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CVS and Walgreens are the two leading brick-and-mortar pharmacy chains, controlling together over 40% of the U.S. prescription drug market. And although the companies have been rightsizing their physical footprint over the past couple of years, CVS and Walgreens together still operate over 18,000 locations throughout the country.
And while the two chains may sometimes appear interchangeable, diving into the demographic differences between CVS and Walgreens’ trade areas indicates that each brand serves a slightly different audience.
A chain’s potential market looks at the Census Block Groups – CBGs – where visitors to a chain come from, weighted according to the population of each CBG. And since both CVS and Walgreens operate in all 50 states and often have locations in the same town or city, the makeup of the two chains’ potential market trade area is remarkably similar – indicating that both chains have the potential to reach the same types of households.
But diving into the captured market (the trade area of each chain weighted according to the actual number of visits from each CBG) reveals a major difference in trade area median household income (HHI). Although both chains have the potential to attract visitors with a median HHI of around $70.0K, visitors to CVS come from CBGs with a median HHI of $76K – meaning that visitors to CVS tend to come from the more affluent neighborhoods within CVS’s potential trade area. Walgreens visitors, on the other hand, come from CBGs with a median HHI of $67.5K, which is lower than the median HHI in the brand’s potential market, and indicates that Walgreens visitors tend to come from the less affluent neighborhood within the company’s trade area.
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The two pharmacy leaders also seem to attract different shares of singles and families, although the differences are not as pronounced as the differences in median HHI.
CVS and Walgreens have equal shares of one-person & non-family households in their trade areas, but the share of this segment in Walgreens’ captured market is slightly larger than in CVS’ captured market. Still, for both brands, one-person and non-family households are slightly underrepresented in the captured market relative to the potential market, indicating that singles across the board are perhaps slightly less likely to visit brick-and-mortar pharmacy chains.
On the other hand, both CVS and Walgreens had more families (households with four or more children) in their captured market than in their potential market – although the share of this segment in CVS’ captured market was slightly higher than in Walgreens’.
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CVS’ relative popularity with family segments also comes through when looking at the psychographic makeup of its trade area. When compared to Walgreens, CVS’s captured market included larger shares of three out of four family-oriented segments analyzed by the Spatial.ai: PersonaLive dataset – Ultra Wealthy Families, Wealthy Suburban Families, and Near-Urban Diverse Families. Walgreens’ captured market did include larger shares of Upper Suburban Diverse Families, but the difference was minimal – 9.8% for Walgreens compared to 9.5% for CVS.
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CVS and Walgreens carry a very similar product selection, and the two chains’ nearly identical potential trade area makeup indicates that both brands’ locations have the potential to reach the same types of customers. But diving into CVS and Walgreens’ captured market reveals some differences between the two chains’ audiences – CVS tends to attract more affluent visitors, while Walgreens seems slightly more popular among singles.
For more data-driven retail insights, visit placer.ai/blog.
From high prices to changing workplace attire (yes, soft pants are most definitely still a thing) – the fashion industry faced plenty of headwinds in 2023. But some segments, like off-price and thrift stores, reaped the benefits of trading down by consumers. And the category as a whole enjoyed a robust holiday season, helping to drive record holiday sales.
So with 2024 getting underway, we dove into the data to explore the evolving relationship between three major segments that comprise the fashion industry: non-off-price apparel chains, off-price retailers (such as T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, Ross Dress for Less, and Burlington), and thrift shops.* Which segment drew the most foot traffic in 2023? And how have the demographic profiles of visitors to the three sub-categories shifted in recent years?
*Analysis includes major thrift shop chains, including Goodwill, the Salvation Army, Buffalo Exchange, Plato’s Closet, and others.
Last year saw an acceleration of the redistribution of foot traffic between non-off-price apparel retailers, off-price apparel chains, and thrift shops – a trend which began even before COVID. Back in 2017, non-off-price apparel stores accounted for just over 50% of visits to these three segments – but in the years since, the sub-category’s visit share dwindled to 38.9%. Over the same period, off–price-apparel chains grew their visit share by 8.1 percentage points, from 39.3% to 47.4%, and the share of visits to thrift shops increased by 3.2%.
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Unsurprisingly, non-off-price apparel chains have traditionally attracted more affluent consumers than either off-price retailers or thrift stores. And throughout the analyzed period, the captured market of non-off-price apparel retailers continued to feature a median household income (HHI) that was significantly higher than the nationwide baseline, while the captured markets of off-price chains and thrift stores featured median HHIs below the nationwide median.
