Retail Execution with VisitBasis

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...