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I have been merchandising for the past eight years. In my experience the most difficult reset to be performed in convenience stores is the beverage resets. With so many moving parts involved in the process it can be daunting to know how to appropriately accomplish these resets. Any changes within the set can dramatically change the required resources needed to perform the reset properly. Examples including changing of package widths and heights in which alter the type of glide to be used and the proper spacing between shelves. When these are altered it can impact the overall visual appeal of the reset when it comes to the site lines of the reset.
This is why having someone with beverage merchandising experience is so valuable in the process of drawing the planograms. They can single handily make the process go much smoother. In addition to this paired with accurate store information. They can catch most mistakes missed by most people without this experience. For example most mistakes that I see when reviewing planograms involve the handle location. Most brand flows are based upon this.
Accurate store information is also essential due to shelf counts. An inexperienced reset team walking into a store with a planogram showing six shelves when the there are seven shelves can be a huge negative for future sales. If the reset team doesn't have the experience to identify that there was a mistake and contact the proper people. They could remove the shelf which would reduce the skus in the store by 15%.
In addition to this you have a large amount of deleted products leaving the stores that need to be organized by vendor to be picked up then you have all the new items with varying release dates that need to be brought into the stores. If you do not execute this properly it can result in a cluttered mess with a large amount of holes in the set. This equals wasted staff hours trying to get the locations reorganized and lost sales. The end result of a badly done beverage reset can be disastrous.
When it comes to the cold vault I find that placing stickers with the proper product is the best way to help the stores execute the new set. This ensures that the correct product goes in proper location. This is the simplest way to assist the store in the execution of the new set.
Proper planning and coordination of the schedule in communication with vendors and operations can solve a lot of these issues but it is imperative that there are no delays. I have learned that by using someone with the experience and the ability to catch these issues this process can change from being a headache that everyone dreads. To a project that everyone is excited to have performed. What have your experiences been with beverage resets?