A scale-based analysis of retail store location profitability
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Geography
Abstract
Project as at Annex 1 of the Agreement date 17 May 2017 with Local Data Company Ltd
The project begins with an extensive literature review to develop wide-ranging understanding of what drives retail profitability based on earlier studies. During the surveys on footfall and competition in London city centre, I have noted that segregation of similar retailers in one small area drives footfall and possibly also profitability of the location. This is an interesting approach to a common belief that retailers should stay far from competitors. I am most interested to study objectives such as "How correlated are a) footfall and profitability b) rental cost and profitability?" and "How do those correlations change spatially?".
Spatial analyses about profitability and factors, which drive profitability in different locations provides retailers valuable insights for better decision-making, when choosing a location for their business. Understanding the importance of data driven insights, would potentially motivate retail partners to collaboration with LDC resulting in more exact analyses.
The project begins with an extensive literature review to develop wide-ranging understanding of what drives retail profitability based on earlier studies. During the surveys on footfall and competition in London city centre, I have noted that segregation of similar retailers in one small area drives footfall and possibly also profitability of the location. This is an interesting approach to a common belief that retailers should stay far from competitors. I am most interested to study objectives such as "How correlated are a) footfall and profitability b) rental cost and profitability?" and "How do those correlations change spatially?".
Spatial analyses about profitability and factors, which drive profitability in different locations provides retailers valuable insights for better decision-making, when choosing a location for their business. Understanding the importance of data driven insights, would potentially motivate retail partners to collaboration with LDC resulting in more exact analyses.
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES/P000592/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/09/2027 | |||
| 1889160 | Studentship | ES/P000592/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/03/2021 | Terje Trasberg |
| Description | Using the data provided by the Consumer Data Research Centre (CDRC), this research was able to demonstrate the potentialities afforded by integrating big data from various sources for business value. The research findings provoked the interest in data-driven analytics and led to further collaboration between academia and industry as well as prompted partnerships between CDRC's industry partners. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
| Sector | Retail |
| Impact Types | Economic |
| Description | Academic and Industry PhD Research Showcase Event, presentation 'Results of the co-funded research' (industry partner: Huq Industries) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Feedback to inform ongoing industry collaboration |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/academic-and-industry-phd-research-showcase-event-tickets-71672172397 |
| Description | Academic and Industry PhD Research Showcase Event, presentation 'Results of the co-funded research' (industry partner: The Local Data Company) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Feedback to inform ongoing industry collaboration |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/academic-and-industry-phd-research-showcase-event-tickets-71672172397 |
| Description | Contribution to The Financial Times article "Britain on the move even before Johnson eased lockdown, data show" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Provided the analysis of the data provided by Huq Industries (CDRC data partner) for the Financial Times article "Britain on the move even before Johnson eased lockdown, data show" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.ft.com/content/cc70d690-99a6-4056-9ebe-d0b39c40a359 |
| Description | GISRUK 2019, presentation on 'Applying New Forms of Data in Retail Location Analysis' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Feedback to inform ongoing industry collaboration |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://newcastle.gisruk.org/proceedings/ |
| Description | LocBigData 2019, presentation on 'Applying New Forms of Data in Retail Location Analysis' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Feedback to inform ongoing industry collaboration |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://lbs.icaci.org/locbigdata/ |
| Description | Oxford Retail Futures Conference, presentation on 'Applying New Forms of Data in Retail Location Analysis' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Fifth annual Oxford Retail Futures conference, bringing together 30 academics and young researchers with interests in retailing, for a day of presentations and discussions. Shared findings from CDRC research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/research/networks/oxford-institute-retail-management |
| Description | Presentation at GISRUK 2020 virtual conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I gave a 15-minute talk titled "Data-driven human mobility analysis during COVID-19" followed by a 5-minute QA session |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | http://london.gisruk.org/ |
| Description | Presentation at Mobile Tartu 2020 virtual conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I gave a 15-minute talk titled "New Forms of Data in Retail Location Analysis" followed by a 10-minute QA session |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://mobilitylab.ut.ee/en/conference-mobile-tartu/mobile-tartu-2020/ |
| Description | SmartStreetSensor Partners Project Workshop at CDRC Data Partner Forum 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Presentations by the PhD students on the progress of the SmartStreetSensor project followed by the discussion between the industry experts and academics on the benefits and challenges of using data (especially footfall data) in retail location analysis. The workshop was followed by individual meetings with the retailers later in the year and two of retails who attended the workshop have since then donated their sales data to CDRC for research purposes. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | UCL press release "Covid-19: activity levels begin to rebound" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The press release was covered in The Guardian, Daily Mail and in further local news outlets |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/may/covid-19-activity-levels-begin-rebound |