In today’s competitive real estate market, choosing the right location can be the difference between success and failure. Site selection software ensures your business stays on the path to success.
In this blog, we’ll explore the essentials of site selection software, its key features, and why Buxton leads the field.
What Is Site Selection Software?
Site selection software provides location intelligence, typically through a combination of powerful mapping and reporting tools, to help businesses study trade areas and identify expansion opportunities. The insights may include population statistics such as demographics and psychographics, area business insights such as the presence of nearby competitors or friendly cotenants, and foot traffic and road traffic metrics. The software might also include advanced analytics such as customer profiles and site scoring models.
Conversely, traditional methods of site selection often rely on a mix of manual research, local market knowledge, and consultant recommendations. While these approaches are helpful for validating a site recommended by the data, on their own they are inherently limited by human error, data silos, and time constraints. Without access to comprehensive datasets or predictive tools, traditional methods can lead to oversights, slower decision-making, and suboptimal site selection outcomes. By contrast, site selection software centralizes data and leverages technology to deliver faster, more accurate, and actionable recommendations that can then be confirmed through boots-on-the-ground research.
Real estate teams use this software to get a better sense of a site’s expected performance, reduce risks, and make informed decisions. Compared to traditional methods, it offers unmatched efficiency and directional guidance, ensuring businesses choose locations aligned with their strategic goals.
Why You Need Site Selection Software
Challenges in site selection can delay growth and increase costs. Relying on intuition or manual research often leads to oversights, such as missing data sources or underestimating market cannibalization risks. Site selection software eliminates these issues by delivering actionable insights through analytics that are calibrated to your specific industry.
Identifies Growth Opportunities
Site selection software highlights trade areas ripe for development, uncovering untapped markets and high-potential sites. This proactive approach ensures businesses are ahead of competitors.
Provides Accurate Data for Decision-Making
Comprehensive datasets—including demographic and psychographic data—are included in site selection software, eliminating guesswork and enabling data-driven strategies.
Provides Insights into Expected Performance Before Investment
Many site selection platforms can integrate site scoring tools that provide insights into expected performance, helping businesses prioritize locations with the highest return potential.
Delivers Custom Reports
While map visuals are powerful, reports can help businesses quickly summarize essential information about a market or trade area. Site selection software offers access to these reports on demand and may even allow the user to mix and match datasets to create their own custom report.
Key Features of Site Selection Software
Selecting the right software requires understanding its core features. Here’s what top-performing tools offer:
GIS Mapping
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provide spatial visualizations of datasets layered onto trade areas, enabling users to evaluate locations and prepare visual illustrations.
Robust Reporting
From population statistics to mobility data, site selection software processes extensive datasets into reports for assessing location viability.
Demographic and Psychographic Insights
By providing access to insights on where your customers are concentrated, where similar consumers are located, and the demographic and psychographic characteristics of both your customers and the people in a site’s trade area, site selection software helps your business align location strategy with your best customers.
Industry Specific Datasets
While there are some datasets that all B2C businesses need to consider when making site selection decisions, there are some datasets that are specific to an industry. Healthcare organizations, for example, need to consider payer mix and demand for their specific medical services, since reimbursement plays such a critical role in a healthcare facility’s success. Top site selection software offers features tailored to each industry.
Advanced Forecasting Tools
Site scoring tools, which range from simple site similarity benchmarking tools to forecasting models, provide insights into potential outcomes, ensuring informed decision-making before significant investments.
Sharing Tools
Look for site selection software that offers the ability to share and export both custom map views and reports. These features make it easier to incorporate the insights gleaned from the site selection software into real estate committee review packets and other presentations.
Buxton’s Site Selection Software
Buxton stands out by offering tailored solutions that integrate deep data insights with user-friendly interfaces. With our proprietary platform, we deliver:
Suite of Applications
In addition to our primary site selection software application, SCOUT, users can enhance their subscription with optional add-on applications. Through our site selection software suite, Buxton ensures every client has access to tools that align with their unique goals.
Proprietary Buxton Intelligence
Each Buxton site selection software subscription comes turbocharged with insights powered by Buxton Intelligence – our unique blend of data, analytics, and AI. Our packages are tailored to the needs of your industry, so you will always have the insights that are most relevant to your site selection decisions.
Proven Results
Leading brands trust Buxton for their healthcare and retail site selection needs, citing our reliability in identifying the best locations to optimize profitability. Our 30+ years of experience, deep knowledge of what real estate site selection teams need, and track record of success make us the leader in site selection software.
Outstanding Customer Support
Our customer success team consistently receives rave reviews for their responsiveness and helpfulness. Here’s a few examples of what our customers have to say:
“What I love most about working with Buxton is the one-on-one attention I get from my account rep. When I had a franchisee wanting a territory in Dallas, the team was available right away to help me map it out. The software is intuitive, but when I have complex questions, it's easy to get in touch with someone from Buxton.” - Red Light Method
“Buxton’s customer service is absolutely unbelievable.” - Discover Strength
“The help feature in SCOUT actually works. And you get a real live response from a real live human being with the answer you need within minutes. It's incredible. The support that the SCOUT tool has is first class.” - Quest Diagnostics
“The tools themselves are reason enough to highly recommend Buxton, however the level of account support you receive is truly unprecedented.” - Cooper University Health Care
Get Started with Buxton
Site selection software transforms the way businesses expand, offering insights that traditional methods cannot match. Buxton’s software empowers real estate professionals to make confident, data-driven decisions.
Ready to elevate your site selection strategy? Book a demo with Buxton today or contact us directly with any questions.
