“Without Placer, market and site selection would have taken at least 4-8 weeks longer, and would have cost 10x as much. That’s not an exaggeration. With Placer, we can help our customers choose sites in half the time and a fraction of the cost of traditional customer surveys.”

-- Jerry Henry, Chief Executive Officer at H2R Market Research

‍The Challenge

Immersive Cultural Entertainment Attraction Seeks H2R Market Research To Analyze two Markets

An immersive cultural entertainment attraction approached H2R Market Research - a Placer customer - with a challenge: they wanted to open a new location and had narrowed it down to two markets. However, all of their data thus far suggested that the markets were equally strong. They sought help to answer two key questions:

1. How did the two markets compare to each other?
2. Which market was the better fit for their new location?

Jerry Henry, Chief Executive Officer at H2R Market Research, knew Placer data could help. As his customer didn’t have locations in either of the markets, he selected two comparable attractions as proxies for the markets under consideration, then analyzed all relevant performance and historical data.

‍The Solution‍

Placer Reveals That One Market had Less Seasonality in Visits and Better Market Growth

Using Placer visitation data for each market, Jerry set 2017 as the index then charted year over year comparisons to illustrate market growth over time.

Learn more about Visits Trend

Market 1 was consistent in outpacing Market 2 in visitation growth, with the exception of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2019 (this anomaly was driven by differences in COVID lockdown regulations). Post-pandemic, Market 1’s attendance continued to recover better compared to Market 2

Another key difference surfaced as H2R analyzed the seasonality of each markets. As an immersive cultural entertainment attraction looking to operate year-round, seasonality was a major factor, and the client needed a market that matched their model. Placer data showed that Market 1 had strong shoulder seasons beyond the busy summertime months. In comparison, Market 2 was heavily concentrated on visitation during the summer, with 53% of the year’s visits in 2019 occurring in the summer season. In other words, Market 1 offered more stable year-round visitation, with the summer season grabbing a more reasonable 35% of the year’s visitation, easing the pressure of capturing as much revenue as possible in the short summer season.

Learn more about Visits Trend

The H2R team also analyzed other factors when comparing the two, including the average length of stay for the attractions in both markets (143 minutes in Market 1 vs. 124 minutes in Market 2), daily visitation, audience profile, and market penetration. This data, alongside the key differences in seasonality and market growth, drove the team to choose Market 1 as the market for their future new site.

The Outcome

SUCCESS: H2R Market Research Helps Client Confidently Select New Market Location For Expansion

With Placer, H2R Market Research was able to help an immersive cultural entertainment attraction compare two markets for adding a new location, confidently choosing one based on clear-cut, objective data. Placer data on the key factors of market growth, seasonality, length of stay, audience profile, and market penetration all helped to determine which market suited the client better. As a result, they selected Market 1, with site specific analysis now underway.