The Retail Execution Playbook

Retail execution is the work that turns your commercial plan (range, space, price, promotions, and launches) into what a shopper sees and can buy in the store today. This guide collects the practices that consumer-goods field teams use to do it well, and shows where FieldKo supports each one. It’s written for managers who plan and coach, admins who set FieldKo up, and reps who do the work in the store.

Why It Matters

Most buying decisions happen in the store. A 2012 shopper study by Point of Purchase Advertising International (POPAI) found that 76% of purchase decisions were made in store.¹ If your product isn’t there, isn’t visible, or isn’t on promotion when it should be, the shopper buys something else. The cost of missing stock alone is large. NielsenIQ estimated that United States (US) retailers lost about $82 billion in consumer packaged goods (CPG) sales in 2021 to products that weren’t on the shelf, about 7.4% of sales, with average on-shelf availability of 92.6%.² Plans also fail quietly. POPAI UK and Ireland, its United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland arm, reported that full compliance with in-store campaigns can be as low as 29%, and that 79% of retailers assume displays are executed rather than checking.³ Research on store operations found that execution problems, such as inaccurate inventory records, can cut a retailer’s profits by more than 10%.⁴

Best Practice

Run the Loop: Plan, Execute, Measure, Improve

Strong field teams treat execution as a loop, not a one-off push:

Plan: Define what good looks like for each type of store, decide which stores matter most and how often to visit them, and load promotions and launches into the call plan.
Execute: Reps visit, check the store against the standard, fix what they can on the spot, and sell in orders and displays.
Measure: Capture audit answers, photos, ranging, and orders as structured data, and compare results with targets store by store.
Improve: Managers coach, the business adjusts standards and targets, and each store’s gaps become the next visit’s priorities.

The loop only works when every turn feeds the next. A gap you measure but never act on, or a standard you set but never check, breaks it.

Focus on the Core Pillars

Most perfect store standards cover the same five pillars. Each one gets its own page in this guide.

Pillar	What Good Looks Like
Availability	Every product the store should stock is on the shelf, not in the backroom.
Visibility and shelf	Your share of shelf meets its target, with facings and blocking as agreed.
Placement	Products sit in the right position on the planogram, at the right height and next to the right neighbors.
Pricing	The shelf price is correct and the price tag is present.
Promotion	The agreed promotion is live, displays are built in the agreed place, stocked, and signed.

Make It Specific and Measurable

POPAI’s top reason for poor compliance is vague instructions.³ Every standard in this guide ends in something a rep can check with a yes, a number, or a photo, and something a manager can report on. That’s what makes the loop measurable.

How This Guide Is Organized

Read the pages in order the first time. After that, go straight to the practice you’re working on.

Stage	Page	What You’ll Learn
Plan	Define Your Perfect Store	Set the picture of success per store segment, and score it.
Plan	Segment Stores and Set Visit Frequency	Tier stores, set visit frequency, and build call cycles and routes.
Execute	Run a Great Store Visit	Plan, run, and close each visit with clear objectives.
Execute	Keep Products on the Shelf	Find and fix out-of-stocks, including stock that’s in the building.
Execute	Win the Shelf	Check share of shelf and planogram compliance consistently.
Execute	Execute Promotions and Displays	Get promotions and displays live, stocked, and checked.
Execute	Orders, Stock Rotation, and Short-Dated Stock	Order the right amount, rotate stock, and handle short-dated product.
Execute	Capture Photo Evidence That Holds Up	Take photos that prove what’s on the shelf.
Measure	Measure What Matters	Choose key performance indicators (KPIs), set targets, and run weekly and monthly reviews.
Improve	Coach Your Field Team	Use ride-alongs and data to improve rep performance.
Improve	Launch a Product or Promotion in the Field	Bring the whole loop together for a launch or campaign.

How FieldKo Helps

FieldKo runs on Salesforce, so everything reps record in the FieldKo Atlas app becomes Salesforce data. Design your questions for reporting so you can chart the results. Here’s where it supports each stage of the loop.

Stage	In FieldKo	Learn How
Plan	Call cycles, task types, surveys, and visit templates set the work for every visit.	Set Up Call Cycles, Tasks, and Visit Templates
Plan	Managers plan visits one at a time, in bulk, or as recurring series, on a calendar, map, or weekly grid.	Plan Visits in Salesforce
Execute	Reps check in, work through tasks and surveys, record tasks they can’t do, and check out.	Check In and Complete a Visit
Execute	Reps record core ranging to show which contracted products are on the shelf.	Record Core Ranging
Measure	Report recipes and a perfect store dashboard turn visit data into KPIs.	Retail Execution Metrics
Improve	Managers set targets per task type for each call cycle, and track target, planned, and completed counts.	Set Objectives and Targets
Improve	Report subscriptions with conditions alert you when a KPI slips.	Get Alerts with Conditions

New to FieldKo terms like call cycle, visit template, and field campaign? Start with Key Concepts.

Sources

Supermarket News, “POPAI: 76% of Decisions Made In-Store,” 2012. Read the article
NielsenIQ, “Empty Shelves in America: U.S. Retailers Lost Over $82 Billion in 2021,” 2022. Read the analysis
POPAI UK and Ireland, “In-Store Insights, Issue 24: Compliance Report,” 2015. Read the report
Raman, DeHoratius, and Ton, “Execution: The Missing Link in Retail Operations,” California Management Review, 2001. Read the article

Plan

Execute in the Store

Measure and Improve

The Retail Execution Playbook

Why It Matters

Best Practice

Run the Loop: Plan, Execute, Measure, Improve

Focus on the Core Pillars

Make It Specific and Measurable

How This Guide Is Organized

How FieldKo Helps

See Also

Sources

​Why It Matters

​Best Practice

​Run the Loop: Plan, Execute, Measure, Improve

​Focus on the Core Pillars

​Make It Specific and Measurable

​How This Guide Is Organized

​How FieldKo Helps

​See Also

​Sources

Why It Matters

Best Practice

Run the Loop: Plan, Execute, Measure, Improve

Focus on the Core Pillars

Make It Specific and Measurable

How This Guide Is Organized

How FieldKo Helps

See Also

Sources