It takes a lot to build a successful brand, especially now when the pool of competition is vast and seemingly endless. Brands that are looking to evolve have more challenges than ever before. When it comes to creating a retail expansion strategy, there are many potential risks, such as choosing the wrong location for a new store, for example. Is there a way to create a retail expansion strategy without the guesswork?
Location intelligence provides brands with location-informed market, customer, and competitive insights built on how people move around in the physical world. Here is how location intelligence can help a brand create an effective retail expansion strategy.
Let Your Audience Tell You What They Want
Imagine having a data solution that can provide you with insights into how your audience moves around in the real world. Rather than relying on your first-party data alone to make massive decisions, you can enrich that data with near real-time consumer insights. This means that you will be able to see what your customers are actually interested in and keep abreast of looming trends before your competitors.
Last month, Wilson, an athletic apparel brand with a major online presence, decided to invest in physical store space. Clearly, their customers are interested in maintaining an active lifestyle, so Wilson took that information to the drawing board and launched their own athleisure line. Not only did they listen to their customers before their expansion, but they also jumped on the athleisure trend. How can Wilson keep up with what their customers are interested in after they launch their brick-and-mortar store?
By using insights from location intelligence, brands like Wilson would know far ahead of time about an oncoming trend based on customer foot traffic patterns. This allows you to cut through the brainstorming and planning time, giving you the opportunity to dive in right as the trend takes hold.
The Right Sponsorships and Partnerships
With location intelligence, your audience tells you exactly what they’re interested in by how they move around in the world. When it comes to retail expansion, this real-world data is crucial because it tells you about your customers’ brand affinities. This information can allow you to determine which brands your customers would respond best to as a sponsor or partner for a new product line.
For example, a business casual attire retailer wants to expand beyond its current market. They could use location-based insights to determine where their customers might shop the most of the events that they attend. If they frequently shop at health food stores, visit stores known for eco-conscious products, and go to the annual health fair at the city convention center, then the retailer can work with these eco-conscious brands to make their clothing line available in their stores. If this audience shops frequently at Trader Joe’s, then the retailer could also ask Trader Joe’s to partner with them for a special deal.
Improve Your Retail Expansion Strategy with Location Intelligence
Looking to launch a physical location for your brand? Location intelligence is a great way to scope out an area before committing to a location.
Let’s say that the target audience for a sports retail brand visits the largest park in your city. Instead of placing the new retail location in the most “populated” part of town, the sports brand can put it in the middle of where their audience is known to be: next to the park. This helps the brand invest in a location where the majority of customer foot traffic will be from those who are actually within their target audience.
Selecting a Location
Retail expansion can be an intimidating prospect for a lot of brands due to the planning and investment involved with such a huge undertaking. With location intelligence, it doesn’t have to be. By enriching your customer data with real-world insights, brands can make the big move easier. To learn more, book a meeting with us today.
