BACKGROUND:
Economic Development strategy is grounded in understanding your community and how a community fits in with the broader region. Historically, community and economic data was limited to decennial census data. Over time, more Census Bureau data became available (e.g., American Community Survey, Current Population Survey, and Survey of Business Owners). These data sources, while valuable, are time consuming to access and manipulate. These data sources, taken individually, are limited in their ability to provide insight into real-time commercial activity and user trends.
Mobile digital devices track users’ every move. Mobile device location data provides real-time insight into actual consumer behavior. Mobile device location data, after being scrubbed of personally identifying information, are combined with a variety of other data sources (e.g., Census Bureau data) and mapped. Once mapped, a remarkably accurate picture of consumer behavior, consumer profiles, and spending capacities emerges.
Since the costs to acquire, develop, and operate a new commercial business are significant, site selection decisions are data-driven. Commercial entities looking to expand want to know how their current customer profile matches with a city’s resident base. Demonstrating to prospective businesses the viability of a given market is key to engaging said businesses. While city or broker-provided data is not a substitute for a company’s own unique analysis, city and broker data can open the door to consideration.
DISCUSSION:
The attraction of Grocery Outlet illustrated the importance of market data. Market data helped begin conversations with the Grocery Outlet site selector. When the 30025 Date Palm Drive location was presented before Grocery Outlet’s executive management team for consideration, the Grocery Outlet site selector requested additional data from the Cathedral City Economic Development Department (EDD). EDD responded, providing a variety of reports which were ultimately provided to Grocery Outlet’s asset management committee. Grocery Outlet opened in June 2021.
Recently, EDD began working to attract a community bank interested in serving the Spanish-speaking community. This bank was originally focused on a location in Southwest Cathedral City. Given the size of the capital investment on ground-up construction, the new location must succeed. Based on earlier work with Buxton and the USC Price’s Neighborhood Data for Social Change, EDD understood not just that Cathedral City has a high number of Spanish-speaking residents but more importantly where is the greatest concentration of Spanish-speaking residents. EDD suggested other sites that place the bank in closer proximity to the clients they seek to serve. While working with Placer AI on this staff report, EDD requested a location analysis for the bank from Placer. The following table was provided by Placer AI to support EDD’s efforts to engage the community bank.
This chart illustrates a site along Date Palm Drive as providing significantly greater access and exposure to the bank’s preferred customer.
As an additional example of the insight mobile location data can provide, EDD requested Placer analyze attendance patterns at the City’s annual balloon festival.
Placer provided the following table:
Total Visits by Day to Cathedral City during Balloon Festival Weekend by the years:
Currently, EDD does not have paid access to mobile device location data platforms.
Platform Analysis:
When looking for a new data platform, EDD evaluated the following three consumer data platforms (i) Buxton, (ii) Alpha Maps, and (iii) Placer AI.
The following factors were considered in the evaluation:
Metrix Optimal Platform
1) Quality of Data: Placer and Buxton
2) Ease of Use: Comparable on all three
3) Superior self-help tutorials: Placer
4) Availability of platform staff to answer questions: Placer 5) Applicability to municipal use: Placer and Buxton
6) Platform use by other local municipalities: Placer
(e.g., cities of Indio, La Quinta,
Pasadena, Hesperia)
7) Cost: Buxton: $24,000
Placer: $19,500*
*(Negotiated down from 24,000)
Alpha Maps: $12,000
8) Positive company growth in municipal space Placer
Optimal Mobile Data Location Analytics Platform Placer
The scope of services for this year-long contract are included in the attached Agreement for Services. This Agreement for Services has been reviewed and approved by the City Attorney.
For additional information on what Placer AI offers city government clients, please see Appendix “A”.
Investing in Placer AI will provide EDD an additional set of tools intended to assist in achieving City Council and EDD strategic goals. These goals include (i) attracting new development; (ii) filling currently vacant retail space; and (iii) understanding stakeholder visitation patterns.
FISCAL IMPACT:
$19,500 for a one-year contract. There are sufficient funds within the FY 2022/2023 EDD budget for this expenditure.