We ensure the profitability of our stores by keeping them in the most attractive locations.

Founded in 1976, the company currently has a range of 1,000 products sold in about 3,000 stores, divided between those owned by the company and franchised outlets in more than 65 countries.

What is your role within The Body Shop?

Katy Dean : As a Retail Surveyor at The Body Shop, my role is to identify footfall and retail trends. It helps me identify new opportunities for our stores in the UK. My overall objective is to keep our retail assets profitable. I work hand in hand with our Head of property, Robert Wood, to deal with matters related to new acquisitions, relocations and lease renewals.

Why did you choose Mytraffic as a data provider? And what were you using before to measure footfall?

Katy Dean : Before using Mytraffic, we used a tool that counted visitors within our stores. However, we had no visibility on capture rates and how many people were passing by. We needed a tool to help us understand the footfall potential in front of our locations. We've never worked with footfall data in the past, our strategy was to locate our stores close to big stores in other to capture their footfall. Today, we want to make more data-driven decisions.

Before considering new acquisitions or store relocations, we use footfall data to assess the location's attractiveness. Our main challenge as retailers is ensuring that each store is located in the best area possible.

Mytraffic's data is valuable to us and helps us compare the footfall in front of our stores to competitors and other locations in the area. With 40 lease renewals a year, it is essential for us to have accurate and up-to-date data on our stores.

How does our tool help you with new acquisitions and relocations?

Katy Dean : Mytraffic's data plays a strategic role in our decision-making process. For our stores to stay profitable and increase their turnover over time, it is crucial to locate them in the most attractive areas. Preferably areas with high footfall and significant exposure to our target customers.

With the platform, we analyse real-time foot traffic, historical data and sociodemographics. Thanks to this information, we can quickly identify if the store is already in an ideal location or if we should relocate it in order to increase sales and exposure. With this tool, we ensure the profitability of our stores by keeping them in the most attractive locations.

Also, one of the elements that help us enormously in our decision-making is socio-demographic data. Indeed, not only do we need high footfall, but we also pay attention to the quality of the footfall. With Mytraffic, we know instantly if the visitors of a potential location correspond to our target. Mytraffic is the best solution when considering new store acquisitions and relocations.

Can you give us an example of a time when Mytraffic helped you in a relocation?

Katy Dean : Recently we were thinking of relocating a store in Brighton. Our current Flagship store is located in North Street, and we were considering moving to Churchill Square shopping centre or East Street.

With Mytraffic, we measured the commercial attractiveness of each location. We ended up staying in our Flagship store and not relocating.

Without footfall and sociodemographic data, we would not have been able to make a rational decision. It's important to know that relocations cost thousands of pounds. If you decide to relocate without having accurate and recent data, you risk losing money and moving to a new location where you could lose exposure to your customers.