Visibility Audit For An Apparel Brand

Objective

Client owns one of India's leading brands of contemporary ethnic wear for women which caters to customers, among other channels, through 200+ exclusive brand outlets. The key objective of these exclusive stores is provide customers an enhanced buying experience. Two key aspects that help achieve this objective are visual merchandising and grooming of the highest standards. To ensure that the exclusive stores maintain these standards, Channelplay conducted visibility audits capturing the key elements of visual merchandising.

• Store exterior
• Store interior
• Product display
• Product arrangement
• Staff grooming

Approach

One of the key challenges of this audit program was the specific days and timings when the visibility audits were to be conducted. The audits could be conducted only 3 days in a week and that too in a 3 hour window during these specific days. 

To ensure delivery of the highest quality, the approach adopted was as under:

• Day wise detailed execution plan with alternate plans and defined triggers for the same to ensure timelines were met despite the restrictions on audit execution window
• Detailed training document outlining each element and its standards to ensure that information captured on ground was accurate
• Comprehensive quality check process which fool proofed the findings

Outcome

When the client started with the program, their expectation was that we merely be their eyes and share photographs and visuals of the stores audited. However, we realized that there was not much value add to the client on this as someone still had to go through all the photos to understand the on ground situation.

To ensure that the outcome of the audits became more actionable, we complimented their requirement with an objective questionnaire that captured the visual merchandising condition in a simple yet objective way. This provided visibility into condition of all stores and highlighted areas that needed improvement.