assistance

A crucial role for NHEMA involves the marketing and promotion of the 125th Street retail corridor. This entails not only producing our own marketing material to promote local businesses but to assist businesses themselves in creating and crafting their own marketing materials. To better determine how NHEMA could provide marketing assistance, we asked merchants a series of questions about their current marketing strategies and areas in which they need help.

CHART 5 : MARKETING TECHNIQUES USED BY MERCHANTS

As the above chart indicates, the most widespread marketing technique was the use of the internet, followed by direct mail campaigns and advertisements placed in newspapers. This emphasis on the internet was expected due to its cost effectiveness and widespread use. In an age where nearly everyone has a Facebook account and Yelp has replaced the yellow pages, it is crucial for businesses to maintain an active online presence. Indeed, 93% of our merchants who use social media report it driving customer traffic to stores. To better assess the online presence of these merchants, we asked a series of additional questions.

CHART 6 : SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCEN e w H a r l e m E a s t M e r c h a n t s A s s o c i a t i o n E a s t H a r l e m R e t a i l M e r c h a n t A n a l y s i s

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Newspapers

Direct Mail

Window Displays

Internet

Television

Local Service Organizations

Magazines

Radio

Billboards

0 2.5 5 7.5 10

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Yelp

Google Plus

Doesn't Use Social Media

0 3.5 7 10.5 14

Our findings indicate that facebook, instagram and twitter are the most commonly used social media platforms used by our merchants. This makes sense given the relatively widespread adoption of these platforms. What is concerning is that only 4 of our merchants actively use Yelp, despite Yelp being more effective at driving traffic to stores than the other platforms. However, some merchants recognize the need for help with social media, with 9 stating that they would be interested in additional social media assistance (in the form of workshops and training). Several businesses also still do not have websites and expressed an interest in help designing a website.

In addition to questions about marketing, we listed several possible ways that NHEMA could provide assistance to merchants and asked them to rate their level of interest. Merchants were specifically interested in three things: general promotion of the corridor, help coordinating with community events and private networking events for area businesses. This final suggestion is particularly useful as NHEMA has not focused on networking events for merchants and their apparent enthusiasm for the idea may provide a clear path to greater merchant participation in NHEMA.


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Common Challenges

To better identify relevant challenges to merchants, we asked merchants to identify on a 1-5 scale the difficulty of eleven common challenges facing business owners.

CHART 7 : CHALLENGES FACING BUSINESS OWNERS

As we suspected, the most challenging issues facing merchants were directly related to the corridor itself: loitering, bad sidewalk sanitation and a high prevalence of shoplifting and vandalism. The most pressing problem identified by merchants is loitering, directly related to the large number of homeless individuals or clients of methadone clinics who spend their days hanging out on the sidewalk on the 125th street corridor. This issue is directly linked to another major concern, the complaint that there is bad sidewalk sanitation. While NHEMA has made substantial efforts to address this problem by working with the Association from Community Employment (ACE) to provide street cleaning, the corridor stills struggles with issues of cleanliness. Merchants also identified shoplifting and vandalism as issues confronting their stores, reflecting the reality of the corridor being in a high crime area.

Aside from these problems, expensive rent was a major concern for merchants, and for several merchants the issue of sewage backup has been severe and ongoing (though the vast majority of merchants are not effected by this problem at all.)


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Recruiting/Retaining EmployeesExpensive Rent

Poor Building ConditionsTenant/Landlord Relation

Expensive/Unavailable UtilitiesInsuffficent Local Financing

Shoplifting or TheftVandalism

Sewage BackupLoitering

Bad Sidewalk Sanitation0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5

Conclusion

The merchant survey was conducted to help NHEMA gain a better understanding of the challenges faced by merchants in order to better identify the means by which NHEMA can provide assistance. In many respects, the results of the survey confirmed what is apparent about our corridor: that issues of homeless, inadequate sanitation and an over saturation of methadone clinics result in an environment that is not conductive to commercial activity. Addressing these problems has been at the core of NHEMA’s work over the past several years. This work includes our innovative collaboration ACE which hires homeless individuals to help clean up the trash in the 125th Street retail corridor, our work with neighborhood groups towards a moratorium on Methadone clinics and our recent relationship with Picture the Homeless.

Aside from these serious issues that effect the entire corridor, the survey also gave us valuable insight into the seasonal fluctuations that effect business. In the spring of 2015, we issued a spring sales flyer highlighting many of the businesses in the corridor. As we continue to create marketing material, we will use this knowledge of when people are likely to be spending to make material that is more relevant to consumers and merchants.

Finally, this survey identified several concrete ways in which NHEMA can better serve the merchant members. Two of the most actionable items are the requests for regular networking meetings for the merchants and social media training. As NHEMA has struggled with merchant participation, creating events and trainings that are directly relevant and of interest to the merchants is a clear step towards increasing merchant participation. We also plan on hosting social media workshops and targeted trainings to help Merchants understand how to effectively use social media and have an effective presence on Yelp and other online listings.

Overall, this survey provided NHEMA with valuable insight into the situation of merchants in our corridor and gave us clear and actionable next steps that we can use to further our merchant organizing in the 125th Street Retail Corridor.


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Appendix A


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East Harlem Merchant SurveyBusiness Name: _______________________________________ Address: ______________________________________________ Phone #:_________________Website:________________________ What type of business are you? __Grocery __Restaurant __Take Out __Printing __Pharmacies __Shoes/Clothing __Bank __Cafe __Alcoholic Beverages __Electronics __Barbershop/Hair Salon __Auto Services __Dry Cleaning __Other (Please Specify_____________) Does your business own or lease the space in which it is located? __Own ___Lease How many square feet is your business? _________________ How long has your business been in operation? ___________ How long under its current ownership?___________________ Is the business owned by a resident of East Harlem? __Yes __No What is the ethnicity of the owner of the business? __African American ___Latino/a ___Asian __White ___Prefer not to answer How many people does your business employ full time? __________________________________ How many people does your business employ part time? __________________________________ How many customers visit this business per week? _______ What is the busiest day of the week for your business?____ What is the busiest month for your business?_____________

Challenges Please circle a number to indicate the degree to which your business experiences the following challenges

Recruiting or retaining employees Not at all—1—2—3—4—5—Very Much Expensive rent Not at all—1—2—3—4—5—Very Much Poor building condition Not at all—1—2—3—4—5—Very Much Tenant/Landlord Relationship Not at all—1—2—3—4—5—Very Much Expensive or unavailable utilities Not at all—1—2—3—4—5—Very Much Insufficient local financing available Not at all—1—2—3—4—5—Very Much Shoplifting or theft Not at all—1—2—3—4—5—Very Much Vandalism Not at all—1—2—3—4—5—Very Much Sewage Backup Not at all—1—2—3—4—5—Very Much Loitering Not at all—1—2—3—4—5—Very Much Inadequate Sidewalk Sanitation Not at all—1—2—3—4—5—Very Much


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Date post:	22-Jul-2016
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East Harlem Merchant Survey Analysis

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