Retail Execution with VisitBasis

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Attractive product presentations are a sure way to increase retail sales. According to a recent survey , 90 percent of shoppers will fall for impulse buys and purchase items not on their shopping list. That is why retailers carefully study and use planograms (or POGs) in arranging products, fixtures and displays throughout their stores. An effective planogram will promote the products with the higher margins and maximize the sales potential of each store. Retail merchandising software helps retailers in making sure that their planograms are properly implemented. With retail merchandising software, planogram managers at headquarters or regional offices can better communicate their plans to field reps and store personnel, and actually see what is actually implemented at each store, without leaving their desk. A retail merchandising software solution will allow local retail staff to: Use their own or shared mobile devices to audit store sets, resets, and seasonal displ...

Audits are an important part of any business involved in retail. Retailers rely on recurring store audits in order to verify items such as safety, layout efficiency, and personnel training, while consumer good companies must frequently evaluate product display, price, and promotions, among others. Naturally, the logistics needed to perform such audits can become quite complex, sometimes requiring a virtual army of people in order to cover a large number of geographically scattered stores. Retail audit software helps retailers and CPG businesses make sense of this process and avoid outsourcing pitfalls such as high costs, loss of control over auditor qualifications, and confidentiality issues. With retail audit software, companies will be able to automate the audit process by allowing auditors to use their mobile devices to complete custom forms, checklists, surveys, and tasks. Retail audit software also makes it possible for managers and supervisors go get real-time access to ...

It has been proven over and over that enforcing brand and category consistency through in-store product presentation positively affects sales results and customer loyalty. But how to promote a positive in-store customer experience, one that includes always having your products in-stock, well presented, displayed, and promoted? Mobile technology has an answer for that. Mobile merchandising applications can be the "eyes" of category merchandising managers in the field, increasing compliance rates and allowing brands to reach the consistency needed to keep sales at optimum levels. Merchandising applications can make a difference in positively transforming the in-store customer experience of your products by allowing access to planogram schematics for each point-of-sale on the rep's smartphone or tablet and also capturing store photos. This clearer communication along with stricter supervision turns into a higher level of planogram compliance and brand consistency. ...

In the retail business, recurring store audits are a mandatory activity in order to maintain profitability and compliance . Recently, mobile technology has brought a revolution to retail audits: Besides virtually eliminating paper from the process,  the data captured by mobile devices is a lot easier to access and report on. What should a retail business, then, look for in a mobile app for store audits when implementing such systems? Here are some guidelines: 1. Cross-platform, Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) Although store or brand staff can do audits with corporate-owned devices, it is a best practice to have independent auditors that can perform "surprise" inspections. A cross-platform mobile app for store audits allows independent auditors to perform such activities using their own mobile devices, with no need for extra equipment. 2. Customizable audit forms When selecting a mobile app for store audits, it is important to make sure that the software allows for cus...

Traditional retail merchandising is one of the most ineffective and waste-generating business processes. It involves using pen and paper to perform merchandising activities such as surveys and audits at geographically disperse points-of-sale, so not only does it produce an enormous amount of trash, but it also contributes to air pollution. Retail merchandising, however, is essential to promoting CPG and FMCG sales and improving revenues, so it cannot be done without. With mobile technology comes the environmentally-friendly solution to this scenario: Retail merchandising software. With retail merchandising software , field reps use their mobile devices to perform in-store activities. Brand and category managers can create custom forms to be filled out at the point-of-sales and capture photos and signatures in addition to the usual text, number and selection answers. This not only saves paper while improving accuracy, but also eliminates data transcription. Retail merchandisi...

Like most marketing-related expenses, retail audits are one of those items that normally go into the "debit" side of the accounting ledger . However, they are instrumental in detecting issues at the point-of sale that might be preventing products from reaching their full sales potential. So how can merchandising, brand, category, and marketing managers better communicate to upper management the importance of recurring retail audits and the positive impact they have on sales? For these professionals, retail audit software can become an invaluable tool not only for effectively scheduling and planning in-store audits, but also for reporting on those activities and linking audit and sales results . Retail audit software makes it easy and straightforward to run reports on in-store audit results. Also, since there is immediate access to the data collected at the store, reports can be created as often as possible in order to assess the effectiveness of advertising and promo...

