Black Friday is named for being the day retailers get out of the red and into the black, turning a profit for the year. While the retail industry shifts increasingly moves to an e-commerce-focused model, there are still tremendous opportunities for physical retail locations to deliver what web browsers cannot: in-store experiences augmented by mobile apps. In fact, 77% of mobile-driven purchases are in-store purchases, according to a recent study conducted by Neilsen, Telmetrics and xAd. Being the experts in location and context, we are intensely aware of how physical locations and points of interest drive user experiences, especially in the retail industry.
Our global database of venues powers our Context product, and is organized by Google AdWords taxonomy. We carefully curate these venues and score them for quality so that we can know, the location, category and much more about every venue. In the spirit of Black Friday, we put our data to work investigating how the act of shopping differs from coast to coast in the US.
We set out to answer our questions about:
- How population density impacts the presence of retailers in each US city and state
- How the presence of different types of retailers in an area reflects the lifestyle there
- Which states over-index against a national average for different retail types.
How We Did It
The methodology for unveiling these insight relied on a national index of retail locations. To create it, we divided the count of each retail category in each state with that state's population. We compared those retail venue per capita values for each state to the corresponding national per capita value for each retail category. In general, we found that the states with a larger share of their population living in urban environments tend to over-index in many categories, while more rural states skew toward fewer retail venues per capita.
We also found some state-specific insights:
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There is 1 home furnishing store for every 3,700 people in California.
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Hawaii also boasts a high concentration of apparel stores per capita.
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The book retailing industry is alive and well in the Reading Belt: Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.
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The states leading in high concentration for Women’s Apparel Stores in the South: Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia.
- The leading cities with high concentrations of Toy stores are Lancaster, PA, Sarasota, FL, Pensacola, FL, Miami, FL, and Greenville, NC.
About Skyhook's Venues
Our venue database is a core part of our Context Accelerator. Our customers geofence our venues by brand and by category, creating dynamic user experiences and local notifications that increase user engagement. We build Personas based on the venues users visit, enabling advertisers to optimize their inventory value and deliver relevant content. To learn more about what Skyhook can do for your product, contact us.
