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In the U.S., one can find many different dishes that incorporate a range of culinary traditions: Kogi truck introduced us to the joy of putting short ribs and vinaigrette slaw in a corn tortilla, topped off with a distinctly Korean salsa made of Korean chiles, rice wine vinegar, and scallions; Banh mi po’ boys combine the best of Vietnamese and Louisianan tradition; Lime and jalapeno-topped yellowtail sashimi hearkens to both Japanese and Peruvian lineages.
In Los Angeles, the LA Times takes readers on a culinary journey to the world of Black Tacos, where lines can reach 3 hours at Worldwide Tacos as one chooses from unique protein options like lamb, salmon, crab, and duck and mouthwatering flavor combinations like jerk, curry, pina colada, blueberry with blue cheese and raspberry chipotle.
While often anchored with a traditional corn tortilla, Black tacos also incorporate flavors and techniques from soul food, such as versions that use barbeque sauce, yams with wild rice, ground turkey, pulled pork, or hot honey catfish.
Alta Adams has its own take on Black tacos with a jerk-spiced sweet plantain taco. Nestled within a homemade corn tortilla, one will find caramelized plantain, mango-habanero salsa and chopped onion and cilantro. In 2022, the Hollywood Reporter named this spot “Black Hollywood’s Top Restaurant for Power Dining.” This restaurant is a popular evening destination, as patrons sip their inventive cocktails well into the night and see if they might catch a glimpse of Jay-Z or John Legend.
At the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, the entire month of February was dedicated to “African Americans and the Arts” and the impact of African Americans on visual arts, music, cultural movements, and more. From the BLM Movement to Harlem Hellfighters, Hip Hop and Rap to Musical Life at HBCUs, a rich cornucopia awaits. Per Spatial.ai PersonaLive, among those who visited in the past 6 months, when we look at those comprising 70% of visits, nearly 3 in 10 are Educated Urbanites, as well as a healthy dose of Young Professionals, Near-Urban Diverse Families, and Ultra Wealthy Families.
The museum also attracted a broad cross-section of different ethnicities.
Discount & Dollar stores thrived in 2022 and 2023, as inflation drove many shoppers to trade down and seek out cheaper retail alternatives. But how has the category continued to fare in the new year? Have stabilizing prices led shoppers away from discount chains? Or have dollar stores cemented their position as go-to retailers even when money isn’t quite as tight?
We dove into the data to find out.
Over the past two years, Discount & Dollar Stores have emerged as major disruptors, diversifying both their offerings and their price points – and the category leaders’ continued visit growth suggests that this strategy is helping the chains build significant strength. By investing in private label food items and stocking fresh produce at thousands of locations, Dollar General has established itself as a prime low-cost grocery destination. Family Dollar, owned by Dollar Tree, has also made strong inroads into the supermarket scene, with everything from fruits and veggies to cage-free eggs. Dollar Tree has also broadened its grocery selection to include an array of chilled and frozen foods.
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In January 2024, Discount & Dollar Stores saw a further increase in year-over-year (YoY) visits, building upon the category’s impressive post-COVID gains. Most of the analyzed category leaders also saw YoY visit jumps – no small feat given these retailers’ strong 2022 and 2023 performance.
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Zooming out on the longer-term visitation trajectories of leading discount chains shows just how well positioned the category remains for continued success. Compared to a January 2020 pre-COVID baseline, visits to Dollar General and Dollar Tree were up 24.3% and 14.0%, respectively, in January 2024. While these foot traffic increases were undoubtedly fueled in part by the continued expansion of the chains’ footprints, they highlight strong and growing demand for the category’s bargain fare.
The chains’ visit patterns also reveal clear seasonality in visitation patterns to leading Discount & Dollar Stores, with the chains emerging as holiday shopping destinations. Dollar Tree, which continues to price most items at $1.25, experiences more pronounced seasonal peaks, with visits spiking during the holiday season. And though Dollar General has firmly positioned itself as a year-round destination for essential goods, it too sees foot traffic spikes in December.
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The emergence of Discount & Dollar chains as affordable venues for much-needed necessities has been a major factor in the segment’s success. But the category’s strong positioning as a key holiday shopping player has also helped solidify its place in the nation’s retail landscape.
And looking at monthly fluctuations in the median household income (HHI) of Discount & Dollar Stores’ captured markets shows a subtle but distinct HHI spike during the peak holiday season – meaning that the category draws its audiences from slightly more affluent areas during this all-important time of the year. This trend may be a further indication of the mainstreaming of dollar stores – with higher-HHI consumers especially likely to seek out their bargain-priced quality merchandise in the runup to Christmas.
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Since COVID, Discount & Dollar Stores have solidified their position as mainstream shopping destinations for everything from basic food items to home goods and party supplies. And if January 2024 is any indication, you can bet your bottom dollar on the category’s continued strength heading into the new year.
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This blog includes data from Placer.ai Data Version 2.0, which implements improvements to our extrapolation capabilities, adds short visit monitoring, and enhances visit detection.
The U.S. box office had a particularly strong 2023. Barbenheimer was the word out of everyone’s mouths over the summer, but other films like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and The Super Mario Bros. helped boost both sales and visits.
How was the overall theater performance compared to 2022 and 2019? Who’s visiting these chains? And what can cinemas do to boost visits during lulls? We take a closer look at location intelligence for the three major theaters – AMC, Regal Cinemas, and Cinemark – to find out.
Last year started on a high note, likely related to the strong box office performance of “Avatar: The Way of Water” (which may have also caused January 2024’s visit lag in comparison).
