Home › Solutions › Operations › Fix problem stores
Operations · Fix problem stores
How to fix a problem store fast
Fixing a problem store fast starts with choosing the right store and the right issue. 11Ants ranks underperforming stores by how much they cost the business, then Ant suggests best-practice fixes based on what works in similar stores. Operations teams can then track each store’s recovery week by week, against both last year and budget.
THE CHALLENGE
Why do problem stores stay broken for so long?
Field operations teams can only visit so many stores. Without a clear ranking, attention goes to whichever store is loudest rather than the one losing the most.
Even when the problem is known, it’s hard to tell whether a fix is working until the next monthly report. Meanwhile the store keeps losing sales.
THE SOLUTION
How does 11Ants speed up the fix?
Ant ranks the stores and recommends fixes in plain English.
For planning and tracking the work, the Store Opportunity, Store Twin, Store A/B Test and Budget modules size each opportunity, test each fix and track recovery.
Rank where to intervene
Ant ranks stores and issues by their impact on sales and margin, so the biggest problems come first.
Learn from similar stores
Ant compares the store with better-performing peers to show what they do differently.
Get the recommended actions
Ant suggests practical fixes, such as range, stock or promotion changes.
Track the recovery
Ant Reports shows each week whether the store is closing the gap.
EXAMPLE QUESTION TO ASK ANT
QUESTION
Which five stores should we prioritize this month, and what should we fix in each?
WHAT ANT RETURNS
[Insert a real Ant answer from demo data: five stores ranked by gap value, with the main issue and a recommended action for each.]
See Ant prioritize stores
Demonstration data; brand names are illustrative.
What results do operations teams see?
CASE STUDY
Farm Source, New Zealand: data usable within an hour or two.
Farm Source's data was spread across several systems and mostly backward-looking. Within hours of onboarding it was usable for ranging, promotion and in-store positioning decisions across 65 stores, and 11Ants is now part of the planning cycle.
We had never seen a business tool like this before that could have such a wide scope across our business.
Fiona McCauley
Customer Experience Officer, Farro
11Ants allows us to get information from our data almost immediately.
Trisha Franklyn
Retail Analyst, Category Strategy, Farm Source
What do operations teams say about 11Ants?
In a fast-changing environment it’s really important to have instantaneous decisions. I think 11Ants has improved our business significantly.
Andreja Možina
Director of Loyalty & CRM, Mercator
Problem store FAQ
How do you decide which store to fix first?
Rank stores by the value of their gap to budget or last year, not by percentage alone. A large store that is 3% behind can cost more than a small store that is 10% behind. Ant ranks stores this way automatically.
Can 11Ants test whether a fix worked?
Yes. The Store A/B Test module compares stores that made a change with similar stores that didn’t, so you can see whether the fix, rather than seasonality, drove the recovery.
Where do Ant’s recommendations come from?
Ant bases its recommendations on your own data, including how similar stores perform, and on best-practice retail methods. Teams that want to go deeper use the Store Opportunity and Store Twin modules.
