What Donald Trump’s Candidacy Has Really Meant For His Business Empire
Early on in the presidential campaign, some pundits argued that Donald Trump’s candidacy was just a fleeting effort that would leave little impact on the race, but could ultimately bring more attention and revenue to the Trump business empire.
But more than a year later, both of those ideas may be wrong. Trump’s candidacy has turned out to be serious – and the effects on his businesses may not have been as positive as he hoped. Foursquare, a location-based app where users can “check in” to various businesses and restaurants, released interesting data on Thursday showing that foot traffic to Trump-branded businesses appears to have fallen significantly during the presidential campaign.
In the past, Foursquare and its sister app, Swarm, have figured out how certain businesses are performing by scouring their data on the foot traffic of more than 50 million users, which includes both “check-ins” at various businesses and location-based data for people who allow the app to access their location in the background. The company accurately predicted a big drop in Chipotle’s sales following a food poisoning scandal earlier this year, and successfully forecast how many iPhones Apple would sell after the launch of its 6S. Now it is using the same approach to examine Trump’s businesses.
Foursquare found that, since Donald Trump announced that he was running for president in June 2015, foot traffic to Trump-branded hotels, casinos and golf courses has dropped. “Since spring, it’s fallen more,” the company says. The Trump Organization did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
MORE...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/08/04/what-donald-trumps-candidacy-has-really-meant-for-his-business-empire/?tid=pm_business_pop_b
