Outlet segmentation for the on-trade: in your own channel names
Custom outlet segmentation sorts every bar, restaurant and cafe into the channels your company already uses, such as "Street food" or "Premium on-trade"; DashLeads maps the public venue categories of 20M+ venues in 60+ countries. Describe a segment in plain words and AI sorts each outlet into it, with the reason shown, so your team sees where each channel has room to grow and plans, filters and reports in the same names.
The trusted intelligence layer for teams selling to Hospitality & Retail
Our channels are not the map's categories: how do I see the market in my segments?
Your sales plan is written in your own channel names. Maybe "Premium on-trade", "Neighbourhood pub", "Street food" and "Coffee and bakery". The outlets in a public map listing do not use those names. They carry hundreds of venue categories, from "Gastropub" to "Taco restaurant" to "Hookah bar", in every language your territories speak.
So someone on the team ends up translating by hand: a spreadsheet of categories, a column of your channel names, and a lot of guesswork. Every country does it slightly differently, the file goes out of date, and the numbers in the sales plan never quite match the numbers in the field.
Custom segmentation does that translation once, in the open, and keeps it. Your segments become part of DashLeads itself.
How a segmentation is built in your words
You describe how you split the market, in plain words. DashLeads proposes a mapping of every public venue category into your segments, and shows you why.
- Describe your segments. A name and a sentence each: "Premium on-trade: cocktail bars, wine bars and upscale restaurants where the drinks list is a reason to visit."
- Check each mapping and its reason. "Wine bar goes to Premium on-trade: drinks-led venue, premium positioning." If you disagree, you see exactly what to change.
- Rename, move or exclude. Move a category to another segment, rename a segment, or exclude what you never sell to, such as hospital canteens.
- Publish it. Once applied, the segmentation is a field on each outlet in your workspace.
Once it is published: a filter, a column and an export
A published segmentation is not a report. It is a working field that the whole team uses the same way.
- A filter. A rep selects "Street food" in a city district and gets that list, scored and on the map.
- A column. Each outlet list and every export carries the segment, so the CRM upload and the sales plan use the same names.
- A count. Managers see how many outlets each segment holds per territory, which is the starting point for targets and for territory planning.
When you change a mapping later, re-apply it and every list updates. Nobody re-keys a spreadsheet.
Worked example: six segments for a snack brand in one city
Take a snack brand that sells into food service. Its sales plan has six segments. In one city the workspace holds 12,000 outlets across 140 public venue categories.
| Public venue category | Your segment | Reason shown |
|---|---|---|
| Taco restaurant, Food stand, Snack bar | Street food | Informal, quick, snack-led offer |
| Cafe, Bakery, Coffee shop | Coffee and bakery | Coffee-led, light bites |
| Pub, Sports bar | Bars with food | Drinks-led with a snack occasion |
| Burger restaurant, Fast food restaurant | Quick service | Counter service, fast turnover |
| Italian restaurant, Bistro | Casual dining | Table service, full meals |
| Fine dining restaurant, Cocktail bar | Excluded | The brand does not sell premium formats |
The sales lead moves "Sports bar" from Bars with food to its own segment, because sports bars buy bigger snack volumes on match days. She re-applies, and by lunch every rep can filter on "Sports bars" with 340 outlets in the city, 60 of them in one district.
Where public categories fall short
A venue's public category is what the owner chose, and some are vague. A plain "Restaurant" can be a pizzeria or a steakhouse. Where a category is too broad for your segments, add a custom attribute, such as "serves street-food snacks", and use it next to the segment. A segmentation is only as sharp as your definitions, so start with the five or six segments that drive your plan and refine from there.
Frequently asked questions
What is custom outlet segmentation?
Custom outlet segmentation is sorting each outlet into your company's own channel names instead of the categories a public listing uses, so the whole team sees the market in the segments of your sales plan.
Can I use my existing channel definitions?
Yes, you describe your segments in your own words and DashLeads proposes a mapping of every public venue category into them, with a reason per mapping that you can accept or change.
What happens when I disagree with a mapping?
You move the category to another segment, rename the segment or exclude the category, then re-apply. Every list, filter and export in the workspace follows the change.
Does it work across countries and languages?
Yes, venue categories from all 60+ countries are mapped into the same segment names, so a "Street food" filter means the same thing in every market you cover.
What is the difference between channel and segment?
A channel is the broad type of outlet, such as bars, restaurants, cafes, hotels or quick service. A segment is your own finer cut, usually inside or across channels, built around how you sell.
Can I combine segments with the lead score?
Yes, filter on a segment and sort by lead score, a score from 0 to 100 against the account you describe, to get the best-fitting outlets in one segment of one territory.
Related reading
For sales leaders: the business case
Segments in your own names turn outlet data into something your plan, your CRM and your reps all read the same way.
- Plans that match the field. Targets per segment and per territory come from the same counts the reps filter on, so the plan and the list agree.
- One definition across countries. The same segment names run in every market you cover, which makes cross-country reporting a comparison, not a translation exercise.
- Less manual mapping. The category spreadsheet a team rebuilt every year becomes a reviewed mapping you adjust in minutes.