Retail Audit entails monitoring the distribution of consumer goods. It is based on in-store observation during which the presence and prominence of certain products being checked.

The study provides an assessment of the presence and availability of a brand to the consumer. It seeks to measure if the shelf presence of one brand is better than the position of competing brands, and the impact of additional product displays, promotional materials and prices on the level of sales.  Retail audit data yields a wealth of information that gives the client basis for tactical decisions to strengthen their market position.

Retail Audit involves:

• measurement of product availability on the shelf,
• measurement of share-of-the-shelf,
• measurement of promotional displays,
• measurement of shares / number of facings,
• measurement of shares / number of SKUs,
• price measurement,
• measurement of the degree to which merchandising objectives have been met,
• measurement of the degree of fulfillment of promotional actions,

Retail audit projects are used primarily by manufacturers and distributors of consumer goods, retail outlets, sales support and marketing agencies. It is run like an Omnibus, where various clients come on board to share costs of running the study. Retail Audit is an important study for people in marketing and sales departments.

What is “brand equity” – the definition I personally like due to its expressiveness, even though imprecise is the stored value built up in a brand over time which can be used to gain market dominance. Brand Equity is created over a period of time sometimes even decades. Companies invest a lot of resources in building brand equity as it translates into growth and bottom line performance. There are many ways to measure the value of a brand. These are measurements at firm level, at product level, and at consumer level.

Firm Level: Firm level approaches measure the brand as a financial asset. In short, a calculation is made regarding how much the brand is worth as an intangible asset.

Product Level: The classic product level brand measurement example is to compare the price of a no-name or private label product to an “equivalent” branded product. The difference in price, assuming all things equal, is due to the brand.

Consumer Level: This approach seeks to map the mind of the consumer to find out what associations with the brand that the consumer has. This approach seeks to measure the awareness (recall and recognition) and brand image (the overall associations that the brand has). Brand Equity is quantifiable and measures the value that customers perceive in a brand but quantifying it takes a lot of time and is a major concern for marketers worldwide. The bottom line for measuring Brand Equity is the amount of Trust customers have on the Brand and the extent they would go financially to acquire the product.Free association tests and projective techniques are commonly used to uncover the tangible and intangible attributes, attitudes, and intentions about a brand.  When conducting market research to measure brand equity, the following components of brand equity must be carefully examined:

• Awareness/usage of the client brand vis-à-vis competitors
• Brand Image Associations
• Differentiating Strength (Perceived Difference) between competing brands
• Brand loyalty and switching likelihood
• Confidence
• Consideration of usage
• Attitudes toward the brand
•  Competitive strengths/weaknesses

Brands with high levels of awareness and strong, favorable and unique associations are high equity brands. Brand Equity measurement should be conducted continually in order to track and establish a reliable brand equity index.