Location intelligence and foot traffic analytics are transforming the way retail strategies are defined, and department stores are no exception.
The correlation between foot traffic, sales, and the success of department stores have been studied and proven, so the development of this type of analysis has become a priority in the site selection process and expansion modeling.
New data management methodologies now allow retailers to take advantage of even the smallest piece of information to generate valuable insights that help optimize their marketing and customer loyalty strategies.
What promotions do we do to get more customers to the point of sale?
How do we make them stay longer in the store?
How do we improve the customer experience so that they buy more at each visit?
In the digital age, location intelligence and foot traffic analytics based on mobility data are changing the retail business, giving many retailers an edge over their competitors.
Location intelligence is defined as a methodology for understanding and visualizing mobility data to help solve a wide variety of retail problems.
Foot traffic analytics is derived from location intelligence, helping retailers to obtain a better understanding about how people move around physical locations and enabling new visibility into consumer behavior patterns by presenting a visualization of people's movement within a physical area, even segmented by the infinite type of consumers who pass near a store.
El Mismo Precio, a store located in the Pradera Concepción shopping center in Guatemala, has a potential market of 136 thousand consumers within a 15-minute drive, of which 13% are interested in discount stores.
Using the Geomarketing solutions we have developed for our clients, CentralAmericaData's Business Intelligence Team analyzed the environment of some of the main locations of low cost stores operating in Central American countries. Below is an excerpt of the study's findings.
Analyzing the offerings of a supermarket, department store or convenience store and examining what type of consumers frequent those establishments is key to establishing which chains a company's products should be present in to increase their profitability.
By analyzing large volumes of data, it is possible to combine information on the products that commercial establishments sell with details of the types of consumers that are attracted to the different chains.
Finding out how many people live in the surroundings of the establishment, their income levels, their ages and their tastes and interests, is fundamental information to measure the potential of a supermarket's location.
Using the Geomarketing solutions we have developed for our clients, CentralAmericaData's Business Intelligence team analyzed the environment of some of the main supermarket locations operating in Central American countries. Below is an excerpt of the study's findings.
Whether it is a restaurant, a coffee shop, a hotel, a supermarket, or an auto parts store, location is, if not the most important, one of the most decisive factors in determining the success or failure of a business.
Real estate companies, restaurants and retail chains know better than anyone how valuable and decisive it is for the success of a business to find the best location. Technology, together with the new Big Data analysis methodologies, now allow to simplify part of this complex process of location selection, analyzing in detail the pedestrian flow in each location.
The change in consumer habits resulting from the boom in e-commerce and the preference for avoiding visits to physical stores, has forced some large commercial surfaces to be transformed into storage and logistics areas.
The covid-19 outbreak caused the emergence of a new commercial reality, in which consumers are less willing to go to physical stores to make certain purchases and prefer to store online.
In Central America, more than 800,000 people are looking to buy items to decorate a house or apartment online, and of this group of consumers, approximately 12% explore options to purchase lamps and their accessories.
The interactive information system of CentralAmericaData, monitors in real time the changes in consumer habits in all markets of the region, with fundamental information to understand the current commercial environment in which companies of all industries must operate.
The Almacenes Siman store located in Plaza Gran Vía, in Ciudad Merliot, is a sales point that, at a distance of 15 minutes walking, captures a potential market of over 15 thousand consumers, and 87% of them are interested in footwear.
Using the Geomarketing solutions that we have developed for our clients, CentralAmericaData's Trade Intelligence team analyzed the environment of some of the main department stores in Central America. Below is an excerpt of the study's findings.
Given the gradual return to physical stores, customers will appreciate it if businesses disinfect stores several times a day, if other visitors are required to clean their hands before entering, and if employees use protective equipment at all times.
Although in this context of the spread of covid-19, digital channels have gained ground in Central American markets and this trend is expected to continue in the coming months and years, there are commercial establishments that will have to adjust their face-to-face sales strategy to the demands of the new normality, since there will always be customers who prefer to continue shopping in person.
Considerable investments in the digitalization of operations, the closure of small stores and the expansion of the commercial area of the best located sales points, is part of the strategy that companies are beginning to implement in the new context of business transformation.
Managers of large corporations agree that several companies were already making progress in digitizing sales and operations, but the pandemic ended up persuading decision makers of the need to focus on online sales, and simultaneously accompany it with a plan to transform physical stores.
Between February 2020 and Easter Week, visits to shops decreased between 40% and 90% in Central American countries, but since April 13 a change in the trend has been observed, reflecting a greater movement of people to shops and other businesses.
According to the "Information System for the Impact Analysis of Covid-19 on Business", prepared by the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData, Costa Rica is the country with the most pronounced change in trend, since as of April 12th the reported drop in physical visits to stores was 79%, while on April 17th the reported reduction was 57% from the levels prior to the health crisis.
Walmart plans to invest $48 million in Guatemala during 2019, of which $25 million will be used to open new stores and remodel existing ones.
According to information provided by representatives of Walmart, the investment projected for this year in the country will double that invested in 2018, since last year the amount disbursed totaled $24 million.
In the past 12 months, 165 environmental impact studies, valued at $350 million, were submitted for the development of shopping centers, supermarkets, department stores and other types of commercial buildings in the region.
Data from the interactive platform "Construction in Central America", compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: