Syllabus: AQA - GCSE Businesss
Module: 3.1 Business in the Real World
Lesson: 3.1.5 Business Location

Introduction

Choosing the right location is one of the most strategic decisions a business makes. In AQA’s GCSE Business syllabus, section 3.1.5 of Business in the Real World focuses on how and why businesses select particular sites — a decision that can impact costs, customer access, and long-term viability.

This article is designed to help teachers and school leaders deliver this topic effectively, with full alignment to the AQA specification. It blends core curriculum knowledge with real-world context, practical teaching ideas, and clear links to assessment — all tailored to support busy teachers, SLT, and careers leads.

Key Concepts

According to the AQA GCSE Business specification (3.1.5), students are expected to understand:

• Factors influencing business location including:

  • Proximity to market

  • Labour supply

  • Materials and suppliers

  • Competition

  • Costs (e.g. rent, wages)

  • Technology and e-commerce

• Impact of e-commerce on location decisions:

  • Less reliance on footfall or physical proximity to customers

  • Greater flexibility in choosing lower-cost locations

• Location and business type:

  • The location needs of retailers vs. manufacturers vs. service providers

  • Importance of access to transport networks and infrastructure

• Business size and location:

  • How start-ups differ from established businesses in location priorities

These concepts help students understand not only where businesses choose to operate, but why those decisions matter.

Real-World Relevance

Business location decisions play out visibly in communities and the economy every day. Some examples to bring the topic to life:

• Amazon’s warehouse strategy: Placing fulfilment centres near major road networks but outside city centres to reduce costs while maintaining delivery speed.

• Greggs’ high-street dominance: Choosing high footfall areas near transport hubs to target commuters.

• Start-ups using co-working spaces: Many digital start-ups initially choose flexible office space in cities like Manchester, Leeds or Bristol to be near talent and investment.

• Online-only retailers: Brands like ASOS or Gymshark operate from warehouses with no customer-facing stores, prioritising logistics over visibility.

Teachers can invite students to explore what businesses in their local area might consider when choosing their site — ideal for a walking homework task or photo scavenger hunt.

How It’s Assessed

In AQA’s GCSE Business assessments, this topic typically appears in Paper 1: Influences of operations and HRM on business activity.

Expect a mix of:

• Multiple-choice questions (e.g. “Which of the following is most likely to influence a manufacturer’s location?”)

• Short-answer questions (2–3 marks), often asking for reasons or examples

• ‘Explain’ questions (4 marks), requiring application of factors in a given context

• ‘Analyse’ and ‘Evaluate’ questions (6–9 marks), which may involve comparing location options or justifying a decision based on data or a case study

Command words like ‘explain’, ‘analyse’ and ‘justify’ are common. Students must be confident applying their knowledge to specific business scenarios.

Enterprise Skills Integration

This unit is an excellent opportunity to develop key enterprise capabilities:

• Decision-making: Students weigh location options using constraints like budget, access, and goals.

• Problem-solving: They consider how a business might adapt if its preferred location is unavailable or unaffordable.

• Commercial awareness: Discussions about customer access, cost efficiency, and competitor positioning build real-world thinking.

• Critical thinking: Comparing the pros and cons of city centre vs. out-of-town locations requires evidence-based reasoning.

Teachers using Enterprise Skills’ Business Simulations can extend this with sessions where students run fictional businesses and must choose their site — and face the consequences. These plug-and-play sessions build understanding through experience.

Careers Links

Location strategy is deeply connected to real career paths, making this topic ideal for embedding Gatsby Benchmarks 4, 5 and 6.

Relevant roles and pathways include:

• Operations Manager – responsible for optimising location-related costs

• Urban Planner – working with councils to zone areas for business development

• Supply Chain Analyst – using data to influence location decisions for distribution centres

• Retail Manager – assessing local competition and customer access

• Entrepreneur – choosing where to launch a start-up based on footfall and rent

Use this topic to start a conversation about how location decisions are made not just by large corporations, but by local businesses and future employers.

Teaching Notes

Tips for delivery

• Start with the student’s world: why is a local takeaway in one location but not another?

• Use map-based tasks to explore location factors with actual businesses

• Flip the classroom: set a case study for homework, then debate the decision in class

Common pitfalls

• Students often assume “closer to customers” is always better. Introduce trade-offs — rent, competition, logistics.

• They may ignore online businesses. Be sure to cover how e-commerce alters location strategy.

Extension activities

• Simulation task: Students act as business owners choosing between two locations. Include data: rent, staff availability, customer base.

• Local research project: Analyse why a new shop opened (or closed) in their area.

• Cross-topic link: Connect to 3.2.2 (Technology) by exploring how digital tools affect location needs.