I have a Wal-Mart merchandising shop to do tomorrow and I've never done one before. I wondered if someone who has experience in them could PM me. I went to the MSC website and they said I should download a Cornice guide and darned if I can find one. Help!

Go to Google: Cornice Guide.

I thought you were doing "As Seen on TV" Bullpen Displays...

That assignment is rather confusing. It is not a mystery shop, though, but a merchandising assignment. The assignment comes with pictures for everything. It helps to have a friendly associate walk you through the department if you don't shop that department as part of your normal lifestyle. Make sure you get the right pictures.

Hubby did one that may be similar. It has been a virtual nightmare. Was 2 depts. First they reopened the assignment not once, but twice for him to upload a picture of a wall our WM DOESN'T HAVE!! Then it got reopened because their system had an error that didn't upload a pic successfully. waiting to see what happens next. It was bonused HUGE so I hope this isn't a way for them to get out of paying him.

Those are exactly the picture problems I have had.

Sometimes when I have to take a picture of something that doesn't exist, I take a picture of a page with the words that it doesn't exist. I didn't this time. Some companies say they don't want the word picture, but if I put it in the text, as this time with MFI New York, they may not see the words. With some companies, there are different editors for words and pictures.

I was wondering if a lot of people have these kinds of probs w/ WM merch shops. I have been tempted to pick some up, but low pay and if there is consistent grief, I will pass.

cynb Wrote:
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> I was wondering if a lot of people have these
> kinds of probs w/ WM merch shops. I have been
> tempted to pick some up, but low pay and if there
> is consistent grief, I will pass.

For the last two reasons, I've never been tempted.
Although I think I just did something similar which wasn;t billed as such.
Never again.

jpgilham Wrote:
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> I have a Wal-Mart merchandising shop to do
> tomorrow and I've never done one before. I
> wondered if someone who has experience in them
> could PM me. I went to the MSC website and they
> said I should download a Cornice guide and darned
> if I can find one. Help!


I need help too! This is my first TWO assignments for tomorrow. I keep reading the instructions and scratching my head. I pray that it does not take me 3 hours to execute the task. hahaha Help! Let me know how you make out. I am going EARLY so folks will be out of my way.

The best advice I can offer is to carefully check the instructions against any pictures provided and try to get a feel for the terminology. It took my hubby a half hour to figure out what a 'talker' was when he did his Walmart shop. Also be sure to do any pre-shop calling and make sure that you can talk to the right person when you get there.

Go on youtube and look up merchandising, POP's etc. training videos.

robinhardage Wrote:
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> The best advice I can offer is to carefully check
> the instructions against any pictures provided and
> try to get a feel for the terminology. It took my
> hubby a half hour to figure out what a 'talker'
> was when he did his Walmart shop. Also be sure to
> do any pre-shop calling and make sure that you can
> talk to the right person when you get there.


Sounds like a "shelf talker" where the shelf strips are for POP....

robinhardage Wrote:
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> Hubby did one that may be similar. It has been a
> virtual nightmare. Was 2 depts. First they
> reopened the assignment not once, but twice for
> him to upload a picture of a wall our WM DOESN'T
> HAVE!! Then it got reopened because their system
> had an error that didn't upload a pic
> successfully. waiting to see what happens next.
> It was bonused HUGE so I hope this isn't a way for
> them to get out of paying him.


I could have wrote that word for word. My hubby did one that turned out to be a nightmare. The store was set up so differnt than the instructions, that the instructions were pretty useless.

OP - make sure you give yourself enough time to do it. Chances are, even though they cap the pay at 3.5 hours, you'll spend more than that on your first time doing these.

DH and I agreed that we're not going to do these shops again. Way too much grief to bother with.

My Walmart experience was a disaster today! Very confusing. I called the "manager", but there was no return call.

Here is some interesting info.

I did this project at Walmart but for the origional Merchandising company.

Even with detailed instructions and experienced merchandisers they had something like 63% call outs (incorrect shops)

It was basically a nightmare.

I did manage to complete it even though my local Walmarts apparel dept is truely terrible.

Its hard to even get plan o grams (modulars) out of some walmarts.

Very frustrating project for even experienced merchandisers......not the the best one for a newbie to start on.

dwater--Thanks. I thought it was just me. My brain and back were hurting when I exited out of Walmart today. Where is the proper training?