The “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” release in April helped spike visits further, with foot traffic to AMC, Regal Cinemas, and Cinemark increasing by 43.2%, 36.2%, and 40.8%, respectively. And July brought with it two of the most successful movie releases of all time – “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” – which topped box office charts for weeks.
Both films were released in late July, with the massive August visit spikes showing the full power of the two movies. “The Taylor Swift: Eras Tour” movie release in October also boosted visits, though AMC and Cinemark appear to have been the primary beneficiaries of the Swifty-driven foot traffic increase.
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Year-over-four-year (Yo4Y) foot traffic trends offer a broader picture of how out-of-home entertainment is faring. The pandemic forced many movie theaters to shut their doors as social distancing guidelines made going to the movies impossible. In tandem, streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime became major movie studios in their own right.
The increase in at-home entertainment may have something to do with the overall Yo4Y decline in movie theater visits. Despite last year’s success, foot traffic data shows that fewer people are visiting theaters in 2023 than in 2019. Some of the dip is likely due to the chains’ rightsizing, with both AMC and Regal downsizing their fleet in recent years. But the success of this past summer’s blockbusters still brought visits to the two chains close to pre-pandemic numbers – and drove a positive Yo4Y visit surge to Cinemark – indicating that the right feature film can still draw crowds to cinemas nationwide.
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A closer look at the psychographic characteristics of visitors to the three movie theater chains reveals that families are overrepresented in the chains’ trade areas, while young professionals are underrepresented: Consumer segments identified by the Spatial.ai: PersonaLive dataset as “Ultra Wealthy Families” and “Wealthy Suburban Families” were more prevalent in the theaters’ captured* markets than in their potential markets, while “Young Professionals” were less prevalent. With some analysts lamenting the death of superhero movies, movie studios looking for the next big idea may want to invest in more family-friendly films to cater to these theater-going family segments.
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*A chain’s captured market weighs each CBG according to the actual number of visits originating to the chain from that CBG. A chain’s potential market refers to the population residing in a given trade area, weighted to reflect the number of households in each Census Block Group (CBG) comprising the trade area. A chain’s captured market weighs each CBG according to the actual number of visits originating to the chain from that CBG.
Unsurprisingly, movie theaters were busiest on the weekends – Saturday and Sunday received the lion's share of visits across all analyzed cinema chains, followed by Fridays. But the busiest non-Friday or weekend day was Tuesday – likely thanks to the theater chains’ "Discount Tuesday" special.
Cinemark experienced the largest Tuesday surge – with 12.6% of its weekly visits occurring on its discount day – perhaps due to the company’s decision to extend its discount to non-club members. AMC and Regal also received more visits on Tuesdays than they did during every other weekday (except for Friday).
As theaters continue to find creative ways to remain competitive in the evolving world of entertainment, “Discount Tuesdays” underscore the significance of a good deal when looking to drive visits to theaters.
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Movie theater visits exceeded all expectations in 2023 as film enthusiasts flocked to watch any number of major box-office releases. Will this momentum continue into 2024?
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This blog includes data from Placer.ai Data Version 2.0, which implements improvements to our extrapolation capabilities, adds short visit monitoring, and enhances visit detection.
With Q4 2023 under our belts, we dove into the data to check in with leading eyewear brands Warby Parker and America's Best Contacts & Eyeglasses – both of which have expanded their brick-and-mortar footprints in recent years. How did they fare in the final months of 2023? And what does their performance bode for the future of offline eyewear sales this year?
Warby Parker, the digitally-native darling that burst onto the scene in 2010 as an online-only retailer, opened its first physical store in 2013 and now operates some 250 venues across 38 states and the District of Columbia. And the trendy eyewear brand’s visits continue to grow alongside its expanding store fleet, with chain-wide year-over-year (YoY) foot traffic increases ranging from 16.6% to 37.0%. Warby Parker’s continued offline flourishing – despite the chain’s online origins – highlights the continued importance of physical stores for the glasses-buying experience.
National Vision’s America’s Best Contacts & Eyeglasses – the discount eyewear chain that features more than 900 locations nationwide – has also been on a growth trajectory. Over the past several months, the chain saw consistent YoY visit increases, partly driven by its expanding physical presence. And in Q3 2023, the brand also reported a rise in comparable store sales – showcasing healthy demand for its offerings.
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What is the secret to the success of these very different chains? To explore some of the factors driving traffic to Warby Parker and America’s Best, we segmented the audiences of their trade areas with demographic data from STI’s PopStats and psychographics from Spatial.ai’s PersonaLive – and the results were striking.
Over the past four years, the median household income (HHI) of Warby Parker’s potential market – i.e. the census block groups (CBGs) from which the chain draws its customers, weighted to reflect each one’s population size – has decreased. This indicates that as Warby Parker has expanded its fleet, it has opened stores in areas that are slightly less affluent than Warby Parker’s legacy markets – although the median HHI in these newer markets also stands significantly above the nationwide median of $69.5K.
But over the same period, the median HHI of the brand’s captured market continued to climb. (A chain’s captured market is derived by weighting the CBGs in its trade area according to the share of visitors from each CBG – thus mirroring the characteristics of the chain’s actual visitor base). The increase in captured market median HHI over time indicates that Warby Parker has been successful at reaching well-to-do audiences even within its newer, more economically diverse markets.
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Unlike Warby Parker, America’s Best Contacts & Eyeglasses serves a lower-HHI demographic. The median household income of the chain’s captured market in Q4 2023 was $66.2K – 4.7% below the nationwide median of $69.5K. And looking at America’s Best’s three largest regional markets – Texas, Florida, and California – shows that the chain’s captured market median HHI in each of these states is also lower than the relevant statewide baseline.
