4 Examples of How Merchandising Agencies May Deceive Their Clients

1. Inconsistency between the claimed and actual number of field employees.

The simpliest way for them is to claim more merchandisers than they actually have and then just grab salaries of the non-existing employees. Sometimes the number of merchandisers can be true, but the actual number of working days may be less than the claimed number (for example, phantom employees may work every Thursday).

Many agencies offer their own automation systems developed especially for fraud. We recommend you to contact only trusted developers who highly value their reputation.

2. Inconsistency between the declaired and actual workload.

Here are some typical examples of this type of fraud:

• Increasing a merchandiser's workload with tasks for other clients;
• Dishonest tableting;
• Overestimation of the time spemt in shops.

We guess it was the main reason why many of our clients started a conversation with the question: "Do you support automatic tableting?".

3. Non-payment of salaries to employees.

Unfortunately, some agencies do this as well. It's difficult for the automation system to detect such kind of problem, but these agencies usually reject proposals for implementation of such systems.

4. Dumping with an annual contract with subsequent claiming money in the second part of the year.

Yes, we have such an experience too. Only a thorough analysis of an agency's reputation can save you from this problem.