Have Eyes on the Ground: How Retail Merchandising Companies Keep You in The Know

• March 12, 2013
• Topics:
  • Retail Merchandising
  • Retail Merchandising Companies

When your product is listed with retailers it is important to know what is happening at the point of purchase. Retail merchandising companies perform a myriad of services for brands at the retail level. Retail merchandising companies generally have national, experienced teams of retail professionals who routinely visit most retailers on behalf of their clients.

One very important function performed by retail merchandising companies is retail intelligence. Retail intelligence notifies brands regarding what is occurring with their products and competition at the retail level.

Retail intelligence is vital to different sized companies for different reasons. Newly listed brands need to ensure a flawless customer experience working towards driving good sales so that their product can stay listed. Retail intelligence may include a schedule to ensure planogram compliance and to make sure that product is in stock, properly tagged and out on the floor.

Where large brands are concerned the stakes are even higher, as is competition. You will need to be aware of what your competitors are doing; are they running a sale or promotion? Bigger brands must be agile and react to changes in pricing by competitors to maintain their positions in their markets.

Private label brands big and small are faced with the struggle of competing with store brands. This is another big reason why retail intelligence is so important. Retail employees have their priorities and one of them includes ensuring that the retailer’s products are always stocked and on the shelves, even sometimes before re-stocking your product. Retail intelligence can identify challenges within specific retailers to enable you to devise a plan to improve productivity.

Retail merchandising companies keep you in the know because they can essentially act as your boots on the ground. You can provide them with data points that you want collected from the retailers where your product is sold. They can report back retail intelligence to you and even take action on your behalf if something has gone awry.

The intelligence you can gather through a retail intelligence company provides you with the opportunity to improve customer experience by doing everything possible to make purchasing your product easy. Knowing what happens at the retail level will result in a consistent experience for your customer, and the reliability of always finding your product in stock and on the shelves will result in your customers making your product a staple on their grocery list.

At the end of the day you just can’t count on retailers to provide good retail merchandising all of the time. Retail employees are busy, especially during peak times (your best chance to sell). This is when things can get even more hectic often meaning product will appear out of stock when in fact it is in the back and just hasn’t been replenished. The reality is, to be in the know, you have to make yourself aware of what’s happening on the ground.

For more information about retail intelligence or if you would like information about our retail merchandising services please visit www.storesupport.ca or call 905-847-6513.