Retail Execution with VisitBasis

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Visit: www.visitbasis.com  

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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/...

Managing retail audits can be a challenging task. Field team managers are dealing      with many    people, at many          different locations, bringing in a lot of information on many products. The challenges are doubled if your team is geographically dispersed. In today’s world field team members often work in different cities, countries and time zones, or even speak different languages. Among most common challenges a field team manager faces with are: Scheduling and time-planning challenges (a rep can’t find customer’s location, got sick and must be substituted, etc) Getting inaccurate or undue information from the field reps (e.g. fraudulent reports, errors, lost paperwork, improper use of the working hours) Wasted time and productivity due to weak communication (via e-mail, SMS, office-calls) and slow paper submission Field reps concentrating on the paperwork, not customers Significant amoun...