helping you understand your world
FORESITE
BizMaps & Gamma announced details of an innovative new store evaluation & analysis software solution that they have jointly developed to allow retailers better manage their store networks. The on-line product, called ‘ForeSite’, provides direct access to up-to-date local market information in order to respond immediately to market changes or competitor behaviour. Using ForeSite, retailers are able to evaluate the performance of existing stores and identify potential store locations by analysing what competitors are in the area, the associated residential & working population, economic status, etc.
ForeSite is delivered on-line through an ASP service, requiring no internal IT resource or in-house data maintenance. As a result, it is a much cheaper solution to implement than standard network based GIS or marketing information system solutions. Expected users of the system will be marketing managers, development analysts and sales managers across a number of different industries including the financial, automotive and health care areas.
Musgrave SuperValu-Centra (MSVC), the largest Irish retail supplier, was the first company to sign up for ForeSite. Martin Kelleher, MSVC Commercial Business Unit Manager, explains, “ForeSite allows us to calculate our own market share in a particular area as well as locate our competitors all with the touch of a button. We can also decipher our customers’ buying patterns, depending on neighbourhood classifications. This system will greatly improve our understanding of local markets and allow us to support our store owners activities to an even greater level.”
Feargal O’Neill, Managing Director of GAMMA comments, “ForeSite" was developed in direct response to market need for a store & branch evaluation & analysis tool with intuitive functionality and low costs. The users of ForeSite don’t necessarily want to know or learn about the complexities of spatial analysis. What is important, however, is to have immediate access to maps and data through a simple-to-use interface that will help them to analyse existing stores and evaluate potential store locations, and, ultimately, increase sales and decrease costs. ForeSite is the first Internet-based system in Ireland to provide such functionality and access to such a wide range of data, and there are plans to rollout across the UK and Europe in the immediate future.