Grow Smart (/grō-smärt/): Leverage intelligent systems and decision power to achieve optimal brand potential.
It’s no secret that in the year 2020, many businesses struggled to simply survive. However, despite a highly uncertain economy, a small percentage managed to increase market share. What was the common thread between these front-runners? Business leaders who pivoted fearlessly, intelligently, and quickly when others hesitated.
Achieving brand health against the odds was no accident. While the world turned upside down, proactive leaders reimagined client interactions to preserve positive revenue streams. Whether initial plans sought to expand unit counts or strengthen the performance of existing sites, a new version of success required the right data and tools to make informed decisions ahead of the competition.
As we enter a potentially unstable 2021, how can brands that already understand the importance of a great product, a strong culture, and a client-focused attitude grow smart in any economy?
Growing with great decisions
The average adult makes 35,000 decisions daily. From ordering morning coffee to defining market-planning strategies, real estate managers and business analysts face an overwhelming number of choices. In an era of data inundation, how can business leaders and their teams consistently make the right call?
Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.”
Peter F. Drucker, Austrian management consultant, educator, author
Winning brands — who integrate science into decision making — empower themselves to choose sites wisely and grow smart in any economy. And those who adopt A.I.-powered analytics platforms do so rapidly. By automating the scientific method, forward-thinking brands move from vision to implementation months ahead of their rivals.
See how SiteZeus can help you make scientific market-planning decisions
Consider the effect that COVID had on the restaurant world. This seemingly unbreakable industry posted $863 billion in sales in 2019 alone, then suffered severe losses just months into the new year. Offsetting large, fixed costs associated with labor and real estate by restoring sales became an obvious matter of survival. What was not so obvious was what to offer, how to offer it, and where to offer it.
Brands with the right data and tools restored themselves to good health quickly, while over 100,000 of their competitors’ locations closed their doors forever.
Fast, smart data analysis
In years past, business leaders relied on limited data, gut instinct, and outdated consultative methods to make key decisions. Basic modeling techniques — which accounted for limited variables and disconnected data sets — inadequate analyses could not drive successful long-term strategies.
Feature story: See how a multi-unit concept pivoted confidently during COVID
These days, market-planning teams with access to A.I.-powered predictive-analytics platforms can leverage thousands of multidimensional data points to build accurate sales models instantaneously. With unprecedented flexibility, brands can pick better locations in current and new markets, perform impact studies and white space analyses, and identify opportunities to increase per-location AUV all within one platform.
This robust experience fuels quick and efficient portfolio optimization. Let’s take a closer look at A.I. models and the data used to create them.