But the three segments were impacted differently by shifts in consumer behavior in the wake of the pandemic. In early 2020, all three sub-categories experienced significant dips in the affluence of their captured markets. But while thrift shops saw an immediate HHI rebound, non-off-price apparel chains – and even more so off-price retailers – have yet to see the affluence of their visitor bases return to 2019 levels.
Foot traffic data also reveals an interesting divide in the household composition of visitors to the three segments: While the income profiles of off-price apparel shoppers are more akin to those of thrifters, their household composition is closer to that of visitors to non-off-price apparel stores.
The potential markets of all three categories, for example, featured similar shares of one-person households in 2023. But their captured markets were quite different – with singles over-represented for thrift stores, and under-represented for off-price and non-off-price apparel stores. This indicates that thrifters hail disproportionately from Census Block Groups (CBGs) that feature higher-than-average shares of one-person households. And visitors to off-price and non-off-price retailers come from the CBGs within the trade areas of these chains that feature smaller-than-expected concentrations of one-person households. Given the special appeal thrift shops carry for demographics like college students, it may come as no surprise that singles are among their best customers.
For families with children, on the other hand, more traditional apparel retailers hold sway: Visitors to off-price and non-off-price apparel stores were more likely to come from areas with higher concentrations of families with children in 2023, while thrifters were more likely to come from areas with smaller ones.
Economic headwinds and evolving consumer preferences have left their mark on the shifting relationship between different sub-categories within the fashion industry. But what does 2024 have in store for the sector? Will cooling inflation and rebounding consumer confidence lead to an increase in visit share for non-off-price favorites? And will more parental households make the pivot to thrift stores?
Follow Placer.ai’s data-driven retail analyses to find out.
2023 was a challenging year for many restaurant operators as persistent inflation caused many would-be diners to rethink going out for a bite to eat. Today, we take a closer look at three fast-food and fast-casual dining chains – McDonald’s, Chipotle, and Panda Express – to see what – and who – is driving visits to these restaurants.
McDonald’s, Chipotle, and Panda Express each boast thousands of locations across the country. And a closer look at the three chains’ trade areas, analyzed using the STI: Popstats dataset, reveals differences in visitors across each dining chain. The median household income (HHI) of the three chains’ trade areas differed both on a nationwide average basis and when diving into individual states.
Chipotle consistently drew in visitors coming from higher-income trade areas – its nationwide median HHI stood at $75.9K/year. In contrast, Panda Express’ trade area had nationwide median HHIs of $68.2K/year, and McDonald’s, known for its affordability, had a trade area median $61.2K/year, respectively. And these trends persisted across all analyzed states, including New York, Texas, Arizona, North Carolina, and Florida, with Chipotle drawing visitors from the highest-income areas, followed by Panda Express and then McDonald’s.
The past few years have seen consumers shifting their dining patterns as the pandemic with its more flexible schedules and drop in office attendance led many to adjust when, and where, they went out to eat. And though some pre-COVID habits have now returned, other consumer behaviors have proved to be stickier.
For example, McDonald’s saw a significant drop in its share of early morning and lunch visits between 2019 and 2021, likely a result of fewer workers heading into the office and grabbing a coffee or Big Mac for a pick-me-up. But 2023 saw breakfast visits ticking back up, growing from 15.9% to 16.7% YoY, perhaps driven by a gradual return to in-person work.
Meanwhile, Panda Express, which also saw lunchtime visits drop in 2021 – but visits between 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM have steadily increased since and almost reached pre-pandemic levels in 2023. Midday visits also increased while dinnertime (7 PM to 10 PM) visits decreased slightly – perhaps thanks to the chain’s recent focus on building out its to-go options, which allows customers to pick up dinner on their way home instead of heading out to dine on-premises.
Like the other two chains, Chipotle also experienced a decline in lunchtime visits in 2021 – but unlike Panda Express, the lunchtime rush at Chipotle has yet to return in full force, with the share of visits between 11 AM and 2 PM just 36.2% in 2023 compared to 40.0% in 2019. At the same time, mid-afternoon (3 PM to 6 PM) visits picked up, which may be due to the chain’s relatively high prices compared to the other two chains leading some consumers to stick with lower-cost afternoon snacks instead of full meals. And evening visits have also increased since COVID, perhaps driven by the wider QSR trend towards more late-night visits and by some consumers choosing to visit Chipotle for their main meal of the day instead of splurging on an on-the-go lunch.
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McDonald’s, Chipotle, and Panda Express have managed to find their own niche within the crowded and competitive world of quick-service and fast-casual dining. Will their success continue into 2024?
Visit placer.ai/blog to find out.
