The Importance Of Footfall Analytics In Site Selection

1. The Importance Of Footfall Analytics In Site Selection The ability to leverage the best available data, and subsequently analyze it to inform the site selection process is key in a competitive market of commercial development. Developers that use footfall (foot traffic) analytics have a competitive advantage because they can find out things like the number of people visiting similar locations in a specific market, the home locations of those visitors, and even visitor demographics and frequency of visits. Developers often ask the question, “Where?”. This is the fundamental question by which all site selection decisions are guided. Location intelligence and footfall analytics are tools that enable the aggregation, analysis, and visualization of spatial data and provide significant benefits during the site selection process. How Can Footfall Analytics Be Used To Improve Site Selection Strategies? Footfall analytics can be performed on a national, regional, and even smaller geography (i.e., city or neighborhood), by developing a list of high-level factors critical to project success. Real estate teams for commercial enterprises then analyze the area of interest by scoring the geographies within it based on those factors. This method can be used to assess workforce characteristics, proximity to critical infrastructure and transit, environmental conditions, and so on. The goal is to find locations that best meet the project's needs and requirements. Location intelligence and footfall analytics are useful because they aggregate rich information and allow users to visualize the results. In turn, this allows the project team to draw conclusions more quickly and effectively by comparing multiple sites, thus accelerating implementation. Financial data, human mobility patterns, consumer behaviors, demographics, and commonly visited points of interest (POIs) are examples of data that can be used for these broad strategies. Retailers are incorporating these tools into their store site selection strategies to make better informed decisions about site suitability, target audience, accessibility, and revenue potential. It is critical for companies to combine this information in predictive models after performing this analysis to help optimize physical store networks. These models help present a representative intersection of an area with a high level of positive influences (such as proximity to a desired demographic or proximity to a POI that benefits the business) and a low level of negative influences (such as being too close to your biggest competitor or too far from any potential customer traffic), thus helping select the best locations for a business. Why Should You Use AirSage?

2. Research shows that the most common things that make customers unhappy are: not having enough employees or having them in the wrong places, long lines to pay, confusing product placement, and not having enough inventory. Studies of foot traffic can help you solve these problems to improve your customers’ experiences. You can find out what is working and what isn't, which lets you make the changes you need to make - and keep - customers happy. Get in touch with AirSage today to learn more about the benefits of using footfall traffic solutions in retail and give your business a competitive edge.