But while the chain’s visitor median HHI trends seem consistent across regions, diving deeper into the data suggests that the chain does attract different types of shoppers in different areas. Nationwide, the share of singles and individuals from large households in America’s Best’s captured market is just slightly above nationwide baselines. But in California, the share of large households in America’s Best’s captured market is 21.0% – significantly higher than the statewide baseline of 16.5%, while the share of singles falls below the Golden State’s baseline of 23.2%.
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Digital try-on and easy returns have made online glasses shopping a viable option for many consumers. But the continued offline success of Warby Parker and America’s Best shows that there’s still plenty of demand for brick-and-mortar eyewear stores – discount and higher-end alike. What lies in store for the offline eyewear space in 2024?
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This blog includes data from Placer.ai Data Version 2.0, which implements improvements to our extrapolation capabilities, adds short visit monitoring, and enhances visit detection.
We checked in with AutoZone and O’Reilly – two pandemic winners from the auto parts industry – to understand what location intelligence reveals about the retailers in 2024.
AutoZone and O’Reilly Auto Parts are both major players in the multi-billion dollar automotive aftermarket industry with thousands of locations across the country. As car prices skyrocketed over the pandemic, visits to these retailers increased – and analyzing foot traffic patterns to these retailers reveals that although growth in the sector may be slowing down, leading auto parts chains are holding on to their pandemic gains.
On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, visits to AutoZone and O’Reilly Auto Parts continued growing in the first half of 2023 before stalling in Q3 2023 and dipping in Q4. But looking at year-over-four-year (Yo4Y) visits suggests that the drop may be due to the challenging comparison to an unusually strong period rather than to any drop in demand for auto parts. Last year’s visits to both AutoZone and O’Reilly Auto Parts were significantly higher than the chains’ 2019 baseline, with Q4 2023 visits exceeding Q4 2019 levels by 11.9% and 22.6% for AutoZone and O’Reilly Auto Parts, respectively.
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The pattern continued in January 2024, with visits to AutoZone and O’Reilly significantly higher than they were pre-pandemic, but slightly lower on a YoY basis. But the Q4 2023 YoY visit gaps narrowed for both chains, and used cars are still outselling new vehicle and fueling demand for car parts – so visits to the space are likely to remain strong in 2024.
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Analyzing the demographic data of visitors to O’Reilly Auto Parts and AutoZone reveals that both companies succeeded in staying far ahead of their pre-pandemic visit baseline despite attracting a large number of visitors from lower-income households. In 2023, the median household income (HHI) within the two chains’ potential market* trade area was lower than the nationwide median of $69.5K/year, while the median HHI in the captured market trade area was even lower.
The income level of AutoZone and O’Reilly Auto Parts’ visitor base may help explain the chains’ Yo4Y strength and the YoY lags. With prices for used cars still significantly higher than they were in 2019, budget-conscious consumers are likely looking to patch up their existing rides instead of trading them in for newer vehicles – which could explain the sustained Yo4Y growth. At the same time, the ongoing inflation is likely straining this segment’s available funds, which may account for the YoY dips towards the end of 2023.
*A chain’s potential market refers to the population residing in a given trade area, weighted to reflect the number of households in each Census Block Group (CBG) comprising the trade area. A chain’s captured market weighs each CBG according to the actual number of visits originating to the chain from that CBG.
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When focusing on the trade area median HHI, the visitor base of AutoZone and O’Reilly Auto Parts looks nearly identical. But looking at the psychographic makeup of the two brands’ trade areas highlights differences between the companies. Using the Experian: Mosaic dataset to analyze the audience segments in the chains’ trade areas revealed that AutoZone tended to attract more city-based visitors, while O’Reilly seems to draw more small-town and rural households. Data from the Spatial.ai: PersonaLive’s dataset supports this pattern – and the success of both chains indicates that there is plenty of demand for car parts across a variety of audience types.
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As both companies continue to expand, location intelligence indicates that there is plenty of demand for car parts to go around.
For more data-driven retail analysis, visit placer.ai/blog.
This blog includes data from Placer.ai Data Version 2.0, which implements improvements to our extrapolation capabilities, adds short visit monitoring, and enhances visit detection.
Sports leagues like the NBA, NFL, and MLB boast billion-dollar revenues – and the venues where these games unfold hold significant commercial potential in their own rights. Many stadiums host concerts and other shows in addition to regularly held sporting matches and can accommodate tens of thousands of spectators at once – creating massive retail, dining, and advertisement opportunities.
This white paper analyzes location intelligence metrics for some of the biggest stadiums across the country to reveal the commercial potential of these venues beyond simple ticketing revenue. Where do visitors of various stadiums like to shop? Do specific sporting and cultural events impact the nearby restaurant scene differently? How can stadium operators, local businesses, and advertisers tailor their offerings to a stadium’s particular audience and make the most of the stadium and the space throughout the year?
We take a closer look below.
The three major sports leagues – the National Basketball League (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB), and the National Football League (NFL) – play at different points of the year, and the number of games each league holds during the season also varies.
MLB leads in game frequency, with each team playing 162 games during the regular season, which runs approximately from April through September. Basketball season is also around six months – roughly from mid-October to mid-April – but each NBA team plays only 82 games a season. And the NFL has both the shortest season – 18 weeks running from early September to early January (with the pre-season starting in August) – and the fewest number of matches per team. Understanding the monthly visitation patterns for the various types of stadiums can help advertisers, stadium operators, and other stakeholders ensure that they are leveraging the full potential of the venue throughout the year.
Unsurprisingly, the sports arenas serving the different leagues see visit spikes during their leagues’ respective season. But comparing visit numbers throughout the year to the average monthly visit numbers for each category in 2023 reveals that the relative visit increases and decreases during the on- and off-season vary for each type of stadium.
