Do have one or numerous retail stores? Auditing can always help you monitor your retail business. This type of operation includes many steps like the examination of the performance of your displays, the inventory management tasks, the choice of the best version of each of your stores, etc. Nowadays, retailers can use modern technology to have better insights into your business. And if you are not used to store audits, these tips and advices will surely help you to make the best of this process.
Perform a Retail Store Audit
In general, a store audit allows you to evaluate the dynamics and the performance of your retail location by means of hard data. As a retailer, you should have a special team in charge of collecting information on what is going on in store, which products are the most in demand and which goods are the most difficult to sell, etc. You can use revenues as your first success metric but it is also important to realize regular store audits. You can take inspiration from the Unilever perfect store for better results. Otherwise, there are many analytics to be taken into account in order to understand what is efficient and what is not in your retail business.
Every retailer should know in advance that they must choose the right type of audit depending on their needs. Le process may consist of:
- Market audit by performing a customer survey.
- Merchandising audit with the last inventory data.
- Loss prevention audit.
The frequency of the retail store audit will vary according to your goals. You may conduct a quick spot check every month or two, or a deeper audit once a quarter. Anyway, the parameter that might take into account are the sales volume, the stock levels, the assessments of visual merchandising, the planogram compliance, and the products’ location in store.
The Advantages of a Performing Retail Store Audit
The retail market is in constant evolution and your business strategies must keep pace with the current demand. You may think that store auditing is something monotonous but it will help your increase your sales, especially if you plan to extend your sales channels. It is always critical to stay informed about the goings-on in all of your retail stores.
Experts even say that store audit is a vital component of retail businesses. When a retailer starts implementing retail strategies, they really should do whatever it takes to meet their in-store needs. For that, they regularly need up-to-date information. The main goal is to keep the stocks filled and the shelves set and displayed correctly according to the customers’ purchasing behavior.
Retail store audits in the perfect way to identify and solve inconsistencies in-store presentation, visual merchandising, and brand compliance. It also can help you find store-level problems like maintenance and operational issues. Performing the right store audit for your retail business allows you to close the loop on task management if needed. It will help you create and put in place new in-store processes and procedures.