Auditors
870
Stores
358
Days
58
An American multinational retail corporation has a large chain of hypermarkets, supermarkets, discount department stores and grocery stores. The supermarket chain currently operates approximately 400 stores in Brazil, and required the support of RGIS.
THE CHALLENGE
The customer required RGIS to provide the following:
- National coverage to be able to visit all stores across Brazil
- Investigate the disruption in the loss of sales of missing products within stores
- All data to be captured and reported electronically
- Identify the reasons items were out of stock and not available to customers
Why RGIS?
The supermarket chain needed an analysis of missing products within stores to ascertain the availability of those products.
Our Solutions
The supermarket chain partnered with RGIS to complete the on-shelf product availability project, and provided the following:
RGIS scheduled 870 experienced auditors in multiple teams
Checked the items that should have been on the shelves or in stock
Identified if the missing item was out of stock, and the reason why it had not been replaced if there was stock available
Information was collated on the missing products in each of the stores, including quantity available or whether the item was out of stock
Results
The supermarket chain found by outsourcing the on-shelf product availability project to RGIS, the following results were achieved:
358 stores were visited within 58 days, as requested by the customer
RGIS provided the customer with clear visibility of products in breach of a pre-established list for analysis, enabling the customer to establish a priority list for decision making
Based on the accurate reporting, the customer was able to establish a set of internal actions:
Review of internal purchasing processes
Review of internal processes for distribution of DCs to stores
Review of internal supply processes
Review of in-store product replacement processes
The customer was then able to fill all shelf gaps to ensure the products were available for customers to purchase
Conclusion
By partnering with RGIS to conduct a nationwide on-shelf availability analysis, the supermarket chain gained a clear and data-driven understanding of the root causes behind missing products and lost sales. Within 58 days, 358 stores were audited and detailed electronic reports highlighted whether gaps were due to genuine out-of-stocks, replenishment failures, distribution issues or in-store execution errors. This level of visibility enabled the retailer to prioritise corrective actions across purchasing, distribution centre processes and in-store replenishment procedures. As a result, shelf gaps were systematically addressed, product availability improved, and the business was able to protect sales performance while enhancing the customer shopping experience across the estate.
