Those who have worked or are currently working as city KA representatives are likely familiar with the task of visiting retail stores. From the start, many companies require new hires to shadow experienced sales staff to learn about the stores in their territory and meet the relevant personnel. Store visits become the core of a city KA representative's daily work. Even when you become a manager, you still need to accompany sales staff on store visits regularly. Store visits may seem simple, but they involve considerable expertise. Marketing newcomers, in particular, must pay attention to details and avoid making a poor impression on their superiors from the very first step.

Case Study: Zhao Hua was a college graduate recruited by the company last year. After a year of training and development in managing traditional channel distributors, and to demonstrate the company's commitment to career development for college graduates, the company transferred Zhao Hua to a first-tier city as a city KA representative at the beginning of this year. Before leaving, his supervisor had a talk with him, emphasizing the importance of paying attention to details in the KA role and avoiding being overly ambitious or careless, especially since there would be a three-month probation period after the transfer.

Zhao Hua didn't take this seriously. After all, in the past year, the sales data for the clients he managed were excellent. He thought that KA work was just about visiting stores and discussing promotions—nothing technical. The new city, new work environment, and his new supervisor's hands-off management style made Zhao Hua feel like a wild horse let loose, free and undisciplined. He thought, "So KA work is this easy and simple."

Three months passed quickly. One day, his new supervisor asked Zhao Hua to join him on a store visit. After walking around the store for about ten minutes, they left. The supervisor casually asked Zhao Hua a few questions: "How many SKUs do we have in this store? Are they complete? How does our product display compare to competitors? What are the store's purchases, sales, and inventory this month?" Zhao Hua began to feel uneasy because he didn't know the answers to any of these questions. He stammered and couldn't explain. The supervisor, who was usually easygoing, suddenly scolded him harshly: "When you come for a store visit, you act like a bystander, more like a consumer than a consumer. You walk around and come out without learning anything. What have you been doing these three months? Are you here to work or to sightsee? I think you're better suited for distributor management..."

Zhao Hua made a fatal mistake: he imagined store visits to be too simple—just walking around and looking at products, a superficial glance. In reality, there is a lot of expertise involved in store work. For example, the main tasks in a retail store can be divided into seven elements: distribution, placement, display, price, inventory, merchandising, and promotion—often called the "Seven Elements of Terminal Management." For KA representatives, the store visit process revolves around these seven elements.

The importance of these seven elements to terminal management decreases in order, but their impact on consumer purchasing behavior increases in order. Therefore, KA representatives must pay adequate attention to each element to be effective in their work. So, store visits are not as simple and easy as Zhao Hua imagined.

So, how can you improve the effectiveness of daily store visits?

Before starting a store visit, KA representatives should first understand the sales performance of the stores they plan to visit, compare with the same period last year, and check competitor sales. Knowing yourself and your enemy is essential to identify problems during the visit and solve them promptly and effectively.

Let's look at what to pay attention to during daily store visits to make them more productive.

  1. Distribution

Recording Points:

  1. Observe whether the store's product distribution is complete. According to the company's distribution standards, record any products that are not distributed or displayed.
  2. Pay attention to competitors' distribution status. Note if competitors have certain SKUs that your company does not.

Communication Points:

  1. Ask the store's sales assistant about the reasons for missing distribution—whether it's out of stock, not distributed, or locked out due to poor sales.

  2. Communicate with the buyer to place orders for out-of-stock items promptly. For items locked out due to poor sales, discuss unlocking and propose a plan to boost sales through promotions.

  3. For items not distributed, create a distribution plan and, after confirming with the company, arrange for them to enter the store promptly.

  4. Product Display and Placement

Recording Points:

  1. Check whether the company's products maintain the agreed display position and space in the store.
  2. Ensure the company's product display follows company principles, such as vertical display of similar products from the same brand.
  3. Observe competitors' display status, including any special displays or end caps.

Communication Points:

  1. If the company's product display has deteriorated due to unauthorized adjustments by store stockers, competitor sales staff, or competitor sales assistants, promptly coordinate with the store manager to ensure the company's display and position.

  2. Guide store sales assistants to arrange products according to the company's display standards.

  3. Seize every opportunity to improve display positions, such as when competitors are removed from shelves (due to quality issues, bankruptcy, long-term stockouts, withdrawal of sales assistants, or deteriorating relationships with the store).

  4. Product Pricing System

Recording Points:

  1. Check whether the retail prices of regular products match the company's requirements and whether price tags are correct.
  2. During promotional periods, verify that promotional products are priced according to the signed promotion service agreement.

Communication Points:

  1. If there are anomalies in regular product prices, promptly communicate with store personnel and adjust according to company requirements.

  2. Promotional product prices must strictly follow the agreed promotional price to avoid too low prices that could lead to price wars between stores, or too high prices that make the promotion ineffective.

  3. Retailers often conduct market research; maintaining consistent market prices is essential to avoid negative impacts on product sales and cooperation with retailers.

  4. Inventory Check

Recording Points:

  1. Understand and record the store's current inventory levels to determine if there is insufficient or excess stock.
  2. Record out-of-stock and overstocked products.
  3. Understand the promotion schedule and whether stock for promotional products is sufficient.

Communication Points:

  1. In case of insufficient stock or out-of-stock situations, promptly communicate with the store to place orders for replenishment.

  2. For high inventory, implement special prices or buy-one-get-one promotions to increase sell-through and quickly reduce stock.

  3. Promotion and Merchandising

Recording Points:

  1. Check whether the store's promotional activities are executed properly, following the previous plan and what was confirmed with the store.
  2. Check if the store has visual merchandising and advertising that enhance the effectiveness of promotions.
  3. Understand competitors' latest market dynamics and in-store promotions to avoid significant price differences on similar SKUs that could affect promotional effectiveness.

Communication Points:

  1. Communicate with the store to confirm promotional product prices, special display positions, and the area and quantity of special displays, ensuring promotional materials and visual merchandising are in place.
  2. Stay updated on competitor activities and report to the company promptly, enabling the company to adjust policies early and prevent competitive impact.
  3. Adjust promotional products that are similar to competitors' but with lower intensity to enhance the targeting of promotions.

In summary, the KA representative's visits, communication with store buyers, and subsequent reporting are the foundation of effective store visits. Completing these tasks is only the first step in daily sales work. Next, KA representatives must promptly communicate with store buyers or company management about the various issues encountered during store visits, apply the right solutions, and resolve problems in a timely manner. Therefore, daily store visits are a basic course in terminal management. They may seem trivial, but they involve a great deal of expertise. In one sentence: There are no small matters in KA store visits; attention to detail drives performance!