FMCG · 2 min read
Before you change the ad, check the shelf
A packaged-goods promotion reads differently when the sales team can identify the days shoppers could actually buy the advertised pack.
A weekend offer on a large pack of coffee launches on Friday. The ad is live and the catalogue price is correct, but one region reports weak sales on Sunday. By Monday everyone is reviewing the same ad and suggesting a new photograph. Nobody has asked how many shops had the pack on the shelf.
Consider ten shops over a two-day promotion, or 20 possible store-days. Four shops ran out of the featured pack for all of Sunday. Selling 160 packs gives you eight units per planned store-day and ten per store-day with the pack available. Keep both figures. The first measures realised sales against the distribution you planned. The second helps the buying team estimate how much stock to allocate next time.
Start with one product and one weekend
Request till sales by product code, shop and day. Check that the code belongs to the pack featured in the ad. Stock of the 250-gram bag does little for someone who came in for the 500-gram offer. Ask managers at shops with zero sales whether the pack was on the shelf. Zero units sold is insufficient evidence of a stockout.
If the stock ran out on Saturday afternoon, capture the time as well. Labelling all of Saturday as available can hide the busiest hours. At the next campaign meeting you can identify the shops that need replenishment and the ones where a different ad is worth testing.