Sounds like the one I got to do On Tuesday. I received a call He said it very easy. I accepted it. After I printed off the stack of papers I was pissed about all the work. THAN I checked my old e-mails I received a couple days ago that job was offered with a 75 dollar bonus. It wasn't offered to me for that.
I don't think I will be enjoying this job at all. Two departments and pictures. When he called he didn't tell me it would take 3 hours.

I have been tempted to take on a few merchandising shops...Kmart and Ross, but after looking at the guidelines and the upteen (tricky) things to capture and complete, how can this even be worth MY while?? Ross wanted 160 items checked for the correct sizing. These merchandising shops were paying under $20.

I think I will stay with mystery shops and gas audits for now. Just my .02~

......ain't you glad I have no comments?

marylo37 Wrote:
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> I don't think I will be enjoying this job at all.
> Two departments and pictures. When he called he
> didn't tell me it would take 3 hours.

I'd suggest you take a helper. Three hours is an understatement for one person.

Also, for those of you doing these, you may want to take your own step ladder. My hubby took his own and was very happy he did. The store only had one and they needed two, one for him and one for his helper, to install the higher signs.

You can't take anyone with you, and they say you don't need any tools.
If I go and find I need tools I walk out and tell them get someone else.

There are some that specifically say you need a step ladder at least

marylo37 Wrote:
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> You can't take anyone with you, and they say you
> don't need any tools.
> If I go and find I need tools I walk out and tell
> them get someone else.


We must be talking about different ones. His assignment sheet had a list of tools he should take with him but they forgot to mention a ladder. He did the sign(s) one. On most of these shops, including the one he just did, they recommend you take an assistant.

It says materials required call form-visit guide-fixture modular ( to be obtained from store )- fact flags channel toppers from the store LOA-and your camera

marylo37 Wrote:
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> It says materials required call form-visit
> guide-fixture modular ( to be obtained from store
> )- fact flags channel toppers from the store
> LOA-and your camera


LOA - Letter of Approval

Fixture Modular- Usually a constructed segmented unit

Call Form- Printed Call Report

Fact Flags - Banners with advertising

Channel Toppers- Signs going above fixture to describe product.

Hope this helps.

I just told MF that I will no longer be doing that kind of assignment.

Oddly enough, it looks like hubby is going to be paid in full for the shop he just did. He wrote an email explaining that there was no way to get pictures of areas that didn't exist. I thought they'd say, "too bad" but instead they thanked him for explaining the situation.

I guess we'll see when the payment comes in if it's full payment or not.

Walmart Merchandising and other Walmart shops.

Yes the first time will take longer than planned.

A lot of Walmart shops can be hard or easy depending on the Walmart and the way it is managed. I have had some really good, easy shops and some really hard difficult shops that are not worth the money, time, heart ache, and back ache. I have had shelves fall after everything is set up, due to the fact that the shelving is poor.

I have balloon shops that are fun and usually quite easy. Though this last week took longer than their capped time as I had to reinflate so many of the balloons as well as put new ones up. However, I did not mind as this Walmart is very easy to work with from management down. As I was reinflating balloons, the receiver came by and told me she had another box for me and where to find it. The management stopped by and was greatful that I am coming on a consistent basis and asked if I had noticed if more balloons were selling since we added balloons in an area that did not have them before. I was encouraged and thanked by everyone. I have done toy merchandising from them before and had a good experinece as the management knows where everything is and how to find things. No matter what I will not do the battery ones for any Walmart or other store. I will also travel a distance for this one. I schedule pizza shops or Gas Station shops at the same time and that helps with the traveling expense too. There have been some assignments at this Walmart that I won't do, but that has nothing to do with Walmart, it is just the pay isn't enough and the directions are not clear enough.

I have had bad experiences with other Walmarts as no one knows where to find anything including the Department Heads and management. I will never do those Walmarts again for any reason.

Thank you Anita. That was good information and encouragement.

It is hard to take a full view of the whole wall because they have racks and displays iin the aisle. The day I did the shop I took 39 pictures and they said I did not capture two pictures right Had to go back or check if I could find a better picture to submit. I went back and even talked to a supervisor she agreed no way can you get a whole wall in one picture They are not moving any displays or racks.I took around 20 more pictures see what I can come up with.

I have done the Walmart merchandising ones. I liked doing it and the Dept. Manager was nice & helpful.The section I had to do was a mess and she was sorry it was in that condition. I had several shops that day to cover the travel. I guess it depends on just what kind of merchandising you are doing. I have seen some I don't think I would want to do.