How to effectively track your sales performance in mass retail?

Large retail is a demanding and competitive sector: brands seek to gain distribution and increase their number of points of sale, but unfortunately shelf space remains the exact same…

‍And yet, this is where you need to be: more than 90% of household purchases are made in supermarkets.

‍It is therefore a war of positions being played out between manufacturers. In an average hypermarket, where more than 20,000 references can coexist, according to Nielsen, it is essential to focus on measurable and actionable data, to develop market share and sales revenue.

Together we will explore the essential KPIs to track for a brand in supermarkets, those that will help you understand and stimulate your sales performance. With the right use of data, every number becomes a tool to optimize your presence and strengthen your brand's position.

Pre-requisites before tracking your data

Before having KPIs, you have raw data. This raw data is collected by your sales representatives, during their sales rounds. You are therefore not present to verify that it is properly entered. And yet, having confidence in your data is essential: if you are not sure that your data is reliable, how can you interpret it? How do you make decisions based on it?

It is therefore important to make your collected data reliable, notably through:

• the use of CRM/SFA software;

• the use of customized and specialized forms for your sector/brand;

• validation of the data entered by your sales reps: the report is not taken into account until the data is validated;

• conditional response forms, which simplify the task for your area managers;

• features such as voice notes or photos, which make it easier to enter information.

‍And now that you are sure your collected data is correct, let's look at the KPIs to follow.

‍Tracking the right KPIs in retail allows you to anticipate and react quickly to changing trends and consumer expectations. More than a measurement, key performance indicators are an index of success and a guide for strategic decisions.

‍

KPIs to track for a brand in large retail

Performance in supermarket retail is linked to a precise and rigorous analysis of key indicators (KPIs). It is based on your main levers (The 4Ps) put in place in the field by the sales team.

‍At Sidely, we have segmented the KPI approach into six crucial areas:

1. Sales representative performance

2. Store and retail chain performance

3. Promotion performance

4. Listing and availability performance

5. Merchandising performance

6. Sales revenue and order performance

Tracking Sales Rep Performance

Sales force optimization

Sales representative activities group together all events or actions carried out by the field sales force: visits, calls, tasks…

‍Closely tracking these activities helps optimize the efficiency of field teams and maximize the return on investment of promotional campaigns. Studies have shown that sales reps who follow a defined plan increase their productivity by an average of 20%.

‍Recommended KPIs include:

• Events per point of sale, meaning the total events completed over a defined date range, per store. For example, the number of visits. Tracking sales actions allows you to evaluate their impact and detect growth opportunities.

• Events per sales rep, meaning the sum of events completed over a defined date range, per representative. For example, the number of appointments set. Evaluating individual performance helps identify necessary training and align personal objectives with company strategies.

It is also interesting to track the evolution of events per point of sale, over a given time granularity. This is particularly relevant when opening new stores, launching an innovation, or targeted promotional campaigns. This allows you to understand the direct impact of these initiatives on store traffic, but also to confirm that your area managers have indeed increased their number of visits to your distributors.

‍Finally, tracking the evolution of events per sales rep provides a clear view of individual performance, delivering essential data to ensure that everyone is fulfilling their missions.

‍Analyzing these metrics allows you to identify strengths and areas for improvement, pinpoint training and development needs, and ensure that sales reps' efforts are aligned with your brand's strategic objectives.

‍

‍

Tracking store and retail chain performance

Activation and optimization of points of sale

‍Points of Sale group your store network. Segmenting them is a practice that allows for a refined analysis of each business unit's performance. This methodology, supported by data from the Retail and Distribution Federation (FCD) which states that an optimized store can generate a significant increase in sales of around 15 to 25%, highlights the crucial importance of such an approach.

‍By segmenting your stores by status, such as priority stores (also called gold), new customers, or active customers, you can not only evaluate the level of importance and potential of each point of sale, but also refine your marketing and distribution strategies accordingly.

‍Moreover, tracking the evolution of these statuses provides valuable data on the lifecycle of relationships with your distributors.

• Active stores represent opportunities for consolidation and sales growth;

• The new customer categorization serves to evaluate the effectiveness of acquisition efforts and understand the evolution of your customer base;

• Identifying lost customers and stores to reactivate is crucial for developing retention and re-engagement strategies;

• Etc.

Tracking promotion performance

Evaluation of promotional campaign effectiveness

‍Promotion is a marketing action that stimulates sales of a product or a category of products in a store or group of stores over a specific period.

‍Different strategies/mechanics can be used to promote products in stores. It is therefore important to understand which ones work for your brand.

‍The success of your promotions is analyzed on two aspects:

• How you or your area managers managed to sell the promotion (central or direct/pirate);

• How the in-store event went and its results.

‍These strategies are often supported by point-of-sale advertising (POS), goodies, and/or in-store animations, media (radio, social networks), billboard advertising, etc.