MLB stadiums display the steadiest visit strength during the on-season – perhaps due to MLB’s packed game schedule. MLB tickets also tend to be relatively affordable compared to tickets to pro football or basketball matches, which may also contribute to MLB’s consistently strong visit numbers throughout the season. During the MLB off-season, baseball fields – which tend to be uncovered – are relatively empty.
The seasonal visit spike to NBA arenas is less steady. The beginning and end of the season see strong peaks, and visits slow down slightly during the mid-season months of January and February. Visits then drop during the off-season spring and summer, but the off-season visit dip is not as low as it is for MLB fields – perhaps because the NBA arenas’ indoor nature make them suitable locations for concerts and other non-basketball events.
Meanwhile, NFL stadiums see the least dramatic drop in visits during the NFL off-season, as these venues’ enormous size also make them the ideal location for concerts and other cultural events that draw large crowds. These arenas’ strong almost year-round visitation numbers mean that sponsors and advertisers looking to expand beyond sports fans to reach a diverse audience may have the most success with these venues.
Although MLB offers the most budget-friendly outing, combining STI: Popstats demographic metrics with trade area data reveals that MLB stadium visitors reside in higher-income areas when compared with visitors to NBA or NFL stadiums.
Baseball fans tend to be older than fans of the other sports, which could partially explain MLB stadium visitors’ higher household income (HHI). The combination of lower ticket prices, higher median HHI among fans, and many games per season offers baseball stadiums significant opportunities to engage effectively with their fan bases.
But while NBA and NFL stadium attendees may not come from as high-income areas as do MLB stadium visitors, fans of live basketball and football still reside in trade areas with a higher HHI compared to the nationwide median. So by leveraging stadium space, advertisers and other stakeholders can reach tens of thousands of relatively high-income consumers easily and effectively.
Sports fans are known to be passionate, engaged, and willing to spend money on their team – but stadium visitors also shop for non-sports related goods and services. Retailers and advertisers can draw on location analytics to uncover the consumer preferences of stadium visitors and tailor campaigns, sponsorships, and collaborations accordingly.
Visitation data to the top five most visited MLB stadiums during 2023 showed differences between the apparel and sporting goods shopping preferences of the various stadiums’ attendees. While 39.4% of visitors to Truist Park also visited DICK’s in 2023, only 30.8% of Yankee Stadium visitors stopped by the sporting goods retailer in the same period. Similarly, while 29.9% of visitors to Yankee Stadium frequented Kohl’s, that percentage jumped to 47.3% for Busch Stadium visitors.
Harnessing location intelligence to see the consumer preferences of a stadium’s visitor base can help retailers, stadium operators, and even team managers choose partnerships and merchandising agreements that will yield the most effective results.
Sports and snacks go hand in hand – what would a baseball game be without a hot dog or peanuts? But while every stadium likely provides a similar core of traditional game day eats, each venue also offers a unique set of dining options, both on- and off-premise. And by leveraging location analytics to gain visibility into stadium-goers dining habits, stadium operators and local food businesses can understand how to best serve each arena’s audience.
Mapping where stadium visitors dine before and after games can help stakeholders in the stadium industry reach more fans.
The chart below shows the share of visitors coming to a stadium from a dining venue (on the x-axis) or going to a dining venue after visiting the stadium (on the y-axis). The data reveals a correlation between pre-stadium dining and post-stadium dining – stadiums where many guests visit dining venues before the stadium also tend to have a large share of guests going to dining venues after the event. For example, the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, saw large shares of visitors grabbing a bite to eat on their journey to or from the stadium, while the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland saw low rates of pre- and post stadium dining engagement.
These trends present opportunities for both local businesses and stadium stakeholders. For example, venues with high dining engagement can explore partnerships with local restaurants, while those with lower rates can build out their in-house dining options for hungry sports fans.
Stadiums looking to enhance their food offerings – or local entrepreneurs thinking of opening a restaurant near a stadium – can also get inspired by stadium visitors’ dining preferences. For example, psychographic data taken from the Spatial.ai: FollowGraph dataset reveals that visitors to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey have a much stronger preference for Asian cuisine compared to New Jersey residents overall. With that knowledge, the stadium can enhance the visitor experience by expanding its Asian food offerings.
On the other hand, MetLife Stadium goers seem much less partial to Brewery fare than average New Jerseyans, so the stadium operators and restaurateurs may want to avoid offering too many Brewery-themed dining options. Stadium stakeholders can reserve the craft beers for Caesars Stadium, M&T Bank Stadium, and Soldier Field Stadiums, where visitors seem to enjoy artisanal brews more than the average resident in Louisiana, Maryland, and Illinois, respectively.
All of the stadiums analyzed exhibited unique visitor dining tastes, a reminder that no customer or fan base is alike. Aligning on- or off-site dining options with offerings that align with a given customer base’s preferences can improve overall visitor satisfaction and boost revenues.
Zooming in to look at consumer behavior around individual events reveals further variability in dining preferences even among visitors to the same stadium, with different types of events driving distinct dining behaviors.
State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, is home to the Arizona Cardinals. The stadium hosted the 2023 Super Bowl, but the NFL stadium also acts as a concert venue for acts ranging from Taylor Swift to Metallica. And location intelligence reveals that the dining preferences of stadium visitors vary based on the events held at the venue.
During the Super Bowl, sports bars such as Yard House and Buffalo Wild Wings saw the largest increase in visits compared to the chains’ daily average. A month later, attendees at Taylor Swift's concert gave fried-chicken leader Raising Cane’s a significant boost.
