How do I find the best nearby locations to grow my business?
Are you a business that wants to sell to more customers within easy reach of your current location? Learn how to find the perfect opportunities on your doorstep.
At Tech4T we are often asked by businesses how they can find and sell to more customers close to their area whilst operating from one central retail outlet, warehouse, or unit.
These businesses – such as those in the coffee, fast food, and hairdressing sectors – have typically thought about having a mobile unit, a new ‘bricks and mortar’ operation, or even a concession in another location, but don’t know where these should be in a nearby area.
They want locations with good footfall and the type of customers who want their services, without too much (or ideally any) competition and within a 15, 30, or 60-minute drive of their base operation.
As specialists in location planning, we take an intelligence-led approach to finding the right locations, using market and demographic data and in-depth analysis.
This includes identifying your perfect (or optimum) customer profile based on your past sales history, understanding of your current location, and factors such as times of day when the location is the busiest.
Typically a shortlist of 10 potential new sites is created and an ‘isochrone’ map is developed that shows the travel time between locations, such as from the business’s operating base to potential new sites.
But it is only through deep analysis of each site that exactly the right locations are identified, and whether these are in retail centres, trading parks, business enterprise zones, or anywhere else.
This analysis includes sourcing and reviewing data on similar or related businesses in the locations and matching these to your target customer profile, before segmenting and mapping them on to our online Territory Runner location intelligence system. This not only reveals the level of competition in an area but also identifies potential trade customers for your products.
After this, in-depth research is carried out on factors such as the location of nearby tourist attractions, coach and train stations, airports, concentrations of large businesses, schools, trading estates, and much more. Business and technology parks are also reviewed, and the profile of local populations and workers is analysed to clearly define whether they match your customer profile, their proximity to your potential sites, and how frequently they may go there.
Concentrations of office, professional, and technical employees are also identified for potential mobile sites, and the number of potential customers at the times that suit you (such as daytime) in each location are calculated.
The analysis can also reveal which type of businesses, commercial premises, and local attractions are within, say, 500 to 1,500 metres of your proposed new sites, and provides you with detailed catchment area reports so locations can be compared.
All of the analysis results and data are plotted onto an interactive zoomable map on the Territory Runner system so it is easy to see and interrogate, as well as identify clusters of sites that present the best opportunity.
And in addition to having a list of recommended sites, and understanding the level of competition in each location, further analysis can be undertaken that will identify businesses that you could approach to discuss establishing an on-site concession.
This could include larger garden centres without a café or restaurant, and tourist information centres and attractions that don’t have a high level of competition.
Independent outlets within your radius can also be listed so that you can approach them to discuss stocking and using your brand.
Analysis of the factors that dictate whether a location is right for you can even include assessing road traffic flow data in your area, so you know when the roads are busiest and may take more time to get to your new sites.
Knowing the best locations and opportunities to grow your business without going to the expense of developing a new shop or outlet can be extremely challenging but with experts such as Tech4T in your corner, you’ll know you’ve made the right intelligence-led decision.
