Where the next sales container pays off.

The basis is open map and statistics data. Within the defined search area around the business, thirteen categories are collected: from supermarkets, bakeries, and gas stations through bus stops and stations to restaurants, schools, leisure grounds, and residential areas.

Two further sources join in: the official population grid for residential density, and Google Places, whose rating counts serve as a proxy for actual footfall. Alongside the pure location, that gives a signal for where people really go.

The search area is sampled twice: as a hex raster for the attractiveness landscape, and as a list of real siting spots, because a container needs space, power, and visibility.

Every candidate is scored on six criteria: footfall, distance to the business, parking, distance to competitors, infrastructure, and safety. The weights sit in one place and can be discussed with the business.

With competitors the nuance sits in the detail: distance is good, because the offering should stand apart, but too much distance means no customers. Finding exactly that sweet spot was the real goal of the analysis: close enough to the footfall, far enough from the full-range store.

So that outliers do not distort the ranking, all criteria are normalized at the 5th and 95th percentile. The result is a score per candidate, broken down into all six parts: you can always see why a place ranks first.

From its surroundings, every candidate gets one of five location types: residential, commuter, industrial, leisure, or shopping. The product-range recommendation follows from that, because a commuter spot calls for coffee and snacks to go, a residential area for the evening's shopping.

What is handed over is not a report but an interactive map: an attractiveness heatmap, switchable layers per data category, the best candidates as markers with all part scores, location type, and range suggestion. In the workshop everyone works it together until the shortlist is settled.

The analysis deliberately ends at a shortlist, not at a decision. What follows is manual work: visiting, approaching owners, clarifying power and permits. That is exactly what the list is short enough for.