Retail audits and consumer panels provide marketers with insights into market dynamics, brand performance, and consumer behavior. A retail audit systematically examines a firm's retail efforts by physically counting stock holdings and store purchases. It measures metrics like market share and distribution. A consumer panel consists of representative households that report purchases over time to track metrics like purchase frequency, size, and loyalty. Both provide timely, detailed data to help marketers understand opportunities and improve strategies.

1. ASSIGNMENT 6.1 – [Retail audit & Consumer Panel]
[Mai Bằng – Minh Vũ]

2. Marketers need detailed insights into market dynamics in order
to harness category opportunities and plan for the future
• Company audit
specialist
• Company
department
manager
• Outside auditor
Who
• Done on a
MONTHLY Basis
• Yearly
subscriptions are
bought by
companies
WHAT IS A RETAIL AUDIT ?
Is a full process which systematically examines and evaluates the firms total retailing
effort to measure brand performance & idealing from key objective-related findings.
When
• Urban and Rural
regions
• Various Retail
Channels: GT,
MT, On
premises, Off
premises
Where How
Data is based on measurement of consumer sales from a
sample of outlets designed to reflect the channel being
measured.
The same fixed sample is audited on a monthly basis with
field auditors physically counting retail stock holdings, then
recording store purchases from any source (warehouse,
wholesaler or direct).
The ongoing measurement of these variables produces
consumer sales as well as vital in-store information.

3. 6 MAIN POINTS IN RETAIL AUDIT REPORT
Measure Market Size & share by:
• Volume/ Value sales & share
• Volume/ Value share of trade
• Numeric/ Weighted distribution
• Numeric/ Weighted out of stock
Average Sale Per Point of
Distribution
• Retail purchases
• Retail purchase share
• Stock share
• Forward/reserve stock
• Stock to sales ratio
• Stock turnover ratio
• Stock cover day
• Price per pack
• Average price per unit
PURCHASE
STOCK
PRICE
CONSUMER
SUPPORT
DISTRIBUTION
VOLUME/
VALUE
RETAIL
AUDIT
1. Improve Category Understanding: Where are
the opportunities for category growth?
2. Track Retail Performance: What is my market
share and trends?
3. Manage Distribution: Where are the
distribution gaps and opportunities? Are out-of-
stocks an issue?
4. Analyze Promotion Efficiency and
Effectiveness: Which product promotions have
the most impact on the company / brand
growth?
5. Evaluate New Launches: How much has the
overall market share grown as a result of the
new launch? What is the post-launch distribution
build up in successful cases?
Key Objectives
Standard Report must have three part:
I. OVERVIEW ABOUT TREND OF CATEGORY
II. REVIEW BRAND PERFORMANCE
III. CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION

4. Identify potential segments/sources
of growth
Nielsen identify the strong
growth dominated by middle
class need for ‘Affordable
Premium’ so that they do
retail audit to check &
improve store performance
for better capture the
consumer demand
Help business capture better the
consumer demand
Sources: Nielsen Retail Audit Report 2012
Identify potential markets for
expansion
Nielsen find out the
opportunities to grow and
increase the profit at
drinking yoghurt market (+27%)
Nielsen figure out the new trends in F&B
market ( from out of home to in home
entertainment) and this is an opportunity
for business to drive category further

5. Listerine recovered share via higher growth vs. competitors
TOP BRANDS SHARE
Source: Nielsen
• MW category decline 16% in volume while flat at 0%
mainly via price increase and premium launch
•Drive penetration but needs learning to define going with barrier or motivators
• Building trial crucial to get new users
EXAMPLE:

6. Panel consists of persons, households or business firms
who report their purchase activities at periodic intervals
and who are selected based on a combination of their
willingness and representativeness.
In a consumer panel, there is a permanent sample of
respondents.
CONSUMER PANEL DEFINITION
Consumer panel different from a survey. In a survey, a fresh sample is selected
In a panel research, the same panel is used again and again for the collection of information

7. Average number of
times each buyer
purchases the brand
during the given time
period
Average purchase
volume purchased each
time the product is
bought
Average volume
purchased by buyers
during the given time
period
Number of Household
purchasing the product
at least once during the
time period
Purchase Frequency Purchase SizeBuying ratePenetration
Purchase cycle only
considers the number
of purchase occasions
among repeat buyers
(in number of days) and
gives a feel for the
consumer usage rate of
the product
It represents the
percentage of category
volume purchases
among item buyers who
are satisfied by that
item
Percentage of buyers
that make 2 or more
purchases during a
given time period
Percentage of Brand
volume show that a
panelist reported “ On
Deal “
E.g: Manufacturer
coupons, Store coupons,
Store Deals
Purchase Cycle Brand LoyaltyRepeat rateDeal Propensity
By answer these question, we can
find out some key measures about
consumer in order to reach the objective
KEY MEASURES ABOUT CONSUMER
 UNDERSTAND why consumers choose & switch brand
 Measuring short and long term purchase patterns with the effect of promotional deals
 Acceptance of new products
 How long after introduction consumers tend to buy new products
CONSUMER PANEL
OBJECTIVE
Who are your consumers ?
How often do they buy ?
Where do they shop ?
Are they loyal to your brand ?
How do they respond to your marketing
efforts ?
Why did sales increase ?
To which competitor did my brand lose
share ?
What caused my shares to decline ?
Purchase Frequency or Purchase size ?

