Merchandiser Audit
Independent verification that the merchandising you pay for actually happened, at the outlet, on the day it was scheduled.
What is a merchandiser audit, and does Quantum Gulf Marketing run one in Oman?
A merchandiser audit is an independent check on whether your merchandising team did the work it reported. An auditor visits the outlet, records the state of the fixture against the plan, and compares that with what the merchandiser submitted for the same visit. Quantum Gulf Marketing runs merchandiser audits across Oman for brands and distributors who fund a field team and want assurance separate from the team reporting on itself. The point is not to catch people out. It is to give you a number you can use in a supplier conversation, and to show where a route plan is unrealistic rather than ignored.
Audits are commissioned by brands and distributors who fund a field team and want assurance that is independent of the team reporting on itself. Findings are graded against your own standard and packaged as coaching evidence rather than as a case against an individual, and each audited fixture carries a dated image so the finding is usable in a supplier conversation. Where an audit shows the route plan is simply not completable in the time allowed, that is reported as a planning problem rather than a compliance failure.
- Checks
- Visit compliance, planogram execution, stock rotation, POS placement
- Independence
- Auditors are separate from your merchandising supplier
- Evidence
- Dated photographic record per fixture
- Coverage
- All 11 governorates of Oman
The gap between the report and the fixture.
Everything is graded against your own standard and packaged as coaching evidence rather than as a case against an individual.
| Measure | What you learn |
|---|---|
| Visit actually happened | Whether the outlet was visited on the scheduled day, checked independently of the merchandiser's own submission |
| Time on site | Whether the visit was long enough to do the work the route plan assumes |
| Planogram executed | The fixture as built, scored against the layout you supplied rather than against what looked tidy on the day |
| Facings restored | Whether gaps were filled from the stock room, and whether the correct product went back into the correct space |
| Stock rotation | Whether older stock was brought forward or buried behind new delivery |
| Near-expiry handling | Whether short-dated stock was identified and actioned, or left to become a returns problem |
| POSM placement | Material present, current, correctly sited and undamaged, not simply delivered to the store |
| Secondary sitings | Whether booked off-shelf displays were actually built, and whether they stayed built |
| Before and after evidence | Discreet images of the aisle either side of the visit, grading the quality of the work rather than the account of it |
| Report accuracy | The merchandiser's own submission set against what the auditor found, which is usually the number that matters most |
Auditors are independent of your merchandising supplier.
Common questions
Why not just trust the merchandiser reports?
Because a team reporting on its own performance has an obvious incentive, and because an honest merchandiser working an impossible route will still show gaps. An audit tells you which of the two you have.
Do you audit our own team or a third party?
Either. The audit is the same whether the field team is yours, a distributor's or an outsourced agency's.
How much of the route should be audited?
Enough to be statistically meaningful and unpredictable. A fixed sample that never changes gets learned. We rotate coverage across the cycle.
Is photographic evidence included?
Yes. Every audited fixture carries a dated image, which is what makes the finding usable in a conversation with a supplier.
Can this run alongside a retail audit?
Yes, and it is usually cheaper to combine them, because the auditor is already standing in front of the fixture.
What if the audit shows the plan is wrong?
Then that is the finding, and we report it. A route that cannot be completed in the time allowed is a planning problem, not a compliance problem.
Tell us the question.
We will tell you how to measure it.
Send us the business decision you are stuck on. You will get a straight answer on whether research can settle it, what it would take, and what it would cost.