Your role
Merchandiser
Your day keeping products right on the shelf. At a distributor you check the principals' must-sell lines in the outlets; in a shop you keep products, prices and shelf labels up to date.
Steps differ for wholesalers and distributors and shops.
A merchandiser keeps products right on the shelf. The role is not the same at a distributor and in a shop: choose your kind of business to see yours.
For wholesalers and distributors
At a distributor
Link to this section: At a distributorAs a merchandiser you visit the outlets to see that the principals’ products are on the shelf, well placed and at the right price. Kila describes the role as: “Visits outlets on their beat to check shelves and displays (must-sell lines, facings, prices, photos), records visits, expired stock and new outlets. No selling, prices or money.” At Mombasa Road Distributors this is Purity Wanjiru.
When you sign in
Link to this section: When you sign inKila opens My route on your phone with your Stops today. You sell nothing, so there is no van: “You have no van of your own. Ask the store to start a van day for you.”
Check a shelf
Link to this section: Check a shelf- Open Distribution › Shelf audits: “The principals’ must-sell lines checked on outlets’ shelves: availability, facings, price and display.” Tap Check a shelf and find the outlet.
- Kila lists the must-sell lines, by principal, with the ones missing last time marked. Tick each line that is on the shelf, and type its Facings and the Shelf price, against ours.
- Tick Display or shelf strip in place and Posters or other POS material up if they are, add a Photo of the shelf and a Note if it helps.
- The button counts what you found, such as Save: 2 of 12 on the shelf. Tap it.
What you can do
Link to this section: What you can do- Visit the outlets on your beat and check their shelves.
- Add new outlets you find on the road, for a supervisor to approve.
Everything a distributor’s merchandiser is allowed to do
- Catalog
- View products and services
- Stock
- View stock
- Customers
- View customers
- Field sales
- Visit outlets on own beat and record visits, without selling (merchandisers)
- Distribution
- Add new outlets on the road and update an outlet’s census details; Take in market returns from outlets on the road, on delivery or at the depot; Check shelves at outlets: must-sell lines, facings, shelf prices, displays and photos
What needs a manager
Link to this section: What needs a managerNo approval limits: anything that needs approval goes to someone else.
Needs a manager
Selling, prices and money are not yours: the sales reps sell from the vans.
Common questions
Link to this section: Common questionsWhat does “missing last time” mean? The line was not on that outlet’s shelf at the last check. Kila also shows the last check’s date and score at the top.
Do I need a photo? At Mombasa Road it is optional: Photo of the shelf (optional).
Who reads my checks? The sales manager and the area supervisor, on Distribution › Shelf audits, by product, by outlet and by person.
For shops
In a shop
Link to this section: In a shopKila describes the shop’s merchandiser as “Keeps products, prices and shelf labels up to date; suggests prices below the minimum margin. No money or tills.” At Soko Fresh Mini-Mart this is Esther Njeri.
When you sign in
Link to this section: When you sign inKila opens your home page. Low or out of stock lists what is running low, and Products without a KRA item code (1) counts the products still missing one. Your work is under Products: the Catalog, Categories and pricing (2), Margins, Suggest prices, Shelf labels (3), KRA item codes and Import. There is no till and no money in your menu.
Your day
Link to this section: Your day- Keep the catalog right. Products › Catalog holds “Everything you sell: goods, kits, assemblies and services, with prices, costs and stock.” Add one with New product: Add your products. Many at once: Import products from a spreadsheet.
- Set the prices. Categories and pricing has the “Price lists for wholesale, customers and branches, quantity breaks, and how the catalog is organised.” “The till picks a customer’s own list first, then the branch list, then the base price.”
- Print the shelf labels for what changed. On Shelf labels, choose A price change, Products or A category (1), tick what to label (2), and tap Print labels (3): “The PDF prints at actual size.”
- Give products their KRA item codes: “eTIMS reports every product with its KRA item classification code. Give each category a code, and products their own where they differ.”
Not available yet
KRA item codes says “eTIMS is not connected yet” until the business connects it: “Codes are checked once the KRA eTIMS connection is set up under Integrations. Give products their codes now so sales report correctly from the first day.”
What needs a manager
Link to this section: What needs a managerNo approval limits: anything that needs approval goes to someone else.
Needs a manager
- Minimum margins. On Margins: “Only owners set minimum margins. You can see them here and fix prices on Margin watch.”
- A price below the minimum. It “can still be set with a reason (owners are told)”. When the market will not take the minimum, suggest a price on Suggest prices: “Suggest the price the market will take; an owner approves it and the till charges it from then on.”
- The labels’ layout. “Owners choose the layout and what labels show under Margins, Price rules.”
Everything a shop’s merchandiser is allowed to do
- General
- View dashboard
- Catalog
- View products and services; Create and edit products and services; Manage prices and price lists; Suggest prices for products below the minimum margin
- Stock
- View stock
Why is there nothing on Suggest prices? It lists the “Products selling below the minimum margin the owner set”. Until the owner sets minimum margins, Kila says: “The owner has not set minimum margins yet, so there is nothing to suggest.”
I changed some prices. Which labels do I print? Choose A price change on Shelf labels: each change says when its labels were printed, or labels not printed yet.
- Wholesale and distribution: how the whole business works in Kila.
- Sales rep
- Area supervisor
- Shops: how Kila works for a shop.
- Set minimum margins