"Read Marcus Aurelius .... Clarice"

Unraveling Consumer Behavior with Geographic Information

In the opening chapter of Malcolm Gladwell's book titled "The Tipping Point", Gladwell discusses how an old and nearly defunct shoe brand called Hush Puppies received an unanticipated boost in sales and customer appeal in the mid-1990s.  Somehow without any direct or indirect marketing by the brand's owner, Wolverine, executives were baffled at resurgent interest in the shoes.  They were amazed at how Hush Puppy shoe sales were booming while prior to 1994 average sales per year had been as low as 30,000 pairs.  But resurgent interest in the brand caused sales to boom up to 430,000 in 1995 and rose to nearly 2 million in 1996 and beyond in following years.  Wolverine executives were being told that the shoes were considered 'Cool' and 'Hip' in the trendy bars and clubs of New York City.  People were buying up stock of the shoes in small stores and resale shops that stocked the shoe brand.  Before long orders were coming in from fashion designers in New York and Los Angeles who were promoting the brand as an accessory to their men's fashions.  By 1996 Hush Puppies won the prize for best accessory from the Council of Fashion Designers.  This was an award that the firm,Wolverine, had put little to no effort into achieving.  How did this happen? Evidently it happened organically as a handful of young men started a fad in New York City by wearing an inexpensive shoe that wasn't popular.  Like a viral epidemic the fad grew and grew in popularity to the point that fashion designers were using the shoes to promote their high-priced fashions.  The fad grew such that Gladwell says the brand's popularity "Tipped" - and in two years went from relative obscurity in small Mom & Pop stores to Malls all across the USA.

When I read this passage in Gladwell's book, I was reminded of a scene from the film The Silence of The Lambs -  where the character Hannibal Lecter explains to fledgling FBI agent, Clarice Starling, how to catch a serial killer she is after.  In the scene Lecter suggests that that agent Starling read Marcus Aurelius's writings on the Greek Philosophy of Stoicism - encouraging her to seek the elemental aspects of the killer's behavior to understand his motive.  In this case the killer's covetus nature.  "How do we (humans) covet?  We covet what we see around us every day".

To see video click this link ---; VIDEO

We see items promoted every day on television and billboard advertising, which is meant to provoke our human desire to possess (covet) and purchase goods.  But in the case of Hush Puppies, no advertising had been done to resurrect the brand.  Yet, people began to more frequently see the shoe being worn in 'hip' locations around them and the appeal grew and spread geographically - from New York to Los Angeles and into malls across the USA.

To analyze (breaking down the elements) the Hush Puppy shoe sales and marketing data, the trend could best have been visualized and quantified by using a Geographic Information System (GIS) to identify how the brand's appeal was spreading, where it seemed to initiate, where it sales seemed to be concentrated, and understanding the underlying demographics of the product's appeal.  Very much as an Epidemiologist might study a patterns of a viruses spreading across a geographic area, marketers can use GIS to visualize and understand how, who, and where their products appeal is growing.  And most importantly how to strategically increase the brand's appeal through smart advertising and marketing campaigns - and to efficiently satisfy the demand with supply delivered to the right places at the right time.

Geography and location data is a critical business component that must be strongly considered when analyzing data, performing trend analysis (breaking a problem down to its elements as espoused by Marcus Aurelius), developing forecasting models, developing production & distribution plans, etc.  Not only is this important in Marketing, but also in Operations, Shipping, and Distribution, location data is critically important.  So as your firm considers tools necessary for Business Intelligence and Decision Support, GIS should be among the tools in your firm's analytical tool box to provide better understanding of your data and to provide better strategic business support.

The Importance of "The X-Y-Z-T" in Business Data

If we say "Time is Money" why don't we also say "Space-Time is Money"?

