Insights Hub

Consumers, shareholders and governments are— rightly— focused on environmental and social responsibility. Especially given the climate effects we are already seeing, it is more important than ever that we work towards making our impact on the planet a positive one. 

The Local Data Company’s data and analysis have supported all facets of retail strategy for a diverse array of organisations across the retail, property and local authority sectors. Here’s how our retail and leisure intelligence can help you work towards your sustainability goals in 2023 and beyond.

Longevity equals sustainability

We have a decade of primary data on the entire GB market, with 20 years of industry expertise; we use this span of knowledge and experience to help our sector learn from the past and plan for the future through historical data and trend forecasting.

We track retail vacancies all over the country, including long-term vacants, and are experts in identifying the best ways to fill them. Carefully-considered location strategy— finding the best occupiers for a site based on the existing local offer and customer catchment— helps to ensure that units are filled for the long term, and breathe new life into existing space. Reusing space with an eye to longevity potentially reduces the need for new buildings, preserves resources and supports wider area revitalisation efforts.

We track short- and long-term vacancies and benchmark against other areas, regions and national averages to reveal priority areas for revitalisation. 

Supporting the local retail ecosystem

The trend for shopping locally came to the fore during lockdowns, and has only continued as supporting homegrown businesses remains popular among consumers. The independent sector has enjoyed record performance in recent years, and these businesses are a key consideration in many of our clients’ growth strategies. Our database uniquely includes over 400,000 independents across GB, helping to support this key facet of location strategy for 2023 and beyond.

We are experienced in supporting councils with local revitalisation efforts and strategic place planning. We aid in local and district-wide development projects, helping to paint a picture of retail need in a location and identify suitable retail provision to fill any areas of undersupply. This work plays a key role in building resilient locations and thriving retail ecosystems, making supporting local business easier than ever. 

The Reports function in Local Data Online allows users to identify gaps in local retail provision based on comparable locations, through customisable, downloadable reports that can be easily integrated with existing processes.

As part of the in-depth analysis we offer, we can highlight areas of undersupply compared to GB and regional averages to inform strategic place-planning for long-term retail health. We are able to suggest categories and brands that would be the ideal fit for the target location, based on existing retail supply and gaps in provision.

Managing footprint from a location perspective

The role of physical retail in multichannel strategy has magnified the potential environmental impacts of online sales fulfilment. We can help to manage delivery footprint by analysing a store network and helping companies to maximise locations, thereby shortening delivery routes.

We can also identify potential locations near other ‘draw’ facilities, serving the dual purpose of enticing customers and ensuring they can make the most of a single visit, making shopping trips more purposeful and reducing travel.

We can map drive times from current and potential locations to aid location planning with delivery footprint in mind.

Location strategy can ensure that occupiers, landlords and local authorities make the most sustainable choices to reduce environmental impact, support long-term survival and help local places to thrive. To find out how our products and analysis can support your goals, contact us at team@localdatacompany.com.