Retail is a fast-paced game where success is defined by one key factor: execution (Note: it gets easier with Merchandising Solutions). It’s not just about having great products or running eye-catching promotions—it’s about making sure those products are available, visible, and strategically positioned across every store, every shelf, every time. For brands competing in today’s retail landscape and specially the highly dynamic FMCG and CPG sectors, the difference between winning and losing at the shelf often comes down to one thing: having the right merchandising solution in place.
What Is a Merchandising Solution?
A merchandising solution is a digital platform that enables brands to monitor, manage, and optimize their in-store product displays and merchandising operations. It acts as a bridge between headquarters and the retail floor, helping teams ensure that execution aligns with strategy across a distributed retail network.
Typically, merchandising solutions combine mobile apps for field reps, cloud-based dashboards for managers, and tools like image recognition, real-time reporting, and task management. Together, these features allow brands to track shelf presence, validate compliance with planograms, reduce out-of-stock issues, and gather field insights—all in real time.
Why Do Brands Need a Merchandising Solution?
Despite significant investment in marketing and promotions, many brands still struggle with on-the-ground execution. Common challenges include:
- Out-of-stock products: Lost sales due to unavailable SKUs.
- Poor shelf visibility: Products not displayed according to planograms.
- Lack of execution tracking: Inability to verify whether promotions are correctly implemented.
- Manual reporting: Field teams still using spreadsheets or WhatsApp to share data which tends to be slow, inaccurate and prone to errors.
These inefficiencies create a significant disconnect between the brand’s strategy and its actual presence in stores. A merchandising solution eliminates this gap by providing real-time visibility, structured workflows, and actionable data.
The Core Benefits of a Merchandising Solution
- Enhanced On-Shelf Availability
The core of any merchandising effort is to ensure that products are always available for customers to purchase. A merchandising solution allows field reps to track stock levels during visits and flag potential out-of-stock issues before they result in lost sales. Automated alerts and dashboards help teams take proactive action to restock and redistribute inventory as needed.
- Improved Planogram Compliance
Ensuring that products are arranged according to planograms is crucial for brand visibility and shopper experience. With image recognition technology and mobile checklists, field reps can quickly verify compliance while in-store. Brands can also use captured images and data to audit store execution remotely.
- Real-Time Insights and Reporting
Gone are the days of waiting days—or even weeks—for retail performance reports. A merchandising solution provides real-time data on product visibility, compliance, and field activities. Dashboards can be customized for different teams, enabling faster decision-making and more agile campaign adjustments.
- Field Team Efficiency and Accountability
For field reps and merchandising teams, mobile-enabled workflows simplify daily operations. Managers can schedule visits, assign tasks, and track KPIs like number of visits, issues resolved, and execution scores. This not only boosts team productivity but also ensures accountability across the board.
- Data-Driven Decision Making
By aggregating data from thousands of store visits, merchandising solutions offer deep insights into what’s working and what’s not. Brands can analyze shelf share, identify trends, and optimize product placement, promotions, and even product assortments at a store level.
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Why Shelvz Is the Solution You Need
At Shelvz, we’ve built our platform specifically to address the real-world needs of brands and distributors operating in emerging and competitive retail markets. Our merchandising solution is trusted by leading Retail, FMCG and CPG companies to elevate execution, reduce waste, and improve visibility.
Here’s what sets Shelvz apart:
Mobile-First Platform: Easy-to-use apps for field reps and supervisors that work even with limited internet connectivity.
Image Recognition AI: Automatically detects SKUs and validates shelf layouts—saving time and improving accuracy.
Customizable Workflows: Adapt the platform to your operational structure, whether you’re using internal teams or external agencies.
Integrated Dashboards: Visualize key metrics like shelf share, OSA, and compliance scores at brand, category, or store level.
Multi-Channel Capabilities: Manage merchandising across hypermarkets, supermarkets, pharmacies, and more.
Whether you need to manage 10 field reps or 1,000, Shelvz scales with your operations and helps you stay in control of your retail execution.
25% of in-store sales are lost to poor retail execution
Key Features to Look for in a Merchandising Solution
If you’re evaluating merchandising solutions, it’s important to assess how each platform aligns with your business needs. Here are the must-have features to consider:
- Field Visit Scheduling: Helps managers plan routes, assign stores, and reduce travel inefficiencies.
- Offline Functionality: Ensures that reps can collect data in-store even when internet access is limited.
- Analytics & Reporting: Dashboards should be intuitive, real-time, and customizable.
- Photo Capture & Validation: Vital for visual documentation and execution verification.
- Integration Capabilities: Ability to integrate with existing ERPs, CRMs, and trade promotion tools.
Shelvz brings all of this together in one seamless platform designed for performance and scalability.
How to Implement a Merchandising Solution Successfully
Getting the most out of your merchandising solution requires more than just choosing the right software. Here’s how to ensure a successful rollout:
- Define Your Goals: What are your KPIs—OSA, compliance, promotion execution? Set clear targets from the start.
- Train Your Field Teams: Adoption depends on ease of use and proper onboarding.
- Monitor and Iterate: Use data insights to identify weak points and continuously optimize.
- Align Across Departments: Sales, marketing, trade marketing, and operations should work together on execution.
Shelvz’s customer success team supports you through every stage of the process—from onboarding to optimization—so your teams can hit the ground running.
Drive Retail Excellence with Shelvz’s Merchandising Solution
Retail is won on the shelf. No matter how strong your brand is, execution determines the final outcome. With Shelvz, you get a complete merchandising solution designed to help you monitor, control, and improve every aspect of in-store performance.
If you’re ready to stop leaving sales on the shelf and start turning data into results, let’s talk.
👉 Book your personalized demo now and discover how Shelvz can transform your merchandising operations.
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