Retail audits that show the shelf shoppers see, not the one you paid for.

A retail audit is an in-store check that compares what is on the shelf with what a brand agreed with the retailer: facings, placement, displays and planogram compliance. The main types of retail audit check shelf placement and facings, displays and point-of-sale materials, and planogram compliance, outlet by outlet. Brands run retail audits to see whether trade spend bought the execution it paid for. Nextyn adds retailer and shopper interviews to the store visits, so each execution gap comes with its cause and a ranked fix. Nextyn's retail practice has completed more than 600 assignments across more than 85 countries.

A Nextyn retail audit report delivers three outputs: an execution scorecard for every outlet audited, the planogram and display compliance gaps by retailer, and priority fixes with evidence for retailer talks. Each output comes from store visits checked against retailer and shopper interviews:

• Execution scorecard: facings, placement, displays and share of shelf, outlet by outlet
• Compliance gaps: where the planogram and agreed displays are missing or wrong, by retailer and region
• Priority fixes: the stores to visit first, with the evidence key account teams need

Nextyn pairs store audits with interviews in three groups that explain an execution gap: retailers, distributors and shoppers. Trained Nextyn field researchers record the shelf in each outlet, and the interviews show why the agreed execution did or did not happen:

• Store audits, recording facings, placement, displays and planogram compliance
• Retail buyers and store managers, on space, ranging and display decisions
• Distributors and wholesalers, on deliveries and in-store support
• Shoppers in exit interviews, on what they noticed at the shelf

Nextyn runs retail audits in the United States, Canada and Mexico, among other markets, backed by a trained research network of more than 15,000 and research in more than 85 countries. Markets and retailers are agreed at scoping, so a US grocery program and a multi-country European audit each get a store sample built for their own channels. Recent Nextyn work includes retail audits across 20 countries for a household-care category, supermarket audits before a US launch, and store visits in Canada, Brazil and Mexico.

Nextyn recommends a retail audit after a new planogram, display program or listing goes live, before a joint business plan review with a retailer, and when sell-out lags a promotion that should have lifted it. At each of those three points, store-level evidence shows whether the execution paid for actually happened. A baseline audit also gives every later audit a point of comparison.

The Nextyn retail audit process runs in four steps, from brief to read-out, and nothing is commissioned until the client approves the plan. The client sees the store sample, checklist and price before any fieldwork, and reviews every finding with the Nextyn team at the end.

1. Submit the brief: the retailers, markets and agreed execution to check, and the decision the audit must settle.
2. Receive a plan within 48 hours: which stores will be audited, who will be interviewed and what the work costs.
3. Approve the plan: fieldwork starts only after sign-off.
4. Review the read-out: store audits and interviews read together, showing where they agree, where they conflict and what is still open.

Nextyn sends a research plan within 48 hours of receiving the brief, stating which stores will be audited, who will be interviewed and what the work costs. The plan sets the fieldwork length for the retailers, regions and outlet count in scope, so a single-banner check and a national multi-retailer audit each get their own timeline. Nothing is commissioned until the plan is approved. Repeat audits can reuse the same store sample, so each wave reads against the last.

A Nextyn retail audit is an independent check of the shelf against what was agreed, while field sales reports record what a brand's own reps chose to note on their visits. The two answer different questions: rep reports track activity, and the audit shows execution in a planned sample of stores, read alongside retailer and shopper interviews.

Nextyn's retail audit services include store visits that record the shelf, interviews that explain what the visits find, and a read out that ranks the fixes. Field researchers check facings, placement, displays, share of shelf and planogram compliance in each outlet. Retailer, distributor and shopper interviews explain each gap, and the read out gives an execution scorecard by outlet, the compliance gaps by retailer and region, and the stores to fix first.

Retail audit companies check whether the shelf matches what the brand agreed with the retailer: facings, shelf position, displays, point of sale materials and planogram compliance. Many audits also record share of shelf against competing brands and whether display material was ever put up. Nextyn records these in a planned sample of stores and adds interviews with retail buyers, store managers and shoppers, so each finding comes with its cause.

Yes. Nextyn builds the store sample by retailer and region at scoping, so one program can cover several banners, cities and channels. A check on a single banner and a national audit across retailers each get their own sample and timeline, set out in the research plan you approve before fieldwork. Repeat audits reuse the same store sample, so each wave reads against the last.