Location Analytics: When Location Matters
Location analytics has become an essential tool for businesses looking to expand or optimize locations for their operations. In the Business-to-Consumer (B2C) segment, this is a critical step in maximizing your return on investment.
Location analytics refers to the process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data related to the physical location of a property. It is a necessary tool to inform decision-making for commercial real estate management. By leveraging location information, businesses can make more informed decisions about property acquisitions, pricing strategies, leasing agreements, and marketing efforts.
Fischer Solutions’ proprietary solutions, ManagePath and Visual Manager, provide the power and agility necessary to seamlessly integrate solutions for location analytics. In this blog post, we’ll break down the ways you can benefit from location-based intelligence.
Where to Begin? Assess your Needs
Integrated service and technology solutions that offer data analytics can provide valuable insights that help evaluate potential sites with confidence. Any effort in site selection begins with assessing needs. This is most commonly accomplished through discussions with leadership and operations personnel. It covers such topics as:
- current locations
- competitors
- employee skills required
- competition for that type of labor
- customer demographics
- and many others
How an organization plans to differentiate itself also plays a big role. Do they plan on being a low-cost provider, focus on the highest quality and service levels, or somewhere in between? Will they compensate employees in the 50th or 75th percentile? All these factors should be considered.
RE-Searching your Site
A study can be performed for those rare circumstances where extensive performance data is available for current sites. It identifies which perceived location variables, such as geospatial data, demographics, or traffic patterns, have the best correlation to site performance. Where correlations are strong, market research is targeted to best match those conditions.
After establishing search criteria, the initial stages of site selection are compared with a funneling process. Let us consider all areas within a target area, such as:
- the world
- region
- country
- state
- county
- metro level
Then consider which areas within your site search area are missing “must have” characteristics. These can also be thought of as “fatal flaws”.
RE-Evaluating the Priorities
The evaluation of the remaining areas then becomes more detailed, as each of the categories below is considered:
Market Analysis
The elimination of non-conforming areas allows location intelligence software to provide location data that gives a detailed analysis. Depending on the type of business, the real-time market analysis could be performed at
- the county
- postal code
- census tract
- census block levels
This includes information on population density, demographic makeup, and consumer behavior patterns. These data points can help evaluate whether a site is viable for a particular business and identify opportunities for growth..
Competitive Analysis
Understanding where your organization ranks with respect to the competition and where you would like to be is another major factor. Location analytics from integrated service and technology solutions can also help evaluate the competition.
This includes information on nearby competitor businesses, complementary businesses, their size, and the services they offer. This business data helps you understand the market share that will realistically be gained. Location intelligence solutions, such as ManagePath and Visual Manager, also identify opportunities for differentiation.
Site Selection
Once target areas are identified and the competitive landscape is established, Fischer Solutions provides detailed location analytics. This helps evaluate potential sites based on factors like
- traffic
- accessibility
- visibility
This data visualization can help businesses identify the most suitable site for their operations.
- Which sites meet the operational parameters of the business?
- Which sites have the best ingress/egress?
- Are there “magnate” businesses or other attractions that drive traffic through the area?
You can analyze data and business intelligence to evaluate the risks and opportunities associated with each potential site.
Operational Efficiency
Location analytics can also help businesses optimize their operations by identifying opportunities to improve efficiency.
For example, 1) data on traffic patterns can help optimize delivery routes. 2) information on population density can help determine the best times to open or close a location.
Identifying options with the best opportunity to avoid pulling business from those existing locations while maximizing new market share is key. Especially when adding locations to a market with an organization’s existing facilities.
Forecasting
Fischer Solutions’ integrated service and technology solutions can provide location analytics that help businesses forecast future demand. This includes big data on:
- population growth
- demographic trends
- consumer behavior patterns such as spend for specific categories of goods or services
With this data, businesses will make informed decisions about investment and expansion. In addition to ensuring that the business is well-positioned to meet future demand.
Conclusion
In conclusion, ManagePath and Visual Manager can provide valuable insights that help businesses evaluate potential sites with confidence. With detailed market and competitive analysis, location analytics can help businesses understand the market share they can realistically expect to gain.
This information, combined with data on traffic patterns, accessibility, and other key factors, can help businesses identify the most suitable sites, all the while, optimizing their operations for maximum efficiency. For more information on how Fischer Solutions can help your business, request a demo TODAY!
