The confluence of micro-market data, socio-demographics data, geographic information system (GIS), Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI-ML) at scale is a game changer for retail network planning and site selection. Retailers who can complement the ‘art’ of locational decision making with the ‘science’, will be the winners.
While perfect information does not exist, the data is lot more available now than ever before. GIS platforms as well as advanced analytics tools and techniques (Big Data platforms and AI-ML) have matured significantly over the last decade. Combined with the available data, GIS capabilities and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI-ML) techniques present a very potent instrument for retail planners which can sharpen decision making capabilities and thus reduce the risk of failure. These data-driven techniques can provide retailers with a competitive advantage and help increase market-share as well as profits.