Local restaurants can leverage location analytics to see what types of events are popular with their visitor base and craft collaborations and advertising campaigns that resonate effectively with their patrons.
Sports stadiums and arenas are not just spaces for sports and music enthusiasts to gather; they also offer significant commercial opportunities for the surrounding communities. Stadium operators and local businesses can fine-tune their offerings by utilizing location analytics to better connect with their visitor bases and uncover new retail opportunities.
The dining industry showcased its agility over the past couple of years as it rapidly adapted to shifts in consumer preference brought on by COVID and rising prices. And with a new year around the corner, the pace of change shows no signs of slowing down.
This white paper harnesses location analytics, including visitation patterns, demographic data, and psychographic insights, to explore the trends that will shape the dining space in 2024. Which dining segments are likely to pull ahead of the pack? How are chains responding to changes in visitor behavior? And where are brands driving dining foot traffic by taking advantage of a new advertising possibility? Read on to find out how dining leaders can tap into emerging trends to stay ahead of the competition in 2024.
Comparing quarterly visits in 2023 and 2022 highlights the impact of the ongoing economic headwinds on the dining industry. The year started off strong, with year-over-year (YoY) dining visits up overall in Q1 2023 – perhaps aided by the comparison to an Omicron-impacted muted Q1 2022. And while overall dining growth stalled in Q2 2023, several segments – including QSR, Fast Casual, and Coffee – continued posting YoY visit increases, likely bolstered by consumers trading down from pricier full-service concepts.
Foot traffic slowed significantly in Q3 2023 as inflation and tighter consumer budgets constrained discretionary spending. Overall dining visits fell 2.4% YoY, and full-service restaurants – with their relatively high price point compared to other dining segments – seemed to be particularly impacted by the wider economic outlook. But the data also revealed some bright spots: Fast Casual still succeeded in maintaining positive YoY visit numbers and Coffee saw its Q3 visit grow an impressive 5.4% YoY. As the return to office continues, a pre-work coffee run or lunchtime foray to a fast-casual chain may continue propelling the two segments forward.
Restaurant visitation patterns have evolved over the past few years. Although an 8 PM seating was once the most coveted slot at fine-dining restaurants, recent visitation data suggests that sitting down to dinner earlier is rising in popularity.
But among the QSR segment, the opposite trend is emerging, with late-night visits rising. Analyzing hourly foot traffic to several major QSR chains reveals that the share of visits between 9 PM and 12 AM increased significantly between Q3 2019 and Q3 2023. Even Taco Bell – already known for its popularity among the late-night crowd – saw a substantial increase in late-night visits YoY – from 15.4% to 20.3%.
Who is driving the late night visit surge? One reason restaurants have been expanding their opening hours is to capture more Gen-Z diners, who tend to seek out nighttime dining options. But location intelligence reveals that younger millennials are also taking advantage of the later QSR closing times.
An analysis of the captured market for trade areas of top locations within one of Taco Bell’s major markets – the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metropolitan area – reveals a year-over-four-year (Yo4Y) increase in “Singles & Starters.” The “Singles & Starters” segment is defined by Experian: Mosaic as young singles and starter families living in cities who are typically between 25 and 30 years old. As consumers continue to prioritize experiential entertainment and going out with friends, late-night dining may continue to see increased interest from young city-dwellers.
Millennials and Gen-Z consumers aren’t only heading to their favorite fast food joint for a late-night bite – these audience segments are also helping drive visits on the weekends. Smoothie King is one chain feeling the benefits of young, health-conscious consumers.
The chain, which opened in New Orleans, LA, in 1973 as a health food store, has since grown to over 1,100 locations nationwide and is currently expanding, focusing on the Dallas-Fort Worth CBSA. The area’s Smoothie King venues have seen strong visitation patterns, particularly on the weekends – weekend visits were up 3.4% YoY in Q3 2023. The smoothie brand’s trade areas in the greater Dallas region is also seeing a YoY increase in weekend visits from “Young Professionals” – defined by the Spatial.ai PersonaLive dataset as “well-educated young professionals starting their careers in white-collar or technical jobs.”
While some dining chains are appealing to the late-night or weekend crowd, others are driving visits by appealing to sports lovers. How have recent rule changes around student athletes changed the restaurant game, and how can college football teams drive business in their hometowns?
College sports have long been a major moneymaker, with top-tier teams raking in billions of dollars annually. And as of 2021, college athletes can enjoy a piece of the significant fan following of college sports thanks to the change in the NCAA’s Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rules, which now allows student athletes to sign endorsement deals.
Since then, multiple restaurants have jumped on the opportunity to partner with student athletes, some of whom have millions of followers on Instagram and TikTok. Chains like Chipotle, Sweetgreen, Slim Chickens, and Hooters have all signed college athletes to various brand deals.
How can brands ensure they partner with athletes their customers will want to engage with? Analyzing a chain’s audience by looking at the interests of residents in a given chain’s trade area can reveal which type of athlete will be the most attractive to each brand’s customer base. For example, data from Spatial.ai: Followgraph provides insight into the social media activity of consumers in a given trade area and can highlight desirable partnerships.
Examining the trade areas of Chipotle, Sweetgreen, Slim Chickens, and Hooters, for instance, reveals that Sweetgreen’s visitors tended to have the largest share of Women’s Soccer followers. Conversely, Sweetgreen’s trade area had lower-than-average shares of College Football Fans or College Basketball Fans, while residents of the trade areas of the other three chains showed greater-than-average interest in these sports. Leveraging location intelligence can help companies choose brand deals that their customers resonate with and find the ideal athletes to represent the chain.
