08 May RETAIL ECONOMICS & LOCATION SCIENCES PROVIDE UNIQUE INSIGHT INTO PROPOSED SAINSBURYS & ASDA MERGER
4 May 2018, London: With the proposed £7.3bn tie up between Sainsburys and Asda still dominating the news cycle, Retail Economics, the independent economics research consultancy, and Location Sciences, the mobile location intelligence specialists, are today publishing new insight into the customer dynamics of each brand.
Leveraging precise location data derived from Location Sciences panel of millions of consumers, analysis was conducted into footfall for 5 sample stores. A particular focus was taken on areas where a Sainsburys and Asda store were in close proximity to each other. An example of the footfall mapping for each store in Monks Cross, York is shown below:
Richard Lim, Chief Executive, Retail Economics said: “All eyes are turning to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as more details emerge revealing the scale of regional overlaps between the two supermarkets.
Research from Retail Economics and Location Sciences from a panel of more than 70,000 consumers across 5 stores shows that in locations where there is likely to be close scrutiny, over 25% of shoppers are found to use both supermarkets. In some locations, this rises to over one third.
The interests of consumers will need to be at the forefront of the CMA’s regional analysis to ensure localised competition remains fierce and brings about the best deal for shoppers.
It appears inevitable that the combined retail group will be forced to divest some of their stores as the CMA will be forced to make some tough decisions. In the short-term, this could be good opportunity for the other incumbent grocers and the German discounters to snap-up prized locations.”
Mark Slade, CEO, Location Sciences, continued “When reviewing huge mergers and acquisitions of this nature, a wide range of financial and brand data will be interrogated. However, working with Retail Economics we have been able to demonstrate that unique insights are now possible, by leveraging the mobile location signals from opted-in and anonymised consumers within the UK.
Mapping the historic journeys that shoppers take enables us to understand footfall traffic at a far more granular level and to develop a loyalty index for each brand.
For Sainsburys and Asda, the respective loyalty for each brand is very similar, with shoppers visiting the stores 2-3 times per month on average. The overlap, particularly in key retail locations, is however pronounced, with over 25% of consumers shopping at both supermarkets.
We look forward to continuing our work with Retail Economics, to deliver further new insights into shopper and market dynamics. We believe these will enable retailers to understand more about their customer, competitor and real estate properties, as well as deliver better investment strategies for banks, private equity, property companies and others that serve the retail industry.”
For more information, contact us [email protected] or https://locationsciencesgroup.ai/contact