Square Shape
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Horizontal Rectangle Shape
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Vertical Rectangle Shape
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Bad Example
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Good Example
Image with watermark
Blurry image
Angled Image
Transaprent background allows team to use it as-is and build the shelf without any extra step.
If the images CAN'T be provided in required format, HS team will need extra time to fix the image. For detail cost, please refer to "Time Cost Specification".
Image with transparent background
Image without transparent background
The number used to name product should be AS SAME AS the one used in product information file.
Any mismatched information will delay the project setup and increase the project preparation time
| # | Product image name | Product name in information file | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good Example | 37000930433.png |
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| Good Example | B1R03C17.png |
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| Bad Example (mismatch) |
3700093043.png |
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| Bad Example (mismatch) |
Tid Pod 72 turbo.png |
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Product information is needed to set up the exercise as well as for data analyze. To speed up the setup and make sure the product has correct information, a well-prepared product-information-sheet is necessary.
Below table lists all the necessary information:
| Brand | Which brand the product belongs to. e.g. Purina Pro Plan |
| Product Name | The detailed product name. e.g. Gravy Cravers Variety Pack Canned Dog Food |
| UPC | The unique number that can represent the product. e.g. 640791614033(UPC) or B1R03C17(Unique product ID in client's DB) |
| Bay-Row-Column |
Bay-Row-Column three number together is used to indicate where the product is located on shelf. Bay: Leave it empty if your shelf isn't divided by bay Row: Which row the product is located. The top row count from top to bottom, starting from 1. Column: Which column the product is located. It will count from left to right, starting from 1. One product with multiple facing should still be counted as one. |
| Price | The price of the product e.g. 1.98 (leave the currency symbol out, use the numeric number here ONLY) |
| Weight | The weight or the unit number of the product e.g. 30lb or 13.2-oz, case of 12 |
| Product Image Name | The name here should be as same as the actual product image name and it should be unique. Ideally, it should be product's UPC code but if not possible, it needs at least to be unique. e.g. 37000930433 or B1R03C17 |
| Facing | How many facing of the product is shown on the shelf. e.g. 2 |
| Features | The file supports up to 5 features. These are nice-to-have information but will definitely help to speed up analysis process if you want HS team to report on these aspects. |
The more accurate/detailed the information that can be provided, the faster the study can be set up and reported.
Below is an example of how an IDEAL product-information-sheet should look like:
Must Have Information
| brandName | productName | bay | row | column | price | weight | upc | facing | popupName |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purina Pro Plan | Focus Adult Sensitive Skin & Stomach Salmon & Rice Formula Dry Dog Food | 1 | 1 | 1 | 47.98 | 30lb | 038100131959 | 2 | 038100131959 |
| ALPO | Gravy Cravers Variety Pack Canned Dog Food | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8.96 | 13.2-oz, case of 12 | 640791614033 | 3 | 640791614033 |
Nice To Have Information
| brandName | productName | upc | FEAT1 | FEAT2 | FEAT3 | FEAT4 | FEAT5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purina Pro Plan | Focus Adult Sensitive Skin & Stomach Salmon & Rice Formula Dry Dog Food | 038100131959 | dry | adult | bag | salmon | Sensitive Digestion |
| ALPO | Gravy Cravers Variety Pack Canned Dog Food | 640791614033 | wet | adult | can | beef, chicken | No Corn No Wheat No Soy |
PLANO is a visual diagram shows how products are placed on the shelf. It indicates not only product's position but also accurate product dimension information which is very useful during shelf-building.
A READY-TO-USE PLANO sometimes can be used as testing shelf image directly. In that case, the time needed for shelf-building will be saved. Please notice: the image need to be as high-res as possible. Below is the example of a READY-TO-USE PLANO.
An acceptable/standard PLANO should show the product position on the shelf with correct dimension. Compared with READY-TO-USE PLANO, the image quality won't be that good and the product images might not be properly cropped.
But it is still a good reference and HS team can re-build shelf fairly quick assuming high quality product images are provided. Below is the example of an Acceptable/Standard PLANO
A low quality PLANO includes such PLANO provides incomplete information, such as missing product, inaccurate product dimension.
Such PLANO actually cause more problem than helpful. If possible, please avoid sending such file. And if it is the only thing can be provided, HS team will require more time than usual to prepare the shelf. (Please refer to "Time Cost Specification" for detailed time cost). Below is the example of a Low quality PLANO.
A store photo should NEVER be a PLANO. It is hard to find the right product based on the image and in most of the time, the products are disorganized.
Please avoid sending such PLANO to HS team.And if it is the only thing can be provided, HS team will require more time than usual to prepare the shelf and project may be paused for re-estimate TIME and COST.(Please refer to "Time Cost Specification" for detailed time cost).Below is the example of a Not Acceptable PLANO.
The time needed to build a shelf differs by the number of products and shelf needed. In generally, it can be separated by two steps.
Below is a detailed breakdown for the time costing
| Image type | Process | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| PNG with transparent background |
1. image resizing 2. optimizing saving |
3 - 5 sec/image |
|
JPG, or PNG with solid background |
1. image cropping (remove background) 2. image resizing 3. optimizing saving |
4 - 5 min/image |
When extra image alteration is needed, there will be more time required. Those image alteration includes:
Different image alteration requires different time. Please check with HS team for detail.
| PLANO Quality | Time needed |
|---|---|
| Clean, Organized PLANO | 25 -30 products/hour (eg: For a 500-product shelf, the estimated time is 17 - 20 hours) |
| Messy, Poor Quality PLANO | 12 -15 products/hour (eg: For a 500-product shelf, the estimated time is 33 - 42 hours) |
Pack test is relatively simple and fast compared with shelf test. In the test legs, nothing is changed except test packs.
When the control LEG is finalized, it usually take around 3 min/pack to create test LEG. (eg: To create a test LEG shelf with 5 test packs will take around 15 min)
Shelf test is much complicated. Packs are moved around on the shelf and control LEG is quite different from the test LEG. In that case, the time needed to build test shelf will be as same as building a new shelf from scratch. Please refer to the table above for the timing.
Conceptboard is an online tool that Hotspex uses with clients to comment and mark up changes for survey stimuli inputs (Shelf / Pack images, Brand Logos etc.).
We hope you will find this to be both valuable and helpful to review all stimuli as well as add your comments and provide any feedback.
Click here to open the pdf maunal or watch the video below to get an orientation.