There are over 32.5 million small businesses in the US. Small businesses account for 44% of the economic activity in the US and are, therefore, the backbone of the country’s economy. They create new jobs, drive innovation, and address the ever-changing consumer interests.

Small businesses face multiple challenges. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, these challenges intensified. Throw in the rapidly changing consumer interests, and you have a mix of local challenges that small businesses need to overcome constantly.

As more and more small businesses continue to enter the market, how can they position themselves and protect themselves against market forces? One methodology that has been tried and tested is location intelligence.

In this guide, we’ll go over location intelligence for small businesses. We’ll discuss its benefits in detail.

What is Location Intelligence?

Location intelligence is a methodology that helps large retailers and small businesses gain a better, deeper understanding of consumer behaviors, market trends, logistic operations, and consumer foot traffic data. With location intelligence analytics data, organizations can acquire insights into how products, materials, and people move worldwide.

Sales and Marketing

When businesses use location intelligence analytics software to better understand their customers, both prospective and current, they can achieve increased sales, improved brand awareness, and enhanced customer experiences.

How is this possible? Location intelligence demonstrates the areas customers visit. This helps companies understand what matters to the niche customers and what they are most interested in. With such insights, a company can reach out to its target customers and engage with them.

With location intelligence, small businesses can benefit by finding their customer base. They will know where each customer’s interests lie, and they can strengthen the connections with existing and prospective customers.

For example, let’s say a local coffee shop learns that most customers visit the coffee shop during certain hours of the day. They can run a special discount or promotion for those hours, so more customers visit. This is possible through location intelligence data

Competitive Intelligence

An organization needs to understand how it is performing against its competitors. With location intelligence analytics, companies can gain valuable competitive insights. They analyze the foot traffic near competitor locations and compare it with their own locations.

With competitive intelligence insights, small businesses can determine if they are outpacing their competitors or if they need to catch up by implementing certain business strategies. Location intelligence also allows small businesses to figure out where customers often go after visiting a competitor’s store. This can help them employ the right marketing campaigns.

Operations

Small businesses can leverage location intelligence and curate strategies that can reduce their costs and positively affect their business operations. They can create a significant impact by using valuable data and insights to target cost reduction.

They can make their customers’ experience personalized, improve the messaging, and reduce errors. If a company wants to expand and open a store at a new location, they need to find customer profiles in that area that are best suited to their business.

They can find these profiles with location intelligence and then narrow down their area choices. For example, if a furniture retailer wants to open a shop where there are more millennials, they can simply find a store where this customer base is residing and make sure no such popular, trendy furniture stores are nearby.

Logistics and Supply Chain

Lastly, with location intelligence, small businesses can manage their supply chain with minimal risk. Businesses can monitor their supply chain’s key locations, and if there are irregularities in the workforce activity, they can work on those weak spots.

Location intelligence analytics software enhances visibility so businesses can predict and prevent future disruptions and mitigate obstructions in their supply chain. This information can save them time and money.

With improved visibility, companies can find where their operations companies have failed to progress. This information is useful during situations like the COVID-19 pandemic when the global supply chains were impacted, and organizations were unable to sort out the issues before they worsened.

If you’re looking for Location Intelligence Analytics Software, reach out to PREDIK Data-Driven today. They are a research firm offering various data analytics solutions. Businesses can consult PREDIK Data-Driven experts for solutions to complex problems and find consumer foot traffic data. Request a demo today with PREDIK Data-Driven.