For grocery stores, last year held plenty of challenges – from high food-at-home prices to increased competition from non-traditional grocery players like dollar stores and superstores. But 2023 also offered the segment plenty of opportunities. Discount chains made a strong showing – and customers spent more time browsing grocery aisles, loading up on essentials and making every trip to the store count.
But which grocery brands were most popular in 2023? Did large national chains dominate the scene, or did regional and local banners also have a role to play? And what can foot traffic analytics tell us about some of the broader trends that shaped brick-and-mortar grocery shopping last year?
We dove into the data to find out.
The nation’s most-visited grocery banner in 2023 was Kroger, which captured almost 19% of annual foot traffic to the nation’s ten most-frequented grocery chains. Safeway, owned by Albertsons, also made the top ten list.
But significantly, several regional chains also garnered significant nationwide visit share – including Texas cult-favorite H-E-B, midwestern Meijer, and East Coast Food Lion and ShopRite. Aldi, the no-frills budget chain that keeps prices low by offering a limited inventory of mainly private-label products, emerged as the fourth most-visited grocery store in the country. And fan-favorite Trader Joe’s, also known for its high-quality own-label merchandise, drew 6.5% of visits to the top ten brands.
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And drilling down deeper into the data for each of the fifty states shows that each region of the country had its own local favorite. Kroger banners – including Kroger, Smith’s, King Soopers, Dillons, Fry’s Food Stores, Fred Meyer, and Pick n’ Save – topped the charts in 14 states. In one of these (Oregon), Kroger’s Fred Meyer was tied for first place with Safeway, an Albertsons banner. In addition to Oregon, Albertsons banners took the lead in nine more states, mainly in the Western region of the U.S., while Ahold Delhaize banners ranked first in seven Northeast and South Atlantic states. And a variety of more local chains held sway throughout much of the Midwest and parts of the South.
Who were the shoppers driving visits to brick-and-mortar grocery stores in 2023? Location intelligence shows that overall, visitors to grocery chains last year tended to come from areas with slightly higher median household incomes (HHIs) than the nationwide average. Less affluent consumers, perhaps, were more likely to seek out lower-cost grocery alternatives like dollar stores. At the same time, there remained significant HHI gaps between chains, likely reflective in part of regional differences.
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And comparing the overall median HHI of grocery chains’ captured markets to that of previous years reveals a small but distinct decline in the relative affluence of likely grocery visitors, from $76.2K in 2019 to $73.8K in 2023. Over the same period, the share of “Flourishing Families” in the chains’ captured markets (A psychographic segment encompassing affluent middle-aged families and couples) decreased slightly, while the share of “Singles and Starters” increased.
These shifts may be partially due to the more widespread adoption of online grocery shopping among certain audience segments in the wake of COVID. While ecommerce only accounted for an estimated 7.2% of grocery spending as of May 2023 – with high delivery fees continuing to deter many Americans from going the online route – higher-HHI consumers may be particularly willing to prioritize convenience over price.
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For grocery stores, 2023 was all about value – with many customers flocking to discount chains and going out of their way to maximize savings. Still, traditional mainstays like Kroger and Albertsons continued to capture the biggest pieces of the grocery pie.
What does 2024 have in store for the grocery space? Will shoppers place less emphasis on savings as inflation continues to ease? And which chains will emerge as nationwide and regional winners?
Follow Placer.ai’s data-driven retail analyses to find out.
While brutally cold weather blasts much of the continental U.S. this week--including the Midwest, Deep South, and Montana--one might just dream about moving to the balmy shores of Hawaii, where temperatures have been hovering in the high 70s of late. Besides being home to the Ala Moana Center, the most-visited open-air shopping center in the US over the holidays, there is also constant redevelopment and improvement occurring on the island of Oahu.
For instance, the International Market Place on Kalakaua Ave, once known for decades as a touristy collection of kiosks, has upped its game and now boasts a Tesla showroom and a Balenciaga store at its entrance. Were it not for the commanding Banyan Tree that has been preserved, one would hardly recognize this iteration of the shopping venue compared to 10 years ago. Since it re-opened in early 2017, traffic has steadily been climbing. Hawaii tourism was hit hard by COVID in Spring 2020, but by July 2021 we begin to see a marked increase, to be repeated and exceeded in subsequent Julys as well. The summer of 2023 boasts a record in traffic originating from domestic visitors for the International Market Place.
