For Trade Sampling Trade Age Shelf life Package appearance studies in CFA / Distributor / Retail format Pan India

1. Presentation – Retail Quality Audits
by:
December 15, 2015

2. About Sindhuja Consultants
My name is Ch s Prasad after completing MBA I started my carrier as Investigator in Operations Research Group (ORG)
for 5 years then I joined AIMS Research as a Field Executive 2 years then I joined ACNielsen as a Filed Manger 3 years
after that I floated Sindhuja Consultants base at Hyderabad in the year 2000. I have total 25 years experience in this
field.
Sindhuja Consultants Setup:-
Field Setup
Sindhuja Consultants have had one great advantage right from its early set up days. It has one of the best fields set up both
qualitative and quantitative for an agency of our size.
We have 4 senior field managers located in towns like Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, and Kolkata with a Market Research
experience of more than 18 years.
Controlling a team of 26 field executives and 120 field investigators each individual team member has 5 to 8 years
experience. The qualification of these people is minimum Graduation for data collection and other activities.
Our network covers 49 major base towns in India – from where we could support field work in more than 555 towns.
People
People are the most important asset at Sindhuja Consultants and substantial efforts are made to preserve and develop this
human capital. The company recruits best of breed talent and provides them regular training to keep them updated on the
best practices in their functional area.
Commitment to Quality
Sindhuja Consultants maintains ESOMAR, CASRO, MRSI and AMA standards and adheres to their respective codes. Every
service delivery has a strong quality system supported by quality manuals and documented processes.
Major works conducted:-
Coca – Cola – First Assignment
ITMO+TPM+CSS survey in 555 towns –a regular (monthly) monitoring exercise in 50,000 outlets in Pan India.
Market Sample collection for further quality checking we purchase the SKUs and sent to BRITCO Pune every month from 18
towns.
OPINION POLL (Elections)
Opinion was collected from 95,000 voters for Lok sabha elections which are completed in 2014 covered 95 PCs and 4750

3. Hierarchy Sindhuja Consultants

4. List of Towns By Sindhuja Consultants
Sl.No. Region Local Team (Base Town) Covering From Base Town (Out Station)
1
South
Hyderabad
Warangal
Karimnagar
Mahaboonagar
Rest of Telanagana
2 Vijayawada
Guntur
Tirupati
Kurnool
Part of Andhra Pradesh
3
Vizag
Srikakulam
Rajmundary
Kakinada
3 Part of Andhra Pradesh
4 Bangalore Part of Karnataka
5 Hubli Part of Karnataka
6 Mangalore Part of Karnataka
7 Chennai Pondicherry (Part of TM)
8 Coiambator Part of TM
9 Madurai Part of TM
10 Calicut Part of Kerala
11 Cochin Part of Kerala
12 Trivandrum Part of Kerala
13
West
Mumbai Part of Maharastra
14 Pune Part of Maharastra
15 Nashik Part of Maharastra
16 Solapur Part of Maharastra
17 Nagpur Part of Maharastra
18 Ahmedabad Part of Gujarat
19 Vadodara Part of Gujarat
20 Rajkot Part of Gujarat
21 Surat Part of Gujarat
22 Goa (Malegaon) Rest of Goa
23 Bhopal Part of MP
24 Indore Part of MP
25 Gawalior Part of MP
26 Raipur Rest of Chatisghar
27
North
Delhi Delhi NCE Western UP
28 Ambala Rest Haryana
29 Chandigarh Rest Punjab
30 Lucknow Central UP
31 Varanasi Eastern UP
32 Jhansi Bundelkhnd
33 Kanpur Part of UP
34 Patna North Bihar
35 Gaya South Bihar
36 Dehradun Near by Towns
37 Haldwani Nainital and Near by Towns
38 Ranchi Rest of Jharkhand
39 Gwalior Near by Towns
40 Jammu Rest of Jammu and Kashmir
41
North Eastern
Guwahati Rest of Assam/Shillong/Manipur/Imphal/Agartala
42 Kolkata 24 Paraganas and Part of West Bangal
43 Asansol Part of West Bangal
44 Siliguri Part of West Bangal
45 Bhubaneshwar Near by Towns
46 Rourkela Near by Towns
47 Cuttak Near by Towns
48 Barampur Near by Towns
49 Sambalpur Near by Towns

