Measuring the effectiveness of outlet callage in Asda

Meridian’s approach to measuring the effectiveness of outlet callage has gained us a strong reputation, especially with organisation where calling on outlets has been outsourced to a third party sales or merchandising company.

Asda, with its Retail Link system providing detailed and reliable EPoS sales data, enables Meridian to show just how much value is added by outlet callage, using it’s unique CIM (Customer Investment Maximiser) approach.

“Asda – too big to be left to chance, so we call at store level.”
Asda’s compact portfolio of large stores means that its entire estate is normally included on the suggested call file of most merchandising companies. In contrast, Tesco’s & Sainsbury’s store types are more diverse, and only the larger outlets are targeted.

If you are already investing in Retail Link you will understand the importance of realising maximum value from your investment. Yet our experience is that even among suppliers who have access to Retail Link calls tend to be directed not at the outlets offering the greatest potential for increased sales, but at the largest or those that sell the most currently.

Meridian’s experience is that this ‘blanket’ coverage rarely produces an acceptable Return on Investment, and in extreme cases may actually produce a negative return!

In fact Meridian’s experience is that up to three quarters of the activity undertaken on behalf of manufacturers at store level may add no value at all. In many examples across a variety of categories, we have found no relationship between visits made and sales revenue, with control groups (non called on outlets) outperforming stores receiving regular sales calls.

Why focus on Asda? It tends to be one of our better accounts!
In most categories, Asda is a top performer in terms of compliance and availability, two of the hottest topics in grocery retailing today. Nevertheless, Meridian has found that performance varies widely across the Asda estate, and therefore indiscriminate or untargeted callage will dilute sales effectiveness. If a store has been fully compliant for 10 consecutive calls for example, what is the value that can be added on the 11th visit?

The investment made by your company in outlet coverage must be measured and compared to other customer facing investments which might be capable of producing a better return. In short, it is vital to understand what works, why it works and where it works best.
To do this we need data. Asda’s Retail Link provides some of that data, and enables a rapid diagnosis of just how much expenditure is not producing a return, and more importantly, how much realistic incremental sales potential exists.

Our experience is that the potential which can be liberated by authorised actions at outlet level is between 3-5% of total sales revenue – could this be true for you?

The straightforward answer is that we don’t know, but we do have a fast and accurate way for finding out!

CIM – What is our current ROI, & how can we improve it?
Meridian’s analytical approach will clearly demonstrate where value is being added, and specifically where effort is wasted. Our sophisticated modelling tool uses sales activity data and Retail Lin kinformation, modified in each project to reflect the idiosyncrasies of specific categories & brands, then develops a revised approach based purely on improving ROI.
A Meridian project team can conduct an initial analysis quickly and without distracting your customer management team – following a short meeting to launch the project we can be presenting the results 2 weeks later.

Our menu based pricing allows you to select the areas of analysis which reflect the priorities in your business – from compliance to head office agreements on the one hand to the ability of the sales team to identify and correct booked stock errors on the other.

Our experience of conducting customer contact projects in a wide variety of industries gives us a unique insight into the complex issues around field sales ROI, which together with our objectivity & absence of vested interest, offers our clients an unmatched opportunity to improve operational effectiveness.

Even if you have calculated the ROI in the (recent) past, our experience is that the dynamically changing retail environment alters the ‘cause-effect’ dynamics at the store level. Changes in the market, the economy, Asda’s policy on local store autonomy, and competitive activity all mean that you need a dynamic approach and that an audit or review now is still likely to deliver added value.

Choose the right option for your organisation from our bronze, siver, gold or platinum menu:

Data Inputs	Bronze	Silver	Gold	Platinum
Retail Link Data
By Store	•
By Brand Family		•	•	•
By SKU			•	•
By Day				•
Last 3 Months	•
Last 6 Months		•
Last 12 Months			•	•
NAM
Listings		•	•	•
Planograms			•	•
Promotions	•	•	•	•
Influence Mapping			•	•
RSP			•	•
Sales Force Metrics
Call #	•	•	•	•
Call Dates	•	•	•	•
In Call Actions By SKU		•	•	•
Sales Force Audits
Facings by Brand		•	•	•
Facings By SKU			•	•
Roll Back Compliance	•	•	•	•
Outlet Audits
Planogram Compliance				•
Sales Force Workwiths
Activity Analysis				•
Costs
Delivered Margin by SKU			•	•
POP Items				•
Sales People	•	•	•	•
Deliverables	Bronze	Silver	Gold	Platinum
Performance by individual RSM,sales person	•	•	•	•
Store Rankings	•	•	•	•
Brand Rankings by Store		•	•	•
SKU Rankings by Store			•	•
Space vs ROS Analysis				•
Roll Back Compliance		•	•	•
Indexed Sales by Call #	•	•	•	•
Size Of Prize	•	•	•	•
ROI Analysis			•	•
Distribution Analysis			•	•
Availability Analysis				•
Call Plan by Opportunity	•	•	•	•
Sales Driver Hypotheses				•
Rogue Stores				•
Gold Standard Stores				•
Assortment by Store Type				•
League Table of Optimal In Store Actions				•
Re-worked Support Budget	•	•	•	•

Download a brochure (PDF Format)

To find out how you can benchmark your in-house or 3rd party field operations against CPG best practice click here