Proper site selection influences your business whether you succeed or fail in making money.
Your business location analysis should take the demographics, psychographics, census, and other data into consideration.
Whether you are trying to decide on a location to open a new store or where to locate a second office, you need to learn more about business location analysis and choose the perfect business location analysis platform for your niche.
In this article, we will explain about business location analysis tools and business location analysis in general in order to maximize your chances of success on location selection.
What Is Business Location Analysis?
Business location analysis is a technique for finding, analyzing, and determining the optimum positioning of the individuals, details, activities, and materials of businesses.
Location analysis can involve the creation of models, techniques, and tools to help provide location-based solutions for organizational issues.
Location models are crucial to localization research by offering a well-documented shared vision of current and desired location arrangements.
There are two common forms of business location analysis. The first is site selection where the aim of the procedure or model is to select the most appropriate location from within a set.
The second one is site search where the purpose of the procedure or model is to select a set of sites to be used in the process of location selection.
In short, business location analysis is basically using data to figure out where to locate your business.
It takes careful consideration to decide where to locate your store, office, or even your online presence. If you get this wrong, you might be stuck in a commercial lease that will cost you a lot of money but will not attract new customers.
Why Use Business Location Analysis?
Business location analysis is a major concern in both the public and private sectors.
Small businesses in the private sector need to know where to place facilities that will be successful in being accessible to a portion of market share required to sustain their business.
Location analysis in the public sector is essential for facilities in public service departments such as fire stations, hospitals, and police stations.
These examples may use a combination of service area and business location analysis tools to find the best places to position facilities in a way to experience more return on investment and therefore, success.
Location is often the most important factor in determining whether or not a business will succeed.
Facilities can reduce costs by using location-allocation analysis softwares, and keep their usability high.
The location-allocation analysis can be used by both private and public sector organizations to find the optimum site for a new facility to serve the demand points in the most efficient way possible.
However, users should realize that the location-allocation analytics applications and business location analysis tools vary depending on the project.
The restaurants and retail outlets are examples of private-sector organizations that can use business location analysis tools.
Schools, hospitals, and fire stations are examples of public-sector facilities that can benefit from such platforms.
When companies use business location analysis to assess the best locations for their facilities, there is no guarantee of success.
Yet strategically choosing a location from a site review would be better than other approaches, as the review aims to find the optimal location based on your input data.
Business Location Analysis Components
Business location analysis is a complex process in which entrepreneurs evaluate and compare the suitability or otherwise of alternative sites for choosing the best location for a given client. It comprises of the following:
Demographic Analysis
This includes demographic analysis in the area in terms of the total population (in numbers), age distribution, per capita income, educational level, job structure, etc.
Traffic Analysis
In order to get a rough understanding of the number of potential customers passing through the proposed site during the working hours of the location, the traffic analysis aims to identify possible locations in terms of foot and car traffic going through a site.
Trade Area Analysis
This is the geographic area analysis that offers a continued clientele for the company.
This study would also include potential entry from alternative locations into the trade region.
Site Economics
Alternative sites are analyzed under this section in terms of establishment and operational costs.
Competitive Analysis
This analysis aids in determining the type, place, size, and quality of competition in a given area of commerce.
Business Location Analysis Example
Food chain Whole Foods, which is now owned by Amazon, picks their locations based on a number of factors, not just neighborhood population density.
They find that their level of education is one of the main factors that dictates whether or not customers will be shopping at their grocery stores.
Consequently, their site selection process looks at locations with a higher level of college degrees per capita.
Costco takes demographic dynamics into account to ensure that the areas in which they are locating their stores can support sales of their bulk-packaged goods.
Walmart uses advertisements to see how far people would go to buy their required products from their locations.
They track mobile advertisement usage and create a boundary of geofence to identify who goes where to buy what.
This analysis helps them select new stores for their site.
Business Location Analysis for Companies
The basis for deciding on and selecting a suitable business location is the main objective in the assessment of the property location and its surroundings.
Business location analysis is now possible via platforms and tools that scan and identify the best business locations based on the needs of the owner.
Demographics and business data are key factors in the process of business location analysis.
These include families, people, age structure, origin, and their purchasing power.
Consideration to take into account also include car and foot traffic, public services, transport networks, footfall generators, and competitors.
Plus factors defined by the customer based on their sector, target group, and size are of course also incorporated into the business location analysis.
The sum of all the knowledge collected from geo analysis lets customers make informed local planning and location management decisions.
Why Should Business Location Analysis Be Added To Your BI Plan?
