In today’s highly competitive retail landscape, data-driven decisions are no longer optional — they’re essential. While businesses collect vast volumes of data across regions, stores, and customer segments, the real value lies in how effectively this data is visualized and interpreted.
Geo Maps in Zoho Analytics bring location intelligence to the forefront of decision-making. With powerful spatial analytics capabilities, retail businesses can now visualize store performance, identify untapped opportunities, and track customer behavior trends with a simple glance at a map.
This solution demonstrates how Zoho Analytics' Geo Maps can be leveraged to solve real retail business problems, using a step-by-step approach grounded in a practical, ready-to-use dataset.
Imagine you're a retail chain operating hundreds of stores across the United States. Each store generates data—sales, visitor footfall, customer satisfaction, marketing spend—but these numbers alone don’t explain why some stores succeed while others under-perform.
Key challenges include:
- Identifying stores that are struggling before sales drop significantly.
- Understanding whether poor performance is due to location, low visibility, or intense competition.
- Evaluating which regions offer true expansion potential—and which are over-saturated.
With no visual correlation between location and business KPIs, many decisions remain reactive instead of proactive. This is where Geo Maps make all the difference—by transforming isolated data into contextual geographic insights.
To power this solution, we’ve created a comprehensive and realistic retail dataset that mirrors how actual store data behaves across geographies.
The dataset includes:
- Store-level performance data: revenue, average purchase value, and satisfaction.
- Customer insights: foot traffic, age, gender distribution.
- Market context: competitor presence and market share, population density, and economic growth rate.
- Geospatial data: zip code, city, state, latitude, and longitude of each store location.
Retail chains often operate on thin margins, and even minor under-performance at store level can have significant impacts across the organization. While dashboards provide revenue and performance trends, they often miss one critical dimension—geography.
Without geographic context, businesses face several recurring challenges:
- Underperforming stores go unnoticed until major losses occur.
- Ghost zones—areas with low store presence but high potential—remain unexplored.
- Marketing budgets get wasted in regions where returns are consistently low.
- Competitor pressure is misjudged due to lack of visibility on regional saturation.
- Store closures become reactive decisions, made after performance has already declined.
In short, data without location awareness leaves decision-makers blind to spatial trends and risks. Businesses need a smarter, more intuitive way to analyze store performance with geographical clarity—before it’s too late.
Geo Maps in Zoho Analytics address this gap by unlocking a visual layer of intelligence that traditional charts can’t offer.
Here’s what makes them a game-changer:
- Location-first insights: Instantly identify how store performance varies across the map - by city, state, or neighborhood.
- Visual correlation of multiple KPIs: Compare revenue, satisfaction, and foot traffic geographically to detect hidden patterns.
- Clutter-free, customizable visuals: Choose the right map type - bubble, filled, pie, or scatter - to match the data you want to analyze.
Unlike static dashboards, Geo Maps enable you to see the problem, context, and opportunity—all in one frame. Whether it's spotting trends, reallocating marketing spend, or planning expansion, this spatial layer puts decision-makers back in control.
This section walks through the step-by-step creation of four key Geo Map reports that reveal business insights from store-level data.
To identify how stores are performing across different regions in terms of revenue and customer satisfaction, using a clean, visual-first map representation.
This helps uncover:
- High-performing stores in key zones
- Underperforming regions needing intervention
- Patterns related to location-based store success
Why Map - Bubble?
The Map - Bubble chart is ideal for visualizing store-level metrics using geolocation.
- Size indicates magnitude (e.g., Monthly Revenue)
- Color indicates health or quality (e.g., Customer Satisfaction)
- Each store appears as a distinct bubble based on its lat/long.
Procedure
- From the dataset, click the Create icon and select Chart View.

