When was it generated? Timing links a shift to its cause. Accurat looks at the weeks, days and periods in which visits moved, and connects them to seasonal peaks, promotions, store openings or closures, and the wider economic context.

Together, these answers turn a market trend into a target: this audience, in these locations, at this moment.

Step 4: Activate with campaigns

The final step is taking action. The where, who and when from the previous step become the brief for a drive-to-store campaign: the right audience, near the right stores, at the right time.

For a retailer with an acquisition problem, that means reaching lapsed families in the regions where reach fell most. For a retailer with a retention problem, it means giving existing shoppers a reason to come back, for example with promotions timed around their weekly grocery trips.

Accurat then measures the impact. It compares shoppers who were exposed to the campaign with a control group who were not, and attributes the difference in store visits to the campaign. The outcome is not how many people saw it, but how many additional visits it generated.

Every campaign feeds the next measurement

The path does not end with a campaign. Its results flow straight back into the first step. Did share of visits recover? Did reach grow among the targeted families? Were visits won back from the competitor that had taken them?

Because Accurat's data is updated daily, retailers do not have to wait for a quarterly report to find out. Each cycle sharpens the picture of the market, and each new campaign starts from a better baseline than the last.

What this means for retailers

Three principles sum up how Accurat works with retailers:

• A number is only the start. Share of visits shows whether a retailer is winning or losing, but the drivers behind it (reach, frequency and visit transfer) decide what to do about it.
• The answer is rarely national. Regions, audiences and moments each tell their own story, and the right action differs between them.
• Action needs proof. Drive-to-store campaigns are measured in additional store visits, and those results feed the next round of insight.

Know. Understand. Dig deeper. Take action. Four steps that take a retailer from a market figure to a campaign that brings shoppers through the door.