Arch Metrics

Arch Metrics is a US-based market research and alternative data firm that provides survey consulting, field data collection, and web scraping services to investment analysts and businesses.^[1] Its best-known offering for investors is inventory, geo-location, and survey data collected by contracted individuals who visit retail locations and upload geo-tagged photographs documenting customer foot traffic and shelf stocking.^[3]

Founded in 2011 by Bromley Dougherty, a former financial-services research and compliance professional, the company operates from Summit, New Jersey, and serves hedge funds, private equity firms, and corporate clients.^[1][3]

What It Does

Arch Metrics conducts custom-designed research studies combining three strands: survey consulting (segmentation, pricing, NPS, and KPI surveys), public data collection such as foot traffic counts, restaurant wait-time tracking, price trackers, inventory checks, and product SKU availability audits, and data-driven interactive maps with layers such as population density or business locations.^[1]

For the investment community it positions its quarterly year-over-year foot traffic numbers as a proxy for same-store sales.^[3]

Data And Methodology

Field observations are gathered via contracted individuals who visit retail and restaurant locations and upload geo-tagged photographs.^[3] The firm discloses investment targets before fieldwork to exclude current employees of those companies from survey samples, a practice tied to the founder's securities-industry compliance background.^[2]

Products

Listed services include survey questionnaire development, analysis and reporting, focus groups, data visualization, web scraping, location audits, and interactive data maps; datasets are delivered as raw data, platform-based output, research reports, or custom analysis.^[1][3]

Delivery And Pricing

The AlternativeData.org directory lists coverage of the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America from 2015 onward, with pricing between $1,000 and $10,000 per month and a client base concentrated in hedge funds.^[3]

History

Bromley Dougherty founded Arch Metrics in 2011 after roughly fifteen years in financial services, including service as a FINRA-licensed principal.^[1][2] The New Jersey limited-liability company was filed in November 2011.^[2]

Questions to ask Arch Metrics

How are field workers recruited, instructed, and screened for conflicts with the companies being observed? What visit protocol and sampling plan determine store coverage and timing? How are geo-tagged photos and manual observations quality-checked? How stable is the panel of locations across periods, and how are missing or inaccessible stores handled?

Compliance and legal considerations

Field research requires clear rules on worker conduct, photography, access to private premises, and handling of observations that could create material-nonpublic-information concerns. Buyers should review worker training, conflict screening, evidence retention, and the legal basis for any personal information captured incidentally during visits.

Complementary signals

More datasets from Arch Metrics

Arch Metrics lists 1 datasets on this encyclopedia. The most representative listings:

More about Foot Traffic & Mobility

Foot Traffic & Mobility is one of the signal families covered by The Alternative Data Encyclopedia, with 23 providers and 438 datasets listed in the register. For how the signal is generated, its caveats and the compliance considerations, and the full provider list, see the category article.