Just down the street is the Royal Hawaiian Center, which encompasses three separate buildings that are connected by skywalks. Since its opening in 1980, it too has seen numerous changes, though its commitment to sharing the spirit of Aloha remains the same. The food options are extensive and come from all corners of the globe, such as Wolfgang’s Steakhouse, Tsurutontan Udon Noodle, Tim Ho Wan dim sum, and Wicked Maine Lobster. There was a massive spike in visitation in July 2021, which has since decreased a bit, but is still above pre-COVID levels.
There are definitely some unique, only-in-Hawaii treats, such as the shaka waffle ice cream cone at Kokoro Cafe at the Royal Hawaiian Center.
The other notable shift at the Royal Hawaiian Center is the bountiful array of luxury shopping available. From Hermes to Fendi, Harry Winston to Tiffany, designer showcases beckon from the street as well as from the interior corridors.
When we last checked in on the home furnishing retail category, we noted that we had started to see a divergence among several of the various subcategories, with houseware retailers seeing great visits year-over-year relative to furniture retailers. At the time, we hypothesized that housewares were outperforming because of several reasons, including (1) consumers’ willingness to spend around holiday periods last year due to post-pandemic home entertaining trends; (2) the departure of Bed Bath & Beyond and other retailer from the market driving visits to other housewares retailers; and (3) urban residential migration trends among younger families increasing demand for houseware trends. The divergence in visitation trends continued through the back half of 2023, with housewares continuing to outperform through December.
One of the home furnishing subcategories that flew under the radar in 2023 is mattresses. As shown above, this retail category didn’t quite keep pace with houseware retail visit trends, but outperformed value and full-priced furniture. What’s behind this outperformance? For starters, our data indicates that migration trends may play a role. We reviewed visitation trends for pure-play mattress retailers across the top 25 CBSAs in the U.S. (ranked by population) during the Black Friday promotional period (early November 2023 to early December 2023) and found that several of the top performing markets–New York, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit–had seen total population declines since the pandemic (according to Placer's Migration Trends Report) but also experienced a rebound in population growth this past summer, creating increased demand for mattresses. However, population trends continued on a downward trajectory in the second half of 2023 in a number of these markets, indicating this demand may not be sustainable.
What should home furnishing retailers expect in 2024? From a year-over-year visitation standpoint, we expect the subcategories to remain roughly the same in terms of rankings through the first half of the year, with housewares continuing to lead, followed by mattresses, value furniture, and then full-priced furniture. Continued migration trends across the U.S.--especially smaller markets–should continue to stimulate demand for housewares and mattresses (although Temu and other online retailers will also compete for houseware spending in the year ahead). Migration trends should also create demand for value furniture retailers, as should new smaller-format and smaller-market store openings from IKEA and others. Full-priced furniture will continue to face headwinds in the form of elevated mortgage rates (compared to last year), sluggish new housing development trends, and stagnant housing turnover, suggesting that visitation trends could be challenged for much of 2024 (despite facing easier comparisons).
The positive retail momentum observed in Q1 2024 continued into Q2 – as stabilizing prices and a strong job market fostered cautious optimism among consumers. Year-over-year (YoY) retail foot traffic remained elevated throughout the quarter, with June in particular seeing significant weekly visit boosts ranging from 4.7% to 8.5%.
The robustness of the retail sector in Q2 was also highlighted by positive visit growth during the quarter’s special calendar occasions, including Mother’s Day (the week of May 6th) and Memorial Day (the week of May 27th). And though consumer spending may moderate as the year wears on, retail’s strong Q2 showing offers plenty of room for optimism ahead of back-to-school sales and other summer milestones.
On a quarterly basis, overall retail visits rose 4.2% in Q2. And diving into specific categories shows that value continued to reign supreme, with discount and dollar stores seeing the most robust YoY visit growth (11.2%) of any analyzed category.
Other essential goods purveyors, such as grocery store chains (7.6%) and superstores (4.6%), also outperformed the overall retail baseline. And fitness – a category deemed essential by many health-conscious consumers – outpaced overall retail with a substantial 6.0% YoY foot traffic increase.
The decidedly more discretionary home improvement industry performed less well than overall retail in Q2 – but in another sign of consumer resilience, it too experienced a YoY visit uptick. And overall restaurant foot traffic increased 2.6% YoY.
Discount and dollar stores enjoyed a strong Q2 2024, maintaining YoY visit growth above 10.0% for six out of the quarter’s 13 weeks. Only during the week of April 1st did the category see a temporary decline, likely the result of an Easter calendar shift. (The week of April 1st 2024 is being compared to the week of April 3rd, 2023, which included the run-up to Easter)
Some of this growth can be attributed to the continued expansion of segment leaders like Dollar General. But the category has also been bolstered by the emphasis consumers continue to place on value in the face of still-high prices and economic uncertainty.
