A shop window visual merchandised with a 'Sale' display

Elevating Visual Merchandising Compliance for a Leading Retail Chain

A renowned retail chain operating nationwide faced a critical challenge – maintaining consistent visual merchandising (VM) standards across their diverse network of company-owned and franchise locations.

The brand struggled to ensure that planned VM changes were accurately implemented, resulting in discrepancies in brand presentation and inconsistent customer experiences.

The Challenge

To address the complex issue, our team engaged in detailed conversations with store teams, regional managers and other stakeholders, to gain valuable insights into the root causes of the challenge.

Store Teams: Late deliveries and damaged items were significant sources of frustration, hindering the seamless execution of VM changes
Regional Managers: The delay in obtaining an accurate and up to date view of compliance across regions was a major obstacle to effective oversight
Other Stakeholders: Accurate confirmation of compliance for vendor assurance was a key requirement

Solution

Armed with a comprehensive understanding of the issues, our team tailored our multi-faceted Excellence platform to tackle the challenges head-on. Utilising Excellence, we delivered a coordinated solution that made life easier and drove results for both store staff and central VM teams.

Digital Task Lists

Using our Excellence platform, we introduced digitally-delivered store tasking. Each store received a standardised checklist of tasks, ensuring a consistent approach to VM changes

Confirmation Mechanism

Stores were required to confirm the completion of VM changes, giving central VM teams the assurance they need. To further enhance this, the requirement for stores to upload photos of completed VM was implemented. This introduced immediate, accurate and verifiable visibility into the status of executed changes

Issue Reporting

This feature allowed stores to report any challenges they faced during VM changes in real time. This enabled rapid issue resolution and provided regional managers with immediate insight into any blockages

Comprehensive Reporting

Our Excellence Centralised Reporting suite with its targeted out of the box and customisable reporting and dashboard features provided the data and insights, enabling the information to be harnessed for enhanced operational efficiency and learning

Results

The implementation of our Excellence platform yielded transformative results across our clients chain. This provided the confidence and assurance that Excellence was being achieved and meeting the clients objectives.

Accurate Execution: Digital task lists and the confirmation mechanism led to a significant improvement in the precise execution of VM changes across all locations
Issue Resolution: The issue reporting feature empowered stores to report challenges as they occurred, leading to swift problem-solving and minimal disruption to brand presentation
Efficient Communication: Real-time visibility for regional managers and other stakeholders enabled proactive issue management, vendor assurance and more effective communication with stores
Operational Improvement: The comprehensive reporting system empowered the retailer to continuously learn and enhance operational efficiency

Conclusion: A Transformed VM Compliance Journey

Through our partnership, our client revolutionised their VM compliance journey. Accurate execution of VM changes became the standard, backed by real-time feedback, efficient issue resolution, and enhanced communication. The collaboration not only improved brand presentation but also built a sense of unity and teamwork.

Ultimately, our client achieved their goal of delivering a remarkably consistent and captivating in-store experience to customers, solidifying their reputation as a brand that truly cares about its presentation and customer satisfaction.