AN INDEX METHOD FOR SELECTING REPRESENTATIVE CITIES OF A TARGET MARKET

An index was developed to rank U.S. metropolitan areas according to overall similarities in their socio-economic characteristics to the U.S. average. This index is given as a solution to matching a representative city or market area to a target market as well as matching a group of cities which are similar to each other. The index shows stability in ranking these cities with different consumption data for similar products and proves to be a promising approach whenever the researcher must find a group of cities which are similar to each other and to the target market.