Greenreb: Location Planning for Topgolf Facilities

How do you find the best locations for event facilities?

As the exclusive licensee of Topgolf in Central Europe, Greenreb plans to build 20 Topgolf facilities in the medium to long term in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. To do this, the company needs very large properties that also have to meet a number of other criteria.

In order to be quick and efficient when searching for a location, Greenreb uses the location analysis software WIGeoLocation.

This is how the location search for Topgolf locations at Greenreb works:

1. The first step is to find potential properties for a new Topgolf location with the help of partners from the real estate sector.
2. As Stefan Ebermann, Expansion Manager at Greenreb, explains, the suitability of the properties as a Topgolf location is then assessed: “We have to determine: How attractive is the location? How high is the purchasing power in the catchment area and how many customers can we expect?”
3. To find this out, Stefan Ebermann assesses the location using the WIGeoLocation software. Thanks to the reporting function, this can be done with just a few clicks: “As soon as I have identified a location, I enter the address in WIGeoLocation and download the report.”
4. After weighing the results, i.e. various location criteria, as well as other aspects such as the question of whether the respective community is interested in a Topgolf facility, Greenreb makes the decision for or against a location. Often several potential locations nearby are compared with each other.

What criteria must potential locations meet?

Stefan Ebermann is primarily concerned with the size of the catchment area and, above all, the purchasing power in the area surrounding the potential location. The prices that can later be charged at the location are also based on this key figure.

Further location criteria are also important for a Topgolf location, for example:

• The property has to be the size of several football fields (at least 30,000 square meters) and the terrain must be flat
• Around a million people have to live within a catchment area of half an hour travel time
• The location must either be easily accessible by public transportation or have good visibility from a highway
• Target group: Most Topgolf visitors are under 35 years old, but the target group is broad with companies, families, students and party people
• There must also be sufficient potential personnel in the vicinity of a Topgolf facility, because each facility employs around 350 people

Many of these location criteria can be assessed easily and quickly in WIGeoLocation, such as the number of people in the catchment area, public accessibility and transport connections as well as the age structure and purchasing power in the catchment area.

Assess the Potential with Reports and Convince Investors

Expansion Manager Stefan Ebermann sums it all up: “WIGeoLocation is a very uncomplicated software: one click and I have the report and all the information and data that I need.” The report contains all the location criteria previously defined in the software and thus helps to assess the potential of the location in advance.

The reporting function is also helpful in attracting investors and convincing them with facts: The location analysis software analyzes locations based on data and replaces or supplements gut feelings with concrete arguments for or against a location. Ebermann: “For a location on the motorway in Frankfurt, for example, it is clear that the catchment area is suitable. But it is still good if we can show potential investors comparisons with existing investments using maps and numbers.”

WIGeoLocation being used for marketing

At Greenreb, in addition to the expansion manager, the marketing department also uses the location analysis tool WIGeoLocation to find out more about their target group and to allow them to take targeted marketing measures. With WIGeoLocation you can gain particularly good insights into your own customers, for example:

• How long does it take customers to travel to a Topgolf location? To calculate this, the customers' ZIP Codes are queried and integrated into WIGeoLocation.
• How high is the purchasing power in the catchment area? According to Stefan Ebermann, these figures are otherwise difficult to obtain, especially if you want high quality and up-to-date data.
• How old are the visitors at existing Topgolf locations? These numbers are also continually added to WIGeoLocation.
• Are there competing and therefore cannibalizing offers in the area?

In this way, the Marketing Department is constantly learning new things and can also adapt their marketing measures accordingly.

This means: With the help of the location analysis software WIGeoLocation, the location search becomes better and more helpful with every new location and every new visitor.

Image rights: Greenreb, Hartmann, WIGeoGIS