FANTASTIC SAMS AND BUXTON TEAM UP TO ADVANCE EXPANSION EFFORTS DURING THE TOUGH ECONOMY

Posted on January 12, 2009 by Tanya Brown

BOSTON - Fantastic Sams Hair Salons, the largest full service hair care franchise, engaged Buxton to provide the information it needs to make strategic expansion decisions. Buxton is the industry leader in customer analytics and retail site selection technology, providing strategic target marketing research services to major retailers, cities and economic development groups throughout the United States. Using its proprietary Buxton Real Estate Solutions product, a predictive model was built for Fantastic Sams to score potential sites throughout the country.

Currently, Fantastic Sams has nearly 1,400 salons operating in the United States and is targeting growing metropolitan areas where Fantastic Sams has already built a significant brand presence. Buxton has been gathering Fantastic Sams customer data over the past year to help accurately define the store’s performance. Buxton then uses their Real Estate Solutions product and services to actively identify which markets are best for expansion, marketing and merchandising.

"Buxton’s proven Real Estate Solutions will allow Fantastic Sams to accurately assess the potential of future locations," says Charles Wetzel, president and COO, Buxton. "A quality forecast makes the difference between selecting an exceptional site, an average site or a poor performing site."

"By partnering with Buxton we are able to target the ideal locations for our franchisees expansion efforts that will ultimately aide them in reaching their highest possible sales potential," added Jeff Sturgis vice president of franchise sales and development for Fantastic Sams. "They have supplied us with tools that will allow us to make informed, accurate site decisions and focus on often overlooked, but equally important, pieces of the retail site selection process."

ABOUT FANTASTIC SAMS
With nearly 1,400 salons located throughout North America, Fantastic Sams is one of the world’s largest full service hair care franchises with an excellent reputation for providing quality hair care services for the entire family. Opening their first salon in July 1974, Fantastic Sams began franchising in 1976, marketing their "fixed fee" system and "no appointments" necessary concept to entrepreneurs seeking to own and operate their own successful business.

ABOUT BUXTON
Since 1994, Buxton has been the industry leader in customer analytics for the retail industry. Its focus now includes healthcare organizations, consumer packaged goods manufacturers and city governments. Buxton draws from its individual- and household-level data to determine lifestyles and buying habits to clearly identify an organization’s best customers and find more like them anywhere in the U.S. Among its 1,700 clients are retailers FedEx Office, PETCO, The Container Store and New Balance Shoes. Buxton’s founder Tom Buxton was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year® 2007 in Business Services for the Southwest Area. In 2006, Retail Traffic recognized Buxton as one of three figures "influencing the future of retail real estate." Buxton was also selected as one of the Most Innovative Companies in the 2006 American Business Awards and was named #2 in Fast Company magazine’s 2005 Fast 50 list of top innovators and technology pioneers.