If you are a field merchandising manager, you know how challenging it is to get brand consistency just right , having to rely on field reps - sometimes outsourced - to verify that the products in your portfolio are being displayed according to plan. The problem with old-style visual merchandising audits is that they rely on paper-based documentation , both for reference and for reporting, so sets, audits and data transcription can get clumsy. This can compromise the implementation of the original planogram, possibly affecting sales, and may also lead to losing valuable point-of-sale information, preventing corrective actions. Visual merchandising software is the answer for this scenario. With solutions such as VisitBasis , field reps can perform merchandising and store audits using an app on their mobile devices. With VisitBasis , field reps can have all the reference documentation at their fingertips. If they are performing a store audit, they can have a store-specific plan...

For companies that provide retail merchandise distribution, set and services, their ultimate goal is to help their retailing partners increase sales by making sure that shelves are always stocked and with the most effective presentation . These services require an army of field reps that can perform activities as varied as delivery, merchandising sets and resets, product surveys, seasonal display setups, category audits, among others, as well as proper reporting in order to provide metrics (key performance indicators - KPIs) and accountability. Retail inspection software is an invaluable tool for companies in merchandising distribution, set and services. With retail inspection software, field reps can use their mobile devices to fill out forms that before had to be hand-written, saving precious time at the point-of-sale and eliminating data transcription. There are many benefits to using retail inspection software for managers as well, among them: The ability to create cus...

VisitBasis , one of the leading retail mobile data collection software packages in the market, has just introduced exciting and useful new features, further benefiting its users. Says Sergey Gorbunov, CEO of VisitBasis:  "Our software is always evolving. We are consistently developing our products as we closely watch and ask about our customer needs." Integration with Google Drive In previous versions, VisitBasis already had implemented the integration of its scheduling features with Google Calendar . Now, besides downloading files, users can also save the reports generated by VisitBasis on their Google Drive , allowing them to immediately make use of Google 's file sharing and editing tools. Third-party access to VisitBasis reports It is clear that not only the professionals actually executing retail data collection efforts are interested in viewing their results. Sometimes there are many stakeholders in a merchandising or retail audit project, such as interna...

VisitBasis  is a comprehensive retail audit app solution for businesses of all sizes. VisitBasis allows creating task templates for everything that needs to be checked at the retail location as well as instant access and analysis of the information collected, providing a budget-friendly and easy-to-use system that helps you take full control of store audits. Ready to take full charge of your retail audits? Sign up today at  www.visitbasis.com  for a free trial, or  book a free online demo  to see how it works.

VisitBasis  was designed by merchandisers, for merchandisers. It is a complete mobile visual merchandising software solution that allows you to quickly and easily implement a cost-efficient point-of-sale data collection system with no need for technical knowledge. Schedule today a  VisitBasis Merchandising  software demo , or  sign up for a free trial !

Mobile technology is everywhere. From gaming to medical devices, almost every field has a mobile application of its own. In some fields, however, mobile applications can pose a distraction or incur in excessive costs. That's not the case with data collection. Mobile data collection software brings considerable savings compared to the old pen-and-paper alternative. These savings include: Time: Filling forms and then transcribing them is time-consuming and tedious. Mobile data collection software not only allows reps to collect information on their smartphones or tablets but it also provides tools for optimizing forms and does away with transcribing. Personnel: As mentioned above, mobile data collection software eliminates data transcribing , meaning that the staff that used to be allocated to this tedious task can now perform other responsibilities. Paper: Eliminating paper forms and transitioning to mobile ones means getting rid of the huge volume and weigh that paperwork g...

Easily bring paper forms into mobile with mobile data collection software. VisitBasis helps you automate your data collection by bringing forms to your field rep mobile devices. VisitBasis  is a comprehensive solution for retail audits, market research, surveys, and competitor analysis that streamlines your data collection through features such as custom mobile forms, real-time reporting and analytics, GPS mapping and tracking, and instant notifications through chat room integration, among others.

Visual merchandising is the art of presenting products in a way that makes customers want to buy them. It has been proven over and over that enforcing brand consistency through point-of-purchase product presentation positively affects sales results and customer loyalty. For instance, a recent study from National Association of Retail Marketing Services (NARMS) found that retailers who achieve planogram compliance can realize a 7.8% increase in annual sales . Visual merchandising software is the most effective way to enforce brand consistency at the point-of-purchase. With visual merchandising software, field reps and merchandisers have the ability to: Visually access planogram information for each individual point-of-purchase, allowing them to more accurately match the product or category layout to pre-set brand standards. With their smartphones or tablets, take pictures of product shelving and displays that can then be accessed by stakeholders in departments such as merchan...

