How
are your stores performing? Deviations from an established marketing strategy
can spell disaster for the bottom line. Companies conduct retail audits to make
sure that retailers comply with the agreements made at the beginning of the
relationship and to avoid the risk of confusing consumers and damaging their
product’s reputation.
However,
traditional retail audits methodology can’t give you the answer how your stores
are performing at this very minute. But a real-time retail audit software solution definitely can.
Field
reps using retail audit software get access to all the data and tools needed to
perform retail audits at stores. Retail audit
mobile solution comes with the ability to create mobile forms so your field
reps can quickly collect store data using their tablets or smartphones. Here is
the list of the most important things your field reps take note of during a
retail audit visits.
1. Location.
In-store & shelf positions and the number of facings may have great impact
on product sales. When conducting a retail audit, first thing that field reps
usually take note of is where exactly in store the product is located and does
the in-store location corresponds to the initial agreements with the retailer.
Shelf location also has a significant impact
on sales. The best shelf position is being closer to the center of the aisle
and eye-level on the shelf. The number of
facings can have an effect on product sales similar to that of shelf
location. More facings and best shelf location generally means more profit but
only if the extra cost of purchasing additional facings and the best shelf
position does not overweight the gains made in sales. To make this location data
more useful retail audit software provides
an opportunity to supplement it with a photo of in-store location, shelves and
facings.
2. Price.
This
issue is also very important thing to track when conducting a retail audit. The
wrong price for your product means failure of your sales predictions and may
cause customers negative reaction to your brand. That’s why if your product has
wrong price at a point-of-sale it should be addressed immediately. Cloud retail audit software allows companies to
act fast in multiple locations as soon as a price discrepancy is reported.
3. Stock.
It’s
one of the key issues to be controlled if you want your sales to grow. Field
reps should always control how many of your products left on the shelf and in
store, and which of them need a re-order. Damaged and overstock items can
impact your sales. Using retail audit software
gives your field reps an opportunity to make product orders and returns right
at the point-of-sale with just a couple of actions. Your field reps can view
prior order quantities and order history on their mobile devices to create an
order that makes sense.
4. Competitors brands and products.
If
you are able to see where exactly your competitors’ products are located and
how they are priced you receive a good indication of industry leaders marketing
strategies. Photo reports and customized mobile forms to analyze competitors’
products are one of the most important features of retail audit software, which allow you to use
targeted marketing when competing with those surrounding brands.
5. Point-of-sale status and employee
knowledge.
Using
retail audit mobile forms your field reps can easily report the cleanliness and
condition of the point-of-sales, store equipment condition and employee
knowledge about your product to give you information about how retailers takes
care of the products they sell.
6. Promotions and marketing
materials.
Make
sure your promotions are being followed in compliance with your marketing
strategy and your promotional displays, floor stickers, posters and others POS
materials are properly used at stores.
To
learn more about how to conduct retail audits using retail audit software or to start your own retail audit free, register at www.visitbasis.com
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