Dollar General, which has been expanding both its store count and its grocery offerings, saw YoY visits increase between 9.1% and 15.9% throughout the quarter. Affordable-indulgence-oriented Five Below, which has also been adding locations at a brisk clip, saw YoY visits increase between 4.9% and 18.8%.
And though Dollar Tree has taken steps to rightsize its Family Dollar brand, the company’s eponymous banner – which caters to middle-income consumers in suburban areas – continued to grow both its store count and its visits in Q2.
Grocery store chains also performed well in Q2 2024 – experiencing strongly positive foot traffic growth throughout the quarter. Though the sector continues to face its share of challenges, stabilizing food-at-home prices and improvements in employee retention and supply chain management have helped propel the industry forward.
Diving into the performance of specific chains shows that within the grocery segment, too, price was paramount in Q2 2024 – with limited-assortment value grocery stores like Aldi and Trader Joe’s leading the way.
Traditional chains H-E-B and Food Lion (owned by Ahold Delhaize) – both of which are known for relatively low prices – outperformed the wider grocery sector with respective YoY foot traffic boosts of 11.4% and 8.7%. But ShopRite, Safeway (owned by Albertsons), Kroger, and Albertsons also drew more visits in Q2 2024 than in the equivalent period of last year.
Fitness has proven to be relatively inflation-proof in recent years – thriving even in the face of reduced discretionary spending and consumer cutbacks. Indeed, rising prices may have actually helped boost gym attendance, as people sought to squeeze the most value out of their monthly fees and replace pricy outings with already-paid-for gym excursions.
And despite lapping a remarkably strong 2023, visits to gyms nationwide remained elevated YoY in Q2 2024.
Diving into the data for some of the nation’s leading gyms shows that today’s fitness market has plenty of room at the top. Planet Fitness, 24 Hour Fitness, Life Time Fitness, Orangetheory Fitness, and LA Fitness all experienced YoY visit growth in Q2 2024 – reflecting consumers’ enduring interest in all things wellness-related.
But it was EōS Fitness and Crunch Fitness – two value gyms that have been pursuing aggressive expansion strategies – that really hit it out of the park, with respective YoY foot traffic increases of 23.4% and 21.4%.
The week of April 1st saw a decline in YoY visits to superstores – likely attributable to the Easter calendar shift noted above. But the category quickly rallied, and with back-to-school shopping and major superstore sales events coming up this July, the category appears poised to enjoy continued success throughout the summer.
Within the superstore category, wholesale clubs continued to stand out – with Costco Wholesale, Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club enjoying YoY foot traffic growth ranging from 12.0% to 7.4%. But Target and Walmart also impressed with 4.6% and 4.0% YoY visit increases.
Inflation, elevated interest rates, and a sluggish real estate market have created a perfect storm for the home improvement industry, with spending on renovations in decline. The accelerated return to office has likely also taken its toll on the category, as people spend more time outside the home and have less availability to immerse themselves in DIY projects.
But despite these challenges, weekly YoY foot traffic to home improvement and furnishing chains remained elevated throughout much of the Q2 – with June and April seeing mostly positive YoY visit growth, and May hovering just below 2023 levels. This (modest) visit growth may be driven by consumers loading up on supplies for necessary home repairs, or by shoppers seeking materials for smaller projects. And given the importance of Q2 for the home improvement sector, this largely positive snapshot may offer some promise of good things to come.
Some chains within the home improvement category continued to perform especially well in Q2 2024 – with rapidly expanding, budget-oriented Harbor Freight Tools leading the pack. But Ace Hardware, Menards, The Home Depot, and Lowe’s also saw foot traffic increases in Q2, showcasing the category’s resilience in the face of headwinds.
Restaurants – including full-service restaurants (FSR), quick-service restaurants (QSR), fast-casual chains, and coffee chains – lagged behind grocery stores and other essential goods retailers in Q2 2024, as price-sensitive consumers prioritized needs over wants and ate at home more often.
Still, YoY restaurant foot traffic remained up throughout most of the quarter. And impressively, the sector saw a YoY visit uptick during the week of Mother’s Day (the week of May 6th, 2024, compared to the week of May 8th, 2023) – an important milestone for FSR.
The restaurant industry’s YoY visit growth was felt across segments – though fast-casual and coffee chains experienced the biggest visit boosts. Like in Q1 2024, fast-casual restaurants hit the sweet spot between indulgence and affordability, outpacing QSR in the wake of fast food price hikes. And building on the positive YoY trendline that began to emerge last quarter, full-service restaurants finished Q2 2024 with a 1.4% YoY visit uptick.
