Retail Super Sleuth: The Importance of Retail Intelligence
As a brand, you have likely spent a great deal of time researching and devising the best, most profitable retail plan. But once your product leaves the manufacturer and is shipped to the retailer, how do you know whether or not this plan is being implemented? How can you really be sure that your brand is being stocked and marketed the way that you intended? The answer is simple: mystery shopping.
Instead of leaving things to chance, never a good idea in the retail world‚Äö have a retail merchandising company send in an experienced mystery shopper to get the facts for you. The ultimate goal of the mystery shopper is to provide you as a brand with important feedback to be used to better your business.
Mystery shopping is a very valuable tool to use to collect a thorough and comprehensive report on a retailer’s operations, their level of customer service, and how your brand is being handled. Mystery shopping gives you the chance to discover what is going on, on the ground, without letting the retailer know, meaning that you are able to get true and accurate, rather than doctored, results.
How can mystery shopping information be used? In many different ways.
– Customer service/product endorsement: When you place your brand with a retailer you are essentially putting your profits in their hands, so you want the level of customer service they provide to reflect well upon your brand. A mystery shopper can discover whether or not a retailer’s employees are providing the necessary assistance and that the store environment fits your expectations.
– Competition: Many big brands use mystery shopping to keep on top of what the competition is doing.
– Compliancy: When you send out a planogram, promotional coupons, etc. you need to make sure that these are being utilized appropriately in order for these tools to be the most effective, otherwise, what is the point? For example, if you have sent out a display to be assembled and filled with your product, but instead it is being used for a variety of different products or not reaching the sales floor at all. A mystery shopper will report on this, giving you the information you need to ensure compliance.
– Customer loyalty and brand recognition: By measuring the level of customer satisfaction through observation, as well as through the level of service a mystery shopper receives, you are able to determine what measures need to be taken to enhance brand loyalty. For example, if an employee is unable to provide the correct information about a product, thereby negatively impacting how a customer perceives your brand, you are able to take steps to correct this problem.
Retail intelligence is crucial if you want your brand to be successful. If customers are not able to find your product, don’t have access to the promotional material you have prepared, or employees are unable to answer questions about your product, your brand could suffer. A well-reputed, experienced retail merchandising company can provide you with the right mystery shoppers – ones with years of experience getting the results brands want.
For more information about how mystery shopping can benefit your brand please contact Marketsupport today by calling 1-877-421-5081.
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