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As a retailer you may have an excellent range of products at the
right price and a loyal customer base only too willing to purchase them. Your
supply chain appears efficient and the right stock is being despatched to your
stores. All of these positive factors can lead to nothing if the stock
ultimately fails to make it onto the sales floor, which is alarmingly all too
often the case. Orridge believes that by providing an impartial view of on-shelf
availability it can empower its customers with possibly the most important
information a retailer can have.
The On-Shelf Availability Service
It is recommended that this service is performed unannounced for a
truly authentic result. Orridge will agree a brief with its customer to ensure
that the service is tailored to the retailer’s specific needs. The customer may
be interested in the on-shelf availability of all products or, more typically,
Orridge will be required to target a specific product range. This exercise is
primarily designed to provide information, but action can also be taken to
rectify any issues at the time and place they are identified.
Benefits of the Service
The first clear advantage of using the On-Shelf Availability
Service is the information it provides. Does the customer have an issue in this
respect? If yes, further activity can help to measure the impact of any positive
action that is subsequently taken. Other advantages include:
- Improved customer satisfaction.
- Improved sales.
- Stores with stock management issues identified.
- Store awareness that this is an important area of focus.
How it Works
Initially a small group of stores are assessed by Orridge. An
individual operator or a small team is required making the exercise very
cost-effective. Hand held scanners are used to perform the following process:
- Scan all products that can be seen on the sales floor.
- Scan any shelf edge labels containing no stock for a separate report.
- Identify if any unavailable products are present in the stockroom.
- Identify if any ‘unavailable’ products are hidden on the sales floor.
- Inform store management of observations and advise of any immediate action that
can be taken to improve product availability.
A bespoke reporting suite is individually tailored by Orridge’s
in-house team of software developers to enable the customer to decide if a
problem exists on a scale that needs to be addressed and, if yes, some
suggestions for where to concentrate further effort.
Review and Action
After trialling a new service to a retailer Orridge suggests a
review meeting to assess whether the activity has met its objectives, as some
services will benefit one organisation more than another. The reasons for
on-shelf availability issues are potentially numerous, but with sensible
targeted activity in partnership with Orridge, action can certainly be taken to
tackle them. |
