In-Store Observations
 Since its founding over 50 years ago, GfK Audits & Surveys has been the “eyes and ears” of the retail marketplace for our clients, including most of the leading consumer products marketers and retailers in the U.S, and globally. We have conducted thousands of custom and multi-client studies across hundreds of product categories, from cereals to computers, and virtually all trade channels, from Art Supply Stores to Warehouse Clubs. And, each year since 1953, we have conducted our National Retail Census of Product Distribution, the largest and most complete source of reliable information on the number and kinds of stores in the country selling various product categories and specific brands.
We employ the largest network of trained interviewers and auditors in the U.S. Because of our long history, we have built relationships with field organizations across the U.S. and internationally that allow us to recruit both the quantity and quality of field personnel that exceed any of our competitors.
Whatever your in-store information needs, you can trust GfK Audits & Surveys’ experience, professionalism and in-depth retail knowledge to provide the reliable, quality information you require for planning and decision-making.
back to the top
Distribution Checks
Availability is the key to sales. If customers cannot readily find your product or service, the value of your advertising and promotional investment is wasted. GfK Audits & Surveys’ domestic and international network of highly trained research professionals can assess whether your sales efforts are delivering the results you expect at the critical point-of-sale.
- Has your HQ sale resulted in complete distribution within the chain?
- Is your volume below expectations because your product is not turning, or is it because your distributors are not ensuring that it’s on the retail shelf in all of the stores they service?
- What about the quality of your distribution? Are your products receiving sufficient facings? Are they in prime locations and shelf positions? Are out-of-stocks reducing your effective distribution?
The answers to these questions can be critical to deciding what actions to take and where they will have the greatest impact. Our experience, independence, scope and fast turnaround will provide you with these answers – reliably, accurately and without bias.
back to the top
Pricing Studies
The importance of pricing strategy cannot be overstated. Yet savvy marketers realize that their decisions can, and often will, be affected by wholesalers, distributors and retailers before the consumer sees them at the time and place of purchase.
GfK Audits & Surveys can fill in this information gap by providing reliable, actionable pricing data observed at the point-of-sale. We can provide you with point-in-time pricing information that reveals, chain-by-chain, for your products and competitors:
- Actual shelf prices
- Sale price vs. every day price and consequent % price reduction
- P.O.P. (signage, displays, etc.) associated with any special sale pricing
Understand how your actual selling price varies by geographic area, trade channel and key accounts. Discover the degree to which your wholesale price changes or promotional offers are actually impacting the consumer at the shelf. Is your 20% TPR actually delivering a 20% savings to your consumer? Did your 5% wholesale price increase actually result in an 8, 9 or 10% increase to your end consumer? Pinpoint whether and which distributors/retailers are inhibiting your pricing strategy and tactics from having the effect you planned for. And how did your competition respond?
Let GfK Audits & Surveys’ professionals arm you with the information you need to understand the ultimate results of your current pricing decision and allow you to anticipate how your distributors and retailers, as well as your competitors, will react.
For major pricing issues, consider having GfK Audits & Surveys conduct a controlled store test to help you assess the sales impact of one or more pricing options.
back to the top
Inventory Measurements/Facings/Out-of-Stock
First and foremost on every marketers and salesperson’s list is to gain retail distribution. It’s a truism that consumers won’t buy your product unless they can find it where they shop. But once distribution is achieved, building the quality of that distribution can make all the difference toward achieving and exceeding sales goals.
Whether you require only a one-time study or desire tracking data to feed into your overall reporting system, we at GfK Audits & Surveys will put our 50+ years of experience and extensive field force to work to help you define and improve the quality of your distribution.
