Numeric distribution and share of shelf: measuring what is really on the shelf

Ask a distributor where your product is sold and you will get a list. Walk into those shops and you will find something else: a pharmacy that ran out three weeks ago, a supermarket that keeps the product in the stockroom, a kiosk that never took it at all. Between theoretical distribution — where the product should be — and real distribution — where a shopper can actually find it — there is a gap. Nobody knows its size until somebody goes and looks.

This guide explains what the three classic retail indicators measure, and how to run an audit whose figures you can defend.

Three indicators, three different questions

• Numeric distribution answers "in how many of the shops we checked is the product present?". It is a simple share: shops where the product was found, over shops audited. If a product was looked for everywhere and found nowhere, its figure is 0% — it must not vanish from the table.
• Weighted distribution answers "how much of the market do those shops represent?". Each shop counts according to its weight: a hypermarket counts more than a roadside kiosk. A product can have modest numeric distribution and strong weighted distribution if it is present where volume is made — and the reverse.
• Share of shelf answers "how visible are we against the competition?". It is your units on the shelf over all units observed in the category, competitors included. It is the indicator that tells you whether you are winning the shelf or merely present on it.

None of these can be computed from sell-in data. They require someone to stand in front of the shelf.

Design the audit before sending anyone

An audit that "visits whoever is nearby" produces numbers that describe the route, not the market. Three decisions come first:

1. The period — an audit is a snapshot. Fix its start and end, and compare snapshots with each other.
2. The sample — which territories are covered, and if relevant which channels: pharmacies, supermarkets, wholesalers, traditional trade. A sample chosen in advance is a sample you can repeat.
3. The range — the exact list of products to check, yours and your competitors'. Without competitors, there is no share of shelf.

One screen per shop, one visit per campaign

In the field, the audit must be fast or it will not be done. In FunnelRover's REACH module, the person on the ground picks the point of sale, ticks the products present and, when possible, enters the quantity on the shelf. A proof photo and the GPS position are added. Each point of sale is audited only once per campaign, so nobody inflates the result by counting the best shop twice, and audits are only accepted while the campaign is active — not as a draft, not once it is closed.

Reading the results

At the end of the campaign — and during it — each product shows its distribution and its share of shelf. The comparison by territory, from weakest to strongest, is usually where the conversation starts: it points to the distributor or the route that is not doing its job. The breakdown by category and by brand, you against the competition, tells you what to fight for. A single product can also be read on its own: does it lift or drag down its class average, and how has it moved from one campaign to the next?

Everyone reads these figures for the points of sale in their own scope; Master Data reads them for the whole organisation. Audits export to CSV for your own analysis.

From one audit to a routine

One audit gives you a photograph. Several, at the same sample and the same range, give you a film. That is where the value lies: a numeric distribution of 42% is a fact; a numeric distribution that went from 42% to 55% after a distributor incentive is a result.

Once audits are recurring, the share-of-shelf indicator can be followed in FunnelRover's ANALYZE module, where an alert rule watches it against a threshold, for the organisation or a territory. Each crossing is notified and kept in a log until someone acknowledges it.

Common mistakes

• Auditing only your own products. You learn whether you are present, never whether you are winning.
• Changing the sample every time. Two audits on different shops cannot be compared, however tempting it is.
• Dropping products that were not found. A missing product is the most important line of the report, not a gap to tidy away.
• Collecting without reading. An audit that nobody discusses within two weeks will not be done properly the next time.

Where to start

Pick one category, one or two territories and a fixed list of shops you can revisit. Include your two main competitors in the range. Run the audit over a short period, read the results with the sales team, and schedule the next one before the first is closed. By the third campaign, the gap between what you thought was on the shelf and what really is will no longer be a matter of opinion.