A discount retailer with global presence required the support of RGIS. They have over 6,520 stores across 11 countries and employ over 155,000 people. The discount retailer is the UK's fourth largest supermarket, with over 990 stores across the UK and over 155 stores in Ireland.

REQUIREMENTS
The discount retailer did not have any store plans for any of their supermarkets in Ireland, and also needed to update a number of current store plans in stores across the UK using store surveys and SmartSpace® software. The retailer chose to work with RGIS based on the quality of the dashboard and survey results conducted following an initial two-store pilot.

The discount retailer required RGIS to provide the following:

• Nationwide coverage to be able visit 331 stores across the UK and 155 stores in Ireland
• Ireland stores: Complete full store surveys, collate data and create new store plans
• Selected UK stores: Complete full store surveys and update existing CAD layouts
• In addition, capture the POS in stores for the marketing team
• Provide accurate store plans in an Excel dashboard within a tight deadline

SOLUTION
The discount retailer partnered with RGIS to create and update store surveys, and RGIS provided the following:

• After an initial meeting with the retailer, the customer's needs were established 
• RGIS teams conducted 331 store surveys in the UK and updated existing CAD layouts using Data Collector
• 155 store surveys were conducted in Ireland, creating new store plans from scratch
• Stores were measured by square meters, and fixtures with the correct shelving count placed in the relative position
• Category based planograms were placed manually by visually identifying the planogram based on the library provided to the auditors
• Quality Assurance was maintained through photos being taken around the store
• The Excel dashboard was populated with data captured and stored in the SmartSpace SQL database

RESULTS
The discount retailer found by outsourcing the creation and updating of the store surveys to RGIS, the following results were achieved:

• Each store survey took approximately 1.5 hours to complete, totalling 730 hours
• The retailer's store in the UK and Ireland received two separate Excel dashboards containing counts of all fixtures with shelving counts and categories placed
• Raw data was also issued for verification
• The customer was on a tight deadline. All 486-store surveys, final QA and reporting were completed in just nine weeks
• The discount retailer is now considering having RGIS survey the POS in the remaining 600 stores across the UK