Chain expansion was the name of the restaurant game in Q2 2024, with several chains that have been growing their footprints outperforming segment averages – including CAVA, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Ziggi’s Coffee, California-based Philz Coffee, Raising Cane’s, Whataburger, and First Watch. Chili’s Grill and Bar also outpaced the full-service category average, aided by the revamping of its “3 for Me” menu.
Retailers and restaurants in Q2 2024 continued to face plenty of challenges, from inflation to rising labor costs and volatile consumer confidence. But foot traffic trends across industries – including both essential goods purveyors like grocery stores and more discretionary categories like home improvement and restaurants – suggest plenty of room for cautious optimism as 2024 wears on.
Return-to-office (RTO) trends have been closely watched over the past few years, with relevant stakeholders trying to puzzle out the impact remote and hybrid work have had on business operations and worker performance. And while visits to office buildings, overall, remain below pre-pandemic levels, office recovery varies from city to city – reflecting the complex and nuanced nature of regional economic trends, workforce preferences, and industry-specific needs.
This white paper harnesses location analytics to explore office recovery in the country’s second-largest economy – Los Angeles. The first part of the report is based on an analysis of foot traffic data from Placer.ai’s Los Angeles Office Index – an index comprising 100 office buildings in LA (including several in the greater metro area). The second part of the report broadens the lens to analyze visits by local employees to points of interest (POIs) corresponding to four major LA-area office districts: Century City, Downtown LA, Santa Monica, and Culver City. The white paper examines the impact that return-to-work mandates have had on visits to office buildings, discovers which demographic groups are driving the RTO, and explores the connection between commute time and return-to-office rates.
The return to office in Los Angeles has consistently lagged behind other major cities, underperforming nationwide recovery levels since the pandemic ground in-office work to a virtual halt. Still, the city’s office buildings are seeing a steady increase in visits, with foot traffic tending to spike at the beginning of each year. This indicates that even though office visits in LA are still below national averages, they are on a steady growth trajectory – a promising sign for stakeholders in the city.
A closer examination of Los Angeles office buildings also shows that despite the overall lag, some top-performing buildings in the LA metro area are defying the odds. Visits to the 20 local office buildings with the narrowest Q2 2024 post-COVID visit gaps were down just 8.7% in June 2024 compared to January 2019 – significantly outperforming the nationwide average.
So while overall office recovery in the city is still behind nationwide trends, these top-performing buildings indicate an optimistic outlook for the city’s office spaces.
Diving into the demographics of visitors to LA’s top-performing office buildings reveals an important insight: these buildings are attracting younger workers. This cohort has shown a stronger preference for in-person work compared to their older colleagues.
Analyzing the buildings’ captured markets with psychographics from AGS: Panorama reveals that these buildings are attracting visitors from areas with larger shares of "Emerging Leaders" and "Young Coastal Technocrats" than the broader metro area.
"Emerging Leaders'' – upper-middle-class professionals in early stages of their careers – make up 20.3% of households in the trade areas feeding visits to these top-performing buildings, compared to 14.9% in the broader LA CBSA. Similarly, "Young Coastal Technocrats," young and highly educated professionals in tech and professional services, account for 14.7% of households driving visits to the top-performing buildings, compared to only 12.1% in the broader area.
The trend suggests that companies in these high-performing office buildings employ many early-career professionals eager to accelerate their careers and work in-person with colleagues and mentors. This is a positive sign for the future of the office market in the LA metro area, indicating that it is attractive to key demographic groups that are likely to drive future growth and innovation.
Over the past few years, the debate regarding return-to-office mandates has been a heated one. Will employees follow return-to-office requirements? Can companies enforce the return to office after offering remote and hybrid work options? Recent location analytics data suggests that, at least in the Los Angeles metro area, some return-to-office mandates have been effective.
Three major tech companies – Activision Blizzard, TikTok, and SNAP Inc. – recently made their return-to-office policies stricter. Activision mandated a full return to the office in January 2024. TikTok has also intensified its return-to-office policy while seeking to expand its office presence in the greater Los Angeles area. And SNAP Inc. required employees to return to the office earlier this year as a condition of continued employment.
Visitation patterns at each of these companies' respective headquarters suggest that their policies have directly impacted visit frequency. Since the beginning of the year, the share of repeat office visits (defined as two or more visits per week) has increased for all three locations. Activision saw its share of repeat office visits grow from 52.1% in H1 2023 to 61.4% in the same period of 2024. TikTok’s repeat visits grew from 49.5% to 61.0%, and SNAP’s repeat visits increased from 36.6% to 42.8%.
