Introducing the Store Intelligence Platform by Coresight Research What is the Store Intelligence Platform? The Store Intelligence Platform provides regular tracking of recorded store counts and inferred store openings and closures by US retailers, as well as store locations. The initial version of our Store Intelligence Platform is in Beta mode, meaning it will be modified and enhanced over time. How do I use the Store Intelligence Platform? There are three core tabs within the Store Intelligence Platform: Store Closures, Store Openings and Active Stores. The “Store Closures” and “Store Openings” tabs offer insights into store openings and closures among tracked retailers. The “Active Stores” tab offers insights into the store bases of the tracked retailers at a specified point in time. Within each tab, you can choose to view all data (for all covered retailers) or filter by retailer, sector, state, metropolitan statistical area (MSA) or any combination of these filters. While in the Store Closures, Store Openings and Active Stores tabs, you can select additional options from the drop-down menus, before scrolling down for details such as: Time-series charts The most impacted retailers and sectors (those with the greatest number of openings, closures or active stores) State-level mapping The most impacted cities (those with the greatest number of openings, closures or active stores) A table of retailers’ store locations What data is the Store Intelligence Platform based on? The Store Intelligence Platform is based on databases of store locations and their addresses. These databases capture store locations at regular intervals—typically every 30–90 days, depending on the retailer. As these databases are based on store locations at a specific point in time, the data on openings and closures reflect actual events—the Store Intelligence Platform is not tracking stores that companies plan to open or close. Store openings and closures are inferred from additions and removals of store locations from these databases. Location data from these databases underpins the Store Intelligence Platform’s mapping and state-level analysis. Additionally, regular tracking of openings and closures provides information outside of companies’ traditional reporting cycles and allows us to cover private companies. We exclude temporary openings and closures: We exclude openings and closures where the same banner reopens at the same address within 366 days, to avoid misclassifying temporary or erroneous closures as permanent, and we restate the data accordingly. What period does the data cover? Data in the Store Intelligence Platform cover 2019–2025 YTD (year to date). However, “Active Stores” data covers the latest 12 months. What retailers are included in the Store Intelligence Platform? The Store Intelligence Platform has launched with an initial set of about 250 retailers and has grown to 450+ retailers, and is being expanded over time. See the appendix at the end of this document for a list of retailers currently included. Retailers can be selected either at the company level, the banner level or both. When selecting a company, only the respective banners will be shown as selectable options. Can I download the data? Yes, data based on the selected filters can be downloaded from the bottom-most table on any page. How do we define sectors? “Discount Stores” includes mixed-category stores in which a CPG/FMCG (consumer packaged goods and fast-moving consumer goods, respectively) component is prominent, such as dollar stores. It should be noted that this sector excludes category-specific discount formats, which are allocated to other sectors, such as Aldi, which is allocated to Grocery Retailers, and Primark, which is allocated to Apparel, Footwear and Accessories. “Grocery Retailers” includes specialized food stores, such as chocolate shops and alcoholic beverage stores as well as regular grocery stores such as supermarkets. “Luxury Retailers” includes retailers that sell high-end products that are often considered exclusive. “Mass Merchandisers” includes value-focused retailers selling a mix of general merchandise, apparel and groceries/consumer packaged goods. This sector is dominated by Target and Walmart and does not include warehouse clubs or dollar stores (or similar retailers), which are categorized elsewhere. Allocation to sectors such as Apparel, Footwear and Accessories, Beauty Brands and Retailers, Convenience Stores and Home and Office Retailers are based on dominant characterization of retailers. “Other” includes jewelry stores, toy retailers and pet retailers, as well as retailers from various other sectors. We do not track store openings and closures by automotive retailers/dealers. Is the Store Intelligence Platform a part of my Coresight Research subscription? At its launch, the Store Intelligence Platform will be included in our standard comprehensive research access membership. How does data in the Store Intelligence Platform differ from Coresight Research’s Weekly Store Openings and Closures Tracker reports and the US and UK Store Tracker Databank? The Store Intelligence Platform is based on retrospective tracking of store data at regular intervals, based on databases of store locations (i.e., addresses). Store openings and closures are then inferred based on the additions and removals of store locations from these databases. Regular tracking of openings/closures provides information outside of companies’ traditional reporting cycles and allows us to cover private companies. As noted above, store locations are typically captured at intervals of 30–90 days, with the period varying by retailer. The source databases of store locations are based on retailers’ self-reporting of store addresses on their websites. This information is subject to changes implemented by retailers (e.g., delisting of addresses; changes to store names), and Coresight Research undertakes substantial cross-checks and cleansing of the data to ensure their accuracy. Store Tracker data represent retail store openings and closures that have occurred, or are expected to occur, in the respective calendar years covered by the reports (currently, calendar 2024 and calendar 2025). The data are based on a mixed methodology, which factors in companies’ announced plans, intra-year tracking of actual openings and closures (via store databases), and confirmed actual openings and closures from company reports. For some retailers, store opening and closure numbers are estimated, including from part-year data, global figures, figures for non- calendar fiscal years, announced closure/opening programs that span multiple years, or third-party store databases where updates do not coincide with a calendar year-end. The Store Tracker utilizes the same databases on which the Store Intelligence Platform is based as part of its mix of sources, but it does so for selected retailers at selected points and not uniformly across the hundreds of retailers that the Store Tracker tracks. Both the Store Intelligence Platform and the Store Tracker aim to capture permanent store openings and closures, excluding pop-up stores, temporary openings/closures (including during Covid-19 lockdowns) and shop-in-shops/concessions. Sector names and retailers’ sector allocations have been aligned between the Store Intelligence Platform and the Store Tracker. Data between these two products may differ for reasons that include, but are not limited to: Store Intelligence Platform data are not for a calendar year. The Store Tracker might be including announced future openings or closures; the Store Intelligence Platform tracks openings and closures only retrospectively. A company in one product could be being compared with a banner in the other product—for some retailers, the Store Tracker records data at the company level. How have we verified the data? We have made substantial efforts to clean the data and identify potential issues. Our efforts include internal checks (including searching for duplications), cross-checking versus our Store Tracker data sets and companies’ total store counts, and manual checks versus multiple external sources. Additionally, changes to retailers’ store locators may impact database-sourced data. Users should refer to the Release Notes for further details of a specific retailer’s data. Appendix: Current List of Retailers in the Store Intelligence Platform (Additional retailers are added monthly) Source: Coresight Research
