A merchandising audit is a field visit with one question behind it: is our product in the outlet, in the right place, at the right price, ready to be bought?
Most FMCG brands and their agencies run audits. Fewer get much from them, because the data stays on paper or in a spreadsheet nobody reads. Below is a practical checklist, followed by how to turn audits into action.
The merchandising audit checklist
Before the visit
- Confirm the outlet from your list, so every audit is recorded against the same named outlet
- Know the SKUs you're auditing at this outlet
- Know the reorder point for each SKU, if you use one
On arrival
- Check in at the outlet, with your location compared against where the outlet is
- Take a wide photo of the category shelf before you touch anything
Availability and stock
- Is each SKU present on the shelf?
- Count units on hand per SKU, on the shelf and in the store's backroom if you have access
- Note any SKU that is out of stock
Shelf and visibility
- Facings: how many facings does each SKU have?
- Placement: is the product at eye level, or bottom shelf?
- Planogram: does the shelf match the agreed layout?
- Competitor activity: new products, promotions or displays next to yours
Price
- Price on shelf per SKU
- Is the price tag present and correct?
- Any promotion running, and is it shown properly?
Displays and materials
- Are branded displays, stands or point-of-sale materials in place and in good condition?
- Photograph each one
Before you leave
- Take an after photo if you fixed or rearranged anything
- Note anything the outlet manager raised
- Submit the visit before moving on, even if there's no signal
Keep the audit short enough to be done
The checklist above is the full menu. A real audit should measure only what this campaign needs. If merchandisers have to fill in forty fields at every outlet, the quality of every field drops.
Pick the handful of metrics that matter for this brief, for example stock per SKU, facings and price, and make everything else optional.
Turn audits into action
An audit only pays off if it changes something. The most valuable use of audit data is stock:
- Rate of sale: compare counts between visits to see how fast each SKU sells. A count that goes up between visits is a restock, not negative sales.
- Days of cover: units on hand divided by average daily sales tells you roughly how long the stock will last.
- Projected stock-out date: when each line is likely to run out at the current rate.
- Restock alerts: when a count falls to the reorder point, someone should be told, automatically.
With that, an audit stops being a report about the past and becomes an early warning. You hear about an empty shelf before it happens, not three days after.
Compare outlets, not just visits
Rolled up across outlets, audit data shows patterns: which outlets keep running out, where facings are slipping, where prices drift. That's the conversation worth having with the brand or the distributor.
Running audits on eNsight
eNsight lets you set the metrics each audit records, such as stock per SKU, facings and price on shelf. Outlets are picked from your list, and every visit carries a location check, time and photos, offline or not. Stock counts automatically become rate of sale, days of cover, projected run-out dates and restock alerts. See retail merchandising and retail audits.
