How PizzaExpress optimised its Store Location Strategy with Footfall Insights and Location Data
PizzaExpress Optimises Store Performance with Huq's Footfall Data
PizzaExpress partnered with Huq to optimise store performance across its UK estate. By comparing footfall trends with sales data, PizzaExpress was able to identify whether underperformance was due to operational issues or external market factors. This data-driven approach helped validate investment decisions and optimise the store location strategy.
Key takeaways from this case study
“The collaboration with PizzaExpress has been a great example of how Huq’s data can help solve complex business challenges. Together, we’ve transformed how they assess store performance, giving them a more accurate read on their market opportunities.”
Market Level Analysis
Using footfall data to understand whether store performance is down to internal or external factors.
Allocating Investment
Guiding investment decisions including refurbishments and relocations.
Benchmarking for Better Insights
Combining footfall with sales data for better understanding of sales performance against local.
Long-term Strategic Value
Visitor data is now more informative and actionable.
Client Overview & Challenge
PizzaExpress operates over 370 stores across the UK, each subject to its own localised market conditions. The challenge was to track performance not just through internal sales figures, but also relative to footfall and market vitality in each location. This insight would help assess whether a store’s performance was influenced by external market conditions or internal operational factors – is it PizzaExpress or the market?
PizzaExpress needed an objective way to measure footfall at each of their high street locations. By partnering with Huq, the high street restaurant chain was able to benchmark sales performance with footfall data and location insights from the surrounding areas for a more holistic overview of each store’s performance. This helped provide a clearer view of how PizzaExpress was performing in certain locations, helping them refine their overall store strategy going forward.
PizzaExpress leverages local footfall data to optimise store performance, aligning sales with market dynamics to enhance customer experience and operational efficiency.
PizzaExpress needed insights on:
Footfall
Measure footfall for each high street store to understand store performance for each location.
Benchmarking
Compare location insights with sales data for a more accurate picture of store performance over time and relative to other locations.
Huq's Solution
“PizzaExpress came to us with a clear challenge — understanding whether their footfall aligned with their sales performance. By working together, we provided footfall insights that allowed them to pinpoint the true drivers of store success.”
Huq delivers monthly footfall metrics for each PizzaExpress store across the UK. This data covered footfall trends in and around the stores, offering a comprehensive understanding of how many potential customers were passing by, spending time in the vicinity, and entering the stores’ trading zones. By integrating Huq’s footfall data with their internal sales data, PizzaExpress could benchmark each store’s performance against the customer heartbeat of an area.
Robust footfall data from Huq became a critical resource for PizzaExpress’s financial and operational teams. Footfall trends were monitored and compared with store performance metrics to create a more informed analysis of each store’s success. Stores with strong footfall but underperforming sales flagged potential operational issues, whereas those with lower footfall could point to external market conditions as the reason for lower performance.
Market influence
A positive correlation was found between stores with high footfall and those with stronger sales performance, helping to confirm that in-store performance is often influenced by market dynamics such as footfall volume and suitability.
Improved Efficiency
The integration of Huq’s data into monthly reporting created efficiency gains for senior teams, allowing for quicker decision-making at the executive level.
Data Driven Decisions
The ability to contextualise store performance against local consumer behaviour built trust between PizzaExpress and Huq, fostering a long-term relationship for ongoing collaboration.
How Huq's Solution Helped
PizzaExpress was able to identify which stores were outperforming or underperforming based on both sales and market footfall quality and vitality. This allowed senior management to adjust strategies, including:
Resource Allocation
By identifying stores with solid market demand but underwhelming sales, PizzaExpress could allocate more attention, staff training or marketing budget.
Investment Decisions
Validating decisions around investment, including refurbishment and disposal or relocation of existing stores and identifying new store locations.
Benchmarking
By using footfall as a baseline, PizzaExpress could create a monthly benchmark report that identified correlations between sales, footfall and store performance.
Final comments
Huq’s localised footfall data has become an indispensable tool for PizzaExpress, giving them greater visibility into their market conditions, store performance and location vitality. The collaboration with Huq has improved decision-making efficiency, investment validation, and strategic planning for optimising their store portfolio across the UK. With Huq’s continued support, PizzaExpress is well-positioned to optimise resources and maximise store performance across their diverse portfolio of locations.
“Huq’s localised footfall data empowered PizzaExpress to make smarter, data-backed decisions across their store portfolio. By integrating footfall insights with internal sales data, they could better understand each store’s market context, leading to more precise resource allocation and investment decisions. This collaboration truly highlights how external data can unlock operational potential.”
Is your business facing similar challenges?
Our experienced team can demonstrate how to use location intelligence and analytics to augment a wide range of use cases, including:
- Identifying locations for new stores
- Optimising your existing store portfolio
- Informing your pricing strategy
- Improving the effectiveness of marketing
- Benchmarking performance across locations
- Understanding competitor landscape
- Optimising opening hours
