This blog post is based on a webinar we hosted some weeks ago. We explained the retail flow and the importance of visualization of processes within retail companies, and introduced our product MockShop as a solution.

Challenges in retail… looking at fragmented processes

When it comes to retail, we often observe that different kind of departments are treated separately, when they actually should be in sync. Processes can be fragmented as long as they respect each other’s expertise.

Looking at the chain of departments sharing knowledge, the most important thing is, that everything should is in synch. You can respect them, but it is not always the ideal way of coming to a streamlined process.

What are the consequences of this?

Processes do get time consuming and they are often quite error-sensitive, because data is not going to be shared nor integrated in one flow.

Additionally, possible mistakes could be spotted too late in the process and maybe you don’t have time to get back to this specific point and give it a change in terms of your logistics and go-to-market time. And especially when it comes to go-to-market time for each and every company out there – as being part of one of the most hectic and dynamic industries - it can be quite challenging to be the first with a particular trend and new collection.

While having data more streamlined and integrated as well as fully visual, you might win that game and this should definitely be one of the focus points for retailers.

Getting your story across

When it comes to brand proposition, customers who enter the store should immediately be able to see and feel the brand’s signature. Having the desired brand image in mind should already be involved from the start, within the design department and the buying process. Looking at the different ways our retail solution MockShop works, it can be used by Buying & Planning, Buying & Merchandising and Visual Merchandising. They will all benefit from a more streamlined process. All of those departments should send out the same message to evolve the story of the brand.

Visualization of your Retail Flow

As you can see from Figure 1. the different departments can be shown based on the concept of the retail flow. Here at Visual Retailing we asked ourselves how that flow would fit into a solution for retail and especially in our philosophy at our company? As you can already see from our company name, we are all about visual. But why? Well, the human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text. 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual. As we are visual by nature, we thought to use this skill to our advantage. With our solutions, we want to enhance organisational effectiveness and solve the challenges mentioned above.

The Golden Circle of MockShop

Why do we have MockShop?

We like to challenge the status quo and make the streamline from the design department to in-store execution as visual and interactive as possible.

How do we reach our mission?

By providing one single source of truth – one smart integrated database. Accessible by multiple users/departments.

What can MockShop create?

An intelligent and unparalleled 3D store environment together with Analysing functionalities.

Mockshop is…

Fully automated, because we want to get rid of any manual processes and to give you a better insight into your collection.
Integrated, that means working with only one database including every piece of unique data which is relevant to everyone in each department.
Fully visual, so it is easy understandable data for all teams. Instead of getting lost in Excel sheets and lose images scattered around, every change made by a person is automatically visible for everyone using MockShop.

A brief overview of MockShop’s features

The first step of using MockShop is to connect product data to images. You can use any type of picture, black and white, colored sketch, dummies or sample images. After the connection you can scroll through them and click around.

As soon as you are happy with the collection, you can run through different kind of analysis, like assortment analysis, price breakdown or arrangement by colour codes or blocks. Basically every single piece of data that is used in range can be used in the analysis piece as well.

When you are satisfied with your assortment and you would like to bring things to life in a 3D environment, that will be your next step. With MockShop you can create a virtual world of your stores, walk through them, merchandise them and build your own fixtures. This is especially useful when you don’t have the ability nor time to visit every store individually. Everything happens on a digital platform.

Does the capacity vs. density make sense?

The great thing about MockShop is that Visual Merchandising guidelines and a perfect brand positioning can be build. Another important factor – which is often forgotten or being neglected – is that also Buying & Merchandising gets their hand on the software. This is particularly important as they have the responsibility to check if everything according to the VM guidelines also fits into the store in terms of capacity and density.

What we often see nowadays is, that still many companies buy based on gut feeling, historical figures and because they like the look and feel of a collection. But the most important factor is actually to buy to your capacity.

Work in a streamlined way

You can enter the most beautiful companies, the biggest brands on the planet, it will often surprise you how many of them still use pretty much Excel based environments and have some images somewhere flying around in shared folders. Whilst with MockShop you can work in a more streamlined way.

Does this sound interesting? You are able to rewatch the webinar on which this blog post is based on here.

You are curious to get more information about MockShop and how it can improve your business? Don’t hesitate to contact us and we will answer all of your questions.

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The Visualization of your Retail Flow: Streamline your processes