Retail Audit Lexicon

Why a retail audit lexicon?

Most industries and activities have their own language, their own vocabulary to describe the various facets and nuances of the trade.  Retail audits are no exception.  Since we could not find a suitable lexicon for retail audit terms, we built one.  This lexicon is based on the work of the Compliantia team and our interactions with 50+ retailers in North America, Australia and Europe.   This lexicon was built by retailers, for retailers.  Please use the comments below to suggest a new entry or edits to an existing entry.

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Acknowledgment
Also known as  Electronic signature, Sign-off

Visit acknowledgment is akin to an electronic signature. It gives the store manager, franchisee or operator the chance to acknowledge that the visit did take place. While the acknowledging user may not alter the visit, he/she can comment on the visit.  Acknowledging a visit generally “locks” it from further changes.

Action Plan

The action plan is an opportunity to apply corrective actions to problem areas. It designates an individual responsible for rectifying each problem and a target date. It allows district managers and store staff to work collaboratively, view each other’s notes and add their own. It allows for corrections to happen without incurring large time and labor overheads.

For more information on the action plan, please refer to The Mighty Action Plan

Audit
Also known as Field Audit, Store Walk, Store Evaluation

A retail audit consists of a user, usually a district manager, checking for compliance with operational, service and merchandising standards at a given store at a given time.  An audit is based on a form.  A visit can be announced or unannounced.  A visit can be scored (if form items carry points) or not.  A visit can be followed up with an action plan or not.

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Best-practice

According to Wikipedia, a best practice is “a method or technique that has consistently shown results superior to those achieved with other means, and that is used as a benchmark”. Best practices are the backbone of a retail audit program. Best practices are typically reflected in the contents of the form(s) used for store visits.  Best practices generally exist to increase sales, customer satisfaction and/or health and safety while reducing customer complaints, losses and risks.

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Calibration

Selecting, vetting and testing retail audit forms with a sample group of users and pilot stores prior to general launch.  For more information on calibration, please refer to Calibrate for Success.

Closed-loop

An end-to-end process or workflow that identifies, assigns and closes issues. A closed-loop process does not just report problems, it facilitates handling and closure.

Cloud
Also known as Software as a service

According to Wikipedia, “Cloud computing provides computation, software, data access, and storage resources without requiring cloud users to know the location and other details of the computing infrastructure.”

In a typical cloud scenario, customers own the data while the cloud provider owns the application and the infrastructure. This leads to rapid deployments and allows customers to focus on their business, not the technical delivery of the service.

For more information on the benefits of cloud computing for retail audits, please refer to Why Compliantia is a Service and Why That Matters

Compliance

Adherence to operational, service and merchandising standards, best practices and company policies. Scaling a multi-unit business while protecting the integrity of the brand and the customer experience at each location requires compliance tracking and a closed-loop workflow.

Critical Item

Often used in the food service industry, a critical item sets the entire section’s score to zero, regardless of other items in the section, if found non-compliant during the visit.  Critical items can be used whenever a customer or employee’s health and safety is at stake or when the business continuity is threatened by non-compliance.

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District Manager
Also known as Regional Manager, Area Supervisor, Franchise Consultant

A district manager is responsible for stores in a given district. The number of locations in a district varies by industry, location and brand, typically ranging from 5 to 30.

A district manager is a financial advisor, a coach, a consultant, a trainer and at times a disciplinarian. A district manager needs to communicate, educate, inspire, assist, verify and enforce. A district manager is the liaison between the stores and head office, the voice of head office at the stores and the voice of the stores at head office. It is a pivotal role, the backbone of the operations apparatus.

For some amusing examples of what district managers go through, read The District Manager Diaries

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Form
Also known as Retail Checklist, Store Checklist, District Manager Checklist

A form is a collection of items, grouped by sections, encapsulating the organization’s current standards. A form is created at head office. A form may include copy, best-practice images and attachments. Multiple forms can exist in the system concurrently, each encapsulating an area of concern or specific program, timeline and scope.

For best practices and tips on building a form, please refer to How to Build A Field Audit Checklist

Form builder

Tool used to create forms. In certain systems like Compliantia, forms can be created online using the form builder, or offline, in Excel then uploaded to the system.

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Real-time

A real-time system handles all operations, from data collection to reporting, in real-time. While generally superior to batch-time systems or systems relying on data-synchronization between client and server, real-time servers require a working data connection throughout the visit.  A real-time system may use a wired internet connection, WiFi , Bluetooth or 3G/4G carrier signal, or a combination.

Return on investment

The expected financial returns on the investment, a.k.a. the cost of launching and running a retail audit program.  For more information on the cost and ROI of a retail audit program, please refer to How Much Do Field Audits Really Cost?

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Score

A score is generally used as a high-level representation of a store’s overall performance with 80/85 generally considered a “pass”. If a point value has been assigned to form items, a score is automatically calculated at the end of the visit.

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Workflow

A workflow is a sequence of steps required to achieve a certain outcome. Retail Audit tools like Compliantia allow the organization to build workflows specific to each form and purpose. Workflows can be built by controlling user notifications, whether action plans are required, whether visit acknowledgments are required and more.