- On the designer page, drag and drop the following columns into their respective shelves:
- Latitude → X-Axis
- Longitude → Y-Axis
- Customer Satisfaction (out of 10) → Color
- Monthly Revenue (USD) → Size
- Store ID, Store Type, City → Tooltip

- Click Generate Graph.
- Click on the ellipsis icon and select the chart type as Map - Bubble.

- Click the Settings icon, and under the General tab, click Legend.
- In the Colors section, customize the color scale from red to green to represent satisfaction ranges.

- Under the Map tab, click Map control and enable Display Specific Country Map.
- From the drop-down, select Albers USA Projection. This displays the USA map by placing Alaska and Hawaii below the mainland USA on a single map.

- Rename the report as Store Performance and click Save.
Tip:
Add a User filter such as Store type or State to analyze performance by segment.
This configuration creates a bubble for every store, sized by its revenue and colored by customer satisfaction — instantly showing how happy customers are in high- or low-revenue zones.

Key Insights
Large bubble + Red color - High revenue but poor satisfaction — risk of churn!

Small bubble + Green color - Low revenue but high satisfaction — possibly underserved

Large bubble + Green color - Healthy performers — consider replicating success

Small bubble + Red color - Low performers — review for possible closure or revamp.

Business Interpretation
This chart acts as a live performance map for executives and analysts. Instead of scanning through tables or KPIs, stakeholders can instantly spot outliers, prioritize investments, and plan corrective actions by just glancing at the map.
To evaluate how efficiently each state is converting foot traffic into store revenue — and more importantly, to identify high-footfall regions without store presence, often referred to as ghost zones.
This chart helps:
- Compare state-level foot traffic against actual revenue
- Spot underutilized or over-performing regions
- Discover untapped markets with high visitor potential but less to no physical stores
Why Map - Filled + Scatter?
- The Map - Filled chart provides a regional perspective of traffic density and revenue generation.
- The Scatter layer overlays actual store locations based on latitude and longitude.
This powerful combo allows you to measure performance where you’re active and spot opportunities where you're not.
Procedure
- From the dataset, click the Create icon and select Chart View.
- On the designer page, drag and drop the following columns into their respective shelves:
- State → X-Axis
- Foot Traffic (visitors/month) → Color
- Monthly Revenue (USD) → Text
- Marketing Spend (USD), Population Density (people/sq km), ROI (%) → Tooltip
- Click Generate Graph.

- Click on more option and select the chart type as Map-Filled.

- Click the Settings icon, then click Legend.
- In the Colors section, assign from light to dark green colors for the below range of foot traffic:
- Below 5,000
- 5,000–10,000
- 10,000–15,000
- Above 15,000

- Under the Map tab, change the map to Albers USA Projection.
This filled layer highlights traffic and revenue across states.

- Toggle Enable Layers to add a second layer.

- In the new layer, drag and drop Latitude and Longitude into the X-Axis and Y-Axis respectively, Population density into the Color shelf, and click Generate Graph.

- Click Layer Controls, select Chart Chooser besides Latitude and choose the map as Map - Scatter from the list.

- To customize the second layer, go to Settings → Map → Latitude → Legend, and assign from light to dark red colors for the below range of population density:
- Below 2,000
- 2,000-4,000
- 4,000-6,000
- 6,000-8,000
- 8,000-10000
- Above 10,000

- Rename the report as Revenue-to-Traffic Ratio with Ghost Zone Detection and click Save.
This scatter layer marks the exact store locations, allowing visual correlation with high-traffic regions, revenue, and population density.
Key Insights
Dark green filled (high traffic) + Low revenue - Poor conversion - evaluate strategy or in-store experience

Mid to Dark green filled (high to mid traffic) + balanced revenue - Efficient zones — consider scaling efforts

Light green filled (low traffic) + high marketing spend (from tooltip) - Budget drain — reduce spend or re-evaluate targeting

Dark red marker (high population density) + less to no store markers - Ghost Zones — high opportunity areas for expansion

