The Power of Location Analytics for Brick-and-Mortar Retailers

Posted by Colliers on 4th April 2023 -

The UK’s retail sector has changed rapidly in the last few years and in this competitive climate, it’s imperative that traditional retailers remain strategic and invest in their businesses. 

More consumers are wanting personalised and tailored experiences and that’s why many retailers are implementing location analytics, to inform their critical business decisions. 

Retail analytics can provide a range of solutions to inform your location strategy as it can combine geographic data on where customers live, what they buy, infrastructure, transportation, store performance data, distribution, delivery routes, and the wider environment. These insights help retailers identify new business prospects and allow them to make smarter location decisions, which can improve:  

1. Return on Investment (ROI): 

Through utilising retail location analytics, retailers can track which areas or regions of their business may be underperforming and which areas they should spend more time and money in. Having consistent and detailed data allows retailers to identify areas where they may need to invest more resources or make changes. By analysing these “hotspots”, retailers can use this information to help inform decisions about new store openings, giving them a competitive advantage in the market and contributing to increased sales and improved ROI for brick-and-mortar retailers. 

2. Sales 

It’s no secret that the retail sector has been hit hard by a change in consumer behaviour, therefore it’s important for retailers to pivot their strategy to boost sales. Retail location analytics can help businesses improve sales by providing insights into customer buying trends and preferences. This highly granular data can be gathered from point-of-sale (POS) systems, loyalty cards, apps, social media, and in-store events and can be used to understand and tailor exactly what products and services customers want. Equipped with this insight, retailers can make decisive and confident decisions about where they can get the best returns from new or updated product lines, store layouts, or refurbishments - even where there is enough demand to open brand-new stores or relocate existing ones.

3. Repeat business 

Acquiring a new customer can cost businesses five times more than retaining an existing customer. That’s why customer service should be at the forefront of every retailer’s mind. Using this data and insights allow retailers to understand and isolate customer service problems. For example, which products are constantly out-of-stock, which stores or items are receiving complaints about faulty items, and which areas deliveries are running late. Retailers can also break this data down more granularly and see if there are any patterns in customer satisfaction across a geographical area. Being proactive and implementing improvements advised by these insights will drive more customers back to the store and build customer loyalty. 

In short, retail analytics can help businesses identify untapped markets and allows them to make more informed decisions about their location insights. It will never be a one size fits all approach, so ensuring that retailers have the right team of experts to inform their strategy and tailor their business and specific needs is essential in this dynamic climate. 

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