Javier Pérez Trufero • Aug 29, 2019

Up-to-date Consumer & Demographic Data: The Backbone for Spatial Analysis

Unlocking the full power of Location Intelligence can only be done using the best data sets in combination with the best spatial analysis. It is for this reason that we have built out our Location Data Stream Catalogue, allowing CARTO users to access a wide variety of high-quality, curated data sets, available at a variety of common spatial aggregations.

High Quality Demographic and Marketing Data from AGS

We are thrilled to announce the inclusion of premium datasets from Applied Geographic Solutions (AGS) in our Location Data Stream Catalogue. Established in 1996, AGS has committed themselves to the delivery of superior quality demographic and industry-specific data to help today’s leading companies make the most accurate, timely, and cost-effective market decisions. Datasets now available in CARTO include:

• Sociodemographics and sociodemographic estimations for the current year
• Sociodemographics and sociodemographic projections out to five years
• Consumer spending and five-year spending projections
• Retail potential for sixty-eight distinct retail store types
• Retail gap data based on market potential estimates and customer spending
• Business counts database reflecting nearly ten million businesses
• CrimeRisk data showing relative risk of distinct crime types by geographic area
• Consumer profile data
• Climate and weather risk assessment data

These varied data sets provide information at the census block group level for granular analysis that can be used to gain new insights across dozens of industries and use cases. The estimations and projections are updated every year, so customers are able to avoid outdated census data.

Investment Analysis

For commercial real estate developers and investors, for example, being able to visualize retail gaps across food and grocery categories alongside total households and total household income can help them to assess the potential of potential property development. In the below map, we have visualized retail gap data specifically for grocery stores in Dallas. A developer may use this data to assess construction specifications and court potential tenants for whom they can prove potential.

Site Planning and Retail Decision-Making

For the retailers themselves, including retail potential in their analyses and visualizations, alongside the aforementioned demographic data can help them to make critical site planning and expansion decisions. In the below map, we have visualized the retail potential for grocery stores in the Dallas area, once again, this time filtering out census block groups that don’t meet a minimum threshold of potential.

To create even more utility for this data, we are also incorporating demographics, styling the census groups to show household income. Bringing in both of these datasets is particularly useful for grocery retailers, as grocery companies today often own varied brands targeting specific consumer subsets. By looking at demographic data like household income alongside retail potential, these companies can further inform expansion decisions on a brand-by-brand basis, and can learn why a certain store may be underperforming, perhaps leading to rebranding and format changes.

Get Started with Modern, Up-to-Date Data Streams

Learn more about CARTO’s location data streams today, and start incorporating data from AGS, and other high-quality data sets into your models and spatial analyses today.

About the author

Javier is CARTO's Head of Data, running the company strategy with respect to third party data offerings and data science activities. Javier's responsibilities at CARTO range from establishing and coordinating new alliances with top-class data providers such as Vodafone and Mastercard, to contributing to the definition of CARTO's data products and data science projects.

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