"Optimizing In-Store Merchandising," which is based on survey responses from senior executives across national and large regional retail chains, identifies a new industry term - Known Problem Management (KPM). While the terminology might be new, anyone in retail IT can tell you what their KPMs are. For some, KPMs include shrink and, for others, heterogeneous databases and legacy systems that linger year after year with no end in sight. A major KPM in retail, and the focus of this report, is inaccurate planogram knowledge.

Key findings from the report include:

"¢ A quarter of retailers have up-to-date store surveys, yet only 3.7  percent say they have accurate planogram knowledge down to the fixture level for all of their stores.

"¢ A major part of the problem is that 63 percent of retailers are still using Excel spreadsheets for in-store merchandise planning, communication and compliance.

"¢ A quarter of retailers do not even measure store execution and compliance regularly. In fact, a miniscule 7.4 percent say they only measure it one to two times a year and a much larger group of retailers - nearly 20 percent - say they never do it.

The report also found that the bulk of the retailing industry is doing workarounds when they create merchandising plans and forecasts. They are working with historical and aggregated averages; using guesswork instead of hard numbers.

"Retailers have lost confidence in their stores' ability to execute localized campaigns quickly and effectively," said RBM's chief operating officer Dan Wittner. "Retail executives need access to real-time information in order to carry out directives from headquarters. This level of compliance ensures that every customer walking into their stores - regardless of store location - is seeing the right marketing messages and the right merchandise, exactly how it was envisioned to be placed within the store in order to create the optimal customer experience."

A free copy of the report can be downloaded at the Research section.

Source: Business Wire