Mobile Audits: The Future of Auditing in Retail
What is a Mobile Audit?
Mobile audits are driven through smartphones or tablets, combining crowdsourcing and AI to help collect and securely process all sorts of data, such as voice data, images, videos and even GPS coordinates. This technology saves your company time, money, and fuel through faster, automatic, and value-added audits, while reducing the distance between your brand and its products.
Store audits are critical to maintaining profitability and compliance, as retail execution quality impacts your brand's reputation and your bottom line.
Mobile audits are the perfect tool that gives you the visibility you need in-store by mobilising consumers already in stores ready to be your eyes in the field anytime, anywhere.
How does it work?
Here are four basic steps so you can grasp how Mobile Audits work:
- A task starts with your specific need
- Then assignments get published in particular locations
- Nearby spotters complete these assignments, then delivered data is verified
- The data is loaded in real-time into the dashboard for you to monitor and take action
STEP 1
A task starts with your specific need
It all starts with a specific need your company has. For example, in retail, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are critical to monitor and analyse to maximise sales and maintain the business's bottom line. And so, many needs can arise from that.
It is very common for a retail supplier to have many questions. For example, are our retail partners complying? are the products available in-store for purchase? are they well presented and in the right location? are the displays correctly executed?
STEP 2
Assignments get published in specific locations
According to your company's need, our platform then creates a task published in specific locations, always ready anywhere in the country, within reach of thousands of mobile auditors, who we call "Spotters"
STEP 3
Nearby spotters do the tasks, then delivered data is verified
Spotters are consumers who enjoy making extra cash by visiting retail stores and reporting on what they find. They remain as mystery shoppers, which provides you with eyes on the ground in every corner of the country, providing all insights required when a task is close to their location.
This process is made using crowdsourcing, which is the collection of information, opinions, or work from a group of people, usually sourced via the Internet for faster, easier, more cost-effective completion. For example, our 100,000+ network of Spotters can collect all photographic evidence for you. Alternatively, you can choose to do so using your internal Field Team, reducing their time in stores by up to 65%.
Spotters are given instructions containing each task's specifics, including payment and reimbursement. The supplier specifies the requests, including image and video requests and even survey questions.
Here are some examples of a company's requirements in a task:
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Promotional execution: Inside the store, locate and take a clear picture of primary and 2nd placement displays of our (specified by name) product. Answer if stock is correctly located with agreed space allocation.
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On-shelf availability: Locate and take a clear picture of our products on-shelf. Answer if there's an adequate quantity of stock in-date and pro-actively replenished.
Mystery Shopping:
If there's something unique about mobile audits, they can also provide consumer insights while collecting audit information. Keep in mind that spotters, who gather the data in-store, are also shoppers. This provides the perfect opportunity to integrate the customer experience into your business model.
Mystery Shopping is a very effective way to get reliable and ongoing feedback from actual customers, not only about your own business' performance but also about your competitors.
STEP 4
The data is loaded in real-time into the dashboard for you to monitor and take action
Mobile audits are conducted using crowdsourcing and AI, results are often collected almost instantly, in real-time. The evidence gathered by the spotters is sent to the cloud to be scanned and analysed using our AI technology, which reads and categorises every element on the shelf and provides clear insights.
With verified and geo-located data, your fact-based dashboard is organised and available to the right people in a decision-making format.
It is an interactive dashboard, your go-to place for discovering all our actionable insights. This is where you see all reports, photos and scores, complete with verified geo-located data, neatly packaged into real-time, automated and shareable analytics that empower you to take effective action.
Our SmartSpotter team monitors the results, authorising only those submissions that meet the client's specifications and requests.
Mobile Audits are the Future of Auditing
Say no more to wasting time, fuel, and resources conducting in-store audits. Mobile Audits are here to stay because of how cost-effective they are, and now Key Performance Indicators in retail have become increasingly easier to monitor and analyse!
Do you want faster, timely and accurate results? Then, simply reach out to SmartSpotter!
