With 2018 in full swing, retail brands are actively developing and deploying their strategies to get consumers in-store and through the checkout line. Understanding the challenges that the industry is facing, but also the immense opportunity that lies ahead for those retailers who are able to effectively engage and satisfy their target consumers, we worked with our partner GasBuddy to analyze consumer visits and footfall trends at retail and dining locations throughout 2017, to provide actionable insights and consumer behavior forecast for the year to come.
Our recommendations for leveraging footfall trends:
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Your in-store experience matters.
Footfall trends paint a clear picture: stores, like Ricker’s, who have been able to take the store experience to the next level compared to competitors, capture the top spot. Bottom line, the friendlier and more engaging the store experience, the highest you’ll rank in consumers hearts – and wallets.
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Leverage visitation insights to plan ahead.
When looking at C-store category visit trends, our analysis revealed that Fridays at 12:00 pm saw the highest average levels of foot traffic throughout 2017. Lunch hours were the busiest during the work week, and the morning commute was comparatively slower. Layering insights derived from day and time visitation patterns to your proprietary data will give you an enhanced planning tool – from product promotions to inventory, personnel shifts, and more.
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The connection you are looking for might lie beyond store boundaries.
Understanding your consumers’ offline interests is a powerful tool to help create a meaningful connection with them. For example, our analysis looked at GasBuddy’s anonymous user patterns beyond gas station and c-store trips and found that McDonald’s narrowly edged out Subway to become GasBuddies’ favorite quick-service restaurant of 2017, and Starbucks took the title over Dunkin’ Donuts in the coffee shop category. Some holiday weekends were popular times to shop and dine out, but others were comparatively slow. GasBuddies rushed to retailers on Thanksgiving weekend to leverage post-holiday sales, but many chose to stay home during Christmas.
Want to learn more about our findings? Download our study here.
