Blog Posts

Meet the latest addition to our team: Ryan Poulin joins us as an Account Development Representative!

Retail real estate is highly competitive, but John Thys of Driven Brands is taking a different approach. In this Q&A, he shares how his LinkedIn group helps retailers collaborate on site listings, find co-tenants, and uncover new opportunities.

We are excited to announce that Megan Williamson has joined PiinPoint as our newest Business Development Representative, based in Reno, NV. Her arrival marks a significant step in our ongoing US expansion.

We are thrilled to welcome Amanda and Alex to the PiinPoint team! Their diverse backgrounds and extensive experience are set to make a significant impact as we continue to innovate and expand our services.

Data comes in many forms, and any retail or real estate professional knows that good data is the cornerstone of making sound site selection decisions. Here, we look at the different types of customer data, why customer data is so powerful, and how easy it is to leverage customer data to inform your retail and site selection strategy.

It comes as no surprise that the absence of a focused data strategy centered on location intelligence is a significant hurdle to the practical application of AI to Real Estate planning. Real Estate executives and GIS experts agreed that in the absence of a holistic data strategy, the organization suffered from three typical roadblocks to leveraging AI effectively: 1) data silos within the organization - non-integrated spatial and other data sources, 2) missing data - incomplete consumer or real estate supply data, 3) acquiring unique sources of new data for competitive advantage.

The overwhelming perception from GIS and Real Estate Executives is that AI/ML technologies will have a profound effect on the speed and accuracy of producing sales forecasts, the measurement of cannibalization, and the ability to find white and gray (infill, repurpose) space opportunities in retail networks.

PiinPoint is here to support you, even when you’re not at your desk.

The collaborative synergy among Analytical Teams - particularly between geographic information science (GIS) and data science (DS) teams - separates organizations that have an AI strategy and have invested in “Centers of Excellence” around data and machine learning operations (MLOps) from the rest. Read more on how to overcome this in your organization…

PiinPoint is pleased to announce the appointment of Sally Woo as Director of Growth Marketing.

GeoAI is an emerging fast growing field of study and development enabling real estate and GIS professionals with next generation tools for market analysis and retail network planning.

One of the most pervasive barriers to adoption of AI/ML technologies in organizations is the inability for Executives and Leadership more generally, to “believe” or “trust” the outcomes from complex AI/ML model systems. Read more on how to overcome this in your organization…

One of the most popular values of leveraging AI technologies in organizations is focused on internal productivity and efficiency gains during the real estate analysis and approvals process.

Network Simulations give retailers the power of planning for change. Simulations allow users to chain together any series of events that can happen in a network to understand how closures, openings, relocations, consolidations, or changes to existing stores will impact their network success.

There is no denying that the global COVID pandemic ushered in abrupt seismic shifts in how we live our lives and how we do business. The pandemic forced governments to act to prop up their economies, workers, and business with massive stimulus packages, which contributed to interesting and sometimes unexpected consequences for a range of retail sectors.

We are pleased to announce that Jordan Gerard has joined PiinPoint as a Full Stack Developer.

PiinPoint partners with the Canadian Franchise Association to outline our thoughts on how franchisor organizations can leverage data and market insights to address these important questions and ongoing questions.

Data comes in many forms, and any retail or real estate professional knows that good data is the cornerstone of making sound site selection decisions. Here, we look at the different types of customer data, why customer data is so powerful, and how easy it is to leverage customer data to inform your retail and site selection strategy.

Partnership between The Scott’s Mission and PiinPoint will allow for an understanding of where service users, donors, and staff are geographically located.

Daniel Kogan Joins PiinPoint as GIS Analyst

Daytime population estimates help your brand find the right retail location. Here’s what daytime population can tell you — and why accurate data is crucial.

When comparing urban markets to less populated suburban and rural areas, you’re going to see completely different consumer demographics, shopping preferences, and buying behaviours. Here’s the lowdown on urbanicity — and why it matters for retail site selection.

Developing a sound network expansion and optimization strategy and then executing that plan with speed and precision is critical for gaining or maintaining a competitive advantage while accessing the most desirable markets and real estate listings. 

Site selection is a difficult process with an overwhelming number of factors to consider. We've built out a framework of key considerations and questions that need to be answered prior to pulling the trigger on a multi-year lease.

Location analytics are not analytics you provide to retail. They are retail analytics with a location dimension.

Learn how retailers can use loyalty programs to inform product offerings, win back customers, and find better locations.

The concept of a retail trade area has been around a long, long time. The question is, how is it defined? 

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that consumer shopping behaviour has changed, likely forever. Convenience and safety are now a high priority which has reduced shopping trip frequency and dwell times in the store. We all know what that means - a reduced basket - making the economics of brick and mortar investment more challenging. So retailers have to adapt, and they have!

Location planning historically has had a tendency to confirm organizational biases, rather than inform an overall strategy or direction. The future is to try and remove that bias and build a location intelligence and analytics capability to guide the real estate and store planning teams to strategic decisions where

Unless you have been living under a rock these past few years, a restaurant evolution is well under way. Those everlasting casual dine-in concepts continue to experience low traffic even as we begin to emerge from the COVID 19 pandemic. Consumers have spoken and they have chosen to vote with their phone app and order from home or

The location strategies and portfolios of North America’s top retailers can be awe inspiring when you put some thought into how they got to be where they are today. We often take for granted the sheer amount of decision making and analysis that’s required to take a company from its first location to a hundred locations, let alone to a thousand or more.

The future of retail continues to come forward at a quickening pace. As consumer trends have been accelerated by recent events in 2020, the demand for an increasingly unique, localized, and personal retail experience grows. To build organizational resilience and maintain relevance in this retail climate, more and more brands are embracing data, analytics, and...

Growth-focused Mediterranean fast-casual brand, Osmow’s, partners with PiinPoint to fuel their Canadian expansion. For the last two decades, Osmow’s has steadily developed a nationwide reputation for flavourful and healthy mediterranean food across Canada. With a mission to satisfy the cravings of their customers with rich and modern mediterranean cuisine, they ...

PiinPoint's Chief Product Officer shares what she has learned from having over 100 conversations with people in the retail real estate industry, and how those conversations have helped shape what products we build.