Our field personnel can visit hundreds or even thousands of stores in a 2 or 3-day window to give you up-to-date fast-turnaround marketplace intelligence in the key accounts that matter most to your business:
- The number of facings you are allocated in each selling area of the store vs. the actual number of facings you currently occupy
- Your share of the total category facings – allocated and actual – by each location where your category is stocked
- Out-of-stocks
- Inventory -- on-shelf, for categories and retailers where appropriate, off-shelf/backroom inventory as well
This information, along with shelf positioning and P.O.P. presence, can be critical to a better understanding of sales variations across retailers and over time, explaining the causes of sales fluctuations and pinpointing where corrective action may be necessary.
back to the top
Shelf Life (Date Codes)
 For many manufacturers, issues of freshness and product age can have major implications, not only for ongoing customer satisfaction but also for health regulation reasons. GfK Audits & Surveys has helped many clients to measure and analyze this issue. From bread to ice cream, candy to chickens, beer to analgesics, we have conducted studies to develop representative data based on the trade channels and coding structures of these and other consumer product categories.
Such studies require the depth of experience, methodological expertise and quality of data collection that only GfK Audits & Surveys can offer. You can count on us to develop a sampling plan that will not only be representative of the trade channels and geographies you require; but you can also count on us to develop a method to measure a representative sample of the products available for sale (whether they are on the shelf, at the checkout, in the produce aisle or in the meat, dairy or freezer case).
Whether your need is to gauge actual performance against your internal standards, superiority to competitors, health department compliance or to develop realistic estimates for samples used in consumer taste tests, GfK Audits & Surveys will work with you to design a study to meet your information and budgetary needs.
back to the top
Point-of-Sale Materials/Display Presence
Many marketers assign a significant portion of their promotional budget to impacting the consumer at the point-of-purchase, over $17 billion and growing, according to POPAI. The ability of at-retail marketing to accelerate sales has been shown in study after study and GfK Audits & Surveys has conducted many of these (see P.O.P. Effectiveness Tests) .
But in order to have that sales impact, the materials or dispensers or displays first need to be installed and, if electronic or mechanical, fully-functioning, on schedule and in the proper location. GfK Audits & Surveys has the resources to visit all stores or sample of stores in one chain or in many chains, and independents as well. And we can do this on any schedule you require to ensure that compliance has occurred or, worst case, to give you time to correct non-compliant stores/retailers.
Our trained field auditors can quickly report back on:
- Whether or not materials/displays are present in-store
- Where they are located, including digital photos if desired
- In the case of coupon dispensers, electronic boards, etc., whether or not they are properly functioning
- In the case of displays, whether the set-up is in compliance and stocked with the correct SKU’s
- Whether or not any competitive POP activity is present and in what form
Given the fast turnaround and relatively low cost of these audits, they represent high value in the marketers’ and researchers’ portfolio.
back to the top
Traffic Studies
 Investigate how customers navigate in stores, what they notice (and don’t notice), how much time they spend shopping and what they purchase. Understand the actual in-store traffic patterns and customer counts at pre-determined locations or for the entire store. Measure the employee to customer ratio. GfK Audits & Surveys’ trained field force can monitor existing conditions or implement and assess tests of new retail layouts, alternative stocking locations/conditions and display effectiveness.
Consumer traffic studies can also be conducted and integrated with Shopper Intercept studies to better understand and elucidate the reasons behind these observed behaviors.
back to the top
Shopper Behavior
The concept is simple enough – station trained field representatives in-store to unobtrusively observe shoppers as they browse the aisles, stop at displays and signage, choose products and make their purchases. The results are realistic insights into the actual in-store behavior of customers during their shopping experience.
GfK Audits & Surveys has the skilled project design team to develop a methodology and data collection technique customized to your needs and the professional field force to implement it.
We can examine the issues that affect both your strategic plans and their tactical execution. You'll be able to:
 Better understand “how” consumers shop your brand and category - Determine if consumers compare your product to others
- Gain an understanding of how long shoppers spend browsing
- Assess the stopping power and sales effects of merchandising materials
- Evaluate account specific issues
- Test new products and/or concepts in a real-world setting
- Determine if, and in what ways, the individual retailer or the trade channel affect shopping behavior
Shopper behavior studies can also be conducted and integrated with Shopper Intercept studies to better understand and elucidate the reasons behind these observed behaviors.
back to the top
|
