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Location analysis has multiple uses in business. Business location analysis can help you to visualise staff travel times, discover the best location for a new office and explore where to target an ad campaign to potential customers. Let’s take a look at three business location analysis tools and how they can support business:
- Postcode analysis
- Map analysis
- Travel time matrix analysis
To start using these tools and discuss your bespoke project, get in touch .
Postcode analysis
Postcode analysis allows you to analyse postcodes by sector, unit and district. This gives you a deeper understanding of the area you serve, and the best way to target advertising to existing and potential customers.
The example below uses the TravelTime to show you how postcode analysis can help with advertising for a new restaurant.
If you are planning a direct marketing campaign and want to drop a leaflet in every door that is within a 10-minutes drive from the restaurant, you would enter the postcode of the restaurant.
You would then enter the mode of transport as driving and the travel time as 10 minutes. The TravelTime would then return all the postcodes within a 10 minute drive of the restaurant.
You could then use this list to make a leaflet drop to these postcodes. You can also create a list of different modes of transport, such as public transport, walking and cycling.
You can use postcode analysis to target existing or previous customers in your address book. For example, imagine you own a hotel and are trying to promote a discount dinner and overnight stay offer for the weekend. You are looking to attract customers that have been to the hotel in the past that live close by. You can create a list of all postcodes within 60 minutes drive. If past customers have opted in (GDPR compliant) you can filter them within your CRM system and email them the offer.
Another example is using postcode analysis to target a Google Adwords campaign. If you have a cafe in London and would like to increase your lunchtime trade, you could target anyone searching ‘cafe' within all postcode sectors that are within 30 minutes walk of the cafe location.
Try it yourself. Create a postcode sample.
Map analysis
Map analysis is the visualisation of datasets on a map. You can use map analysis to view travel times to various locations. This can help you make decisions about the optimum location.
This example uses the TravelTime. Imagine two friends wanted to meet at a cinema that was equidistant from their home addresses in London. They could enter their addresses, maximum travel time and preferred mode of transport. The TravelTime will return an isochrone shape for each friend. The shape shows where each friend can reach within the maximum travel time.
30 minutes travel time by public transport from Kensington, London
30 minutes travel time cycling from Battersea
The friends can then search for cinemas within the isochrone shape.
They can then filter the cross section to see which cinema is best for both of them.
Business map analysis
A business use of map analysis would be analysing staff travel times to discover where to place a new office. The example below uses the TravelTime to analyse staff travel times.
Imagine an employer is looking to find a location for a new office, but they want to retain their current staff. They could plot each staff members address on a map.
They could then create a heat map showing where is reachable within certain travel times. The example below shows several isochrone shapes. Each shape relates to a certain travel time.
Area colour % Of employeesArea colour % Of employees Yellow100% of employees can reach in 45 minutesPink80% of employees can reach in 45 minutesBlue60% of employees can reach in 45 minutesGreen40% of employees can reach in 45 minutesGrey20% of employees can reach in 45 minutes
You can see that 100% of staff can reach the yellow area within 45 minutes driving. This suggests that the yellow
area would be a good location in which to search for a new office. The employer might also layer the map with
additional information, such as:
- Access to local amenities
- Parking facilities
- Proximity to existing and potential clients.
- Average rent
This could help the employer visualise all the factors that affect the relocation and come to an informed decision. Contact us to create your own business analysis map.
Travel time matrix
You can also use a travel time matrix to help you analyse staff commute times.
A travel time matrix is made up of rows and columns. The example below uses TravelTime Analytics. In the example, the matrix shows commute times for staff members to 5 potential new office locations.
This means that an office manager can analyse the commute times of every employee to every possible office and come to the best decision about where to locate a new office. The first column shows staff commute times to the existing office. The subsequent columns show the commute times to each new potential office, and the difference in time.
Create your own travel time matrix by reading the tutorial on making a distance matrix .
You can start using business location analysis tools today. Create a postcode sample and a t ravel time map, or get in touch to discuss a project requiring map analysis or a travel time matrix. To learn more about the travel time data for location analysis visit our TravelTime Analytics resource page.