‍To track the results of your in-store promotion, you must verify if it led to an increase in recurring sales (weekly average sales, monthly average sales), but you can track several other KPIs:

• Promotion conversion rate: This KPI measures the percentage of customers who purchased a promotional product compared to the total number of customers exposed to the promotion. A high conversion rate indicates an effective and attractive promotional campaign;

• Promotion ROI: It assesses the financial effectiveness of promotions by comparing the gains generated to the initial investment. It is crucial for determining whether promotional expenses translate into a net profit;

• Promotional sales lift: This KPI tracks the impact of promotions on the sales of a specific product. A notable increase in your sales during the promotional period means the campaign is attracting customer attention and boosting purchases;

• Impact on customer loyalty: One of the risks of promotions is the stockpiling effect. Your loyal customers will buy in volume and stop consuming your brand for a long time, eliminating the usual recurrence. By analyzing purchasing habits before, during, and after promotions, you can evaluate whether promotional campaigns help retain your customers or increase purchase frequency;

• Share of promotional sales to total sales: This KPI helps understand what proportion of overall sales is attributable to promotions. Balance is necessary to avoid over-reliance on promotions;

• Average promotional stock duration: Measuring the time required to sell out promotional stock offers insights into the alignment between promotional supply and consumer demand;

• Out-of-stock rate during promotions: A high rate of out-of-stocks can indicate an underestimation of demand or poor inventory management, while a low rate suggests good planning;

• Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) during the Promotion: CPA measures the total cost to acquire a new customer through a promotional campaign. A low CPA indicates high marketing efficiency;

• Post-promotion churn rate: This KPI tracks the number of customers who stop buying after a promotion ends. A high rate can indicate that promotions primarily attract bargain hunters without long-term loyalty, which is not the targeted goal for your brand.

Tracking listing and availability performance

Maximizing product and brand presence

‍The presence of your products in stores is a crucial indicator that can directly influence your sales and, consequently, your brand's overall performance. Tracking it helps identify where your products are present and understand the activation level in your stores.

‍To measure your product presence, you can track several KPIs:

• Numerical distribution rate (D.t.N): This key indicator compares the number of products actually present in a point of sale to the number planned in the mandatory assortment. D.t.N can be analyzed by product, category, brand, store, or retail chain. For example, it is interesting to analyze it by product if you are launching a new innovation, or by store if you want to analyze your new points of sale;‍

• Product availability: the sum of references present in the store network. This indicator reflects the variety of your product offering and its capacity to meet diverse consumer expectations;

• Numeric Distribution (ND): This KPI measures the percentage of stores that stock at least one of your references across your entire customer base;

• Active clients: Tracking the number of active stores in your customer base helps you identify your sales front;

• Coverage rate: This is the number of assessments completed across all visited stores. A key KPI for judging the effectiveness of field operations;

• Number of mandatory references: This is the sum of products from the mandatory assortment that should be present. This data is a compliance indicator, showing whether the assortment is being respected.
  ‍

It is crucial not only to measure these KPIs but also to understand their evolution over time. This gives you a more dynamic picture of relations with your distributors.

• Evolution of availability and distribution per point of sale. This allows you to measure the performance of your chains and stores;

• Evolution of your availability per product. This allows you to measure the performance of your categories and references.

‍For multi-brand or multi-aisle companies, it is relevant to compare and analyze availability and distribution by brand or department. This will give you a macro view of your presence and help you refine your sales strategies.

Tracking merchandising performance

Ensuring product visibility

‍Merchandising encompasses all the strategies and techniques used to present your products attractively in stores. At Sidely, we take a deep-dive approach by leveraging precise data collected in the field, going beyond traditional merchandising practices.

‍Effective merchandising execution is crucial, as it can influence up to 70% of in-store purchase decisions, according to studies by POPAI.

‍Here are the essential elements to monitor for effective merchandising:

• Price check: Verify the actual presence of your prices, and at the correct rate. Compare your product prices with competitors to ensure pricing competitiveness;

• Merchandising audit: Check the presence and placement of your merchandising materials to ensure they are visible and accessible;

• POS (Point of Sale) advertising presence: Evaluate what percentage of your promotional displays are visible in-store;

• Label visibility: Determine the percentage of your price or informational tags that are displayed correctly;

• Number of facings: Count the number of your products positioned facing the customer on the shelf;

• Shelf placement: Note the height at which your products are placed, as this can affect their visibility;

• Lowest price point: Monitor the lowest price at which a product is sold, which can influence buying decisions;

• Out-of-stock rate: Measure how often your products are out of stock, which can lead to lost sales;

• Average Weekly Sales: Track the regular sales performance of your products to anticipate demand;

• Evolution of merchandising per store and product: Analyze how each product's merchandising evolves in different stores to identify trends and opportunities for improvement.

Using a digital solution that allows easy export of all your reports is indispensable. This ensures self-serve access to your data and helps you make informed decisions based on detailed and updated analyses of your merchandising strategy.

