Regular
retail audits are vital for CPG and FMCG companies, allowing them to adapt
their marketing strategies in accordance with current retail trends and evolve
with the market. The most effective way to maintain regular retail audits is
switching to a retail audit software solution,
which allows automating most of the time-consuming and expensive operations in
the field.
In
order to fully maximize the benefits of retail audit software, along with gathering store data
on it’s own performance, companies should do the same thing with competitors’
information. Competitor analysis is a substantial part of marketing strategy. It
allows companies to assess their competitor’s strengths and weaknesses and develop
effective strategies to improve competitive advantage.
Yet most of the companies do
not conduct this type of analysis systematically enough, relying on intuition
and informal impressions, putting themselves at risk of being outdone by
competitors. To
avoid this risk and be aware of how your competitors are doing, oblige
your field reps to perform competitors' audits on regular basis, supplementing
scheduled retail visits with competitor’s data collection tasks.
At first sight, it seems
difficult to measure store-level marketing and analyze competitors at the same
time. But when you use retail audit software
to collect store data, you’ll be able to organize competitor’s audits in a few
clicks and easily analyze results due to automated reporting. Retail audit
software is a data collection tool that provides streamlined data workflow,
real-time field-level insights and wide analytic capabilities for the
management.
Retail audit software
allows gathering data on competitors’ products, prices, marketing strategies,
market share, and customer profile. Retail audit software
provides customizable task templates with different types of answers for everything
that needs to be checked, allowing your field reps to capture accurate, live
data that can be analyzed in real time back at the home office. Real-time
analytics and customizable reports to
analyze competitors’ strategies is one of the most important features of retail audit software, which allows companies
to use targeted marketing when competing with those surrounding brands.
A minimum competitor’s
data set, which your reps should capture on regular basis include:
- In-store location
- Shelf location
- Pricing
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. To make
competitor’s data more meaningful and insightful, your field reps can also supplement
it with the following data:
- Parameters of the layout
- Promotional and marketing materials
When field reps use a
retail audit software mobile solution for tablets and smartphones to perform
competitors’ audits, adding this data doesn’t require much effort. All that
your reps will have to do is to make a photo of a shelf or a leaflet using a
built-in camera. Retail audit software allows generating photo-reports, which
are automatically attached to all the tasks completed in that store and become
instantly available at the office.
Photo reports and mobile
forms to analyze competitors’ products are one of the most important features
of retail audit software, which make competitors’
audits a breeze.
Try the most innovative
way to research your competition today! Sign up at www.visitbasis.com to get your free trial of
VisitBasis Retail Audit Software.
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