Example: In Las Vegas from Nevada, with a population density of 10,428 people/sq km and only two stores handling 10K–15K visitors/month, monthly revenue of the state remains modest at ~$278K. This indicates a high-opportunity zone for expansion, with strong footfall but untapped revenue potential.
Interpretation & Use
This map is designed for marketing and expansion teams who need to:
- Justify where to open new stores
- Optimize existing resource allocation
It visually answers the question:
Are we generating revenue where people are actually showing up?
Also, with the scatter layer:
Where are we not present — but should be?
To evaluate how store performance is impacted by nearby competition, using a scatter map that plots every store across the U.S. and reflects competitor market share through color intensity.
This view helps:
- Detect locations under competitive stress
- Identify high-risk zones where your market share is at risk
- Correlate competitor presence with satisfaction and store performance
Why Map - Scatter?
Map - Scatter offers a clean and lightweight visual that plots each store based on its exact coordinates. By encoding competitor market share as color and overlaying other attributes via tooltip, this chart becomes a competitive pressure radar.
Procedure
- From the dataset, click the Create icon and select Chart View.
- In the chart designer, drag and drop the following columns into their respective shelves:
- Latitude → X-Axis
- Longitude → Y-Axis
- Competitors market share → Color
- Competitors nearby, Monthly Revenue, and Store Type → Tooltip
- Click Generate Graph.

- Click on the more option and select the chart type as Map-Scatter.
- In the Settings panel, adjust the color gradient to reflect pressure levels
- 0 → Green
- 1-30 → Cyan
- 30-60 → Orange
- 60-80 → Pale red
- Above 80 → Red

- Change the Marker type under Maps → Marker tab.

- Under the Map tab, change the map to Albers USA Projection.
- Rename the report as Competitor Pressure Zones and click Save.
The resulting chart uses color to signal competitive heat around each store, allowing you to scan pressure zones across all regions visually.

Key Insights
Red (80-100%) - High competitor dominance — urgent intervention zone

Orange (30-60%) + low revenue - Growing pressure — performance risk emerging

Green (0%) + strong revenue - Market leader — low competition, strong position

Cyan (1-30%) + moderate revenue - Mild competition — possible opportunity to scale further

Business Interpretation
This chart empowers regional and strategy teams to:
- Detect overcrowded areas where stores are losing share
- Identify safe zones where your brand leads the market
- Spot emerging competitor influence before it cuts into your margins
It acts as a competitive intelligence dashboard, mapping how your store network stands against external threats.
To visualize how the gender distribution of customers varies across store locations. This helps identify stores with significant demographic skews, allowing for more personalized marketing, product selection, and in-store experience.
Why Map - Pie?
The Map - Pie chart is ideal for visualizing data composition across geographical locations.By breaking down each store’s customer base into Male (%) and Female (%) segments, this chart reveals who your customers are and where gender-targeted strategies might work best.
Procedure
- From the dataset, click the Create icon and select Chart View.
- In the chart designer, drag and drop the following columns into their respective shelves:
- Latitude → X-Axis
- Longitude, Male (%), Female (%) → Y-Axis
- City, Store ID, Average Customer Age, Store Type → Tooltip
- Click Generate Graph.

- In Settings, under the Map tab, change the map to Albers USA Projection.
- Click on Markers, adjust the Marker Size as shown.

- Click on Data Label, and enable the Show corresponding Y axis value as data label on the chart to display the percentage values on the map.