In corporate accounting, departments such as marketing and merchandising tend to be exclusively on the "expenses" column while sales takes all the credit for revenues . This is something that should not be taken lightly: In order to maximize profits, businesses are always looking for ways to shrink cost centers as much as possible so any expense that does not generate tangible sales returns is immediately at risk . Mobile software for merchandising can provide you the tools to turn a perceived cost center into a revenue center and show upper management the return on their investment by clearly connecting sales results with the respective marketing and merchandising activities. Implementing mobile software for merchandising will not only empower your individual field team members with a tool that streamlines their in-store activities, but also gives managers a powerful monitoring, training and mentoring channel. Here are some ways in which mobile software for merchandis...

Data collection in retail used to be limited by the data compiling and processing capacity of the business conducting the operation, whether it was a retailer, a sales and marketing company, or the merchandising department of a CPG manufacturer. Some surveys, for instance, had to be limited to especially selected markets or even stores in order to get a sample of shoppers similar to the product's target audience so data transcription and processing wouldn't slow down critical go-to-market decisions . Mobile data collection software has revolutionized this scenario. With mobile data collection software, field reps can perform surveys, product tastings, etc., at the point-of-sale on their own mobile devices, and the information collected will be instantly available for management to analyze and use as part of their decision-making process. Therefore, by doing away with the limitations of data transcription and processing, mobile data collection software opens the door for...

Retail audits can be tedious, messy and overwhelming. It takes a lot of organization and coordinating to get retail audits done effectively and on time, and transcribing audit checklist findings can mean losing time and important information. It doesn't come as a surprise, then, when retail businesses outsource their audits to companies specialized in the process. However, outsourcing retail audits has some considerable disadvantages , that include higher costs and uncertainty concerning the qualifications and experience of subcontracted auditors, as well as confidentiality issues. By outsourcing retail audits, businesses also miss out on the benefits of store self-assessment , especially the round-the-clock awareness it can create among team members when combined with proper training and mentoring. Retail audit software is an ideal solution for businesses concerned with outsourcing their store audits. With retail audit software, businesses can reach their compliance object...

In general, salespeople hate reporting. After all, every minute spent on reporting means time away from customers and, therefore, sales opportunities. However, reporting is obviously a necessary "evil", especially in sales organizations with widespread territories. The good news is that mobile technology along with SaaS (Software as a Service) now allows for outside sales reps to fill out customer visit reports on their mobile devices. With field sales management software, reps can place orders, take visit notes, present new products, and notify management of their current whereabouts, among others, all on their smartphones and tablets. And once the sales call is over, the report is already synchronized with the office so there is no need to spend more time away from sales opportunities. Field sales management software has also many other benefits that can help field reps increase customer-facing time, including: Route optimization: With a field sales managemen...

"Out-of-stock" is a dreaded term in retail. When there is no stock of a certain product, there can be no sales of such product, so out-of-stock means lost revenue. Period. The customer that didn't find their favored product in stock at a certain location might even be lost forever, since the absence of that product could mean settling for - and then liking - available alternatives. In summary, out-of-stocks mean more than lost sales, they can mean losing customers due to poor reputation and brand loyalty. Therefore, consumer product goods (CPG) and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies have systems in place in order to prevent frequent out-of-stocks. One such system involves having merchandising teams going to each and every store where their products are sold in order to verify the quantities still available and request more product if necessary. Field merchandising software has revolutionized how out-of-stocks are handled. Before, companies had to rely on...

Field marketing aims to better promote brands in stores and also to make sure that customers have a positive brand experience. Easier said than done, right? For CPG and FMCG companies, field marketing can become a nightmare simply due to the army of people needed to implement effective point-of-sale strategies. A field marketing software can make help brand and marketing managers make sure that their retail plans are correctly implemented. With a field marketing software, there can be significant improvements not only on field marketing operations management, but also on the accuracy of data collected and in planogram consistency. Here is how field marketing software can make a difference in the following everyday in-store activities: Planogram compliance and shelving A field marketing software allows access to planogram schematics for each point-of-sale on the rep's smartphone or tablet and also captures store photos. This clearer communication along with stricter superv...

