Customer journey as a strategic compass: what location data reveals about entry, loyalty and switching
Retail performance is often assessed at a single point in time: how many visitors came in during a campaign or promotional period? But just as important is where those visitors came from — and where they go next.
By analysing the customer journey using location intelligence, retailers gain insight into market entry, loyalty, acquisition, switching behaviour and post-campaign effects. Even a single customer journey view can already unlock a wide range of strategic insights, depending on how it is analysed.
Below, we outline the key insights retailers can already derive from customer journey analysis.
Bonus insight: one insight, many perspectives
One of the key strengths of customer journey analysis is that each insight can be viewed from multiple perspectives.
The same metrics — market entry, loyalty, acquisition, switching and post-campaign behaviour — can be analysed:
- from your own brand’s perspective
- from each competitor’s perspective
- across different periods or campaigns
With multiple competitors in a market, this quickly results in dozens of meaningful analytical views. A single customer journey visual can therefore tell many strategic stories, depending on whose lens is applied.
Conclusion
Customer journey insights elevate retail analysis beyond simple visit counts. They explain not only how many visitors a brand attracts, but also where they come from, where they go next and whether they stay.
By combining market entry, loyalty, acquisition, switching and post-campaign behaviour, retailers gain a holistic and dynamic view of their competitive position — not as a static snapshot, but as a continuously evolving system.
In an increasingly complex retail landscape, understanding the customer journey is no longer optional. It is a strategic necessity.