Patent ID: 8655708

Claim:
A computer implemented method for geographically comparing a plurality of business branches, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of business branches addresses and a plurality of customers addresses, wherein the customers addresses comprise at least one of a customer's street address, a customer's zip code, or a customer's postal code; calculating, by a processor, a plurality of straight line distances between each of the plurality of business branches addresses and each of the plurality of customers addresses, to determine a first percentage threshold of a plurality of customers closest to each of the plurality of business branches addresses, utilizing, by the processor, a convex hull function to form an isopleth line around said first percentage threshold of the plurality of customers closest to each of the plurality of business branches addresses, receiving publicly available dissemination areas, determining, by the processor, a secondary trade area for each of the plurality of business branches' addresses by including the publicly available dissemination areas with weighed centers inside the isopleth line, minimizing, by the processor, an overlap of the secondary trade area between each of the plurality of businesses branches, said minimizing comprising: weighting the secondary trade area for each of the plurality of business branches with a ratio corresponding to each business branch's customers counts to a total dissemination area's customers counts, in order to obtain adjusted dissemination areas, ranking the adjusted dissemination areas according to the each business branch's customers counts, filtering the ranked and adjusted dissemination areas to a second percentage threshold of the each business branch's customers counts, and tightening the filtered, ranked and adjusted dissemination areas into a tightened trade area for each of the plurality of business branches, and comparing, by the processor, each of the plurality of business branches of each of the plurality of business branches' addresses, based on financial aspects of demographic data associated with each business branch's customer counts within the tightened trade area.