These numbers highlight how return-to-office policies can lead to noticeable changes in office visit patterns and offer a blueprint to other businesses looking to foster a stronger in-office workforce.
Los Angeles is the second-largest metro area in the country, with several distinct business districts across its sprawling landscape. And a closer look at four major office hubs in the greater LA area – Century City, Downtown LA, Santa Monica, and Culver City – highlights how the office recovery can vary, not just by city or demographic, but on a neighborhood level.
Weekday visits by local employees to all four analyzed business districts have rebounded significantly since 2020 – though each area has followed its own particular trajectory.
Culver City, home to major businesses including Sony Pictures and Disney Digital Network, saw the least pronounced drop in employee visits during the early days of the pandemic. And in Q2 2024, weekday visits by local workers were down just 18.4% compared to Q1 2019.
Century City, on the other hand, saw the most marked drop in local employee foot traffic as the pandemic set in. But the district’s recovery trajectory has also been the most dramatic – with a Q2 2024 visit gap of just 28.5%, smaller than Downtown LA’s 29.7% visit gap. Perhaps capitalizing on this momentum, Century City is expanding its business district with the addition of a major new office building, set to be completed in 2026 and serve as the headquarters for Creative Artists Agency. Santa Monica, for its part, finished off Q2 2024 with a 23.3% visit gap.
Century City stands out within the Los Angeles metropolitan area for its dramatic decline and subsequent resurgence in local employee foot traffic. And looking at another metric of office recovery – employee commute distance – further underscores the district’s remarkable comeback.
The share of employees commuting to Century City from three to seven miles away has nearly returned to pre-COVID levels – suggesting a normalization of commuting patterns by local workers living in the area. In H1 2019, 33.5% of workers in Century City commuted between 3 and 7 miles to work; in 2022, that number had dropped to 29.8%. But by 2024, the share of visitors making that commute had grown to 32.5% – much closer to pre-COVID numbers.
Similarly, the region’s trade area size, which had contracted significantly in the wake of the pandemic, bounced back significantly in 2024. This serves as another indication of Century City’s rebound, cementing Century City’s status as a key business hub within the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
Five years after the upheaval caused by the pandemic, office spaces are still changing. Although the Los Angeles area has taken longer to recover than other major cities, analyzing local visitation data shows significant potential for the city’s business areas. With young employees leading the return-to-office charge, the city is poised to keep driving its strong economy and adjust to an evolving office environment.
Retail media networks (RMNs) have cemented their roles as the future – and present – of advertising. These networks enable advertisers to promote products and services through a retailer’s online properties and physical stores, when consumers are close to the point-of-purchase and primed to buy.
Today, we take a closer look at two newcomers to the retail media space: Costco Wholesale and Wawa. Both chains have an online presence – but both also excel at in-store experiences, offering unique opportunities for consumer engagement and exposure to new products.
This white paper dives into the data to explore some of the key advantages Costco and Wawa bring to the retail media table – and examine how the retailers’ physical reach can best be leveraged to help advertising partners find new audiences.
Wawa and Costco, the latest additions to the growing number of companies with retail media networks, exhibit significant advertising potential. Both brands boast a wide reach and diverse customer base, and both have access to troves of customer data through membership and loyalty programs.
Foot traffic data confirms the robust offline positioning of the two retailers. In Q1 2024, year-over-year (YoY) visits to Costco and Wawa increased 9.5% and 7.5% respectively – showing that their in-store engagement is on a growth trajectory.
And since consumers tend to spend a lot more time in-store than they do on retailers’ websites, Costco’s and Wawa’s strong brick-and-mortar growth positions them especially well to help advertisers reach new customers. In Q1 2024, the average visits to Costco’s and Wawa’s physical stores lasted 37.4 and 11.4 minutes respectively – compared to just 6.7 and 4.6 minutes for the chains’ websites. These longer in-store dwell times can be harnessed to maximize ad exposure and offer partners more extended opportunities for meaningful interactions with customers. Partners can also analyze the behavior and preferences of the two chains’ growing visitor bases to craft targeted online campaigns.
Costco’s retail media network will tap into the on- and offline shopping habits of its staggering 74.5 million members to inform targeted advertising by partners. And the retailer’s tremendous reach offers a significant opportunity to engage customers in-store.
But while Costco is dominant in some areas of the country, other markets are led by competitors like Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club. And advertisers looking to choose between competing RMNs or hone in on the areas where Costco is strongest can analyze Costco's performance and visit share – on a local or national level – to determine where to focus their efforts.