5. Elements of Retail Quality Audits include but are not limited to:
Sindhuja Consultants conducts Retail Quality Audits to help you evaluate product quality and assess market conditions
at the retail level – that is, where consumers make the final determination of quality. The audits are designed to provide
statistically valid data, collected consistently and objectively to provide meaningful and actionable results.
The benefit to collecting data at the “point of purchase” is that it allows your company to view market conditions
through the consumers’ eyes and identify opportunities for improvement in both quality and profitability. Our
management team’s vast experience, along with a staff well-versed in logistics, data analysis and report generation,
together provide you with the accurate and timely retail quality evaluations you need to make sound business decisions.
All CFA/Distributors/Retail channels of distribution can be audited, including supermarkets and grocery stores, drug
stores, convenience stores, mass merchandisers or ”big box” stores, gas station markets, vending machines, and even
retail food service channels. Typically projects include in-store data collection, product purchase for further testing, or
shipment to client-designated labs or to the client.
Package Assessment: The evaluation of primary or secondary package condition according to standards defined by the
client. These may include defects such as dents, cuts, label scuffs, missing or illegible lot codes, etc.
Product Assessment: The evaluation of product according to standards defined with the client, including attributes such as
color, count, breakage, weight, odor, taste, foaming, etc.
Shelf-Life Studies: The purchase and evaluation of products according to standards defined with the client at specified ages
Display Audits: The collection of in-store display data regarding product position on-shelf, such as eye level, bottom shelf,
end cap, or free standing display.
Availability: The collection of in-store availability data regarding product presence on-shelf, defined as Available (SKU is
tagged and product is found), Out of Stock (SKU is tagged and no product is found), or Not Available (SKU is not offered).

6. Elements of Retail Quality Audits include but are not limited to:
Trade Sampling : This element defines how samples will be evaluated in- store and/or purchased for further testing.
Manufacturing Performance: The routine assessment of a plant’s quality performance, variability from plant to plant, and
co-packer performance to identify potential sources of product quality issues.
Distribution Tracking Studies: The evaluation and tracking of product in primary, secondary and/or shipping package
throughout the supply chain, beginning at shipment from the plant to a warehouse or distribution center (DC) to final
shipment to retail.
Competitive Benchmarking: A comparison project monitoring a combination of your products as well as your competitors’
products.
Product Launch Monitoring: A project designed to assess the popularity or acceptance of a new or reformulated product,
or a product in new packaging, typically utilized in a regional or national rollout.
Test Market Audits: A project designed and utilized to assess a new or reformulated product or new package in a
designated test market.
Claims Substantiation: A project designed to determine whether a label or other advertising claim is supported by sample
testing or sensory evaluation.
Trade Marketing Compliance: An evaluation for manufacturers to ensure retail locations are complying with requirements
of a clients’ trade marketing spending.
Age Distribution: The age of product on the shelf or in other retail inventory, typically performed to assess shelf
rotation practices of store staff, Merchandiser or Direct Store Delivery (DSD) group.
Our field force of highly trained professionals provide cost-effective data collection with minimal response time in order to
get you the information you need to make the right business decisions and stay ahead of your competitors.

7. Working With Some Major Clients – Retail Quality Audits
Parle Agro
2682 Samples purchase for further testing and shipment to client-designated labs from retail market pan India and Nepal 46 towns
out of 73 towns every month.
This is very useful for food industries to known there quality of product at CFA/Distributors/retail market level.
Parle agro engaged to manufacture for their products to third party to know the quality of product they engaged us to purchase
2682 sample - 6 variants different pack sizes of beverages and 5 variants of Hippo Round Round different pack sizes in retail
outlets from 46 towns out of 73 towns pan India.
We will visit 50 different type outlets (MFS/KIRANA/PAAN/BAKERY…ETC) in each city and buy the SKUs and make good packing then
sending to Parle agro Mumbai before every month 15th.
We provide the report every month outlet name/outlet type/batch number/manufacture date/time of manufacture.
Apart from above report client know the Availability of SKUs and Non-availability SKUs also sales man/distributor visit to this
particular outlets which is very useful to marketing department.
Usefulness of this activity
Parle Agro having 14 Beverages Plants and 41 Bailley water third party water plants 11 Snacks Plants – To maintain same quality and
taste of specified standards by Parle Agro to check the standards maintaining or not of each plant also Package appearance and
different parameters in internal product testing.

