Everything is Somewhere were tasked by Sandicliffe Motor Group to iundertake a comprehensive analysis of car sales over a 5 year period. As with many other projects the data was in a tabular format with no spatial context. The first task was to tipy up the data for use in GIS software and geocode the 100,000+ records. Once in the map environment some basic map analysis was undertaken to understand the extent of the market area. The data was also viewed and analysed in a number of ways for example, new or used car sales, by dealership, brand, model, sale value and for different time periods.Having data over a 5 year period trends in the market could be seen.

This initial work as with many other mapping projects raised a whole variety of questions not apparent from tabular data. The distribution of sales data did demonstrate that the volume car market is very local with a significant percentage of sales activity taking place within a 15/20 minute drive time from the individual dealerships. From the data “hot spots” and ”cold spots” were identified with a view to identifying further opportunities. 

As further extension to this work demographic data was acquired to glean a more comprehensive understanding of the market area and customers served. With demographic data available at post code level vehicle sales and values can be aligned with demographic groups. This information can be then used to target similar areas.

Finally the large amount of data and an understanding of it’s spatial context has been used by the Company to identify potential areas for new dealerships.