Retail Site Selection & Location Intelligence for Franchise Brands
At The Retail Strategy, we specialize in retail site selection by combining the art and science of innovative expansion through data-driven insights. Our Location Intelligence service uncovers hidden patterns and market opportunities that serve as the foundation for identifying where your brand should expand and how many locations a market can support. Our expert Location Intelligence Team understands the importance of visualizing data through a strategic growth lens while considering the unique attributes of your brand. We get to know your brand deeply to provide focused analytics that empower you to make confident, results-backed decisions. Since 2009, The Retail Strategy has helped over 100 franchise and corporate brands make data-driven expansion decisions across 48+ states.
Our Services Include:
Customer Profile with Behaviors and ConcentrationsCustomer Profile Analysis & Behavior Mapping
We analyze where your customers are coming from and examine lifestyle trends to understand the behaviors and concentrations of individuals visiting your locations. This insight helps tailor your retail site selection to target the most valuable customer segments effectively.
Franchise Territory Mapping
National Build-Out Road MapWhite Space Analysis & National Build-Out Planning
How many locations can your brand open, and what is the ultimate potential for your retail footprint? Our detailed white space analyses and tailored national build-out plans answer these critical questions. We provide a clear road map highlighting potential trade areas across the country, helping you understand where you currently stand and where you can achieve future success.
REMI Platform: Real Estate Mapping Interface
Real Estate Mapping InterfaceOur customized Real Estate Mapping Interface (REMI) is a unique, interactive platform that allows your brand to visualize all spatial data relevant to retail site selection. We tailor REMI to your brand’s specific needs, displaying a wide range of data including competitor locations, customer demographics, national demographic layers, market build-outs, and more. This tool enhances your ability to make informed site selection decisions with precision and clarity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Retail site selection is the process of identifying and evaluating optimal locations for new retail stores or restaurants using demographic data, trade area analysis, competitive mapping, and brand-specific performance benchmarks. Effective site selection reduces the risk of underperforming locations and increases the probability of success in new markets.
White space analysis identifies geographic areas where consumer demand for a brand or concept exists but no location is currently present. It combines demographic data, competitive mapping, and brand performance metrics to pinpoint the most viable markets for new store openings.
Trade area analysis defines the geographic boundary around a retail location from which the majority of its customers are drawn. It uses drive-time modeling, population data, and spending patterns to estimate a location’s revenue potential and competitive overlap.
Market capacity is determined by analyzing population density, household income, consumer spending patterns, competitive saturation, and brand-specific performance benchmarks. Tools like trade area mapping and demographic segmentation — including Esri’s Tapestry data — help identify white space where demand exists but the brand has no presence.
REMI is The Retail Strategy’s proprietary location intelligence platform, built on Esri’s Experience Builder. It provides clients with an interactive online map where they can pull demographics, analyze trade areas, visualize market density, and evaluate potential locations. REMI is used across all TRS engagements to support data-driven site selection decisions.
Effective retail site selection relies on a combination of demographic data (population, income, age), psychographic segmentation (consumer behaviors and lifestyle), traffic counts, co-tenancy analysis, competitive density, and brand-specific performance benchmarks from existing locations.