8. 6 MAIN POINTS IN CONSUMER PANEL REPORT
DATA
COLLECTION
AFTER
SHOPPING TRIP
PURCHASE
RECORDING
STORE/CHANNEL
PURCHASE
HABITS AND
DEMOGRAPHIC
GROUPS
BUYERS STUDY
QUANTIFICATION
AND DESIGN OF
STRATEGIES
CONSUMER
PANEL
• Geographically
dispersed and
demographically
balanced
• Sample profile matches
the population closer
• Demographics
• Attitude and opinions
• Projected to census estimates – updated – population changes
• Quantification of
composition or
brand volume
• Consumer
purchase behavior
• Shopping habits
• Collects Consumer shopping and
purchase data from all outlet
channels
• Sales
• Penetration
• Buying rate
• Switching
• Purchase Frequency
• Purchase size
1. Purchase information
2. Date of purchase
3. Age and sex of primary and secondary
shopper
4. Store name
5. Usage of frequent shopper cards
5. Complete item description through
UPC(Universal Product Code) dictionary.
6. For each UPC, the number of units,
price paid, and deals used.
Dealing – specified by the panelist as
manufacturer coupon, store coupon, store
sale, or other.
7. Source of the coupon – at home, at the
register, elsewhere in the store
8. Total shopping trip purchase amount.
9. Method of payment – cash, cheque,
credit card, or debit card.
Example of some main points in a
Consumer Panel Report
Standard Report must have three part:
I. OVERVIEW ABOUT TREND OF CATEGORY
II. REVIEW ABOUT CONSUMER U&A
III. CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION

9. DEVELOP SHOPPER STRATEGIES BASED ON CONSUMER PANEL REPORT
Long lasting scent
makes me feel attractive ( esp under 25)
One that others comment on ( esp under
25)
Makes me feel seductive (esp 25-49s)
Changes or enhances the mood
Change of mood (71%)
Special Occasion (54%)
Change of season (28%)
Friend’s recommendation (16%)
Popularity of scent (10%)
No particular reason (15%)
In choosing to buy, 53% would tend to try a
new brand
47% would buy their favorite brand
25-49 know what they want but also tend
to buy on impulse
Under 25 tend to exlore different scents
and brands
Three out of five customers were more
likely to buy a fragrance samples in a
magazine ( foil pouch samples preferred)
Three out of four customers say that when
they find a fragrance they really like, they
tell their friends about it
Consumers on average buy 4 fragrance a
year
25-49 prefer to shop for fragrance without
being bothered
Trend towards fresh, clean, flowery, fruity,
citrus
Trend away from marine, herbal, musky,
spicy, woody
Under 18 prefer citrus notes
Under 25 prefer fruity and flowery notes
What are consumers looking for in a
fragrance
Reason for switching to a different
fragrance
Purchase decision making and
behavior
Fragrance types and propensities
EXAMPLE: FRAGRANCE INDUSTRY CONSUMER PANEL REPORT
Get key information in report:
In choosing to buy, 53% would tend to try a new brand - 47% would buy their favorite brand
Develop a shopper strategy:
Trying before buying: We give the large number of new and existing brands vying for people’s
attention on- shelf and provide more opportunities for them to test our brands

10. NoteRETAIL AUDIT CONSUMER PANEL
Precision
• Timeliness
• Reduced bias : they measure product/brand movement at the
point of sale (retail level)
• Sales/ competitive activities are also reported
• Data is timely and readily available
Allow to generate information such as:
• Product/brand sales in relation to competition
• Effectiveness of shelf space and POP displays
• Sales at various price points and levels
• Effectiveness of in store promotions
• Direct sales by store type, product location, territory and region
Continuous supply of information: Any kind of similarity or change in
consumption a pattern can be easily gauged.
Longer interviews are possible : as the panel members are met on an
ongoing basis , the panel members can be interviewed for a longer time
( the panel members know the interviewer)
Economical method: as information is collected from same consumers
on a regular basis, it’s comparatively cheaper.
Time saving
Reliable information
Advantages
Biased information : Over a period of time , the panel members may
give biased answers
Absence of representative character: the small panel can never
represent the entire class of consumers. Drawing conclusions based on
panel readings can lead to wrong judgements.
Panel members drop out : over a period of time , some panel members
drop out. In such a scenario, identifying new consumers with similar
characteristics is not easy.
Limited cooperation: initially the panel members are very cooperative.
As time goes by, their cooperation level/ enthusiasm falls.
Disadvantages
Costly
Time-consuming.
Performance measures may be inaccurate
Employees may feel threatened and not cooperate as
much as desired.
Collection of incorrect data
Management may not be responsive to the findings.
Advantages
Disadvantages