Best Practices for Managing a Retail Merchandising Team

Managing retail merchandising teams can be a challenge, especially when a company operates in many different retail locations. One of the biggest problems, a field team manager face when managing remote workforce, is communication. The good news is that in today’s mobile world it’s easy to find a merchandising software solution, which provides the whole team with the up-to-date communication tools.

A comprehensive merchandising software solution strengthens cooperation between office managers and merchandisers, who work remotely, and makes it possible to have productive retail merchandising teams located all over the globe, in different timezones and countries. Here are a few examples of how merchandising software makes it easier to manage merchandising activities in the field.

• Keep your merchandisers up to date – Having a merchandising software solution on their tablets and smartphones, your merchandisers are instantly informed on scheduled visits and planned tasks and have 24/7 mobile access to customer information and product catalog, must stock lists, history or orders and returns and etc. Merchandising software provides your merchandisers with mobile access to all the information they need to perform their duties in the field, so they always stay informed and know what to do next.  
• Make sure your merchandisers stay connected – Mobile merchandising application is a unique tool for merchandisers, which makes them feel a part of the team. To feel connected, your merchandisers don't have to send text messages, make phone calls, send e-mails or even visit the office, but can communicate with the managers and other team members directly through the mobile application. When mrechandisers collect retail data using a merchandising mobile application, it can be instantly transferred to corporate database and is available for the managers, so they can send messages to merchandisers making timely remarks, or simply saying thank you for the job done.
• Analyze merchandising performance – The most sophisticated merchandising solutions also deliver excellent reporting on merchandising performance, merchandisers’ activity, and the progress of the task performance, allowing office managers to easily evaluate how merchandisers are performing in the field. In this way merchandising software allows managers to mark merchandisers’ progress and link their engagement efforts to performance.

To get more information on how to manage a retail merchandising team, visit www.visitbasis.com.