Methods, systems and apparatus to select store sites

An apparatus to predict store performance, comprising:

• a physical characteristics manager to generate a list of first descriptor types associated with a plurality of existing store locations;
• a principal components engine to:
• calculate a set of analog principal components factors (PCFs) for corresponding ones of the plurality of existing store locations;
• and
• calculate a set of candidate PCFs for corresponding ones of a plurality of candidate locations;
• a similarity engine to calculate respective similarity values based on the PCFs associated with respective pairs of the plurality of existing store locations and the plurality of candidate locations;
• and
• a prediction engine to:
• for corresponding ones of the plurality of candidate locations, calculate a sum of second descriptor types associated with the existing store locations based on the respective similarity value;
• and
• predict the performance of the candidate store locations based on a ratio of a sum of second descriptor types and a sum of the similarity values for the corresponding existing store location.

A tangible machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to, at least:

• generate a list of first descriptor types associated with a plurality of existing store locations;
• calculate a set of analog principal components factors (PCFs) for corresponding ones of the plurality of existing store locations;
• calculate a set of candidate PCFs for corresponding ones of a plurality of candidate locations;
• calculate respective similarity values based on the PCFs associated with respective pairs of the plurality of existing store locations and the plurality of candidate locations;
• for corresponding ones of the plurality of candidate locations, calculate a sum of second descriptor types associated with the existing store locations based on the respective similarity value;
• and
• predict the performance of the candidate store locations based on a ratio of a sum of second descriptor types and a sum of the similarity values for the corresponding existing store location.