In what seems like an about-face, brick-and-mortar retailers are seeing stronger than expected sales. How are they doing this? Well, according to a recent New York Times article, retailers are taking a page out of Amazon’s playbook to better understand consumer behavior…  something Amazon does quite well. These retailers are getting smarter and more strategic by leveraging location intelligence to understand the events people attend, where they go, and what they do in the physical retail world.

Location data, as I like to say, uniquely captures the human experience. When a business accesses this depth of understanding about their customers’ lives, then they can build, plan and engage with people in far more relevant and meaningful ways. Location data and event data could just be the superpower that can help retailers match, or even beat, Amazon.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts that US holiday sales will increase 4.3 percent to 4.8 percent this year. This boost is due to a strong economy, however, sales are expected to be slower than a year ago when consumer spending surged to a 12-year high. As we countdown the weeks to the holiday shopping season, what can retailers do to make sure they are grabbing the attention of shoppers? There are many impactful ways retailers should consider using location insights to create opportunities to keep shoppers in-store and counter Amazon. Understanding where people go and what they do there can help retailers get the basics right, such as creating appealing in-store experiences, maximizing convenience (by offering shop online, pickup or return in-store) and, especially when stores get busy, ensuring staff, inventory and merchandising is located where there’s the most foot traffic.