Two-Thirds of Retailers Lose 10% of Total Sales or More Due to Ineffective Merchandising Execution, Coresight Research Finds

A survey conducted by Coresight Research on behalf of One Door identifies the biggest challenges retailers face in 2022 and where investments are being made to improve.

BOSTON – (November 21, 2022) — One Door, the leading provider of cloud-based visual merchandising software, announced the findings of a new survey, conducted in partnership with Coresight Research. The survey looks at how retailers are being impacted by merchandising and labor challenges.

The survey of retail merchandising decision-makers in the U.S. and Canada revealed a lack of merchandising integration across stores and departments.

Less than a quarter of U.S. retailers were found to have mature integration. Integration across merchandising processes can yield substantial results and help retailers maximize their return on investment.

In addition, integration across retail operations helps retailers save money across merchandising functions. For example, two-thirds of retailers lose 10% or more of their total annual sales due to an inability to display relevant products and infection promotion execution.

“Effective promotion execution is indispensable during the holidays,” said Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research.

“Having the right product at the right shelf and with the right markdown, with effective use of artificial intelligence can help retailers drive an exceptional store experience for shoppers and avoid a potential for lost sales.”

“As retailers continue to grapple with supply chain disruption and inventory optimization, having the right promotions and displaying the most relevant products to shoppers can put retailers in a much stronger position,” she said.

“It is impossible for stores to respond to consumer demand if they can’t access current and accurate merchandising information across departments and store locations,” said Tom Erskine, CEO of One Door.

“In the modern omnichannel retail environment where consumers expect immediate, local pickup, retailers need real-time merchandising data to help guide store teams and avoid excess inventory and markdowns.”

The survey identified the top retail merchandising challenges:

• Inability to showcase relevant products and execute promotions
• Inefficient planning capabilities
• Labor inefficiencies
• Inability to fully leverage advanced technologies
• Ineffective localization

Key findings from the report include:

• Grocery and beauty emerged as the two most challenged verticals for effectively managing planogram compliance at the store level. 82% of respondents from each vertical cited planogram compliance as either “significantly” or “very” challenging.
• Staff requirements for planogram compliance and resets present the greatest obstacle contributing to labor inefficiencies for retailers.
• Drugstore retailers are more challenged than any other retail vertical for localization. Drugstore retailers also emerged as the vertical making the heaviest investment in addressing localization.
• US retailers are more challenged than Canadian retailers at integrating merchandising operations across stores. This problem was cited by 77% of US respondents as “significantly” or “very” challenging, compared to 63% of Canadian respondents.
• A higher proportion of US retailers (22%) than Canadian retailers (13%) cited losing at least 15% of their total sales due to challenges in ensuring on-shelf availability of relevant products and ineffective promotion execution.

Click here to view the entire report on merchandising challenges that hurt retailers.

Coresight Research Study Methodology
This study is based on the data analysis from an online survey of 222 retail merchandising decision-makers based in the US and Canada, conducted by Coresight Research between August 11 and 22, 2022.

About One Door
One Door is the leading provider of cloud-based visual merchandising software. One Door helps space planners, visual merchandisers, and store operations teams plan, execute, and analyze store merchandising plans in a unified, cloud-based platform. The result is higher sales, more store team efficiency, and better customer experiences.

About Coresight Research
Coresight Research is a research and advisory firm specializing in retail and technology. Established in 2018 by leading global retail analyst Deborah Weinswig, the firm provides data-driven analysis and strategic advisory to clients including retailers, brands, enterprise technology companies, accelerators, and more.

Coresight Research is also known for its expertise in helping clients with market entry and cross-border e-commerce strategies. Coresight Research is also known for its Innovator Intelligence platform, consisting of a vast network of technology entrepreneurs that it actively cultivates through events, mentorship, and regularly updated report coverage.