8. Working With Some Major Clients – Retail Quality Audits

9. Working With Some Major Clients – Retail Quality Audits
Hershey’s India
On shelf analysis of Key SKU
OBJECTIVE:
To establish documented evidence that provides a high degree of assurance on product quality till it reach to end consumer
and also to validate factory door quality with on shelf product.
To identify conformance to important parameters of quality and defects levels To identity point of buy and point sale
requirement
To identify product positioning in the outlet
To identify factors which are important for customer satisfaction
To identify areas in which customers are dissatisfied?
To identify level of overall quality provided to consumer
To identify our product against competition
3500 sample collected in 4 metro towns for quality product audit.
8000 outlets in market and 27 distributors, 5 CFA for quality product audit every three months in 10 cities.
The parameters on which the survey to be conducted is: Secondary packaging: At CFA & Distributor level
Stack height – not to exceed the mentioned stack height on the outer boxes.
Statutory requirements – Print of PKD Legibility
FIFO – Product Age management to maintain freshness
Short Count – number of pouches in an outer box / Poly Woven Sack
External Damages – Transit or Poor Quality supply related

10. Working With Some Major Clients – Retail Quality Audits
Hershey’s India
Primary packaging: At CFA & Distributor & Retailer level
Statutory requirements – PKD & Lot Code legibility
Print quality of coding and adherence to norms
Short count – number of pieces in a pack, net weight of the pack
Primary packaging defects – De-twisting, improper folding, empty wrappers, inner wrapper out and
unwrapped sweets.
General appearance & sensory
Weight of the sweet (un-size)
Secondary packaging defect – labeling condition, jar defects like dents, label torn, improper threading of lid
Pouches – Sealing defects, delaminating of layers
Lollipop defects – Sealing, photocell, weight of sweet, variants uniform distribution.

11. Working With Some Major Clients – Retail Quality Audits

12. Mondelez (Cadbury)
Cadbury introduce New Foil for their Dairy Milk chocolates Rs.5/- and Rs.10/.
Engaged us to check the performance existing packing as well as New Foil in CFA – 6000 samples Redistributors – 6000
samples Retail outlets – 6000 samples of each pack size of Rs.5 and Rs.10 in 3 cities.
Cadbury lunched 5 star Now Softer chocolates in retail market and engaged us to check product performance – 3500
sample purchased and checked as per client parameters of each pack size of Rs.5 and Rs.10 in 10 cities for 4 months.
Cadbury Bonneville and Cadbury Silk Checked product performance – 280 sample purchased and checked as per
parameters in 8 cities for 2 years.
Freshness of product
Product PKD, Batch code
Product on display and stock at shop
Product storage and display condition
Storage near other food items such as grains, bakery or non food such as oils, soap, incense sticks etc
SKU availability for a product for ex. CDM: 12g,22g,40g
Measurement of delivered product quality
Objective:
To compare manufactured quality and delivered product quality
To assess potential for consumer, customer and shopper dissatisfaction
To identify opportunity for product quality improvement
To ensure we continue to win on parameters of performance. Will be done using standard formats for power brands
Working With Some Major Clients – Retail Quality Audits
1000 RDs and 14 CFA audit.
Parameters For Depot & RDs Audit:
Infrastructure
Storage, Pest Management
Personnel Management
Distribution Management
Quality Systems
Safety

13. Working With Some Major Clients – Retail Quality Audits

14. Working With Some Major Clients – Retail Quality Audits
Kellogg’s India
To write off the Air out & Perforation problem of 27gm K pack seven variants owned by Kellogg’s from Pan India.
Covering Towns: Ahmadabad, Chennai, Coimbatore, Cochin, Hyderabad, Guntur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Indore,
Bangalore.
Number of Samples covering: In CFA – 60 case Distributor – 50 cases Retailer – 50 cases per town of only 27 gm.
Methodology
In each city One CFA / Distributor 2 or 3 to meet the target 50 cases / Retailers need to visit 200 outlets to meet target 50
cases.

15. Working With Some Major Clients – Retail Quality Audits
Coca Cola India
TPM – Total Product Management
A change in the culture of TIME management providing the consumer with fresh products resulting in promoting brand
loyalty & repeat sales.
What is RQI?
ITMO+TPM+CSS survey in 555 towns –a regular (monthly) monitoring exercise in 50,000 outlets in India from 2001 to 2005
Market Sample collection for further quality checking we purchase the SKUs and sent to BRITCO Pune every month from 18
towns.
A system designed for local markets
To identify & prioritize issues
To minimize shelf life of SKU
From the manufacture, storage & handling of Products
Objective
To minimize Best Before Day (BBD) write off
To minimize product age at all stages of product life cycle
An effort to deliver freshest product to consumer
Enhancement of customer satisfaction level in market
Commitment and consistent effort for a total system approach on part of all associates
ITMO - In Trade Merchandising Operations
Identifying In Trade Merchandising Opportunities (ITMO) for promoting and marketing and distributed by it
It shows the breadth & depth of every SKU
Product penetration/availability at retail
Point of sale material for each SKU
Retailer stocking patterns
SKU display and visibility

