Shoppers no longer have to step through business doors to make a purchase—shopping lists are often crossed off by online shopping. This is a challenge for brick-and-mortar businesses who haven’t yet embraced digital transformation. Consumers often opt to shop online for convenience, and do so more since the pandemic normalized digital ordering. How can business owners understand their market if health risks, long distances, or time constraints bar them from face-to-face interaction? Along with digital transformation, data is going to be the most important asset for companies looking to understand the ins and outs of holiday consumer behavior. Location intelligence provides businesses with insights into the new holiday shopping journey and the latest holiday consumer trends.

Over the last couple of years, there has been widespread talk about the death of retail. Although foot traffic to shopping destinations was sparse during the pandemic, our data suggests retail is back in action. This year, consumers are ready to get back in stores and to socialize more, according to our latest consumer trends report. Current consumer behavior means companies will need to connect offline and online behavior to map out the new customer journey. This is where location intelligence becomes essential for companies looking to understand where consumers go in the real world.

For example, a retail brand examining its online data and store foot traffic during the holidays may notice that more customers are opting for home delivery or curbside pick up rather than purchasing items in-store. To better understand this holiday consumer behavior, the brand might decide to examine where its customers go before and after they visit its store. With location intelligence, the retailer is able to conclude that customers are going to a nearby coffee shop before or after they shop at its store. With this insight, the retailer could decide to partner with the coffee shop in some way, either by serving coffee in-store or through a joint promotion, to draw customers back into its stores.

Holiday consumer trends aren’t the same as last year. By understanding where consumers are going in the real world, market researchers can analyze holiday consumer behavior for better decision making. Human movement patterns based on location intelligence can inform us about what consumers are interested in and about regional trends.

Let’s say a market research firm examines foot traffic data from a location intelligence company to see where consumers are going. They might discover that foot traffic during the holidays is high around home builder offices, leasing offices, home improvement stores, and garden centers. This could indicate that consumers are continuing to show interest in improving their homes around the holidays, in the market for a new build, or looking to rent a new apartment. To take their data analysis a step further, researchers could also enhance location intelligence with additional data, such as new home and apartment sales, to see which regions or cities in the U.S. have the most interest in new homes vs. home improvement.

The holidays are looking different this year, so it’ll be important for companies to be able to predict future consumer behavior. Combining predictive analytics with location intelligence is a great way to understand emerging consumer holiday trends. 

Why invest in this type of data to predict holiday consumer behavior? It empowers businesses to get ahead of their competition and adapt their customer experience to meet new consumer expectations during the holiday season.

Reach out to an expert for more information on how location intelligence can enhance your business’ understanding of recent and future consumer trends.