OutletIQ/Retail execution software
Category
Retail execution software plans, records and verifies what your field team actually does inside outlets. This page defines the category, sets out what to ask a vendor, and explains how OutletIQ approaches it.
Currently in production with a spirits distributor.
Retail execution software is a mobile and web system that plans, records and verifies the work a field team does inside retail outlets. It covers journey planning, outlet visits, shelf and stock audits, photo capture, promotional compliance and a manager console that turns those visits into coverage and compliance reporting.
A retail execution platform is distinct from a CRM. A CRM records the relationship. Retail execution software records physical reality in the outlet: whether the rep arrived, what was on the shelf, what was out of stock, whether the promotion was running, and what was ordered.
The category
Five jobs. If a tool cannot do all five, it covers part of the operation and something else carries the rest.
Journey plans and routes, assigned by HQ or built by the rep, with week and month views so coverage is a plan rather than an accident.
Location, time on site and device integrity, checked together. A visit that cannot be evidenced should not count toward coverage.
Sectioned forms for availability, facings, out of stocks, competitor pricing and promotional compliance, with photographs attached to the visit.
A catalogue and cart where the price comes from the server price book, not the handset, and duplicate submissions cannot happen.
A coverage map, a review queue with evidence, exportable orders, and approvals that run a real chain rather than an email thread.
Offline-first rather than offline-tolerant. A local database and an outbox that syncs later, so a dead zone costs nothing.
How OutletIQ does it
Audits are configurable sectioned forms covering availability, shelf facings, competitor prices and promotions, with photographs. Last visit’s answers carry forward, so a rep confirms rather than retypes, and the week-on-week comparison stays honest.
Set the standard for an outlet grade, then measure each visit against it. Free stock and promotional compliance are recorded against the outlet and the visit, so a manager can see what went out and whether it landed.
The rep app is offline-first on everyday Android, on the phones reps already carry. No hardware rollout, no assumption of steady data.
Distributors own the stock as well as the visit. OutletIQ carries the order side in the same record, with totals recomputed server-side from the price book and purchase orders running a multi-stage approval chain through to a PDF.
Ask each vendor the same four questions and make them answer in their product, not their deck. What exactly do you check before a visit counts. What happens when the check fails. Where is the price calculated when the rep hits submit. What does the app do at zero bars for six hours.
If you want the sourced version of that exercise, we have written it up against two named vendors: OutletIQ vs Repsly and OutletIQ vs Skynamo. Both are built from the vendors’ own published pages.
Questions
Retail execution software is a mobile and web system that plans, records and verifies what a field team does inside retail outlets. It typically covers journey plans, outlet visits, shelf and stock audits, photo capture, promotional compliance and a manager dashboard that turns those visits into coverage and compliance reporting.
A CRM records relationships, opportunities and pipeline. Retail execution software records physical reality in the outlet: whether the rep arrived, what was on the shelf, what was out of stock, whether the promotion was running and what was ordered. The two answer different questions and often sit alongside each other.
Three groups. Brands and CPG manufacturers checking their products in stores they do not own. Retail service agencies sending merchandisers on behalf of those brands. And distributors and wholesalers running their own reps into their own trade. OutletIQ is built for the third group.
Perfect store execution is a standard a brand or distributor sets for every outlet: the range that should be listed, the number of facings each line should hold, the price it should carry and the promotional material that should be visible. Retail execution software measures each visit against that standard and reports the gap.
A retail audit is a structured check of an outlet: availability by line, shelf facings, out of stocks, competitor pricing, promotional compliance and photographs of the fixture. Retail audit software turns that into a repeatable form so answers can be compared across outlets, reps and weeks rather than read one at a time.
Ask the vendor what it checks and what it does when a check fails. OutletIQ cross-checks four signals on every visit: GPS geofencing at the outlet, a 30-minute dwell check, mock-GPS detection and location-fix density. A failure is flagged with its reason and routed to a manager review queue with the photo evidence attached, rather than being quietly counted as coverage.
Good ones do not. OutletIQ is offline-first: the rep app runs on a local database and queues every action in an outbox that syncs when connectivity returns, so a full day in a dead zone loses nothing.
Most vendors in this category, OutletIQ included, quote rather than publish. Repsly and Skynamo both list plan names on their pricing pages without figures, as checked in September 2026. Expect the number to move on team size, module scope and integration requirements.
Book a demo
A 20-minute walkthrough of the rep app and the manager console, then a straight conversation about whether it fits your field operation.
Or email fionn@fmops.ie
Keep reading
A field-by-field comparison for distributors weighing Repsly against OutletIQ.
Read it →How Skynamo and OutletIQ differ for UK and Ireland drinks and FMCG distributors.
Read it →A plain definition of field sales software and the questions to ask before buying.
Read it →Van sales and distributor management software built for Nigerian field conditions.
Read it →The rep app, the manager console and the review queue, on one page.
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