In an episode of Stephen Hawking’s PBS show called “Genius”, I was reminded about how important the elements of location are for our everyday lives.  Since Einstein discovered the Space-Time continuum over 100 years ago in his General Theory of Relativity, we humans have come to understand that we live and navigate our lives on a fabric woven by both Space and Time.  As such every event in our lives can at least partially be described by four numbers – the numbers represented by X, Y, Z, and T.  The X, Y, and Z are geographic coordinates with the X and Y representing what we know on planet Earth as Latitude and Longitude.  And Z represents Elevation above sea level.  These three coordinates supply us with location data.  However, these three coordinates alone is not enough data necessary to meet with a person, place, or thing in the Space-Time continuum.  You must also have a T (Time) metric.  Without out all four numbers, you may arrive very early for an appointment or miss an appointment entirely.  (**FYI - see below for more on the Time dimension)

Why is the X-Y-Z-T of business data important?  Most of our lives and interactions are dictated by places and time.  We are time travelers in a sense, as we must be able to navigate space and time precisely to function in our society.   

As many of us have heard the adage “Time is Money” – our sense of this important concept has connected itself to our Business lives.  But why don’t we also say “Space is Money” or “Space/Time is Money”?  In spite of the importance of Space-Time, many business professionals continue to ignore location data and geospatial analysis tools, like Geographic Information Systems (GIS), in their analysis of business data.  Why do Business Intelligence analysts persist in focusing solely on Revenues and Time, instead of considering Costs and Revenues in Space/Time?  I am not sure why this is exactly, but I am hopeful that as many businesses have begun to realize the importance of Data Visualizations & Analytics in the form of Charts and Graphs for analyzing their business operations through Time, that perhaps Mapping & Geo-spatial Data Analytics software tools (GIS) can be just as useful for analysis of  Business Operations in both Space and Time.  

Indeed, many if not most business transactions are governed by Space-Time.  For example, a consumer shopping for goods at a Retail Store must navigate both Space and Time in order to connect with the good of choice.  He or she must navigate via various transportation modes to a store location, during normal business hours, and arrive just as the good is in stock at the store.  But, one may point out that with the advent of the Internet, shoppers are no longer governed by Space-Time as they can shop at any time of their choosing and they do not need to navigate the Space-Time continuum in order to receive the good of their choice.

Not so fast though, consider that the good itself has navigated the Space-Time continuum with considerable invisible help from the Online Retailer (ex. Amazon.com or Zappos.com) and a myriad of transshipment services, distribution services, and delivery service providers, warehouses, and manufacturers.  Ignoring Space-Time impacts on business operations would ignore the true cost of doing business as an Online Retailer, as well as a Brick & Mortar retailer.  

Therefore, it is my contention that GIS should be used as part of a set of tools useful for Business Intelligence & Data Analysts to visualize, analyze, and measure the true costs of doing business in the Space-Time Continuum.  Furthermore, to truly understand a business, it’s customers, and it’s factors of success or failure, viewing all dimensions of the Customer’s location (demographics, travel time, travel mode, shopping mode, actual costs of shopping mode by customer, etc.), the Business’s location (demographics, traffic patterns, parking, transportation options, crime rate, competitor locations, suppliers/distributors, etc.), or the Online Retailer’s locations (manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, warehouses, shippers, and delivery services), can be vital for providing true insights useful for increasing business intelligence, improving business operations, increasing customer patronage, gaining business success, and increasing business profitability.

If you've never heard of GIS before, here is a blog that discusses the technology:
http://appgeodata2.blogspot.com/

If you'd like to take an online course to explore the how GIS can be used to build Location Intelligence then check out this course:
http://ecm.elearningcurve.com/Location_Intelligence_p/ba-04-a.htm

And finally, if you're interested in discussing how to implement a GIS for your business data analysis and reporting functions, please contact me at www.appgeodata.com

Have a great day in Space-Time!

*FYI* - Also discussed in Hawking’s program was the relevance of the Z in measuring the T, or that time is experienced differently by observers at different elevations.  Though very minimal time differences are measured on earth between a time observer on the peak of a mountain versus a time observer at the base of a mountain.  The time differences become more significant the higher the observer is above planet earth.  Hence satellites orbiting far above our planet must account for more significant time variations as our planet‘s gravity and rotation bends the space time continuum (pictured).  If not for this consideration, GPS Satellites would not provide accurate location information for earthbound travelers and our Cellular Phones would be not display time accurately for the location of the phone.