An analysis of the share of visits to wholesalers across the country reveals that Costco is the dominant wholesale membership club in much of the Western United States. But Costco also captures the largest share of wholesale club visits in many other major population centers, including important markets like New York, Chicago, Phoenix, and San Antonio. Costco’s widespread brick-and-mortar dominance offers prospective advertising partners a significant opportunity to connect with regional audiences in a wide array of key markets.
Another one of Costco’s key advantages as a retail media provider lies in its highly loyal and engaged audience. In May 2024, a whopping 41.4% of Costco’s visitors frequented the club at least twice during the month – compared to 36.6% for Sam’s Club and 36.0% for BJ’s Wholesale.
Moreover, Costco led in average visit duration compared to its competitors. In May 2024, customers spent an average of 37.1 minutes at Costco – surpassing even the impressive dwell times at Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club.
YoY visits per location to Costco, too, were the highest of the analyzed wholesalers, all three of which saw YoY increases. These metrics further establish the wholesaler’s position as an effective retail media provider.
Even when foot traffic doesn't show a brand’s clear regional dominance, location analytics can reveal other metrics that signal its unique potential. Take the Richmond-Petersburg, VA, designated market area (DMA), for example. In May 2024, BJ’s Wholesale Club led the DMA with 41.2% of wholesale club visits, while Costco was a close second with 37.3% of visits.
But despite BJ’s lead in visit share, Costco's Richmond audience was more affluent. Costco's visitors came from trade areas with a median household income (HHI) of $93.2K/year, compared to $73.1K/year for Sam’s Club and $89.5K/year for BJ’s. Additionally, Costco drew a higher share of weekday visits than its counterparts.
Analyzing shopper habits and preferences across chains on a local level can provide crucial context for strategists working on media campaigns. Advertisers can partner with the brands most likely to attract consumers interested in their offerings, and identify where – and when – to focus their advertising efforts.
Convenience stores, or c-stores, are emerging as destinations in and of themselves – and their rising popularity among a wider-than-ever swath of consumers opens up significant opportunities in the retail advertising space.
Wawa is a relative newcomer to the world of retail media, after other c-stores like 7-Eleven and Casey’s launched their networks in 2022 and 2023. But despite coming a bit late to the party, the potential for Wawa’s Goose Media Network is significant – thanks to a cadre of highly loyal visitors who enjoy the physical shopping experience the c-store chain offers.
In May 2024, Wawa’s share of loyal visitors (defined as those who visited the chain at least twice in a month) was 60.1%. In contrast, other leading c-store chains operating in Wawa’s market area – QuickTrip and 7-Eleven, for example – saw loyalty rates of 56.0% and 47.9%, respectively, for the same period.
Additionally, Wawa visitors browsed the aisles longer than those at other convenience retailers. In May 2024, 39.9% of Wawa visitors stayed in-store for 10 minutes or longer, compared to 29.6% at QuickTrip and 25.7% at 7-Eleven.
Wawa's loyal customer base and longer visit durations make it a strong contender in the retail media space. By harnessing this high level of customer engagement, Wawa can draw in advertisers and develop targeted marketing strategies that resonate with its dedicated shoppers.
Wawa has been on an expansion roll over the past few years, with plans to open at least 280 stores over the next decade in North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. The chain has also been steadily increasing its footprint in Florida – between January 2019 and April 2024, Wawa grew from 167 Sunshine State locations to 280, with more to come.
And analyzing changes in Wawa’s visit share in one of Florida’s biggest markets – the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale DMA – shows how successful the chain’s local expansion has been. Between January 2019 and April 2024, Wawa more than doubled its category-wide visit share in the Miami area (i.e. the portion of total c-store visits in the DMA going to Wawa) – from 19.0% to nearly 40.0%.
A look at changes in Wawa’s Miami-Ft. Lauderdale trade area shows that the chain’s growing visit share has been driven by an expanding market and an increasingly diverse audience.
In April 2019, there were some 55 zip code tabulation areas (ZCTAs) in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale DMA from which Wawa drew at least 3,000 visits per month. By April 2021, this figure grew to 96 – and by April 2024, it reached 129.
Over the same period, the share of “Family Union” households in Wawa’s local captured market – defined by the Experian: Mosaic dataset as families comprised of middle-income, blue collar workers – nearly doubled, growing from 7.4% in April 2019 to 14.4% in April 2024.
Retail media networks that make it easier to introduce shoppers to products and brands that are closely aligned with their preferences and habits offer a win-win-win for retailers, advertisers, and consumers alike. And Costco and Wawa are extremely well-positioned to make the most of this opportunity.