Finding the right college athlete partnership is one way for dining brands to appeal to college sports enthusiasts. But dining chains and venues located near major college stadiums also benefit from the popularity of their local team by enjoying a major game day visit boost.
One of the country’s most popular college football teams, the Ohio State Buckeyes, can draw millions of TV viewers, and its stadium has a capacity of 102,780 – one of the largest stadiums in the country. And while tailgating is a popular activity for Buckeyes fans, nearby restaurants are some of the biggest beneficiaries of the college football craze. Panera experienced a 235.3% increase on game days as compared to a typical day, Domino’s Pizza visits grew by 283.3%, and Tommy’s Pizza, a local pie shop, saw its visits jump by a whopping 600.9%.
This influx in diners also causes a major shift in game day visitor demographics, as revealed by changes in visitors at dining venues located near stadiums of two of the nation’s best college football teams – the Ohio State Buckeyes and Ole Miss Rebels. Based on Spatial.ai: Personalive data for the captured market of these dining venues, game day visitors tended to come from “Ultra Wealthy Families” when compared to visitors during a typical non-game day in September or October.
The analysis indicates that popular sporting events create a unique opportunity for restaurants near college stadiums to attract high-income customers game day after game day, year after year.
While some spend game day tailgating or visiting a college restaurant, others hold a viewing party – with a six-foot submarine. And the sub’s popularity extends beyond Superbowl Sundays. Sandwich chains including Jersey Mike’s, Firehouse Subs, Jimmy John’s, and Subway (recently purchased by the same company that owns Jimmy John’s) have seen sustained YoY increases in visits and visits per venue in the first three quarters of 2023.
Some of the growth to these chains may be related to their affordability, a draw at all times but especially during a period marked by consumer uncertainty and rising food costs. And subway leaders seem to be seizing the moment and striking while the iron is hot – Jersey Mike’s opened 350 stores in 2023 and still saw its YoY visits per venue grow by 6.6%. And Subway reported ten consecutive quarters of positive sales, a promising sign for its new owner.
The love for a healthy, affordable sandwich extends across all income levels, with all four chains seeing a range in their visitors' median household income (HHI). Out of the four chains analyzed, Jersey Mike’s – which has long prioritized a suburban, middle-income customer – had the highest trade area median household income of the four chains at $77.3K/year. Subway, known for its affordability, had the lowest, with $62.9K/year. The variance in median HHI combined with the strong foot traffic growth shows that when it comes to sandwiches, there’s something for everyone.
Persistent inflation and declining consumer sentiment may pose serious challenges for the dining space, but emerging trends are helping boost some restaurants. Customers seeking out a late-night bite drive visits to QSR chains, and health-conscious diners are boosting foot traffic to smoothie bars and sandwich shops. Meanwhile, sports sponsorships and game-day restaurant visits can provide a boost to dining businesses that take advantage of these opportunities.
“Retail media networks have turned retailers into ad moguls. That’s a huge change and nobody yet understands all the implications of it.”
Constantine von Hoffman, MARTECH
Companies operating consumer-facing brick-and-mortar venues traditionally relied on selling goods and services as their primary revenue stream. But recently, leading retailers such as Walmart and Target have begun to leverage their immense store fleet into a powerful advertising platform.
Online retailers have been tapping into the advertising power of their digital sites for years by relying on various automated tools to show third-party advertisements to relevant consumer segments. But now, retailers with a strong offline presence can also leverage physical marketing impressions and focus their campaigns while reaching consumers at the point of purchase. Retailers have long recognized the intent that drives a store visit, and understanding the full value of leveraging that visit to its full extent is an important new frontier.
Major retailers are continuing to see their physical visits outnumber their online ones.
And in spite of the gloomy predictions regarding the future of brick and mortar retail, major retailers are continuing to see their physical visits outnumber their online ones. Monthly numbers of visitors to Walmart and Target significantly outpace the brands’ online reach, according to web data from Similarweb. So although, up until recently, these brands have focused their media placements on their digital channels, it is becoming increasingly clear that these chains’ physical stores hold powerful – and currently untapped – advertising potential.
Online visitor data source: similarweb.com
And with the recent rise in digital advertising costs, retail media networks are becoming more attractive for companies looking to make the most of their ad budget. Retail media networks can also help brands reach rural communities, elderly Americans, and other consumer segments that are currently underserved by digital advertisers.
This white paper explores several retailers on the cutting edge of the retail media network revolution. Keep reading to find out how advertisers can use retail media networks to promote to hard-to-reach consumers, segment their ad spending, and optimize their campaigns.
Residents of rural areas use the internet less frequently, and have lower levels of technology ownership than their urban and suburban counterparts. As a result, companies that stick to digital advertising may have a harder time reaching rural consumers. Brick and mortar retailers popular in smaller markets can fill in the gaps and help brands promote their products and services to this hard-to-reach audience.
Brick and mortar retailers popular in smaller markets can help brands advertise to hard-to-reach audiences.
Dollar General saw significant success over the pandemic, with the current economic climate continuing to benefit the brand. Between January and August 2022, nationwide visits to Dollar General venues were 35.6% higher than they were between January and August 2019, while the number of visitors increased 25.4% in the same period.Visit numbers aggregate the visits to the chain’s various locations in a given period, while visitor numbers track the number of people who enter the brand’s stores.
The company has also been operating a media network since 2018. The Dollar General Media Network (DGMN) enables advertisers to reach Dollar General consumers across the company’s channels to build awareness both digitally and in physical spaces. Advertisers with DGMN can display in-store bollard, blade, and wipe stand signs, security pedestals, basket bottomers, and shelfAdz to deliver in-store messaging from parking lot to purchase. Recently, Dollar General announced that its ad platform was now working with 21 new advertising partners, including Unilever, General Mills, Hershey’s, and Colgate-Palmolive.