16. Working With Some Major Clients – Retail Quality Audits
Coca Cola India
CSS – Customer Satisfaction Survey Retailer
The Retailer is asked on service related impression of the company and its employees:
Delivery of stocks
Service Frequency
Cooler maintenance
Schemes
Sales person behavior & friendliness
Product Rotation
Merchandising Support
Product Pricing
Consumer Response Cell No.

17. Working With Some Major Clients – Retail Quality Audits
Marico - Market Tracking System
Objective - To evaluate the on shelf quality of products
Categories: Edible Oils, Coconut Oils, Body Lotions, Deodorants, Creams, Foods
Region: North, West, South, East
Cities: North- Delhi; South- Chennai, Hyderabad; West- Mumbai, Bhopal; East- Kolkata
Red - MRP Not printed/Misprinting/not legible, Product leak/Film damage, Seal breakage, underweight, expired product,
any other physical damage or poor aesthetics, Major Label/Printing shift, cap cracking, dirt on pack, heavy wrinkles
Yellow - Cap fitment, label shift (minor), minor wrinkles on outer film,
Green - Rest of all
Freshness- Age of the product on shelf, any expired or old stock on shelf
New Entrants in Market- Category wise new internets in market, SKUs available
Sample Collection: Collection of samples for defectives, new entrants and key competitors
Report Format
Region wise market visit report – No. of shops covered, No. of defects found, any trend in key defects for particular
product, Competition product availability region wise and new entrants of market
Matrix of Red, yellow and Green for product defect
Product wise, SKU wise defect summary in %
Key trends of product visibility
Look alike for brands
Region wise on shelf leakage and damage feedback – product wise
Any suggestions from shopkeepers on quality improvement
Other on-shelf product quality observations

18. Working With Some Major Clients – Retail Quality Audits

19. Working With Some Major Clients – Retail Quality Audits
Amul
Amul SKUs presence checking (Dipstick) in Modern Format Stores 4500 outlets across 45 towns pan India
Sample collection of Amul brands for product quality checking in 9 towns
Product audit done for one month to Amul in Hyderabad.
Ice-cream stocking outlets mapping in Ahmadabad covered 2825 outlets
Amul Ice – cream stocking Retail Store Audit in 1000 outlets - Mumbai/Delhi/Hyderabad.
Milk stocking outlets Census/Every Dealer Survey to know stocking milk outlets universe across 26204 outlets Greater
Hyderabad and 3050 outlets Guwahati to lunch AMUL POUCH MILK.

20. Uses to Companies - Retail Quality Audits
The Cost of Poor Quality
For every complaint received there are 49 who don’t bother
90% of the 49 consumers change brand
They switch to competitors brand
Retailer will favour brand that sells you
Loose volume – placement - image
When You Don’t Practice RQA
Consumer and customer complaints
Lose consumer – Disputes with retailers – loose both
Lose outlet – market share – hits brand & company image
Legal implications – Nuisance factor – kill pack
Staggers new launch plans – Effects company rating
Hits revenue and general welfare of employees

21. Uses to Companies - Retail Quality Audits
If you do it Right you are in control
Consumer’s confidence
Customer’s good will & respect
Credibility – Company – Brand – Individuals
Repeat purchase – Higher volumes – higher share
Better performance – lead to better incentives
Your companies rating up
Reward employees
RQA designed for Quality Assurance Department of food companies to know there
Age of SKU at retail outlet
Availability of each SKU
Positioning of SKU vis-à-vis competitors
Stocking pattern of each SKU

22. SINDHUJA CONSULTANTSSINDHUJA CONSULTANTS
SRT 215 1SRT 215 1STST
FLOORFLOOR
SANATHNAGARSANATHNAGAR
HYDERABAD – 500018HYDERABAD – 500018
ANDHRA PRADESHANDHRA PRADESH
MOBILE NO:09866215522MOBILE NO:09866215522
chsprasad@sindhujaconsultants.comchsprasad@sindhujaconsultants.com
www.sindhujaconsultants.comwww.sindhujaconsultants.com
THANK YOU