A  highly-productive and efficient field force is a must-have f or retail-related businesses. Merchandising departments and sales and marketing agencies in CPG, however, have a hard time managing their field force mostly due to high rep turnover. While some factors that lead to high turnover cannot be controlled - such as personal expectations and lack of knowledge of what the field rep job entails - it is proven that effective mentoring can dramatically reduce turnover and improve rep productivity and efficiency . The "field" aspect of field forces, however, can make rep mentoring a challenge, to say the least, since one-on-one monitoring becomes highly costly and time-demanding. A field force monitoring solution can be an invaluable tool in mentoring reps.   When reps have a  field force monitoring solution in their mobile devices, they can view their schedule, perform tasks, answer questionnaires, take pictures, capture signatures, and place orders, among othe...

Poor planogram compliance is a known issue in retail. According to the ISI Sharegroup , it is estimated that the total cost to the U.S. retail RCP industry of poor planogram compliance (actual and opportunity costs) is approximately 1% of gross product sales. Planogram compliance, however, is not something that is accomplished in an office by the merchandising strategy team. The adherence to a category's or product's retail merchandising standards must be verified at every single recurring visit performed at each point-of-sale by every single field rep. A retail planogram app for compliance checks is the ideal tool for verifying adherence to merchandising standards. By having a retail planogram app for compliance checks on their smartphones and tablets, field reps can have access to the merchandising schematics for each store they visit, making sure that the products are displayed according to plan. By implementing a retail planogram app for compliance checks, merchand...

For small and medium companies - sometimes just starting up - it is hard to compete with big businesses. As the old saying goes: "You must spend money to make money". Larger businesses, therefore, have more resources to invest and typically can reap larger benefits from their investments in machinery, technology, personnel, etc. Mobile field force automation, for instance, used to be a dream for small and medium-sized business owners due to the heavy investment needed not only on system technology, but especially on equipment. The widespread use of smartphones and tablets, however, combined with the recent advent of Cloud computing and SaaS (software as a service), dramatically brought down the initial costs of implementing a mobile field force automation solution . After all, all that is needed now is for sales reps to install a mobile app on their existing smartphone or tablet and field force automation will be mostly up and running. Small and medium-sized business...

Neglecting food safety in retail is not an option. Every food-related business - from supermarkets and grocery stores to restaurants, convenience stores, hotels, drugstores, and everything in between - can have it's reputation ruined and scare away revenues due to a bad official inspection or customer complaints, and consequences are amplified these days with reviews on websites such as Yelp and Google. However, it is not only up to the establishment's manager to watch over food safety . Food safety measures must be taken every time any employee manipulates or stores a food item, and therefore, every employee should be able to detect food safety breaches and communicate it to management so the situation is dealt with before it reaches the public or, worse, a city or county inspector. But how to empower every retail establishment employee to perform their own inspections and then record this information so it can be analyzed and prevented in the future? A retail inspe...

Fraudulent customer calls are a serious issue for sales. When outside sales reps are deployed to perform their daily customer rounds, it is expected that they will visit the locations they are supposed to, as well as present certain products and sometimes perform other tasks, such as performing surveys and collecting relevant information. However, once the sales reps are on the field, it becomes difficult to actually monitor their location and activities, especially in larger teams. I t is a lose-lose situation: The reps have to take time from actually selling to call the office or fill out reports, and sales management needs to assign extra personnel to help with taking these calls and transcribing reports. A sales tracking solution is the ideal tool for this scenario, since it fulfills the duties of the extra personnel mentioned before. With a sales tracking solution, sales managers can prevent fraudulent customer visits by monitoring the location of field reps, as well as ha...

Customer-facing time is an essential part of sales. By interacting with customers, outside sales reps and marketing agents can better understand their needs and wants, leading to better sales outcomes (quantity and/or satisfaction) and eventually to more customer-centric products. In retail, increased customer face time with a store manager means that the salesperson will have a better grasp of the peculiarities of each point-of-sale and will build sales orders that will lead to improvements in product turnover ratios and less out-of-stocks . However, customer-facing time is increasingly considered a rare luxury and many are the threats to it: Endless team meetings, traffic delays, scattered sales territories, email overloads, reporting and paperwork, etc. An outside sales software can be instrumental in increasing customer-facing time. By implementing an outside sales software solution , sales managers are able to see several improvements that can lead to increased customer-f...