Embracing the Power of the Small Market
Advertising partners can leverage the DGMN to promote their goods and services to harder-to-reach consumers.
Dollar General has been serving rural residents for years, with the majority of the company’s stores located in communities with fewer than 20,00 residents. And while the brand is growing nationwide, Dollar General’s strength is particularly evident in small markets – which means that advertising partners can leverage the DGMN to promote their goods and services to harder-to-reach consumers.
Comparing year-over-three-year (Yo3Y) visit change to Dollar General stores in metropolitan and micropolitan core based statistical areas (CBSAs) highlights the company’s success in smaller markets. According to the United States Office of Management and Budget, metropolitan and micropolitan CBSAs have over and under 50,000 residents, respectively. Since January 2022, monthly Yo3Y visit growth to Dollar General venues in select Texas micropolitans has consistently outpaced foot traffic to nearby metropolitan areas. While the Sherman-Denison metro area saw August 2022 foot traffic hit a solid 24.5% increase over August 2019, the Gainesville, Texas micro area – around 35 miles east of Sherman – saw its foot traffic increase 54.5% in the same period.
Dollar General’s presence across a significant number of smaller markets means that advertising partners can use the growing DGMN to increase awareness and drive purchase consideration among these harder-to-reach consumers.
In the digital space, three tech giants – Alphabet (previously Google), Meta (previously Facebook), and Amazon – enjoy over 60% of the digital ad revenue in the United States. This means that companies are competing for impressions on a small number of platforms – and smaller brands geared at specific consumer segments may need to spend significant advertising budgets to outbid the larger players. Retail media networks create additional advertising platforms, and enable advertisers to diversify their ad spend, increase their (physical) impressions, focus on more specialized channels to better reach their audience, and potentially reach customers at their highest point of intent.
Retail media networks create additional advertising platforms and potentially reach customers at their highest point of intent.
Albertsons launched its retail media network, Albertsons Media Collective, in November 2021 with the goal of delivering “digitally native, shopper-centric and engaging branded content to the company’s ever-growing network of shoppers.” Currently, the grocer’s media network is primarily digital, but Albertsons’ head of retail media products Evan Hovorka recognizes the importance of leveraging in-store assets to deliver a unique advertising experience. The company is testing out smart carts that link with “Albertsons for U” loyalty program to display ads to shoppers – and Albertsons is likely to find more ways to reach in-store consumers as it continues to develop its retail media network.
The chain is also one of the most popular grocers nationwide. With the exception of March and April 2022, when inflation and high gas prices temporarily halted growth, the brand’s monthly visits and visitor numbers have consistently exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Monthly visits for Albertsons in August 2022 were up 5.7% and monthly visitors were up 5.4% on a Yo3Y basis. This means that advertisers with Albertsons can increase their reach and grow their physical ad impressions just by displaying their ads in Albertsons locations and tapping into the chain’s growing visitor base.
Looking beyond Albertsons' nationwide average foot traffic trends reveals some important regional differences. Between January and July 2022, visits to the brands increased 4.6% in Wyoming on a Yo3Y basis, while foot traffic to the brand’s locations in Oregon jumped 18.5% compared to January through July 2019. This means that a brand looking to reach consumers in Oregon can contract with Albertsons’ media network to show its ads to a fast-growing pool of visitors.
A larger visitor count translates to an increase in unique ad impressions, while more visits from fewer visitors can drive repeated exposures.
Diving deeper into the data reveals an additional layer of insight. Some states with only moderate visit growth are seeing a surge in visitor numbers, while other states are seeing a drop in visitor numbers but a rise in visits. A larger visitor count translates to an increase in unique ad impressions and more people exposed to the ads, while more visits from fewer visitors translates to more overall impressions that can drive repeated exposure among a smaller group of visitors. So advertisers can use segmented foot traffic data to decide where to focus their marketing depending on the goal of the campaign.
For example, Wyoming's moderate increase in visits hides a significant spike in visitors, which means that advertisers to Albertsons venues in Wyoming can get their impressions before a large number of different potential consumers. Meanwhile, Oregon's 18.5% increase in visits is the result of just a 9.4% increase in visitors – so Albertsons is cultivating an increasingly loyal following in the Beaver State, and the grocer’s advertising partners can expect that the same visitors will be exposed to their brand repeatedly.
So companies that want to increase unique ad impressions and build awareness can advertise to Albertsons customers in Wyoming, where their ads will be seen by a large number of new people. But in Oregon, companies may want to promote a campaign that focuses on moving Albertsons visitors through their funnel.
In order to accurately assess the ad distribution patterns in each location, brands operating retail media networks need to understand both visits and visitors trends in each region and for the chain as a whole.
Advertisers with retail media networks can use foot traffic data to refine their geographic audience by identifying the consumer preferences of a given brick-and-mortar brand on a store or city level.
In August 2020, CVS Pharmacy launched its media network, the CVS Media Exchange (cMx). The company estimates that 76% of U.S. consumers live within five miles of at least one store, and the cMx allows partners to tap into the chain’s reach by giving advertisers access to CVS’ online and offline channels, including in-store ads.
Although CVS has been closing locations recently, the brand is still one of the strongest players in the brick-and-mortar retail space. Its 2022 visit numbers have consistently exceeded pre-pandemic levels nationwide, and data from CVS locations in leading cities shows that its Yo3Y visits per venue and visitor numbers are even higher.
CVS’s nationally distributed fleet means that the brand’s locations in different regions attract distinct consumer bases.
