The issue is a synthesis of different diagnostics posed on the commercial function. An issue can be defined by what is to lose or win. For example, the issue of urban sprawl may mean commercial spread, preventing the creation or consolidation of a critical trade mass. The stake may also have the sense of limiting the valuation of municipal land, an underutilization of space, a factor that hides the local commercial identity. The issues fall into categories: strategic, operational, and management. Some of the key strategic issues include:

1. An issue of territorial commercial structure. For the sake of market efficiency, businesses must be part of a specific type of commercial service. It is the concept of commercial hierarchy that affects spatial planning.
2. An issue of commercial autonomy. It involves the presence of enough business concepts that maximize local supply and reduce dependency on other territories. It is an important issue assessed in terms of jobs, investments, business space, and municipal tax revenue streams.
3. A challenge of commercial seduction. It is the nature of the business to seduce the customers. However, in many cases, this objective seems to vanish over time, and the commercial offer weakens. Here, it is as much the domain of the maintenance of the facades, the development of the public amenities, the real estate architecture, the management of the display as that of the margins before, the location of the private parking lots, pedestrian routes, street furniture, and ambiance.