Retail Audit Checklist

All the Data Points You Should Collect in

Emerging Markets for Fast-Moving Consumer
Goods (FMCG)

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Introduction
Consumer goods is a large and growing market globally composed of goods
that are intended for everyday private consumption. Fast-Moving Consumer
Goods (FMCG) account for more than half of all consumer spending. The
competitive consumer packaged goods (CPG) market is dominated globally by a
handful of companies. Recent studies in the United States alone suggest that by
2020 sales of the CPG industry will exceed $760 billion¹.

Many of these companies are based in the United States but when dealing in
international markets and emerging economies, changes need to be made to
best suit the needs of the local consumers. As the CPG and especially the FMCG
markets continue to grow due to increased income, awareness, accessibility and
lifestyle changes, it is important that businesses develop tailored strategies for
their markets. Take India, for example, where the retail market is expected to reach
$103.7 billion in 2020, from $ 52.75 billion in 2018².

1
https://www.statista.com/statistics/380825/us-cpg-sales/
2
https://www.ibef.org/industry/fmcg.aspx

Retail Audit Checklist 2

Why are retail audits important?
For CPG brands to excel in any market, it is critical that they integrate timely and
accurate data into their operations from the beginning. Taking an insights-driven
approach allows for CPG teams to optimize their sales and marketing efforts,
ultimately leading to stronger market share and sales.

What is unique about the FMCG industry is what makes access to continuous data
so valuable. Consumer behavior and preferences, as well as activity in stores, can
change rapidly. Having access to near real-time data allows you to see early signs
of change and adapt your strategies in sync. Since FMCG products sell quickly and
at a high volume but are relatively low cost, agility is critical to ensure your dollar is
going further.

Collecting Retail Audit Data

Collecting qualitative and quantitative retail audit data is the best way to provide
your teams with the information they need to work effectively in their regions.
With all of these steps, not is it important to collect facts and figures like location
or number of products on the shelf, it is critical to collect visual confirmation in
the form of pictures or video. Additionally, during each step of data collection it is
important to ask sentiment questions. When crowdsourcing retail audits, imbedding
sentiment questions into each step allows for a deeper understanding of your
product and consumers in the market.

This checklist will help you perform a retail audit in an emerging market for FMCG
products to source the most timely and relevant data to inform your strategies.

Retail Audit Checklist 3

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Sentiment Data
Step 1: Location Data Tip: By using a technology solution that offers skip
logic, you can ask additional questions based on how
Location data should be collected during a retail audit to help verify the location
consumers answer previous questions. This allows
of your products are being sold. While this might seem redundant, we have you to dig deeper to unearth and understand your
found in emerging markets that there can be gaps in the information known data in a more meaningful way.
about where products are located due to differences in retail ecosystems.
Not confirming your locations can make it more difficult for auditors to find the
location and collect in-store data. Sample Sentiment Questions
■ How long did it take you to get to the
location?
During the process of location validation, should you find that your current
perception of where your products are being sold shifts, we recommend engaging ■ Was it difficult to find the location?
in location discovery data collection. By tasking data collectors to identify all of the
places in which your product are being sold, you will have a comprehensive picture If Yes: What were the difficulties you had
■

finding the location?

of your product on the ground. Without verifying location data, you may miss out on
collecting insights from all of your retailers which may ultimately skew your data.

To verify the locations, you should collect the following

information:
☐ Names of businesses
☐ Addresses
☐ Latitude and Longitude Coordinates
☐ Zip codes

Retail Audit Checklist 4

 Sentiment Data
Step 2: Demographic Data In the demographic data collection phase, using
sentiment data questions can help you better
Before you begin collecting data in stores, it is important to collect information to
understand local consumers’ shopping habits in
provide a complete picture of the location that your products are being sold. This relation to your product.
involves understanding the surrounding area, as well as the specific location.
2

Sample Sentiment Questions

When you skip collecting demographic data, you can miss out on discovering ■ Have you visited this store before?
additional patterns that might help contextualize what’s going on in your stores. ■
If Yes: How often do you come to this
location?
Tip: Photos of the surrounding area can provide context to what businesses are
located near where your products are sold, which can help identify any regional ■
If No: Why have you never visited this
patterns. location before?

