Retail merchandising · Store audits
Merchandising audit, store by store
A merchandising audit tells you something sales figures never will: whether the range really sits on the shelf, in its proper spot, carrying the correct price and with the planned point of sale material beside it. Head office assumes so. The audit shows which branches bear that out.
Executional provides the merchandising auditors who go in and see for themselves. Working down your store list, they judge execution by the standards you set, not by some off the shelf checklist, and record what is actually there.
Whether it is a sample of twenty branches or a sweep of the whole estate, every cost in the quote is itemised and nothing is hidden. Audit merchandising forms part of our broader retail merchandising service.
Share the branches and the standards to be checked, and a line by line costing tends to reach you the same morning or afternoon.
Each rate, every hour and all on-costs appear on their own, so there are no surprises, and that quote also sets the billing terms.
When you approve the costs, a named account manager takes on the audit programme and remains with it throughout.
Help can be reached at any hour, day or night, while auditors are out in store.
Retail background and location decide who gets each store, and people come first from the hub, out of our 40, that lies nearest.
When branches are near one another, one auditor will often take a handful, which keeps the number of people to brief down.
Complete our briefing form, and your compliance questions plus brand standards are set out in the document every auditor follows.
Nothing generic is used. Each visit checks the points you have said count.
No auditor goes out until their Right to Work and ID checks are complete.
Employer and Public Liability insurance covers the programme, and DBS checks plus risk assessments are available if asked.
HR, PAYE, National Insurance and tax for every auditor stay with us.
There is nothing for your accounts team to process for anyone working in store.
If a store is added late, auditors can often be lined up quickly.
The earlier we hear about it, though, the better.
Reports are designed for each client, cost extra, and get agreed ahead of booking confirmation so they appear in the quote.
We can use your existing systems, or create audit forms for you and share what they capture.
I just wanted to say thank you for your professionalism. The report was very thorough and way better than others that I usually receive. We will definitely look to use your services again.
Charbonnel et Walker, on the reporting
What the audit covers
Five checks in every store visit
Nearly every brief asks for these five answers. All of them can be covered in a single trip to the store, and you decide which ones matter most to you.
Retail compliance checks
Your standards are the yardstick, not the auditor’s own idea of a good shelf. Range, position, facings, price and signage are each answered for every branch.
- Whether the listed range is there, and which lines are absent if not
- Facing counts compared with the layout you agreed
- Shelf edge prices and promo signage checked against the mechanic now running
Answers: which branches pass and which fall short
Stock availability
An empty slot hurts more than poor placement, since nothing sells from a gap. Availability is noted at the time of the visit, with a true out of stock told apart from product left sitting out the back.
- Shelf availability noted for each individual line
- Date codes and rotation looked at on short life products
Answers: does the gap come from supply or from the store
Promotional and POS compliance
Did the retailer actually build the promotion you funded, and does it match the drawing in the brief? This tends to be where the biggest shortfall turns up.
- Ends, feature space and off shelf displays confirmed as in place
- Point of sale material looked at for siting, state and whether it works
- Promo prices confirmed as ringing through at the till
Answers: was the space and execution you funded delivered
Competitor and category view
The fixture is noted for the whole category as well as your own lines, so the comparison shoppers make on that day is visible to you.
- Rival space, shelf position and prices on the same bay
- Any competitor promotions live in the branch
- Changes to the category layout made by the retailer without notice
Answers: what shifted on the bay and which brand moved it
Reporting options
How results come back is up to you. Reporting is built around each programme and billed on top, with the format settled ahead of confirming the booking.
- Bespoke to your audit rather than a fixed template
- Agreed up front and shown in the quote as a paid extra
- Kept within your own platforms, or on forms we create and share
Brands on our audit list
Brands whose estates we already audit
We have put auditors into stores for each brand below. The three marked out are pictured on this page.
These are the formats those audits span. Every channel raises its own compliance points, so the questions are adapted for each one instead of copied across.
Where you suspect the layout has drifted rather than compliance slipping, planogram merchandising puts the shelf right during that visit instead of just noting it. Where the promotional material is the worry, a point of sale placement check looks at that single issue in more depth.
Fix as well as find
An audit that can correct the shelf
A merchandising audit does not need to end at telling you what is wrong. Our auditors can merchandise too, rather than simply gather data. So, if the visit is scoped for it, they can rebuild the bay, fill the gap and put up missing point of sale while still at the fixture. The same visit both checks the fixture against your standards and puts it right.
Get a quote
Send us the store list and your standards
List the branches, the checks you need and the frequency. Include your compliance questions and brand standards, and the audit is shaped around them. You get a fully itemised costing, normally the same day, with no hidden fees.
