SBC Maps 220,000 Retail Outlets in Lagos to Power Data-Driven Sales and Market Intelligence
SevenUp Bottling Company (SBC) has completed one of the most extensive retail mapping projects ever carried out in Lagos in the last 2 decades, successfully enumerating and profiling more than 220,000 outlets across the city/state to improve data-driven store targeting in bid to achieve distribution efficiency.
The exercise was initiated to deepen understanding of Lagos’s complex retail ecosystem and help the company optimize its route-to-market operations. With the new data, the organization can now segment outlets by size, revenue potential, and product offering, enabling more accurate forecasting and targeted engagement.
Leading the project from SBC’s end was Ayowole Delegan, Head of Research and Insights, whose coordination and field oversight ensured the initiative’s success from planning to execution. Working with the sales and marketing leadership teams, Delegan managed a multi-layered process that involved vendor engagement, field enumerators, and data analysis partners.
“Our aim was to know every retail touchpoint in Lagos—their locational information, products handling information, store profiling information, category turnover information and owner/manager information – all within the guadrails of data privacy and protection laws,” said Delegan. “By moving from assumption to analytics, we’ve built a foundation for smarter market decisions and stronger retailer relationships.”
To achieve full coverage, Delegan’s team divided Lagos into one-square-meter grids, ensuring that even the smallest outlets were captured. The resulting dataset now provides a granular view of the city’s retail network, from informal roadside kiosks to large-format modern outlets .
Delegan noted that the success of the Lagos enumeration is already shaping future expansion plans.
“What we achieved here goes beyond data collection; it’s about giving sales and trade marketing teams clarity and giving retailers the needed visibility,” he said. “This project sets a new standard for how we understand and serve Nigeria’s complex retail landscape.”
In the future, we intend to replicate the Lagos model across other key Nigerian cities, creating a unified national database that will strengthen route-to-market efficiency and deepen retail engagement across the FMCG sector.