Growing a curated brand database

Leveraging Social Media Tools for uncovering New Concepts and Local Businesses

Uncovering new concepts

A compelling brand database should draw from both established international names and local emerging concepts. As the market evolved, shifting retail trends have elevated the importance of unique local concepts and authentic homegrown brands.When site visits became more difficult, I leveraged tools like Instagram and TikTok to discover up-and-coming local businesses. What started as curiosity of popular projects and markets turned into a 3-step developed methodology that I adopted and imparted my team:

Step 1:

Using social media platforms such as Instagram or TikTok, I would explore sector-specific topics, as well as influencer content that speaks to a project’s target demographic. For example, some of these accounts would:

Visit new shopping malls
highlight new-to-market brands
Interview local entrepreneurs
Review Food and Beverage concepts

Step 2:

After making a shortlist of brands of interest, I would use Google Maps to research key information on each one.
This includes:
Looking at customer reviews (taking into consideration both a positive star count and a high number of reviews)
Categorizing the price points
Identifying the specific category (e.g., for F&B concepts, using sub-categories such as coffee shops, confectionary, standalone kiosks, etc.).
This approach also allowed me to identify areas and streets with emerging local concepts, and examine them further.

Step 3:

Following the collection of sufficient information, I would insert the newly-discovered concepts into our main database. I would answer the relevant questions that might arise, such as:

How many locations does this brand have?
Is it part of an established operator’s portfolio? If not, are they planning to franchise?
Would it be suitable in one of our projects?