Retail Execution with VisitBasis

Every good field team manager constantly looks for ways to improve his effectiveness and productivity. Managing a team of field sales reps involves dealing with many people, at many different locations, bringing in a lot of information on many products. Field reps schedule, territory management, task execution, inventory levels, customer relationships, sales figures, and marketing data – it often looks like too many balls in the air. In most of the companies corporate data is typically spread out over multiple channels, which means a field team manager has to constantly move from one system to another, without having a comprehensive picture of retail conditions.   Besides, field team managers often spend a lot of time solving issues at points of sales that require their attention. Adding to these the need to regularly create reports on sales figures and field team performance, we can easily understand why field team managers have no time and enthusiasm to analyze retail d...

Looking for the way to improve the quality of retail audits within your company? Start with adopting retail audit software to increase the effectiveness of your field team and reduce operating costs. A properly implemented retail audit software helps companies improve inventory control and tracking, and centralize customer management. Key Benefits of Adopting Retail Audit Software. Centralized customer management – Improve customer service through faster interactions and contact management features. Efficient use of mobile workforce – Improve your field team bottom-line by reducing their time traveling to appointments, planning routes, accessing information and providing all the tools for retail data collection. Improved inventory control – Maintain proper inventory levels and never run out-of-stocks, getting timely information from the field using task builders, checklists, mobile forms and surveys. Field reps tracking – Track your field team members positioning an...

Retail data collection is one of the most important business units in CPG and FMCG companies, since its main objective is to generate insights for marketing strategies. Data collection automation refers to the use of technology to collect retail data in real time using wireless devices, tablets and smartphones, to capture data. All the data, collected at retail locations, is transferred immediately to back end systems through Wi-Fi, 3G or GPRS). Retail data collection automation avoids manual double entry data errors, reduces time delays, and enhances field reps’ productivity. Availability of retail data in real time allows planning delivery schedules and reducing inventory levels, improving customer service, and a company’s bottom line. An effective data collection solution needs to empower field reps with real-time access to corporate data (customer database, product catalog, retail locations info and history of previous retail visits), and mobile tools to quickly cap...

Retail data collection, including merchandising audits, customer survey and competitor analysis, are also among the activities that are often being outsourced. On the one hand, when outsourcing retail data collection activities, a company can concentrate on manufacturing and distribution. On the other hand, using a third party for retail data collection may impact company’s bottom line due to the lack of control. Check out pros and cons of retail data collection outsourcing to choose which is better for your company: in-house or a third party retail data collection. When Retail Data Collection Activities Are Outsourced You Can Receive professional approach to retail data collection Reduce costs due to economies of scale Concentrate on critically important aspects of your business Get broad coverage of retail locations Retail data collection outsourcing may have the following disadvantages: Formal attitude to the work that has to be done Loosing some import...