The Georgia SBDC began using Esri’s Business Analyst Online (BAO) for business research and market analysis early in 2014. With BAO, the SBDC has been able to create business reports and perform analyses for specific areas with the most up to date data available. BAO has a wide range of data available with numerous report options depending on what data/information the user is looking for. Here are some examples of how these reports can be useful for SBDC clients.

Recently, a Chamber of Commerce approached an SBDC office looking for market data for their county. The Chamber wanted to know if the residents were spending money in the county or traveling to other areas to do their spending on shopping, restaurants, etc. Through BAO, the SBDC provided a Retail Market Place Profile report that showed the leakage and surplus data for the county. With this report and working with the SBDC, the Chamber now has a guide to attract specific businesses to the area. The town was especially lacking in restaurants and people were traveling to other areas for food and drink options. Now the Chamber is actively working to draw in new restaurants to help meet the demand of residents and keep tax dollars in their county.

Not only does BAO work for large scale areas like the Chamber analysis, but the SBDC can assist with ideal areas for businesses to locate. Using the Smart Map Search feature, you are able select up to five variables, including (but not limited to) Population, Income, Age, Household Data, and Education. The results can be viewed on a map (sample above), shown by Census tracts or blocks, or viewed in a table (see sample below). This feature can be used to show the best suited areas for businesses to locate to for their targeted clientele. For example, a clothing store owner wants to expand her business and open a children’s clothing boutique in another part of the city. She has some site locations in mind but she wants to open the boutique in an area with a high median household income and large population of children under the age of ten. With the Smart Map Search, the store owner will be able to narrow down location prospects for her new store based on the demographic information shown by Census blocks.

Please contact your local SBDC office about the Retail Market Place Profile report and Smart Map Search, and other useful features and reports available through BAO.