STORE AUDITS, TRACKING & DISTRIBUTION STUDIES

Store audits and tracking studies are typically used to ascertain the impact and effectiveness that sale prices and special promotions have on particular product lines. Often, permission is required from store managers before we are allowed to conduct this type of research. Sometimes a stipend is offered to obtain cooperation with store managers, particularly if it is necessary to look at store invoices. Manufactures also use these studies to do price checks or to measure the amount of shelf space allocated to their product to ensure that they are receiving the proper amount of space. In such cases, the study is conducted as a mystery shop.

Distribution studies are a specialized tracking study in which an auditor goes into an assigned store and simply checks to see if a particular product is available to the consumer.

REFERENCES

• Don Beck, AC Nielsen Market Decisions, Schaumburg, IL
• Jeff Permuy, SPAR-Burgoyne Retail Services, Mahwah, NJ
• Jill Capello, Capstone Research, Fairfield, NJ
• Ed Hanlon, Retail Diagnostics, Oradell, NJ