Protecting every penny

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Protecting every penny.

It is widely recognised that in todays fast-paced environment, retailers need to be ahead of the game. Competition is fierce and only those that are fully in-tune with their business practices will prosper.

In-store audits provide a vital and valuable insight into business performance. Not only are audits essential for corporate compliance but they also play a key role in the fight against shrink. The majority of European retailers 68.7 per cent to be precise have audit programmes in place, but only 23.7 per cent of these undertake more than three audits per year. Most worrying is that there is still a significant proportion that do not audit at all. A concerning trend given the current economic state of affairs and the need to make the most of every penny.

Traditional auditing methods get the job done, albeit in a somewhat inefficient way. These paper-based auditing methods are prone to error and take up huge amounts of time. There is also duplication of effort when collecting and inputting audit data, often impacting on the accuracy and consistency of information gathered and it is most likely for these reasons that explain why only 23.7 per cent of retailers with programmes in place audit more than three times per year and some do not audit at all.

But help is at hand. Gone are the days when traditional paper-based auditing was the only means of collecting data available to retailers. Arise the next generation of user-friendly, automated software solutions that allow retailers to do everything that would have been done on paper, more easily, efficiently, faster and accurately using web-based technology.

Neil Matthews, Vice President of Checkpoint Systems, Northern, Central and Southern Europe commented: In the past, the auditing process has been extremely painful for retailers, but we need them to realise that this no longer has to be the case.  There are solutions available that will meet and exceed their expectations when it comes to auditing, and if they want to compete with others in this fiercely driven market, they need to make sure they are on top of the minutiae of their business. We have recognised the difficulties associated with managing this process effectively which is why we have developed a system to overcome these issues.

CheckPro AuditorTM has been designed specifically to streamline the retail auditing process and resolve the problems associated with paper-based audits. This web-hosted tool enables retailers to automate the entire auditing process across multiple locations from data collection in-store, through to management and reporting at head office. Audit data is collected via a number of options including the BlackBerry, and once complete, auditors can instantly upload results to head office using the systems web-based reporting capability, making them available in real-time.

By implementing systems such as CheckPro AuditorTM, retailers can take their audit programmes to the next level of efficiency identifying areas for attention and taking early action to correct them before they have a major impact on the business leaving staff free to focus on what they do best, selling.