Dynamic real-time location data has been used successfully in event management, retail, and even churches up to now. But why do you want to add that to your BI?
Read on to know more about why you need to add Business Location Analysis tools to your BI Plan.
Business Location Analysis Is The Future
Many were shocked when Amazon purchased Whole Foods.
But the newest purchase has little to do with food retail and more to do with collecting useful data on regional shopping preferences and population density, according to position specialists.
It is possibly part of a larger scheme to automate deliveries using the proximity intelligence technology, Amazon has been perfecting this matter for some time now.
Here top players are making a fascinating trend as we speak, and in the future it might change the shape and structure of business strategy.
Even if you are not ready to get on board with location intelligence, when all of the big players make a certain move, it is time to pay closer attention.
Like with other phenomena, business location analysis will gradually trickle down to the level of small businesses.
Location Intelligence Is The Missing Piece Of Customer Journey
Since the introduction of digital marketing, companies have been finding it extremely difficult to connect their online efforts to the physical actions of their consumers.
Customers who received online promotions or browsed a mobile app and eventually made purchases in-store would fall off the grid, leading inevitably to inaccurate ROI.
Knowing which of your marketing activities drive foot traffic is crucial to spreading your marketing budget, with 92 percent of all the trade occurring offline.
Companies can close the long-standing gap in customer journey with location data and follow the user from a click in the app to a visit to the store.
You will not only be able to say when a customer reacts to an offer on their mobile, you will also be able to know when that mobile gets close to your location.
Combined with other data, such as profiles of your customers and their online behaviors, location insights expose other patterns that could be revolutionary for your company.
After clicking on an online bid, will your customers visit the brick and mortar location fairly soon?
Will they take longer? Do some offers get them to the store faster? Location analytics will provide a decent answer to all of these questions.
Location Intelligence Makes You Relevant
For any company one of the biggest challenges is the abundance of information.
Consumers regularly see between 4,000 and 10,000 marketing messages, and they have become used to removing anything that is not relevant.
Advertising professionals agree that customizing your ads and making them more relevant is a perfect way to achieve a loyal customer base and increase your profits, but data assessed in 2016 shows that businesses have a hard time adhering to the best practices in a competitive marketplace.
Based on the annual marketing report by Hubspot, 91 percent of those surveyed find ads more intrusive than they did two years ago, 70 percent dislike mobile ads, and a stunning 419 million downloaded ad blocking apps, costing businesses $22 billion in lost revenue in 2015 alone.
However, 77 percent of customers admit to filtering ads rather than blocking them.
Location intelligence brings another unparalleled benefit to the background of your business.
Geo-location in real-time makes your offers more relevant, and mostly based on where your clients are located.
Indeed the media engagement rates that are served based on location parameters are much higher.
The same logic applies to push notifications, where location-based notifications are twice as good as generic notifications.
Location Intelligence Improves Retargeting
Retargeting is another marketing level that can generate more revenue than your initial campaigns for advertising.
This is especially important for transactions of high value, where buyers need additional time to consider their decisions.
Retargeting will ensure that some customers will later see the deal again.
And with location intelligence, you can predict the intention of a customer to buy and reach out to them before they actively search for you or your competitors will make a move to steal your customer.
You can tag a client of yours when they visit your location with geolocation.
You can also watch your rivals when your customers check them out. They are looking for the best offers and they make up their minds based on available options.
It is up to you now to make this decision easier for them by providing additional information that they might find useful, or by gently reminding them of your offer.
Location Intelligence Amplifies Your BI
Location data will show you high density heat maps, favorite routes for your target market, or trendy neighborhoods.
Combined with other data, location insights expose other patterns that could be revolutionary for your company.
Is there, for example, a certain demographic less inclined to brave the rain?
If so, you might want to save that group an offer until things get clear.
The location data will provide you with high density heat maps, ideal routes for your target market, or trendy neighborhoods.
Combined with other data, location insights reveal other trends that can be groundbreaking for your business.
Is there, for example, a certain demographic less ready to brave the rain?
If so, you might want to save the offer for that group until things get clear.
Add that information to your business intelligence data and send it straight to your customers, marketing staff, and sales representatives.
That is the piece of information you will need when choosing where your stores should be located, your distribution paths, and locations for your events.
What Is The Best Business Location Analysis Platform?
Location intelligence software, also known as spatial intelligence software, is a business intelligence tool that uses location analytics to determine the relationship between various objects based on their physical locations.
Business location analysis tools allow users to see map and graphic patterns to maximize specific business opportunities.
