Retail Tracking
Metrics such as market share, sales, and distribution,
estimated by the retail tracking service (also known as retail index and retail measurement
service), are fundamental to formulating marketing strategies and sales plans. These are the
key statistics that yield insights into market structure, channel performance, brand health,
competition and sales performance. For this reason, practitioners rely heavily on retail
tracking.
While these metrics themselves may be easy to grasp, it is vital to understand
the scope of the service and its strengths and limitations in order to interpret the data and
derive meaningful insights. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive study of
the methodology, imparting this understanding to the reader.
The chapter delves into the six processes that constitute a retail tracking
service: universe definition, retail census, sample design and recruitment, data collection,
data processing, and analysis and interpretation. It explains the metrics supported by the
service, highlights the key benefits it offers, and demonstrates how the data is interpreted.
In addition, Chapter 30, Sales and Distribution, and the Little
People case study, dwell deeper into the application of the retail index for the analysis
of sales and distribution.
By exploring these topics, readers will gain a thorough understanding of the
methodology behind retail tracking, enabling them to leverage the service effectively for
strategic decision-making.