‍

‍

Tracking sales revenue and order performance

Understanding your actual sales
Sales revenue and orders are the financial reflection of your activity. By focusing on sell-in, which measures direct sales to distributors, brands get an initial perspective on their commercial performance. However, to capture the complete economic picture, tracking sell-out—meaning actual sales to the end consumer gathered from checkout registers—is imperative.
Market studies show that brands that refine their sell-out strategy can experience revenue growth in the range of 10% to 15%. To enhance this financial analysis, several KPIs prove essential:

• Average basket, in value and volume, gives a measure of the average price and quantity of products purchased per transaction. This is a significant indicator of overall performance and the effectiveness of promotion efforts;

• Orders from retail chains and/or stores provide a vision of demand levels and stores' interest in the brand's products;

• Average weekly sales by retailer or store, as well as by product or category, offer a detailed analysis of consumption trends and product popularity;

• Evolution of sales revenue per store reveals the successes or difficulties of specific locations, thereby allowing optimized allocation of marketing and sales resources;

• Evolution of sales revenue by product or category helps identify top-performing ranges or those requiring strategic intervention;

• Sell-out by retailer or store sheds light on how effectively products are being sold to end consumers, which can influence future orders;

• Evolution of sell-out by retailer or store allows tracking sales progressive trends over time and identifying seasonal variations or promotional campaign impacts.

If you have doubts about why POS checkout data is essential for identifying sales dynamics in retail, our article on how to obtain and analyze your POS checkout data can resolve your doubts.

‍

How to leverage this data to make informed decisions?

The CRM solution supporting you daily is essential for a detailed analysis of your field and commercial data.

The limitations of tools like Excel, which can quickly become complex and unmanageable with large data volumes, highlight the need for a more robust solution.

Here are three essential tips for getting the most out of your CRM from the start:

1. Prioritize database quality.

2. Strategically select the data to analyze.

3. Monitor your sales teams' activity.

Data Cleaning

Having clean data is paramount if you want to succeed in your analyses. A consistent database will yield consistent results. To do this, we advise you to:

• Associate each store with its retail chain parent company, identifying relations between parent companies and subsidiaries;

• Ensure your data statuses are constantly kept up to date;

• Categorize your accounts and contacts with relevant tags.

‍This maintenance must be regular to guarantee the reliability and current relevance of your database, which is key to getting accurate reports and tracking your activity effectively.

‍

Data selection and filtering

Avoid overwhelming yourself with an excess of irrelevant data. It is wiser to focus on a smaller number of well-analyzed key KPIs rather than managing a multitude of poorly handled data points.

‍We suggest to:

• Filter your data in your reports: Choose relevant variables according to the trends you want to observe. In your reports, determine columns for the data you want to follow;‍

• Create customized views: Use advanced filters to segment the stores you want to work on or analyze. For example, create a view containing your stores to visit. Filter by visit frequency or overdue visits. You will have a view of priority stores to visit during your area managers' next field rounds. All views are possible: You can also create a view with your availability by store or upward/downward sell-out trends.

These optimized views can also be utilized by your sales teams to improve their organization. They will save both you and them valuable time.

‍

Evaluating sales force performance

Tracking sales rep performance is just as crucial as tracking sales. They are the source of your data; it is therefore essential to ensure the quality of their work. A Numeric Distribution (ND) of 88% based on two visits is significantly different from an ND of 88% based on fifty visits.

‍Among the sales performance indicators to track, we can mention:

• The number of shelf checks completed per sales rep.

• The ratio between the number of shelf checks and completed store visits.

• The analysis of their time management through the calendar.

• Verification of their presence in the field if doubt arises.

‍It is also crucial to share the data and insights gained from your analyses with the entire team to optimize organization and implement necessary corrective actions.

‍

Our tips for better KPI tracking

Analyze your prospecting efficiency

What results are coming out of your sales force's prospecting? Measure individual team member engagement rates and associated conversion rates. How many contacts is each rep managing? Is this number increasing, decreasing?…

‍Also, how long does it take for prospects to respond to your team's outreach? The evolution of this indicator will speak for itself…‍

‍

Track your sales processes

Tracking sales objectives and prospect-to-client conversion rates is a good start. Carry out this tracking over time and study variations at M+1, M+3, and Y+1.

‍You can also look at the evolution of sales revenue against the average selling price.

How many master agreements are concluded? Who are your repeat customers, and are their expenditures trending upward or downward? Based on the answers to these questions, you will be able to manage your sales forces better and redirect their efforts towards what will generate the most results.

‍Think about the sales cycle duration as well. Time is money. A meticulous analysis will certainly reveal avenues for improvement and help focus on the actions leading to the best results. Get rid of time-consuming tasks while you can!

‍These elements will allow you to build pipeline forecasts, necessary for making the right decisions today, tomorrow, and beyond.

‍

Don't track too many KPIs

An organization's key performance indicators are as reassuring as they are daunting. When you have too many on hand, you end up seeing nothing. Depending on your situation, choose the KPIs that will provide you with the most actionable and valuable insights. Everyone has data… But you need to know how to simplify it!

Once these KPIs are understood, validated by you and your entire team, stick to your commitments and be patient. The data will soon deliver its diagnosis… Ready to adjust your efforts? Change is (almost) here!

In short, sales performance in large retail is not just a matter of numbers, but of detailed analysis of supermarket retail KPIs and understanding their interactions. Using advanced technology to dissect these parameters is key to turning your data into strategic insights.