With the help of such features like density analysis, distance and travel data, and geospatial mapping for terrain determination, users are able to derive patterns and trends from such business location analysis processes.
Location intelligence tools are mainly used by data scientists and analysts who will draw business conclusions from available tools on the market.
For instance, analysts can use location intelligence tools to find the most suitable location for a new warehouse that can transport goods more quickly to nearby stores or decide exactly where to open a new restaurant chain due to increased demand in the area, among other cases of use.
Alongside business intelligence systems or self-service business intelligence tools, these solutions can be introduced as part of a bigger business intelligence program.
A business location analysis platform may have similar features to GIS software; however, it differentiates in a way that it can collect vast data sets in real time rather than offering a static snapshot of geospatial data.
Additionally, data analysts and scientists use location intelligence tools, as opposed to surveyors and engineers.
Features Of The Best Business Location Analysis Platform
Now that we read all about business location analysis and the benefits of business location analysis platform and business location analysis tools, let’s see what makes the perfect business location analysis platform.
In order to qualify for inclusion in the category of Location Intelligence a product must have the following characteristics:
- Using the geospatial data in real time
- Enable users to manipulate, model, and analyze geospatial data
- Provide the ability to create maps which provide insights into the geospatial implications of the data
- Offer analysts the opportunity to draw actionable insights from the data to be shared with decision-makers
Introducing Maptize
Maptize is an analytics and location management platform designed for the growth and management of current and prospecting locations. The primary purpose is intended for multi-chain prospecting and management.
Product Offering
- Analytics Map
- Task/location management system
Focus Markets
- Chain Stores: Corporate or multi-chain owners:
- Corporate Franchises: McDonalds, UPS, Taco Bell, DQ, La Fitness, etc..
- Restaurants: Chipotle, Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, (Not necessarily franchise, corporate-owned)
- Retails: Tilly’s, Zumiez, Macy’s, etc.
Analytics Map
This product is built for prospecting locations based on demographic analytics. It is the primary product and the main selling point of Maptize. It comprises 3 different data sources: Demographics and socio-demographic, Commercial Real estate, and Residential real estate.
Socio-demographic is a categorization of different types of age groups, race, and income .
Features:
- Commercial Real Estate Data (Data is for all of US)
- Competitor analysis
- Customized target demographic reports to clients needs
- Socio-demographic data
- Real estate data
- Traffic and regional market analysis
- Territory zoning to prevent cannibalization
- Different layers customized to clients target demographic
Location Management System
Designed similar to Asana.com and Trello.com but intended for multi-chain Stores. This product is intended to be a stand alone product or in conjunction with any business location analysis platform.
Features:
- Accountability Checklist for all locations
- Uniformity and cohesiveness between current business chain locations
- Reminders for tasks and due dates
- Includes sub-tasks
- Connects to the map for easier location management checklist
- Specifically designed for multi-chain management system
Why Mapchise?
- It provides all the data you need to open a location easily. The data is also proprietary so it will not be found online for free.
- Task management system is designed and built for multi-chain stores and ease of use by corporate and store management.
- Fully Customizable analytics system designed for the users target market and target demographic, the map and data are built around users provided target market. After answering a few simple demographic questions, the map is fully customized to the input of the users.
- Analyze Competition on the map
- Task management system is incorporated into the map for easier management of all locations tasks.
- Fixed pricing, upfront with the cost of the platform, fraction of competitions price
In Conclusion
As we realized in this article, the concept of business location has several dimensions attached to it. In where a company is located, the locations to which it plans to expand, the position of customers and competitors, etc., play an enormous role in the success of a business- operations, sales, profitability, and growth.
But as for location intelligence, there are other dimensions of data available that come into play beyond locations, which together impact the effect of locations on your business. Socio-demographic data, population density, disposable income, purchasing power, weather conditions, and numerous other factors could be such aspects.
Investing in software for location intelligence or any other business location analysis tools may be a game-changer for your business. The insights you gather from location-based analytics will help you add a fresh, strategic, and profitable perspective to the manner you view your business decisions. But the only limitation is to find the best tool out of the thousands of available choices on the market. That is why we introduced Mapchise as one of the leading creators of analytics map for new business location selection. Moreover, Mapchise offers a location management platform that satisfies all the needs of a business owner.
Choosing the best business location analysis tools is going to be a pretty overwhelming process, as the available web copy claims and reviews may not be fully reliable to base your business decisions on. We hope this article helps you figure out and evaluate the best location intelligence applications and location data businesses that are ideally suited to your business needs.
