Without the assistance of a retail audit specialist how can you, as a company owner, truly understand how it is your customers (and potential customers) perceive you as a brand? Do they look at you as a company that can be trusted? Are your prices fair and reflective of the current marketplace? And, do you look after your legacy customers?
All of these things are important questions to consider and a retail audit could provide you with the answers that help to shape your approach to your business operations for the foreseeable future. From pricing structures to the customer service experience, it can help you to understand where you are currently, and what you need to change in order to get where you want, and need, to be as a business.
In the modern world everything is fast paced and it can be difficult to nail down a customer for a chat about customer service and satisfaction levels as they leave the store. One way in which the process can be sped up, however, it by utilising modern technology, using tablets and smartphones for surveys to be completed by the customers either there and then or at their convenience at a later date. These surveys can ask about product placement in stores, pricing structures, and discounts, offers and/or incentives, product displays and opinions of interaction with staff.
The information provided is an excellent starting point for you as a company to engage in wholesale changes if required, or to tweak certain aspects of your business to remedy any problems that have consistently shown up over the course of multiple customer satisfaction surveys. Testing new strategies is the only way to build your customer satisfaction levels, and maximise efficiency of service and all aspects of the design and layout of your physical stores. On top of that, a retail audit can also supply you with all the information you require in terms of your health and safety approach and the processes and procedures you have in place to adhere to strict government legislation relating to the safety of products, your employees and customers.
It might be that for your products that are on show, you could try out having some of them available for testing, or for staff members to demonstrate their use. Are you utilising modern technology to sell your products? On top of this it is important that all products are displayed in a safe and secure manner so that no harm can be caused to employees or customers. In terms of the layout of the store, do you have a preferred route you’d like your customers to take in as they walk around your store? Are all the shelves fully stocked and looked after to be appealing all of the time? The appearance of your store, from the window displays, to any promotional materials in store, the state of the shelves and stock all has an impact on whether a potential customer will purchase from you, and be likely to return. Take care of all of this with a thorough retail audit of your commercial store.