- Add Store Type as User Filters to slice down store-wise gender distribution.
- Rename the report as Customer Gender Distribution and click Save.
Each store will now display a pie chart representing the gender split among its customers, directly on the map.
Key Insights
Uneven gender split (e.g., 70% Male) - Potential to tailor offerings, branding, or promotions for the dominant gender

Balanced split (≈50/50) - Opportunity to run inclusive or diversified campaigns

High female ratio + specialty store - Indicates demand for niche products — expand category offerings

Business Interpretation
This chart allows marketing and merchandising teams to:
- Understand gender-based customer clustering across regions
- Launch targeted campaigns (e.g., loyalty programs, promotions)
- Refine product assortments to suit local preferences
For example: A store with 70% female shoppers may benefit from deeper investment in lifestyle categories, while a balanced store could serve as a testing ground for unisex offerings.
In this phase, we laid the foundation for geo-powered retail intelligence using Zoho Analytics. Through a single, well-structured dataset and four powerful geo map visualizations, we transformed raw store data into real, actionable business insights.
Here’s what we achieved:
|
Report
|
Business Insights
|
|
Store Performance (Bubble)
|
Identified stores that are over performing or at churn risk based on revenue and satisfaction.
|
|
Revenue-to-Traffic Ratio (Filled + Scatter)
|
Detected ghost zones and optimized marketing ROI by comparing traffic and revenue.
|
|
Competitor Pressure Zones (Scatter)
|
Mapped out competitor dominance and spotted at-risk or saturated regions.
|
|
Customer Gender Distribution (Pie)
|
Uncovered demographic patterns to tailor product, marketing, and in-store experience.
|
These visualizations brought spatial awareness into every performance metric — turning maps into a strategic business tool.
And this... is just the beginning.
Stay tuned for Phase 2 — where Multi-Layer Geo Maps and Network Charts come together to supercharge your business strategy with even deeper spatial insights.
Recent Topics
Plan switch
I thought I pressed the Free button, but after they set up the account, I see that I am on a Premium trial. Is this usual? How do I get onto the Free version?
'Tax registration date'?
The second question in setting up is 'Tax registration date'. My first question: which tax? My second question: why do you need the registration date?
What if we don't have an ABN?
Australian business. Setting up. We have no ABN. It's not compulsory. Field not allowed to be blank. What to do?
Keeping track of project expenses
I have talked to a few support techs and it is very hard for me to believe that Zoho's project accounting software can't keep accounts for my projects. I must not understand what they're saying. We get a contract to build something. So the project revenue
Linking Multi-UOM Barcodes to Products in Zoho Books
Greetings, I'm using Zoho Books for retail shop and I'm running into a bit of a challenge with products that have multiple Units of Measurement (UOMs) and corresponding barcodes. For example, I sell cigarettes both as individual packets and in cartons
How to change "from" email address when invoicing.
HELP! I'm new to Zoho Books and when I first set it up used a different email address than I currently want to use. I've tried to go to settings and change the default email address but when I generate an invoice it still shows the old email address (although I can't find it anywhere else). I really need to get this changed before I can use the program. Any help would be appreciated.
Critical Issue: Tickets Opened for Zoho Support via the Zoho Help Portal Were Not Processed
Hi everyone, We want to bring to your attention a serious issue we’ve experienced with the Zoho support Help Portal. For more than a week, tickets submitted directly via the Help Portal were not being handled at all. At the same time no alert was posted
Hide/Show Subform Fields On User Input
Hello, Are there any future updates in Hide/Show Subform Fields "On User Input"?
Cloning Item With Images Or The Option With Images
Hello, when I clone an item, I expect the images to carry over to the cloned item, however this is not the case in Inventory. Please make it possible for the images to get cloned or at least can we get a pop up asking if we want to clone the images as
Custom validation in CRM schema
Validation rules in CRM layouts work nicely, good docs by @Kiran Karthik P https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/crm/customize-crm-account/validation-rules/articles/create-validation-rules I'd prefer validating data input 'closer to the schema'
