With a rising focus on omni-channel initiatives, retailers haven’t lost sight of the fact that brick and mortar stores are still and will continue to be one of the most important channels for retailers.
Retailers of all kinds are seeking brick and mortar expansion opportunities, which is driving down vacancy rates while simultaneously driving up prices.
As a result, competition for good retail space is fierce and is only being compounded by the fact that the amount of new retail development has not kept pace with demand. Even rising construction levels are not expected to alleviate the problem.
Further adding to the challenges of expanding brick and mortar stores is the fact that spotting the opportunities with the greatest promise can be extremely difficult – especially as retailers remain eager to grow their presence in budding geographies, tap into new and underserved markets, and launch new store formats and concepts.
Fortunately, retailers who are poised for growth have a new ally: customer analytics.
Customer analytics provide the type of complex data analysis that’s crucial for identifying sites that have the most potential and are in close proximity to your best customers and their look-alikes.
3 Key Analytics Capabilities for Retailers
For retailers who want to ensure the success of their expansion efforts, customer analytics provide solutions that are designed to answer some of the most pressing business questions they face.
- Market Assessment. For retailers with expansion plans, customer analytics can help identify underserved markets, markets with strong anticipated growth, markets that may be oversaturated and areas with heavy concentrations of discretionary income.
- Site Analysis. Once a market or trade area is identified, analytics involving demographics, psychographics, competitors, traffic patterns and other criteria can be used to evaluate which specific locations hold the most promise.
- Performance Projections. Markets change. What seems like an ideal location today may not be prime real estate 10 years from now. Analytics can reveal trends and changing demographics of various areas so that expanding organizations have a clearer picture of the opportunities they’ll find today – and in the years ahead.
The Bottom Line
At the end of the day, developing a store network of hundreds or thousands of stores is a substantial undertaking, fraught with risks and challenges.
Retailers need to pick the best markets and the best sites within those markets for their new locations and concepts, determine the optimal number of locations for each market and keep up with consumer expectations.
But no matter what your growth strategy is, customer analytics can provide the insights necessary for retail executives to make well founded and accurate decisions for the growth and well-being of their brand.
As the retail real estate market becomes more aggressive, the stakes are higher than ever before. How will you position your brand for long-term success? Talk to us to learn more about how customer analytics can help you grow with confidence.
