CASE STUDY: Convenience Stores

Client Chain of retail convenience stores
Sector Retail - Grocery
Job function Sales / Marketing
Task Site Analysis / New Site Location

THE CLIENT...
A successful chain of retail convenience stores in Yorkshire and the North West. Established for over 60 years, it now has over 1,200 employees, and handles over a half a million customer transactions per week.

THE PROBLEM...
The client was faced with a range of tasks that needed to be undertaken to ensure the continued popularity and success of its stores. These included site selection, store marketing, profiling responses to promotions and drinks licence applications. These tasks each required a means of comparing the company's own data to underlying demographic data, whilst taking account of geographical traits and local knowledge.

THE SOLUTION...
The client chose Geoplan GeoAnalyser to undertake these tasks. The system, empowered with local mapping, demographic and company data provided the information, which is key to fulfilling the tasks above.

For example, the system can provide a good indication of population and housing density in small local catchment areas. Catchment areas are generated either using radii, hand-drawing from local knowledge or by using Geoplan Distribution Module to generate walk times around local shops or proposed locations. These catchments can then easily be used to generate demographic profiles key to the decision making process. The client previously had to estimate this important data.

THE BENEFITS...
The client now knows much more about the key success ratio: Housing density: Store sales. It has a greater understanding of its catchment areas, and can easily support the 'need' criteria of off-licence applications in detail.