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Many are aware of the importance of retail auditing and its potential advantages, but few have the technical know-how to implement it. So in this blog, we will give a quick overview of what retail auditing is, why is it essential, and the steps that you can take to conduct effective retail auditing.
Let’s begin.
What is Retail Auditing
In simple words, collecting valuable information about a retail store and its products is called a retail audit. It is generally conducted by a brand representative or a field reporter who either manually records their findings on a piece of paper or uses a retail audit app to accumulate important data.
Amongst other things, information collected during a retail audit includes sales volume, stock levels (shelves and extra stock), pricing, competitor activity, promotional materials, in-store placement or display of products, and an assessment of potential product damage (if any).
Why is a Retail Audit important?
Given below are some of the benefits that come with retail auditing:
- It helps you measure the success of your retail store.
- It enables you to identify gaps in your retail process and take proactive measures to rectify it.
- It assists you to check your compliance with existing regulations on product placement, pricing, and promotion.
- It helps you reshape your business goals according to the current market competition as a retail audit will show you where you’re thriving and where you’re lagging.
What are the steps in the retail audit process you should follow?
Now that you know the importance of a retail audit, it is high time to get to the fun part, i.e. execution! Follow the steps we have outlined below to conduct an effective retail audit:
1. Identify your Goals: First things first, define your goals. Whether you want to analyze how quickly you’re making a sale, what’s causing it, what products are selling first, what isn’t, and why – all you have to do is make a list of all the things you want to measure. Then assign a numeric value to each goal as it will help you measure success.
2. Design the Audit Criteria: All you have to do as part of this step is to figure out the audit questions and the acceptable answers for each question. You can use yes and no questions, have an open-ended or close-ended questionnaire or use a scale of 1-5 or 1-10 based on the question type you are asking. The goal here is to focus on those questions that can help you conclusively improve your business.
3. Schedule Appointments: Once you have completed step 1 and 2, it is time to move on to step 3. This includes scheduling appointments with retailers. Make sure that your reps inform the retailers of a visit before-hand so that they can make time for retail audits.
4. Gather Information: While conducting a retail audit, do more. Dig deeper. Collect as many photos as you can. Get your hands on as much data as possible. And while you’re at it, make sure that you know how to prioritize mandatory retail survey questions that are crucial to the goals of your retail audits and your company objectives.
5. Evaluate Results: After you conclude your audits, organize your data and evaluate your results. Your goal here is to identify how closely you have met your pre-determined KPIs.
