In today's highly competitive retail landscape, leveraging data to optimize strategy is more important than ever. Modern retailers face challenges to meet or exceed dynamically changing customer expectations, competitive landscapes, site selection needs, and more. Rapid changes in technology and trends influence who is entering the market and how they deliver on consumer needs. 

There is so much data to be analyzed in order to stay competitive, identify emerging patterns, and optimize omnichannel shopping experiences. Simply put, it’s extremely hard to look at retail trends holistically, even with all of the data available to us.

Having access to this data is just the start. In order to form true and meaningful insights, retailers must also clean and manipulate the data prior to using it in analysis. They also need to ensure data is updated frequently if they want to effectively track patterns in consumer and market trends. This process is time-consuming and cumbersome, especially in the quickly shifting retail industry.

Turnkey location intelligence for retail

With all of these data sourcing, creation, and maintenance considerations, synthesizing insights across endless datasets can overwhelm organizations vying to stay ahead. That's where MapDash™ comes in.

MapDash is an all-in-one location intelligence platform blending the data retail leaders need to unlock growth, including:

• Foot traffic patterns

• Consumer migration data

• Detailed demographics and psychographics

• Retail spending habits

• Geosocial media trends

With these datasets visualized on an intuitive map interface, MapDash enables retailers to analyze information through the lens of location and geography. This unique perspective powers strategic and operational capabilities that turn raw data into competitive advantage.

Take foot traffic patterns and retail spending habits for example. Foot traffic data alone can inform retailers of important information like who is entering their brick and mortar stores and where else they visit. Similarly, analyzing retail spending habits may indicate which stores are performing the best and which may be candidates for site de-selection. 

Each dataset helps drive knowledgeable retail decisions. However when layered together,  datasets illustrate deeper stories. Let’s use the same datasets as an example; when combining foot traffic and retail spending data, retailers can understand not just who is entering their store, but who is entering and buying versus just browsing. They can even see who is entering their store and then leaving to make their purchase at a competitor’s store. 

MapDash enables retailers to analyze all this information through the lens of location and geography by visualizing these datasets on an intuitive map interface. A robust built-in data library makes it easy to browse authoritative datasets, analyze them, and communicate insights to stakeholders. With MapDash, retailers can leverage a unique geospatial perspective to make strategic and operational decisions by turning raw data into competitive advantage.

Strategic insights at scale

MapDash empowers retailers to discern what makes their customers unique, establish ideal customer profiles by location, and recognize variations in buying power across regions. The platform easily reveals trends, relationships, and opportunities not easily identified without layering datasets spatially. Spatial layering allows retailers to dive deeper into these key insights at both a local and macro level.

Consider a scenario where data shows that consumers in a city who frequent a specific coffee chain often engage with a specific brand of gas stations. However, when we zoom out and look at the data regionally, a different pattern emerges. For instance, data may show consumers of the same coffee chain in affluent suburban areas have a strong likelihood of visiting upscale grocery stores. Varying insights like these encourage the importance of informing retail strategies with both macro and local insights.

MapDash provides retailers granularity into insights like this so they can make informed customer profiles that align with both local and macro market dynamics, ensuring a comprehensive approach to strategic retail initiatives.

Optimized operations

MapDash also enables retailers to optimize critical functions through spatial analytics, including supply chain operations, marketing, and omnichannel strategies. For instance, spatial analytics help optimize supply chain operations by forecasting demand, improving inventory management, and enhancing logistics. This ensures that retailers can meet customer demands promptly while minimizing costs and maximizing profitability. 

Similarly, data facilitates an understanding of customer behavior both online and offline. These detailed insights can be integrated into a cohesive omnichannel strategy in order to meet customer demands. By understanding the customer, retailers can deliver a more relevant and personalized customer experience that encourages customer loyalty. For example, using geospatial data built into MapDash, retailers can plan strategic advertising campaigns based on customer behavior and the competitive landscape.

Get started with MapDash for Retail

It's easy to see how location data works together to create a complete picture of the retail and consumer market, and how retailers can use this intelligence to their advantage. But without a platform to easily view all of this data together, retailers risk missing out on key insights and patterns. As competition increases, this is a risk retailers cannot take. They must tap into the power of a platform like MapDash to unlock and act on these insights. 

MapDash provides the integrated geospatial data, analytics, and communication tools needed to inform retail strategies at scale. The result? Optimizing for data-backed growth despite the dynamically changing retail landscape.

Unlock your retail growth potential with location intelligence from MapDash. Get in touch to see a demo tailored to your business needs.