Empower store associates with simple and unified digital tools

By Cary Child

Retailers can have great space management teams that spend significant effort building accurate floorplans and productive planograms. It’s widely recognized that the tools and resources needed to create space plans represent a significant investment of both time and money.

However, if there are gaps in the processes and systems for communicating and executing these plans, the merchandising efforts will fall flat. This deficiency can lead to severe consequences. Over 75 percent of retailers report they are losing 1% to 15% of revenue due to non-compliance of merchandising objectives.*

To avoid such setbacks, two-way communication with store execution teams is paramount. Retailers must not only communicate planograms and guidelines to their stores, but also welcome feedback from the field. 

Communication to store teams

Does your company ever hear these questions or comments from in-store execution teams?

  • Where are my planograms? They aren’t in the portal or I didn’t get the email.
  • Sorry, I was supposed to use POG B, but accidentally executed POG A.
  • I don’t know which fixture (or where in store) I am supposed to set this POG.
  • I couldn’t find that additional document for this project or an SOP doc for all resets.
  • When are my fixtures coming in for this project?
  • Who else is working on this reset with me?

An optimal approach involves consolidating all project-related resources in a single, easily accessible location. This eliminates uncertainty about where documents live, allowing in-store teams to focus on getting their work done. Using a dedicated SharePoint or Google Drive folder is a step in the right direction, but it still requires teams to locate and choose the appropriate documents. 


MerchLogix Project addresses these challenges with a Field Team Dashboard that delivers project-specific documents to the team working at a particular store. Consequently, there’s no need to search for resources or risk store associates accessing incorrect ones. Only the relevant documents for a store are presented—ensuring the right planogram is available at the right time.

Communication from store teams

How many of the following statements are true for your company?

  • Managing and tracking issues can be challenging as they come through various channels, such as messages, emails, texts and ticketing systems.
  • It takes too long to resolve issues. Some retailers explain it could take hours, if not days, for an initial issue to get in front of the person who can help fix it.
  • It’s hard for stores to create add-on fixture orders for projects. Stores rely heavily on in-store associates’ knowledge of specific fixtures and vendors.
  • Getting stores to provide photos after resets is hard, and managing where to store all the photos is even harder!
  • Project timelines are often drastically underestimated or overestimated, making it difficult to track time accurately and forecast future projects with confidence.
  • It is hard to track which stores have completed a project or reset. 
  • If there is something that requires a team to go back at a later date, it is really difficult to schedule and ensure the team follows up.
  • Collecting information on a reset’s performance seems almost impossible, let alone trying to compile the information so that you can gain insights.

In addition to a centralized location for downstream documents, retailers need a single place for in-store teams to communicate regarding issues, orders and project completion status. 

MerchLogix implemented this concept in the Field Team Dashboard, which provides both document access (light blue tiles) and communication (orange tiles). With just one click, users can review documents or initiate communication, creating a more efficient and seamless process.

Streamline in-store execution for retail success

With a single dashboard offering both document reviews and actionable features, store associates can concentrate on their tasks. Equipping associates with the right digital tools improves retention, training, time management, onboarding and environmental sustainability. Also, leaders can access dashboards for simpler project management. Most importantly, optimizing in-store execution efficiency leads to boosted sales and reduced labor waste.

To learn more about how MerchLogix can enhance your in-store execution, reach out to our team. 

*Study from RIS News – Senior executives from national or large regional retailers were invited to participate. The results do not include any store-level, field-level or regional employees. Only headquarters-level staff responses were included 

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