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Profiting from the Net - Streamlining site

Although it may be difficult to quantify, countless deals have been lost over the years while developers struggled to put site packages together for potential tenants.

Such packages, which often include detailed maps, demographic information, market studies, center renderings and aerial photographs, can take days if not weeks to assemble.

Thanks to the Internet, however, those days may be over.

Many demographic firms now offer site reports over the Internet in minutes instead of hours or days, while others plan on offering more detailed data, such as mapping, in the near future.

"Speed is important because real estate is moving so fast today -- the speed of your deal is almost as important as the deal itself," said Dean Stoecker, president of DemographicsNow.com, an Orange, Calif.-based company which offers online site reports.

"What we're hearing from people is that you can no longer spend three days building some type of information packet for a tenant."

The time delay for getting reports in the hands of customers has gradually diminished over the years, according to Eric Cohen, vice president of CACI Marketing Systems, an Arlington, Va.-based demographics company that has been operating for nearly 30 years.

"When the industry got started in the 1970s, the data was delivered in hard copy reports, but there was a significant time delay," he said, noting that reports usually took either a few days or even a week to process.

"Since that time, we've seen the turnaround time improve to 24 hours, then same day, and over the last few years it's gone down to three hours," he explained. "Now, with the advent of the Web, it's instantaneous."

The first demographic company to offer reports over the Internet, Information Decision Systems, was acquired by CACI last year, he added, noting that the combined firm now serves a client base of more than 20,000 companies.

The main advantage Internet reports have over traditional call-in services and in-house geographic information systems (GIS) -- desktop systems which allow users to create their own reports -- besides the turnaround time, is that they can be accessed 24 hours a day and seven days a week, Cohen said.

"There's also a lower cost involved with Internet reports, which can add up over time," he said. "I'd say it's probably less expensive by about 10% to 20%."

On the other hand, Cohen added that Internet reports still have shortcomings in comparison to their call-in and GIS counterparts.

"First of all, the templates are all preformatted, and the type of reports are not as varied,'' he said. "You're usually limited in what you can get on the Web -- you can only get canned reports and they can't be customized."

Developers or retailers looking to get age breaks for a market with a lot of children, cannot get more specific information than groupings from ages one to five, six to 10 and 11 to 15 over CACI's Website, Cohen explained, noting that the Internet works well as long as the user fits the mold.

"If you wanted anything different, you wouldn't be able to do that on the Web right now," he said. "You would need to talk to someone who could customize that for you."

Downloading times can also be a factor, depending on the speed of the user's modem or the traffic on the Internet.

"With something like mapping, it's sometimes difficult to download, and anybody who surfs the Net knows there's a big difference between the traffic at 8:00 a.m. and the traffic at 2:00 p.m.," he said. "Until that technology is improved there will be delays."

Fortunately, Cohen said, it appears that those concerns may soon be addressed.

"As the technology evolves, that time delay will no longer be a factor," he explained. "I also see the range of data available over the Internet expanding to include a wider variety of reports."

CACI still does more business with its GIS systems and call-in services, although Cohen believes that will eventually change.

"We have thousands of people using the Internet service, and I see that as a growing percentage of our business."

But users are not abandoning other methods of delivery such as GIS and call-in services.

Depending on circumstances, Cohen said, he's noticed that many of CACI's customers use each of the services.

"It's interesting; a lot of our customers use them all -- some people purchase the systems on the desktops and still call us up for reports or use the Internet."

In many ways, Cohen said the demographic industry mirrors the retail industry, especially in terms of the effect of the Internet.

"It's not like all the stores are going to go away just because of the Internet, just like television didn't replace radio; it just expands the number of options," he said.

Officials at San Diego-based National Decision Systems also view the Internet as the next demographic frontier.

The company, which also offers desktop software and call-in services, began selling online reports in February of last year at its Website -- Sitereports.com, according to Sandra Piccillo, marketing and product development manager for the firm.

As of now, Piccillo said the Internet service only accounts for 10% of the company's business, but she believes that will change as more developers and retailers gain Internet access.

"A good portion of our client base is just getting started with some of the Internet technology, and I think as people get more familiar with it they will start to use it more," she said.

Piccillo said improvements in technology will eventually make the Internet service more viable for a larger percentage of NDS' customers.

"Right now a lot is dependent on the customer's connection to the Internet, whether they have a fast modem or slow modem," she explained. "As those technologies improve and the costs go down, I definitely think the number of users will increase.''

NDS has also expanded the number of reports it offers since Sitereports.com made its debut.

"We started out just offering reports that were available on a radius basis, and after that we added other services that allow customers to order specific zip codes, counties or entire states, as well as mapping," she said.

The company basically attempts to identify what works well for its call-in services and then tries to replicate that on the Internet, she added.

Due to limitations in technology, however, NDS still does not offer certain services over the Internet, Piccillo said.

"Some people want custom reports for specific projects, that kind of thing is still not available, at least at this time," she said. "Right now we offer five map types and the radius limit is only 30 miles."

On the plus side, Internet customers can download an unlimited number of reports up to 72 hours after they've been ordered, which would allow a developer to print a site map on the road when meeting with clients, Piccillo said.

She noted that customers also appear to be taking advantage of both the Internet and call-in services, depending on their needs.

"We've found that people use both. Sometimes they want things a little quicker, so they'll use the Website for that."

Over time, the Internet will eventually grow to become much more of a factor than it is today, Piccillo said.

"I definitely see us adding more reports, adding more features," she said. "Obviously our competition is out there as well looking to do the same, so I definitely see the Internet playing a larger role down the line."

Nearly everyone involved in the real estate business, whether they're buying, selling or building, needs demographic information, according to Stoecker of DemographicsNow.com.

If he wasn't already convinced, Stoecker said he was sold after reviewing the results of his company's venture on ICSCNET earlier this year, where it offered free demographic reports. (Although some reports are free, ICSC members can pay $795 a year for unlimited access to demographic maps and reports.)

Since launching the service in May, he said there have been 2,500 user sessions and more than 8,000 reports run over a four-and-a-half-month period.

Stoecker said the high level of activity demonstrates that developers need demographic information quicker than ever before.

In addition, Stoecker said the process needs to be simple enough so that dealmakers can generate their own reports, not just research analysts.

"The idea is that any dealmaker can generate reports from any computer," he said. "That would free up research analysts for really complicated projects or acquisitions, so they could provide analytic services instead of running mundane reports."

While the Internet may be limited compared with state-of-the-art GIS applications, Stoecker believes that will gradually change.

"In my view, in the next two years 75% of all demographic research will be done over the Web, and over the next five years I think you'll eventually see things that aren't possible on the desktop systems being done over the Web."