Count product facings on a shelf from a photo

Counting product facings for a shelf audit

Merchandisers, brand reps and retail auditors count facings, the product units visible across the front of a shelf, to check share of shelf and compare a store against its planogram. Photograph one shelf bay at a time, straight-on and from the middle of its height, so every front-row product is visible and none is cut off at the edge of the frame.

For a share-of-shelf check, mark one facing of your brand and one of a competitor as separate examples; the Found per example list then gives a figure for each, as long as the total has not been changed with the Included markers slider. A zero beside the second example means it only matched products the first had already found, so choose examples that look clearly different. Price labels and shelf strips should not hold dots, and products pushed back from the shelf edge or turned sideways may be skipped.

Comparing the counts with the planogram is your step, since the counter does not read a planogram. Give each bay its own tally row, such as "Bay 4, shelf 2, brand A", and save the stock-take to your account when signed in. Stock counts of the same products are covered on the can counter and the packet counter, and bottled drinks on the bottle counter.

For each bay in the audit

• One bay per photo, framed edge to edge
• One example for your brand and one for each competitor, up to three
• Products faced forward to the shelf edge before shooting
• Bay, shelf and brand written in the tally label