POS Data Elicitation
POS means Point of Sale and denotes the retail location, in which consumers can buy a given product.
Especially in the food industry, it is interesting for the supplier to know in which way his products are presented by retail dealers to consumers. But also branches, in the finance service sector or businesses and restaurants run on a franchise base increasingly get into the critical focus of strategic managers. To get a grasp of the physical interface to the consumer, the method of the PoS data elicitation was developed (aka store check, test purchase or mystery shopping).
The following items can be checked :
- Price labelling
- Range of goods in width and depth
- Packet sizes and variations
- Number of SKUs (Stock Keeping Units, i.e. different variations of
a product, such as packet size, colour, flavour
etc.)
- Number of facings (i.e. number of product packages of
a given variant - > length of dedicated
sales shelves)
- Total of shopping area and its divisions
- Product presentation (shelf height, displays etc.)
- Product labelling
- Staff and service quality
- Placing of shelves
- Situation and appearance of the shopping location
(combinable) instruments are:
- Purchase observation
- Competitive buying
- Consumer interviews
- Interviews of sales persons/staff
- Notes of prices
- Location analysis
- Layout - / location plans
- Photo and video recordings
- Evaluation/analysis of brochures and leaflets.
Potential clients ordering store checks may be:
Manufacturers
- Are the own products offered at all at a given supermarket/branch?
- Are they presented in accordance with the manufacturer's
marketing strategy (Pricing, positioning etc.)?
- How many and which competitive products are
also offered (at which prices)?
Competitors on the market
Questions:
- Which products does the competitor have in the range of goods?
(for example share of manufacturers brands),
- How are they presented? (Pricing, positioning etc.)
- Spatial layout of the POS.
The analysts of Gayer Consulting have executed numerous store checks in the last ten years, mostly with national focus. However, by means of our partnering institutes, we may provide synchronous results from numerous other countries.
The range of action handled by us (over 30 larger projects) includes among other things:
- Food, miscellaneous, for example:
. Jams and marmalades
. Savoury biscuits
. Ice cream
. Yogurt
. Chocolate bars
. Vinegar and dressings
- Health and hygiene items
. Toothpaste
. One-way shavers
. Incontinence products
. Vitamine pills
- Kitchen electronics, for example washing machines, refrigerators,
- Entertainment electronics, for example: TV, video, Hifi, telecommunication,
- Sports items, here: running shoes,
On this occasion, we have examined the following kinds of retail shops
- Supermarkets/food retail shops of different
sizes,
- Lottery and news agents
- Sports shops
- Concession stands
- Pharmacists
- Health food stores
- Department stores
- DIY markets
- Special dealers
- Banking branches