Each system and responsible for making decisions throughout your company continually depends on the information about what has been sold, where and at what price. So, to boost performance throughout your company, what type of information should you be working with: data that is validated, clear and consistent, or data that is subject to errors and interpretation?
The retail audit is the control performed to ensure that the sales points comply with the business standards of the industry and/or the company. These standards can include the standards set for the design of the sales points, the placement of POS materials, the employee clothing regulations, and the internal/external layout plan of the stores or branches.
Experienced accountants remember the times when the annual audit was mandatory for almost everyone, and the fact of its implementation was monitored by the tax service. However, today everything has changed, and not so many business entities have been included in the list of “chosen ones”.
Before starting a POS inspection, pre-project analysis is carried out. At this stage, besides the standards of the company, the characteristics of the sector are studied. After obtaining written permission to conduct an investigation, 4Service staff is informed, tested and certified.
After the completion of the project, the retail audit firm in Delhi provides an analytical report on the status of each point of sale, with materials such as audio, video and photo reports, signed checklists, as well as subjective and objective evaluations.
After the audit, the managers of the places visited are given a period of time to correct any non-standard violations observed during the audit and to fulfil the recommendations offered.
WHY SHOULD YOU HAVE A RETAIL AUDIT?
Control of the freshness and quality of the products. The retail inspection ensures that the products are stored correctly under the right temperature and are kept in a marketable state.
With the retail audit, the interest of the POS materials, the rotation of the POS materials and the placement of the products according to the showcase plan are checked and the retail activities of the competitors (promotional products, their prices) are analysed.
During a retail audit, the availability, appearance and technical conditions of trading equipment, instruments and inventory are also tested.
A stock count, which checks the availability of the goods available at the sales location and warehouse, is also carried out. During the audit, it is also monitored whether the employees comply with the corporate dress code, clean the work area(s) and comply with the working hours evaluated.
According to retail audit companies in India, when conducting a retail audit, it is also necessary to consider the effectiveness of sales promotions, advertising campaign budgets, and commercial marketing research while looking at the overall pricing policy and brand popularity.
First of all, decide why you need an audit at all. The goals may be different, for example:
- of the enterprise.
WHO CAN RETAIL AUDIT BE USEFUL FOR?
- Dealers, manufacturers, and suppliers
- Owners of points of sale
- Franchisors, partners, resellers