Information loss used to be an inevitable consequence of retail merchandising. With many field reps performing a number of tasks on each one of the stores in their individual territories, it is easy to see how the amount of data collected on the field grows exponentially and is, therefore, increasingly difficult to handle and more subject to information loss. Mobile merchandising software  is the ideal solution to information loss in retail merchandising. When businesses implement a mobile merchandising software solution, they prevent information loss in the following stages of data processing: Data collection It is easy to see how information can get lost in traditional pen-and-paper merchandising. With mobile merchandising software, field reps perform tasks such as filling out forms and taking pictures in their mobile devices, leading to less misunderstanding and mix-ups. Data transcription With mobile merchandising software, there is no data transcription. The information...

As strategists can tell us, knowledge is the most important thing if one wants to beat the competition . For consumer product goods (CPG) and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCC), the battle for the customer's wallet happens at the point-of-sale level, and this is why store audits are so important. A store audit app will not only help field reps to more efficiently collect competitor information, but also allows brand and category managers to get faster access to this information and act swiftly to take advantage of opportunities and/or to prevent losing market share. Among other benefits, a store audit app will provide the following competition monitoring tools: The ability to schedule and plan regular visits in order to get the right competitor information at the right time. Full customization of task forms and surveys , so the field rep will collect the exact information needed. The power to capture photos , so not only pricing, and shelf count and position can be anal...

Miami, FL - VisitBasis, the startup mobile retail execution solution provider from Hallandale Beach, FL, has been included among the 20 representative providers of retail execution technology evaluated by the Promotion Optimization Institute (POI) . The POI Retail Execution Vendor Panorama 2016 report is a detailed analysis by the POI of the retail execution technology market and its vendors, including Accenture, SAP, and StayInFront, among others. VisitBasis is evaluated in the report as being "a low cost and largely do-it-yourself solution with a global footprint" and "a starting point for affordable, rapidly deployed, and integrated on your own... merchandising solutions". "We feel that the POI Retail Execution Vendor Panorama 2016 captured the essence of what VisitBasis aims to bring to mobile retail execution: Simplicity and affordability, with global reach", says Sergey Gorbunov, VisitBasis CEO. "As we continually improve our applica...

Behavior psychology tells us that there are two types of motivation, extrinsic and intrinsic, and that people perform better when a balance between both types is reached. Sales rep are the classic example of a profession that relies a lot on extrinsic motivation, since the rewards for a job well done are basically financial incentives and praise. A sales force automation app can help managers achieve a more even balance between both types of motivation. By implementing a sales force automation app, field sales teams can achieve the following: Less anxiety and stress With scheduling and planning tools, sales force automation apps make it easier to plan customer visits. With a sales force automation app, field reps also have anytime access to product collaterals, so they will never be empty-handed when the opportunity comes to present another product to a customer. More personal time A state-of-the-art sales force automation app will offer tools such as route optimization, savin...

Recurring retail audits - or follow-ups, as they are also called in the industry - are the backbone of CPG (consumer product goods) field marketing. Field reps perform regular visits to stores to verify whether their assigned products are in-stock, are being displayed according to the category planogram, or are appropriately priced, for instance. Mobile retail audits have revolutionized the industry. Before, field reps had to use the traditional clipboard and carry mounds of paper around, then transcribe the information onto a computer. With mobile retail audits, reps can perform their assigned tasks on their smartphones and tablets, saving a tremendous amount of time and paper. However, to fully fulfill the needs of field marketing teams, mobile retail audit solution must be able to: Provide planning and scheduling capabilities that allow for change of plans, such as a rep covering another's territory during vacations, for instance. Capture not only alphanumeric answe...

Specialty stores and gourmet retailers pose unique challenges when it comes to merchandising. Shoppers know they are paying a premium when shopping at these locations, so they expect higher product presentation standards. A mobile visual merchandising software can be instrumental when sending out field reps to specialty stores. A state-of-the-art mobile visual merchandising software provides field marketing teams not only the ability to perform in-store activities that include pictures, but also the following: Features in mobile visual merchandising software allow field reps to refer to the custom planogram for each store location without having to sort through mounds of paper, increasing planogram compliance. A recent study from National Association of Retail Marketing Services (NARMS) found that retailers who achieve planogram compliance can realize a 7.8% increase in annual sales. Some mobile visual merchandising software on the market also provide integration with au...