Despite their joint efforts, however, what really happens in-store still holds lots of blind spots for both parties. Getting an accurate picture of shelf health and availability as well as program activations can be challenging, and the results of poor in-store execution end up turning into losses for both brands and retailers.
What are the main in-store problems brands and retailers must avoid in order to keep a competitive edge?
1. Lack of visibility
With consumers demanding more variety and manufacturers offering more products, shelves have gradually become cluttered, making it harder for brands to stand out. In addition, an increasingly diversified retail landscape with more and more store formats compounds the difficulties that retailers and manufacturers face. For these reasons, planogram compliance, OSA and program compliance are not always achieved, often causing huge losses in volume and reduced customer satisfaction.
2. Poor in-store execution of programs
Merchandising, promotions and displays play another important role in increasing sales and customer loyalty for both manufacturers and retailers. But are the programs set up on time? Are OOS situations taking place during peak times? Are replenishments timely and planned according to the needs of individual stores? Are promotional signage and displays in good condition? When it comes to activations, missing a sales window can lead to entire budgets being wasted.
It’s clear that tools for accurate, real-time measurement are necessary in order for both visibility and activation issues to be uncovered and fixed. On the other hand, measuring what is really happening in-store, analyzing the data, and finally, acting upon it, seems like a long and difficult process, especially using traditional field marketing methods.
Mobile Crowdsourcing represents the ideal solution for obtaining data that captures shelf health and availability as well as the execution of merchandising activities, all in real time.
By leveraging an on-demand workforce that can immediately transfer the data from any store at any time — including evenings, weekends and holidays — through the use of mobile technology, brands and retailers are able to acknowledge issues and take action to solve them in a quicker and more cost efficient way.
The Roamler Crowd numbers more than 600.000 shoppers across Europe who report on in-store execution directly from their mobile phones. They can easily share insights and photos from every store. After being reviewed by an internal Roamler team, the data is uploaded on the Roamler Client Portal and is immediately made available to clients in the form of live dashboards and reports. Having all the most important KPIs at a glance allows decision makers to take immediate, data-driven actions.