■ Do you shop at stores like this often?

Data points that you should collect include:
If Yes: How often do you shop at stores
☐ Description of the neighborhood ☐ The general condition of the store
■

like this location?

(urban, suburban, rural) (poor, good, great)
If No: Why do you not shop at stores like
☐ ☐
■

Type of outlet (convenience, gas Hours of operation this location?

station, pharmacy, supermarket,
etc.)
☐ Photos of surrounding area
☐ Street view photos
☐ Economic group)

Retail Audit Checklist 5

 Sentiment Data
Step 3: In-Store Data Collecting in-store sentiment data is a powerful
way to receive honest feedback from your current
Collecting in-store data is generally where the bulk of data will be collected for
consumers, as well as potential consumers.
a retail audit. By collecting this information, you can better understand if there
are particular stores that might need more assistance or attention.
Sample Sentiment Questions
■ Have you purchased this product before?
Data points that you should collect include: ■
If Yes: Did you like the product?

☐ Level of in-store traffic ☐ Time to find product ■

If No: Why have you not purchase this
product before?
☐ Number of employees ☐ Shelf tag presence
☐ Stock level on the shelf (inventory) ☐ Product damage ■
If No: What would make you more
inclined to buy the product?
☐ Planogram compliance (slotting, ☐ Promoted price
shelf, facing)
☐ Fully stocked displays ■ Was the product where you expected it to
☐ Retail price ☐ Product promotions be in the store?
☐ Location of product in the store ☐ Promotional materials ■
If No: Where did you expect it to be?
☐ Location of the product on the shelf
Using data to inform your strategies can greatly enhance their impact and
resonance with your target market. When you don’t collect in-store data
frequently, you lose sight of how your brand is performing with customers and
oversight of promotions.

Tip: Provide data collectors with an image of what your promotional display
should look like and they can verify if what they see it stores is the same.

Retail Audit Checklist 6

 Sentiment Data
Step 4: Competitor Data The main type of sentiment data you want to collect
in this phase is feedback on competitor products.
Asking questions about competitors has a range of benefits. First, understand
Understanding what consumers think of your
how your competition is performing and how they are executing can help you competitor in stores provides an interesting layer to
develop better strategies. Additionally, asking questions about different brands the data points collected about them.
can help to blur the who the orginating organization is, for Contributors to
Sentiment data can be very helpful when trying to
provide a more accurate and honest opinion on products. understand some of the ‘why’ behind consumer
choices. Ask questions of the person completing the
retail audit about their thoughts on the location and
the product.
During a retail audit, all of the data you are collecting for your own brand should also be
collected about other brands that may be considered competitors or pose a threat to your
Sample Sentiment Questions
market share.
■ When you purchase [insert product
category] what do you typically purchase?
Some of the data points you might want to collect include:
■
Why do you normally purchase this
☐ SKUs on sale ☐ Pricing of products product?
☐ List of brands carried at the location ☐ Picture of products on the shelf Have you ever purchased [insert
☐ Competitor products that are on ☐ Stock level of competitors
■

competitor product]?
sale
☐ Type of promotions competitors are ■ What drives you to purchase certain
products?
conducting

While you can collect retail audit data without collecting competitor data, you miss out on
a huge opportunity. When you don’t know what your competitors are doing in the same
market you operate in a vacuum which can damage your ability to increase revenue, profit
and market share.
Tip: By using a technology solution to collect retail
audit data, you can obscure the brand that is
requesting data which provides you with less biased
sentiment data from consumers.

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Conclusion
There are numerous benefits of using crowdsourcing technology for collecting retail
audit data. Premise’s crowdsourcing technology uses a mobile App to collect data from
hundreds of thousands of Contributors around the globe. Local Contributors have an
unbiased and unique perspective that allows them to not only collect extremely granular
data, but provide insight into the minds of your local consumers.

Crowdsourcing allows you to collect a high volume of data in a cost-effective method.

With a large global network and a technology solution, your data can be collected in near
real-time. Our robust automatic and manual quality control processes ensure that you can
trust every data point.

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