Selecting a new location has become something of an industry.
Starbucks built an entire internal geospatial division to determine where their next cup should be served, layering foot traffic data, drive-time modelling, and daytime population flows.
There are academic papers on this. Dedicated software platforms. Consultants who do nothing else.
Sometimes, though, the answer is much simpler than the process built around finding it.
We worked with 1Rebel, one of London's best boutique fitness brands, on exactly this question. As part of wider customer analysis - looking at how attendance and sales varied by location, seasonality, weather, and demographics - we mapped 1Rebel's London customer base by postcode.
Illustrative heatmap – not client dataWhat came back was striking: meaningful demand in the south, no club to serve it – a gap that, once you could see it, was hard to unsee.
1Rebel opened in Clapham. It's their most successful opening to date.
Your customers may already be voting with their postcodes. They are showing you where they live, how far they travel, and where demand may be going unmet. The opportunity is often already in the data – it just needs to be surfaced.
If you’re ready to understand what your customer data is already telling you, we'd love to talk.
And if you haven't tried 1Rebel yet, you really should.
A final thought...
- Map where your customers live and travel from
- Identify geographic gaps between demand and provision
- Turn customer data into actionable location insight
If you’d like to learn more, get in touch today. Don't forget to follow us for more digital marketing insights and subscribe to our newsletter!
FAQs
How can I use customer data to choose a new business location?
You can use location intelligence to map the postcodes of your existing customer base. By identifying high-demand areas where you currently have no physical presence, you can pinpoint the exact locations that will most likely mirror the success of your existing sites.
Does location intelligence require expensive software?
While dedicated software exists, the core principle is about surfacing existing data. By analysing your own attendance, sales, and customer demographics, you can often identify clear geographic opportunities without needing a massive enterprise-level geospatial department.
