ArcMap

Huff Model Calibration By Survey Data

Available with Business Analyst license.

Summary

Statistically calibrates the Huff Model using survey data for each store location in the study area.

Usage

  • The results of the Huff Model can be used to

    • Estimate, define, and analyze market potential.
    • Assess economic impact of a new site location.
    • Forecast sales and potential of existing stores and outlets.
    • Assess the impact of competitive and environmental changes on outlet performance.

  • The first step to executing this tool is to define a study area that includes all the trade areas of all competing stores being analyzed.

  • The calibration output of this tool is used as an input for the Advanced Huff Model tool.

  • The survey data is used to determine the frequency of shopping trips each respondent makes to the stores within the study area. Exit interviews are a good method for collecting this information.

  • Ensure that each subgeography area is adequately represented in the sample.

  • The Potential Customers Geographic Level is usually polygon features representing subareas where potential customers live. This layer can also be a point feature class (for example, block centroids) that has associated demographic data.

  • The Competitive Store Layer should include all competitive locations in a given study area. This layer should also include any of your existing store locations in the study area, since they will act as competitors to a new store location. In most cases, this layer will be a Business Analyst store layer.

  • Competitive store locations can be extracted from the Add Business Listings function in ESRI Business Analyst.

  • Learn more about adding business listings.

  • Store Attraction Fields, also known as predictor values, often include attributes of a store, such as square footage, number of parking spaces, advertising, store hours, prices, age, appearance, signage, accessibility, and so forth.

Syntax

arcpy.ba.HuffModelCalibrationBySurveyData(CustomerLayer, CustomerIDField, StoreLayer, StoreIDField, StoreAttractionFields, PatronizeTable, FormatOfSurveyData, SelectPatronizeTableFields, DistanceCalculationMethod, OutputFileName, {NeedReportOutput}, {ReportTitle}, {ReportFile}, {ReportFormats})
ParameterExplanationData Type
CustomerLayer

Polygon features representing subareas where potential customers live. It can also be a point layer (for example, block centroids) that has associated demographic data.

Feature Layer
CustomerIDField

The unique identifier of the Potential Customers Geographic Level.

Field
StoreLayer

The layer that contains the competitive points (usually store centers) used to determine how sales are influenced and distributed across the analysis area.

Feature Layer
StoreIDField

The unique identifier of the competitive store layer.

Field
StoreAttractionFields
[StoreAttractionFields,...]

The values that measure how attractive a store is to consumers.

Field
PatronizeTable

Table containing the customer survey results.

Table
FormatOfSurveyData

Defines the format of the survey data.

  • SEVERAL_LINES_PER_CUSTOMER —List of customers' answers to multiple questions. This is the default.
  • ONE_LINE_PER_GEOUNIT —Summarizes customer responses to a geographic unit, such as the number of responses to a question summed up to block groups.
  • ONE_LINE_PER_CUSTOMER —One response per customer, such as each customer indicating the number of times he or she visited each store.
String
SelectPatronizeTableFields

Selects the fields associating the customers with the stores they patronize.

  • Survey Data Customer Group ID Field —Selects the customer ID from the Several Lines Per Customer, One Line Per Customer, and One Line Per Geounit survey formats.
  • Survey Data Store ID Field —Selects the store ID associated with each customer from the Several Lines Per Customer and the One Line Per Geounit survey formats.
  • Survey Data Total Visits Field —Reads the frequency of visits of each customer to the store they patronize from the Several Lines Per Customer survey format.
String
DistanceCalculationMethod

Assigns the method used to calculate distances between geographic areas defined by the potential customers layer parameter and stores from the competitive store layer.

  • STRAIGHT_LINE_DISTANCE —Euclidean (as the crow flies) approach. This is the default.
  • DRIVE DISTANCE —Driving distance measured in units of distance.
  • DRIVE_TIME —Driving time measured in units of time.
String
OutputFileName

The output folder that will contain the Huff Model calibration result file.

Folder
NeedReportOutput
(Optional)

Generates a Huff model calibration report based on survey data.

  • True —Generates the Huff calibration report. This is the default.
  • False —Will not generate the Huff calibration report.
Boolean
ReportTitle
(Optional)

The title of the calibration report.

String
ReportFile
(Optional)

The name of the report file.

File
ReportFormats
[ReportFormats,...]
(Optional)

The Huff Model report out format or formats. More than one format may be selected.

  • Simple XML
  • PDF
  • HTML
  • CSV
  • ZIP
  • XLSX
  • Stripped XLSX
String

Code sample

HuffModelCalibrationBySurveyData example (stand-alone script)

# Name: HuffModelCalibrationBySurveyData.py
# Description: Generates a calibrated model around two San Francisco stores using Sales as a predictor.
# Author: Esri

# Import system modules
import arcview
import arcpy

arcpy.ImportToolbox(r"C:\Program Files (x86)\ArcGIS\Desktop10.8\Business Analyst\ArcToolbox\Toolboxes\Business Analyst Tools.tbx")

try:
# Acquire extension license 
  arcpy.CheckOutExtension("Business")
  arcpy.CheckOutExtension("Network") 
 
# Define input and output parameters for the Huff Model Calibration by Survey Data tool
  Cust = "C:/temp/sf_cust.shp"
  CustId = "CUST_ID"
  Store = "C:/temp/sf_stores.shp"
  StoreId = "STORE_ID"
  AttractionField = "SALES"
  Patronage = "C:/ArcGIS/Business Analyst/US_2022/Datasets/Tutorial/sf_stores.dbf"
  SurveyFormat = "ONE_LINE_PER_CUSTOMER"
  SelectFields = "STORE_ID"
  DistanceCalc = "DRIVE_TIME"
  OutPath = "C:/temp/Calibration_Surveydata"
 
# Create Huff Model Calibration by Survey Data
  arcpy.HuffModelCalibrationBySurveyData_ba(Cust,
	  CustId,
	  Store,
	  StoreId,
	  AttractionField,
	  Patronage,
	  SurveyFormat,
	  SelectFields,
	  DistanceCalc,
	  OutPath)
 
# Release extension license 
arcpy.CheckInExtension("Business")
  arcpy.CheckInExtension("Network")

Environments

This tool does not use any geoprocessing environments.

Licensing information

  • Basic: Requires Business Analyst
  • Standard: Requires Business Analyst
  • Advanced: Requires Business Analyst

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