Case Studies

Calgary Co-op mitigates site selection risk and identifies new opportunities

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1 Esri Canada | Calgary Co- op mitigates site selection risk and identifies new opportunities Challenge The location of a retail store is often considered the most critical element to its success. For Calgary Co- op, miscalculating a new site location can be costly. The cumulative losses of an underperforming store can potentially cost the co- operative millions of dollars. Several years ago, Calgary Co- op recognized the value of GIS technology to perform location- based analysis to help identify and select sites for new stores. However, limitations in GIS technology at the time, combined with analysis techniques that incorporated minimal, and at times unreliable, data, failed to identify and predict underperforming future store locations. As a result, new stores were opened that generated sales below projected expectations, which has led to the planned closure of one location. Before investing in GIS software, Calgary Co- op primarily relied on postal code based analysis that did not give any indication of market potential. The complexity of other GIS- based site selection solutions led to delays in producing results, which then delayed senior executives and operations teams from making timely decisions. Calgary Co- op also did not use location- based analyses to identify and plan opportunities to offer new products or services to its members. The co- operative identified the need for an improved GIS- based system that integrated and analyzed more data – including the wealth of point- of- sale (POS) data collected through its membership program – and ultimately produced actionable intelligence quicker. One of Canada's largest retail co- operatives leverages location- based analysis to gain critical competitive advantages. Calgary Co- op is a retail co- operative with annual sales over $1 billion that offers food, home health care, pharmacy, petroleum and travel to more than 440,000 members in the Calgary region. The co- operative – one of the largest in North America – continuously explores opportunities to add locations and offer new products and services to meet the evolving needs of its members. To help achieve this, Calgary Co- op invested in Esri Business Analyst for Desktop (Canadian Edition) to gain deeper insights into member buying habits, potential new customers and competitors. As a result, Calgary Co- op has improved decision making, mitigated operational risks and lessened the time required to perform complex analyses.

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