The Datastory team recently had an insightful trip to the 2024 Ace Hardware Spring Convention & Exhibits in Dallas, Texas. We had a wonderful time catching up with customers and home improvement industry-leaders about the latest innovations and product trends - including how location intelligence is helping retailers unlock new business growth.

The convention was a great opportunity to showcase how brands are driving sales using MapDash™, our cutting-edge location intelligence platform. Existing clients seamlessly leveraged the power of hyper-local data and insights right on the show floor, demonstrating MapDash's ease of use and immense value.

Even for first-time MapDash users, the intuitive dashboards and interactive visualizations made it simple to analyze opportunities and convey potential to Ace retailers in real-time. Sales reps were able to quickly dive into localized market data, optimizing each conversation with tailored insights. 

Defining high-growth business strategies with location intelligence

Throughout the conference, Datastory clients highlighted how location intelligence has been an integral tool for identifying and capitalizing on new business opportunities. Through live demonstrations and compelling conversations, businesses were able to share success stories with their peers and inspire similar innovation.

In particular, attendees were interested in MapDash's ability to:

• Launch localized product campaigns: With just a few clicks, reps showed how they visualize areas primed for new product launches by overlaying sales data, consumer demographics, and competitors, instantly identifying the ideal locations to focus marketing efforts.

• Uncover SKU opportunities: Reps conducted on-the-fly SKU gap analyses, pinpointing untapped market openings based on each retailer's current product assortment and local consumer needs.

• Discover B2B potential: The platform's robust business intelligence capabilities empowered clients to spot B2B opportunities for retailers in their markets and suggest relevant product mixes.

Interest in MapDash spiked as attendees experienced first-hand how the platform simplifies hyper-local sales execution. Brands are increasingly taking notice of the accessibility and power of location intelligence to enable brands to work smarter and grow faster.

Case study: increasing sales with high-potential SKUs

One home improvement brand shared a case study on how they leveraged MapDash's sophisticated yet user-friendly analysis to unlock a new phase of growth. With MapDash’s turnkey data and analytics tools, their sales team optimized assortments for dozens of Ace stores in a matter of minutes, identifying high-potential SKUs to drive incremental sales based on localized demand. The client credited MapDash for a 14% increase in market penetration.

Driving the future of the home improvement industry with accessible location intelligence

These conversations, demonstrations, and case studies all sparked meaningful discussions among attendees about the potential for location intelligence in the home improvement industry. Multi-store owners were particularly impressed by how easily MapDash enabled optimization across all their locations, and clients shared plans to integrate the platform for unified management of product mixes, marketing, and sales strategies.

MapDash's ability to efficiently synthesize disparate data into actionable insights without heavy analytical lifting wowed attendees. Retailers appreciated the platform's depth of data, analysis, and reporting tools combined with an interface their suppliers could navigate with ease. Traditional business or location intelligence solutions often require highly experienced data scientists to fully leverage, whereas MapDash empowers anyone to unlock and share location-based insights in just a few clicks.

Did you see MapDash in action at Ace, or would like to learn more about location intelligence in the home improvement industry? Connect with us to explore how MapDash’s intuitive platform can revolutionize your brand's sales approach with the power of place.