This article was first published on July 16, 2020.
The current crisis has hit retail sector hard and forces retailers to revisit their store network and the roles of offline stores. Many brands have experienced widespread store closures during the pandemic, with huge uncertainty on the eventual loss of sales. Undoubtedly, this short-term turbulent situation is also going to trigger / accelerate long-term structural changes to the offline retailing landscape and consumer preference.
So how to future proof and optimize store network to maximise the ROI has become a more critical and strategic question than ever. Developing a next-generation store network strategy, which is faster, more granular, and more data driven, is a must. However, many companies actually face several key challenges when doing so, as they usually lack the huge amount of data from multiple dimensions, analytical approaches that can generate business insights, and tools to guide internal communication & implementation.
Over the years, we have developed Bluespider – a web-based geospatial analytical tool powered by our proprietary data for store network planning. It is the “mission control” center for a retailer’s store network. It is always-on and up-to-date; it offers structured, and visualized analytics on your network and competitors; and it provides a seamless switch between views at different level of granularity, from country, to regions, cities, catchments all the way to streets and malls. It complements our strategic assessment of clients’ future store footprint and make sure the store network strategy can be operationalized.