CVS carries a varied product mix of daily essentials in addition to its healthcare offerings, so the brand attracts a wide range of consumer segments. And the chain’s nationally distributed store fleet means that CVS has locations in different regions that attract distinct consumer bases who do not all have the same lifestyle preferences. By using foot traffic data to understand the regional consumer preferences of CVS consumers beyond the store, advertising partners can refine their market and make the most of the cMx.
Different regions have different fitness cultures. Chains catering to health-conscious consumers can use retail media networks and foot traffic data to focus their efforts on areas where inhabitants exhibit a high demand for regular workouts.
Analyzing cross-visit data from CVS locations across five major urban centers in the U.S. shows that the percentage of those who also visited gyms or fitness studios varied significantly across each DMA. In the New York area, 62.7% of those who visited CVS in Q2 2022 also visited a fitness venue during that period, in contrast with only 38.0% of CVS visitors around Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX in the same period. This information can help advertising partners in the health and wellness space decide where to place their campaigns.
Looking at cross-visit data on a city-wide level can provide a sense of the consumer culture in each area, but advertisers that dive into foot traffic data for individual stores can refine their messaging even further.
On average, 43.8% of CVS visitors in the Chicago DMA also visited a gym in Q2 2022. But drilling down to the top CVS locations in the city reveals that the rate of cross-visits varies significantly from location to location. Both the E 53rd Street and W 103rd Street locations have a relatively high share of visitors who visit fitness locations – 52.5% and 49.2%, respectively. Meanwhile fitness cross-visits were at just 36.6% for the South Stony Island Avenue location. Advertisers promoting health and wellness related products and services may want to focus on the 103rd St. and 53rd St. CVS locations.
Diving into a customer’s behavior and preferences outside the store can help retail media network operators and advertising partners find the areas and locations best suited for each type of ad.
Cross-visit data is one way to identify consumer preferences beyond the physical store. Advertisers can also analyze digital preferences of offline visitors to focus their marketing on the most appropriate locations.
Advertisers can also analyze digital preferences of offline visitors to focus on the most appropriate locations.
Over the past couple of years, Macy’s has been finding ways to reinvent itself and optimize its store fleet – and foot traffic data indicates that the retailer's efforts are paying off. In the first half of 2022, Macy’s exceeded its H1 2021 overall visit and average visits per venue numbers and posted a positive year-over-year (YoY) visitor count. In Q2 2022, despite the wider economic challenges, Macy’s visitors, visits, and average visits per venue saw YoY increases of 3.4%, 4.0% and 9.9% increases.
Like CVS, Macy’s launched its media network in August 2020, and by February 2021 the Macy’s Media Network was already generating $35 million annually. In addition to advertising on the company’s digital channels, Macy’s also offers partners the use of in-store screen displays, package inserts, and the brand’s iconic billboard in New York City’s Herald Square.
Advertisers can optimize their advertising by analyzing the differences in consumer profiles between a chain’s various stores.
Advertisers that understand the differences in consumer profiles between a chain’s various stores can optimize their advertising efforts. While looking at variations in cross-visit trends is one way to identify interested brick-and-mortar consumers, diving into visitor’s digital behavior and online preferences can also provide valuable insights.
Tools such as Spatial.ai’s GeoWeb, which tracks online engagement with various trends and topics by neighborhood, can reveal how offline consumers behave online. An index score of 100 indicates that consumers in an area have an average interest in a given topic, while scores over (or under) 100 indicate that consumers are more (or less) interested in the topic when compared to the national average interest.
We used Spatial.ai’s GeoWeb tool to analyze the online behavior of consumers in the True Trade Areas (TTA) of five Macy’s locations in the Philadelphia, PA DMA – and found that residents of the different TTAs stores showed differing indexes. For example, the Macy’s in the King of Prussia Mall location showed a high index of 161 in “Men’s Business Clothes Shoppers,” while the Cottman Ave. location had an only slightly above average index of 102. This means that advertisers of men’s business apparel may see more results by focussing their advertising on visitors to the King of Prussia location.
Advertisers that use retail media networks do a lot more than just reach in-store shoppers. Stores exist in the physical world, so advertisers can also reach passers-by through physical venues’ windows, blade signs – or in the case of Macy’s, through its Herald Square Billboard. Here too, foot traffic data can reveal the consumer preferences of people walking by the sign.
We looked at the online behavior in the TTA around the traffic pin on the corner where the billboard is located (Broadway/6th Ave and 34th Street in New York) to understand which advertisers might benefit most from a billboard at that location. While the “Men’s Business Clothes Shoppers” category was over-indexed compared to the national average, as would be expected in midtown Manhattan, “Women’s Fashion Brand Shoppers” had an even higher index. “Gen Z Apparel Shoppers” were over-represented, but “Leather Good Shoppers” and ”Athleisure Shoppers” were under-represented. So a brand that carries both elegant wear and athleisure may want to display its less casual clothing lines on the billboard.
Understanding how consumers behave both on and offline can help retail media networks and advertising partners promote their campaigns most effectively.
To transform their physical store fleet into a media network, brands and companies need to analyze the reach of each venue. The same chain operating in multiple regions may be reaching different types of consumers in each area, or even in various neighborhoods of the same city. These distinct audiences may have contrasting products, brands, and shopping preferences.
Retailers that leverage their brick and mortar presence can transform the advertisement space as it exists today.
Retailers can also partner with advertising partners who wish to promote goods and services not carried by the retailer. For this to succeed, the retailer will need to analyze how consumers behave outside of its stores. Understanding what characterizes the overall behavior of consumers in each locations’ trade area will allow the retailer to reach a larger audience and truly compete with the digital giants. And by leveraging their brick and mortar presence, brick and mortar retail can transform the advertisement space as it exists today.
