Spatial Market Share

Spatial market share is a location analytics metric that measures a brand's proportion of total category activity—sales revenue, foot traffic visits, or estimated consumer spending—within specific geographic units. Unlike aggregate national or regional market share figures, spatial market share varies across the map, exposing the micro-geographies where a brand is strong or vulnerable.

Analysts define geographic units (zip codes, census tracts, custom trade areas, or hexagonal bins) and estimate both the brand's activity and total category activity within each unit. Brand activity is derived from sales data, loyalty card transactions, or foot traffic counts. Total category activity comes from consumer expenditure models, competitive traffic data, or industry benchmarks. Dividing brand activity by total category activity within each geography yields a spatial market share percentage. Mapping these percentages reveals clusters of dominance, competitive battlegrounds, and growth white space.

Retailers identify trade areas where market share lags the portfolio average and deploy targeted marketing to close the gap. CPG brands map their shelf-space share versus competitors across retail banners by region. Quick-service restaurant chains compare their traffic share against rivals at the zip-code level to prioritize new unit development. Media planners allocate advertising budgets proportionally to geographic areas where market share needs the most support. Spatial market share transforms a single headline number into a geographic strategy map that guides resource allocation, competitive response, and growth planning.