FMCG, distribution & GIS teams
Find and verify informal retail outlets in South Africa.
Which spaza shops and informal outlets are missing from your store list, and which existing records still match the ground? Start with a bounded area, a clear outlet definition and a field sample you can inspect.
What it does
Built for one clear job.
Informal retail mapping starts by deciding what qualifies as an outlet. A spaza shop, a street trader and a wholesale depot are different units. Specify the categories, area boundary and requested observations before counting records.
Use discovery to look for candidate outlets in a defined area. Use verification to revisit your existing store list. Use a repeat collection to investigate change. A collection can support those decisions without being a complete retail census or a claim about purchasing power.
How it works
From signal to defensible decision.
Bound the job
Choose the area and outlet categories. Supply your existing list if the job is verification rather than discovery.
Set the record
Agree the requested attributes, evidence, safe access, review rules and how suspected duplicates will be handled.
Collect a sample
People nearby submit the specified observations with location, time and photos for review.
Reconcile the result
Inspect accepted observations, uncertain cases and duplicate candidates before agreeing a wider collection or revisit.
Core capabilities
What you get.
Outlet discovery
Look for candidate outlets within the agreed boundary. Do not infer complete area coverage from the number of submissions.
Store-list verification
Compare requested field checks with your candidate records and keep unclear matches visible.
Evidence-led review
Agree what a reviewer must see before an observation is accepted. Submission approval is not independent audit.
Scoped revisits
Where feasible, recheck the same questions and locations. A revisit describes what was seen at that time, not every change between visits.
Published field example · October 2026
FOONA's public field-map projection showed 79 approved outlet submission pins captured on 14–16 October: 46 in Dobsonville and nearby Soweto, 17 in Langa and 16 in Umlazi Section W. The figures were checked on 17 October 2026. These are submissions, not unique independently audited outlets, a coverage census or evidence of client acceptance.
Who it's for
For FMCG, route-to-market, retail expansion and GIS teams
Teams comparing store lists, deciding where to investigate distribution gaps or refreshing place data before deploying field resources.
Outcomes
What changes for you.
- A clearer view of where your store list needs investigation
- Requested records with evidence and review context
- An explicit denominator before making a coverage claim
Before commissioning collection
Make the outlet record useful before collecting it.
For route-to-market work, the definition and denominator matter as much as the map. Agree the following before comparing a collection with your distribution list.
Discovery is not verification
Discovery asks which candidate outlets can be found within a boundary. Verification asks whether a supplied record matches what can be observed now. A revisit asks the same defined question again. Mixing those jobs makes completion and coverage hard to interpret.
Set the outlet definition
Specify included outlet categories and how to handle mobile traders, multiple trading points at one address, shared premises and changed names. A GPS pin is not sufficient to decide that two records refer to different businesses.
Agree duplicate and closed-outlet rules
Choose the attributes a reviewer should compare and how suspected matches are flagged. A closed door at one visit is not proof of permanent closure. Keep not-found, temporarily inaccessible and uncertain observations separate from a confirmed change.
Inspect before expanding
Review a small sample for useful attributes, readable evidence and unresolved matches. Agree whether reconciliation with your list or an independent recheck is part of the work. Do not divide accepted submissions by an unknown outlet population and call it coverage.
Illustrative requested output fields
Use this as a scoping checklist. Fields, review labels and delivery format must be agreed for your project.
- Observation ID / source site ID
- Distinguish the collected observation from an existing store-list record. Multiple observations may refer to one outlet.
- Observation date / location
- When and where the outlet was observed, within the agreed project boundary.
- Photo reference / outlet category
- Supporting visual evidence and the category as defined in your brief, where safely and lawfully collectable.
- Observed status
- A defined answer such as seen trading, inaccessible or uncertain. These are illustrative labels to agree, not a claim about an existing export.
- Review status / suspected duplicate
- Keep submission review separate from unique-outlet matching. Record unresolved candidates instead of silently merging them.
- Limitations / follow-up
- What the observation cannot establish and whether a recheck or other evidence is needed.
Requested attributes, matching rules and delivery format are agreed per project. The published 79-pin example does not demonstrate that every field above was collected, or that nationwide coverage and deduplication are available out of the box.
Before you start.
What the evidence can tell you, what it cannot, and how to scope the work.
Can you find outlets missing from our store list?
A scoped discovery job can look for candidate outlets in a defined area. Agree the outlet categories, boundary and acceptance rules first. Published submission counts do not establish complete coverage, and feasibility is confirmed before commissioning work.
Is an approved pin the same as a unique outlet?
No. A submission is a record of an observation. Approval is a review status. A unique-outlet count also needs agreed matching and duplicate handling; independent audit is a separate step. Keep those units separate when comparing the result with a store list.
Can you recheck closed or duplicate outlet records?
Request a verification sample against the records you supply. Agree how to record an outlet that cannot be found, appears closed, has moved or may duplicate another record. An uncertain observation should remain uncertain rather than being silently counted as a confirmed outlet.
See it against your own market.
Tell us the geography, question and decision that matter to you. We'll confirm the scope and what evidence would answer it.
Scope an outlet-mapping sampleKeep exploring