Merchandising Software Helps Retail and CPG Weather Labor Shortage
Effective in-store activities regardless of the number of reps is a welcome effect of implementing retail audit SaaS
Retail merchandising and auditing is one of the most labor-intensive industries, as representatives are essential in activities such as sets/resets, product replenishment, inspection of shelves, promotions, and displays, etc. It is no coincidence then that it has been heavily impacted by labor shortages, as it is getting harder and harder to recruit and retain the number of people necessary to cover the hundreds – and sometimes even thousands – of stores in a certain territory.
However, companies that have adopted merchandising software solutions have been able to weather the labor shortage storm by relying on a reduced number of representatives as implementing such systems – normally a browser-based admin interface combined with a mobile app for reps – leads to increased productivity.
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The increased rep productivity with merchandising software is largely the result of paper forms being converted into digital format, allowing for the standardization of tasks. But other factors contribute to shorter in-store times, such as:
– Barcode scanning in product counts and other SKU-related activities
– Automatic geotagging of tasks, linking them to the correct store
– Conditional logic answers that automatically lead to the appropriate follow-up questions
– Picture storage as data within the merchandising software system eliminates the need to share images using external messaging applications
“One of our customers recently told us that their typical suburban rep could only audit around six stores every day using a combination of paper forms and phone messaging,” says Sergey Gorbunov, CEO of VisitBasis, one of the leading retail audit systems in the market. He completes: “With our merchandising software solution, their teams increased the average number of daily visits per person to almost ten – so now they need fewer reps to do the same work”.
VisitBasis is a merchandising software that allows businesses to optimize their retail data collection resources by making it easy to plan, assign, and report on in-store activities. Ideal for CPG / FMCG manufacturers, distributors, brokers, and marketing agencies, VisitBasis offers a 14-day free trial and includes onboarding assistance for new subscribing accounts.
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