Use Location Intelligence for Better Site Selection and Property Investment

There’s an old saying that the three things that matter most in selecting a property are location, location, and location. What are all the factors that really affect site-selection? Location Intelligence site selection can help you better understand everything from consumer behavior to geological information about a particular location.

For businesses, the site selection process can get even more complicated. Imagine trying to select the ideal location for a casual dining restaurant, for example.  There are several considerations: You would want to know where the competitors are, how much traffic passes by various potential locations, and what kind of traffic it is. Does the site attract nearby office workers during the week? Would it rely primarily on a seasonal customer base centered around a local college or university? What is the disposable income profile of people who frequent the area? Are there complementary businesses nearby, such as movie theaters or malls? How far would patrons be willing to drive to eat at your restaurant?  Is it near public transportation and, if not, does it have adequate parking?

Financial services organizations aren’t exempt from this trend, and when it comes to branch location optimizations, decisions need to be made strategically to maximize the return on those hefty capital expenditures.

What does the market look like? What’s the optimal number of branch locations given the demand? If considering renovation, which attributes are likely to have the greatest impact? The questions to consider during the process are seemingly endless, but their answers all lie in data-driven location analytics that give you the ability to visualize trusted data in real time and even test multiple scenarios.

These analytics also help to inform smarter opportunity-based sales targets, tailored to each branch’s unique facility characteristics and market dynamics – saying goodbye to blanket goals that are often mismatched with each location’s true potential.

When this information is paired with demographic and business datasets, you’re well on your way to achieving key business objectives like meeting or exceeding annual product level revenue and investment goals, improving branch management, growing or maintaining market share, and improving customer satisfaction thanks to better, data-driven personalization and offers.

There was a time when these kinds of questions could only be answered at a very high level. Recently, however, AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics have made it possible to render intelligent decisions from very complex datasets. Location Intelligence incorporates geospatial data to better understand everything from consumer behavior to geological information about a particular location. 

Understanding the customer with location intelligence

In the not too distant past, the site selection process often included long hours sitting outside a competitor’s location, counting the number of cars in the parking lot at different times of day.  Today, the same information can be gleaned from rich, highly granular data sources drawn from mobile phones, social media, and GPS devices.

Location Intelligence goes far deeper than just understanding traffic volume, though. Today, analysts are able to analyze consumers’ movements before and after a location visit. They can combine that with psychographic information related to an audience’s interests and preferences to get a far more detailed understanding of who is frequenting a particular area and why. They can gain a better understanding of the natural boundaries that impact customers’ movements.

Mapping the territory

When a popular pizza company in the U.S. needs to identify a suitable location for one of its franchises, the company’s site-selection team takes the process a step further. As a delivery business, the company allocates a specific territory to each franchise. Each geographical territory is assigned a value based on the number of potential customers that it can reach, combined with socio-economic data reflecting its market potential.

Naturally, those territories change. New businesses or residential developments can enhance the purchasing power within a particular area, for example. As a result, the company occasionally needs to redraw the lines. Location intelligence has made it possible for the company to establish clear, objective parameters for drawing territory boundaries, and to apply those quickly, easily, and consistently.

Scaling it up

It is easy to see the value of using location intelligence to drive site selection, even for a single location. When that decision is scaled across multiple locations – whether it is retail, banking, public sector, or even telecommunications towers – it quickly becomes apparent just how valuable it can be to have a systematic approach to site selection.

Imagine you are operating the chain of coffee shops. If you can better understand who your customers are, where they come from, and where they go after they leave your shop, then you can better anticipate their needs and increase customer satisfaction. You will also have a more accurate picture of how to market your product to other customers in the same demographic.

Let’s also imagine that you notice a trend; customers visiting your store on weekday mornings are also frequenting the exercise studio across the street. If you see the same pattern repeated in other locations, then you might have discovered a new parameter to improve your future site-selection decisions.

With access to rich, detailed location-based data, this is not just a possibility – it’s a reality. Smart, innovative companies are already doing it. They have turned site selection into a repeatable, data-driven process that can be refined and improved by adding even more layers of location-based data. That process is improving profitability, reducing risk, and helping business leaders identify new opportunities.  

To learn more about location intelligence site selection, read our eBook Essential Context to Business Decisions with Location Intelligence and Data Enrichment  to learn more about improving customer experience, automate operations, mitigate risk, and accelerate growth with essential context and loction intelligence and data enrichment.