Adding Default Module Image into mail merge field
As with most people finding their way to these forums i have a specific requirement that doesn't seem to be supported by Zoho I have created 2 custom modules to suit my purpose 1 is an inventory type module that lists aluminium extrusions, and all relevant
Is it possible to roll up all Contact emails to the Account view?
Is there a way to track all emails associated with an Account in one single view? Currently, email history is visible when opening an individual Contact record. However, since multiple Contacts are often associated with a single Account, it would be beneficial
Managing credit cards
Hi, I'm hoping someone on this forum can help me out managing credit card accounts. Transaction are entered as expenses using the credit card account and, as expected, the card balance shows as a negative since this is clearly money I owe them. Once I make a payment, of the full amount owed, I woudl expect the balance to become zero. It doesn't, the negative balance just keeps on increasing even though the payment is reflected correctly in my main operating account. No-one at Zoho seems to understand
Free Training - Explore What’s New in Zoho One 2025
Greetings! We hope you have all had a chance by now to get hands-on with the new features and updates released as part of ZO25. Yes, we understand that you may have questions and feedback. To ensure you gain a comprehensive understanding of these updates,
Quick way to add a field in Chat Window
I want to add Company Field in chat window to lessen the irrelevant users in sending chat and set them in mind that we are dealing with companies. I request that it will be as easy as possible like just ticking it then typing the label then connecting
How to create a two way Sync with CRM Contacts Module?
Newbie creator here (but not to Zoho CRM). I want to create an app that operates on a sub-set of CRM Contacts - only those with a specific tag. I want the app records to mirror the tagged contacts in CRM. I would like it to update when the Creator app
How to import data from PDF into Zoho Sheet
I am looking to import Consolidated Account Statement (https://www.camsonline.com/Investors/Statements/Consolidated-Account-Statement) into zoho sheet. Any help is appreciated. The pdf is received as attachment in the email, this document is password
Trigger Workflow, Approval Process, Blueprint by Deluge in Zoho CRM
#Tips & Trick If you intend to activate your Workflow, Approval Process, or Blueprint through either the deluge script or Zoho CRM API during the creation, updating, or deletion of a record Try this Script mp = Map(); trigger = List(); // Workflow trigger.add("workflow");
Zoho Projects Android app: Integration with Microsoft Intune
Hello everyone! We’re excited to announce that Zoho Projects now integrates with Microsoft Intune, enabling enhanced security and enterprise app management. We have now added support for Microsoft Intune Mobile Application Management (MAM) policies through
Cant't update custom field when custom field is external lookup in Zoho Books
Hello I use that : po = zoho.books.updateRecord("purchaseorders",XXXX,purchaseorder_id,updateCustomFieldseMap,"el_books_connection"); c_f_Map2 = Map(); c_f_Map2.put("label","EL ORDER ID"); c_f_Map2.put("value",el_order_id); c_f_List.add(c_f_Map2); updateCustomFieldseMap
Set connection link name from variable in invokeurl
Hi, guys. How to set in parameter "connection" a variable, instead of a string. connectionLinkName = manager.get('connectionLinkName').toString(); response = invokeurl [ url :"https://www.googleapis.com/calendar/v3/freeBusy" type :POST parameters:requestParams.toString()
Possible to connect Zoho CRM's Sandbox with Zoho Creator's Sandbox?
We are making some big changes on our CRM so we are testing it out in CRM's Sandbox. We also have a Zoho Creator app that we need to test. Is it possible to connect Zoho CRM's Sandbox to Zoho Creator's Sandbox so that I can perform those tests?
I Need Help Verifying Ownership of My Zoho Help Desk on Google Search Console
I added my Zoho desk portal to Google Search Console, but since i do not have access to the html code of my theme, i could not verify ownership of my portal on Google search console. I want you to help me place the html code given to me from Google search
Timeline Tracker
Hi Team, I am currently using Zoho Creator – Blueprint Workflows, and I would like to know if there is a way to track a timeline of the approval process within a Blueprint. Specifically, I am looking for details such as: Who submitted the record Who clicked
Primary / Other Billing Contacts
