Expansion Planning Using Heat Maps
Problem: Need to Transform New Product Success into New Market Opportunities
ABC Furniture manufacturing manufactures and distributes furniture through show rooms across the Eastern USA. The ABC reclining chair profits have proved to be significant and the company is interested in developing the market further. The best way to accomplish this is to either build showrooms or partner with showrooms in underserved areas.
Solution: Visualize Sales with MBO Heat Map - Find ZIP Codes for Growth
ABC uses MapBusinessOnline to graphically display where sales most often occur, and by omission, where they do not occur at all. The MBO ZIP code layer is turned on and color coded to reflect ZIP codes with the highest Median Income per Population, a ratio calculation. These rust red colored ZIP codes should be the best target areas for growth.
Next, a dataset of 2016 recliner sales by outlet address is imported into MBO and turned into a Heat Map layer. The brighter blue hot spots reflect areas of intense sales, the cooler darker spots show less sales, and again by omission, reflect areas with no sales that are under consideration for better representation.
How to Create a Retail Sales Heat Map
- Make sure your data records have at least two columns. One column for location and a second column with numeric data describing your subject – in this case, sales of recliners
- Import your location or address based dataset into MapBusinessOnline
- Click the Heat Map Button on the Master Toolbar
- Select your target data set and make sure the numeric data column is selected
- Choose an appropriate color scheme and an intensity setting
- Process your heat map
To display the heat map against a demographic scheme:
- Turn on the ZIP code layer
- In Map & Data, hover over the ZIP code layer and click the Edit Gear. Choose Manage Calculated Data Columns. Add a Data Column, name it, and pick the operation parameters – Overall Population/High Med Income
- Use the Color Code Map button, accessing your Calculated Data option (from 2) and color code ZIP codes to best reflect your target market
Your best ZIP codes for new showrooms supporting new sales opportunities will be ZIP codes with optimum demographics and no sales activity, and nearby ZIP codes with optimum demographics close to areas with maximum sales activity, perhaps within a specific drive time distance of existing stores – for example an hour’s drive away.
Learn How Our Customers are Succeeding with MapBusinessOnline
One of many international companies left hanging by Microsoft’s cancelation of MapPoint and turning to MapBusinessOnline for a MapPoint replacement. Multiple departments across the enterprise utilize business mapping for a variety of applications including claims management analysis, insurance related operational planning, and market analysis. An extremely detailed procurement and security review lead to a contract for MapBusinessOnline services. Corporate accounts use MBO for sales territory mapping, collaborative Team editing, and communicating with maps.
Top Ten Property & Casualty Insurer
"We used MapPoint for years and desperately needed a replacement solution. This one fits the bill and is actually much better in many ways. Especially in a team environment. We do logistics with routing technicians to jobs for roll outs. This helps our team working thousands of sites over multi month projects. Also, easy to manage licenses for users.
Example business case would be taking 3000 locations, and planning how you will have multiple different technicians visit an area or region of these locations over 3 months. Each visit will take x amount of time. They only work certain hours of the day, and you have to plan in drive time, so the day actually makes sense and the route is efficient."
Jay Walker
IT Director
jay.walker@nettechnology.com
Network Engineering Technologies
Prison Fellowship — Prison Fellowship® trains and inspires churches and communities-inside and outside of prison-to support the restoration of those affected by incarceration. PFM uses MapBusinessOnline Team Edition to create a variety of maps that track the placement of constituents and describe the demographic background of placement areas for further study and understanding.
"We love MBO, especially the ability to share maps with non-license holders for viewing!"
Business Manager
Prison Fellowship
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