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...

Streamlining Retail Audits Through Mobile Technology

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.

Lost Sales are Just the Tip of the Iceberg in Out-of-Stocks

"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...

Overcoming the Challenges of Existing Retail Audit Systems

In order to provide documented verification of adherence to corporate standards - safety, branding, etc - retailers rely heavily on periodic audits that normally include tools such as checklists, compliance surveys and multi-level standard tasks . Most systems developed to perform these audit are "homemade", meaning that they are a combination of paper forms and somewhat-automated applications developed in popular spreadsheet or word processing software. In addition to being cumbersome and wasteful, these existing systems can cause the loss of critical information and/or significant time between the detection of an issue and its resolution. Retail audit apps are the ideal solution to this scenario. By implementing a retail audit app , retailers can use smartphones and tablets to automate the periodic audits required to comply with corporate standards. A retail audit app will not only automate the data collection by allowing custom forms, che...

How to Take Your Store Audits to the Next Level

Collecting audit information on several retail locations is a monumental task mainly due to the amount of data it generates. Store audit software help retail businesses streamline the store audit process all the way from scheduling and planning visits to compiling data and generating reports. More than merely reporting on past situations, though, state-of-the-art store audit software allows retail operations managers to view and act on audit findings in real time. For instance, it is possible to set up the store audit software so a manager will automatically receive a notification if one of the auditors finds an out-of-stock or a safety violation. VisitBasis web-based checklist templates allow field reps to easily perform customized in-store tasks, spending less time on data collection and minimizing mistakes. All the data collected in the field, including photos, is GPS-confirmed and time-stamped to prevent fraudulent check-ins...

The One Thing You Shouldn't Need to Worry About Retail Audit Apps

Retail audit apps have revolutionized the way audits and inspections are performed at the point-of-sale. First of all, retail audit apps have eliminated the huge amount of paperwork that had to be transcribed, scanned, etc. Also, decision-making concerning issues that arise during audits on the part of brand and category managers, merchandisers, sales managers, among others, now has come down to sometimes a matter of minutes (if not, seconds) instead of the days it used to take for the information to flow from the field to the appropriate office. But when deciding on which retail audit app to choose for your business, what should you worry about? Here is a shortlist: Ease of set-up and use , ideally independent from IT departments and contractors. Ability to customize mobile forms to your business needs so you can get the exact information you need from your retail audits and inspections. Scalability of the retail audit app pla...

Choosing the Ideal Retail Audit Software for your Needs

Retail audit software has revolutionized the way retail audits are performed. Instead of having to deal with mounds of data to be input and analyzed, now retail operations can easily access and interpret the information coming from points-of-sale, with little concern over issues such as clerical errors and fraudulent check-ins. Choosing a retail audit software , though, can prove to be more complicated than expected, due mostly to the many options available on the market these days. To help with choosing a retail audit software, operations should take into consideration the following points: Budget Most retail audit software solutions on the market charge on a cost/user/month basis, but some charge an additional cost/location that can snowball and easily blow up any project budget. Size of retail operation Ideally, a retail audit software should be scalable and able to adjust to retail operations big and small, w...

3 Steps to Successful Retail Audits

Retail audits are an essential part of any CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) business. They help implement successful retail strategies that help increase sales and boost profits. The following steps give a roadmap to implementing a successful retail audit plan: 1. Choose a mobile retail audit software There are several options on the market, and the best ones have the following capabilities: • Cross-platform app (BYOD - bring your own device), so your reps will be able to use their own cell phones. • Visit planning and scheduling: This way, not only will you be able to plan when your reps will visit each store, but also which tasks will they perform while at the point-of-sale. • Customization: So you can create your own, custom POS audit and inspection mobile forms requesting photos, signatures, etc. • Works online/offline: In order to enable your reps to perform retail audits even if they are in areas without Wi-Fi and/...