If you add an additional contact to a Zoho Billing Customer record, and then mark this new contact as the primary contact, will both the new primary and old primary still receive notifications? Can you stop notifications from going to the additional contacts
Is it possible to enforce a single default task for all users in a Zoho Projects ?
In Zoho Projects, the Tasks module provides multiple views, including List, Gantt, and Kanban. Additionally, users can create and switch to their own custom views. During project review meetings, this flexibility creates confusion because different users
[Free Webinar] Zoho Creator webinars - Learning Table and Creator Tech Connect Series in 2026
Hello everyone, Wishing you all a wonderful new year! May 2026 and the years ahead bring more opportunities, growth, and learning your way 🙂 We’re excited to kick off the 2026 edition of the Learning Table Series and Creator Tech Connect Series ! Learning
Reply and react to comments
Hi everyone! We're excited to bring to you a couple of new features that'll make your sprint process simpler. A cloud application brings with it an array of social media features that can be efficiently used in your organizational setup. As an agile scrum
Module Customisation - Lookup function not available
Good evening, Within my business, I can have multiple customers, who have multiple mobile assets. When I set these assets up, I enter information such as vehicle registration, Vehicle identification number (VIN), Unit number, YOM, in addition to others.
zoho click, and nord VPN
Unfortunately, we've been having problems with Zoho Click, where essentially the line cuts off after about a minute's worth of conversation every time we are on VPN. Is there a way we can change this within the settings so it does not cut the line off
Zoho Calender
a) does the clanender in zoho project allow you to see the name of the event in the celnder view, it currently says either "Task (1) or "Milestoen (1)" b) Alternatively does the calender in Zoho project integrate with zoho calender?
Matching ZOHO Payments in Banking
Our company has recently integrated ZOHO Payments into our system. This seemed really convenient at first because our customers could pay their account balance by clicking on a link imbedded in the emailed invoice. Unfortunately, we can't figure out how
New Enhancements to Zoho CRM and Zoho Creator Integration
Hello Everyone, We’ve rolled out enhancements to the Zoho Creator and Zoho CRM integration to align with recent updates made to the Zoho Creator platform. With enhancements to both the UI and functionality, This update also tightens access control by
Work Type - Limitation
Hello, I'm setting up work types and have noticed, a limitation on the parts area to 10 lines. Can this be increased to 20 or greater? In addition to this, when I attempt to add the work type to a work order, the correct labour hours doesn't flow through.
Locked out of MFA due to changing phones
I have been locked out of my Zoho Books account since i changed my mobile phone over. I can get the OTP through the ZOHO Books software but i cant confirm using my phone app as nothing appears to authorise. I need to know how to register/set up my new
Emails sent through Bigin are not posting in IMAP Sent folder
I have set up my email to work from within Bigin using IMAP. I am using IMAP so I can sync my email across multiple devices - phone / laptop / desktop / iPad / etc. I want all my emails to populate my email client (outlook & iphone email) whether or
Turning the page for Zoho SalesIQ: 2025 to 2026
As we wrap up 2025, we would like to take a moment to reflect on what we set out to achieve this year, what we’ve delivered, and where we’re headed next. What we focused on in 2025 This year was all about strengthening the core of engagement and AI, making
Zoho Cliq not working on airplanes
Hi, My team and I have been having this constant issue of cliq not working when connected to an airplane's wifi. Is there a reason for this? We have tried on different Airlines and it doesn't work on any of them. We need assistance here since we are constantly
Customer Management: #6 Common Mistakes in Customer Handling
Managing customers doesn't usually fall apart overnight. More often, slight gaps in the process slowly become bigger problems. Incidents like missed follow-ups, billing confusion, and unhappy customers will lead to revenue loss. Many businesses don't
Zoho Desk iOS app update: UI enhancement of picklist and multi picklist fields
Hello everyone! We have enhanced the UI of the picklist and multiselect picklist fields on the Zoho Desk iOS app to provide a more refined, efficient, and user-friendly experience. We have now supported an option to Search within the picklist and multiselect
Next Page