GROW YOUR GROCERY RETAIL SALES BY 10% IN LESS THAN 90 DAYS

Shelvspace works with several emerging and category leading brands. Some with under 5M of total retail sales, others with several billion.

We have found some common patterns that are universally true across all. In doing so, we have found a way that universally unlocks more sales for every brand that does it.

Let me start by outlining the problems that many of you selling in the grocery, specialty, drug, c-store or club are well familiar with. You are losing up to 20% or more of your sales opportunities due to these six factors:

• Product is out of stock or not placed on the shelf
• Product is in the wrong location
• Product has the wrong pricing
• The set has the wrong product mix
• The product has poor merchandising
• The promotional display is executed incorrectly

When we share this, the response is usually “Tell me something I don’t already know.” Or, “Yes, but none of that matters unless you can show me how to fix it.”

So, you here you go, the fix is actually easier than you think and it’s right at your fingertips.

Step 1 – Measure the above six factors at your high volume accounts.

This is the step that for some reason seems to be a huge challenge. In a survey by CPG Matters, they found that less than 25% of companies have a system for managing and monitoring retail execution. Acknowledging that the above six factors could be a problem and knowing exactly the size and the scope of the problem are two very different things. The reason knowing is so important goes well beyond just identifying problems, it’s actually a requirement for fixing it. We’ll discuss more on how to do this in steps 2 and 3.

Step 2 – Create a recurring system of measurement AND visibility.

Again, this is a step intuitively all CPG sales members acknowledge as a no brainer, yet a very small percentage of companies we work with have successfully implemented.

Spot checking these problems with period audits or data points satisfies some teams that they have a handle on the problem, however, it typically does very little to move the needle on solving it. It’s not until you have an integrated and consistent system to measure the progress of these problems over time using both sales data, visual in-store pictures, and activity data that you can really create a way to control and mitigate the problem.

Step 3 – Now that you have this system in place, you need to share it in real-time with the team responsible for fixing it.

This team represents four areas:

• Your own sales team
• Your third party broker or crowdsourced sales team
• Your distributor
• Your retailer

The magic of steps 1 and 2 if it’s done correctly, and shared with the team in the right way, the problem will get reduced by up to 50% or more.

Some CPG leaders are skeptical, and will say, “I can have as much data as I want, and getting a broker, distributor, or retailer to do anything is the problem” Well, one of the problems all along has been in what you’re giving them. Giving information the right way and at the right time will be your best solution.

By communicating more effectively, this can help resolve issues with low hanging fruit that can amount to half of the total sales being lost. Everybody in the retail chain wins when your product sales are at the highest level they can reach, so everyone wants to fix these retail execution gaps. They all just need to better understand what is happening at the right time and communicated in the right way

Try these three steps yourself and get a 10% lift in less than 90 days.