In the age of instant information, A Team Live is our answer to real-time reporting and transparency in merchandising. It is a proprietary web-based reporting system we developed specifically for the hardware retail environment and for our clients’ needs. Think of A Team Live as a window through which clients can see what’s happening in stores as it happens. Here’s an overview of A Team Live and why it’s such a powerful tool:

Real-Time, Web-Based Portal: A Team Live is accessible through a secure client portal on our website. Each client has their own login credentials, ensuring their data is private. As it’s web-based, there’s no software to install – clients can log in from anywhere and see up-to-date information. Real-time reporting means that as soon as our merchandisers sync their data from store visits, those details become visible on the portal.

Features and Data Captured: The system is quite robust and tailored for field merchandising work. Some key features include:

• Photo Capture by Task and Location: Our reps upload photos for various tasks – before/after photos of a display, pictures of any issues (like a damaged bay), etc. A Team Live organizes these “by task, by store, by state” and so on. As a client, you can filter to, say, “Show me all the photos of our end-cap displays nationally” or drill down to one store’s images. This visual evidence is incredibly useful – it’s like touring hundreds of stores from your desk, seeing exactly how your products and promotions look.
• Mandatory Task Completion Checklists: For each call or project, our team in the field has a checklist of tasks on the app that they must complete and tick off. They cannot close out the visit without entering required data. This ensures consistency – e.g., they must input the stock level of each product, or confirm “Yes, all labels were checked,” etc., as defined by the program.
• Progress and Completion Tracking: For any given project or cycle, the portal can show completion reports. For example, if we have a promotional rollout to do in 100 stores, the client can see maybe 80 stores marked “complete,” 15 “in progress,” 5 “not started” (perhaps due to access issues or stock delays). This beats waiting for an email – the client knows in real time how far along the execution is. It’s also useful for identifying stragglers or trouble spots which we can then address proactively.
• Exception Reporting: The system flags exceptions – cases where something is not as expected[. For instance, if a merchandiser notes “SKU 12345 – Stock on hand is 0 but system shows 5” or “Display not set up because stock not in store,” these can be marked as exceptions. The client can then pull a report of all exceptions, which helps focus attention on issues that need resolving. It’s a way to make the mountains of data actionable by highlighting the outliers or problems.
• Updated Call Cycles and Schedules: If clients want to see when the next visit to a particular store is, A Team Live has the call cycle plan loaded and updated. Changed a schedule? It gets updated in the portal, so everyone is on the same page. It also timestamps when the last visit happened and when the next is due.
• Questions & Answers / Feedback Loop: The platform supports quick feedback mechanisms. If a client has a question on a specific task, we can feed that into the system so that next time a rep is in store they see it (for example: “Check if our product is on the promo end cap, yes/no”). The rep will answer through the app, and the client sees the response in their portal. This “quick response to issues in the field with feedback to you” is a notable feature. Essentially, it closes the loop faster. If a client manager calls and says, “I heard from one store that our new model isn’t on the shelf, is this widespread?”, we can push that query out and within a short time gather responses from all field staff, with results showing up live.

Benefits for Clients:

• Transparency & Trust: Clients have direct visibility of our work. They don’t have to wonder “did the merchandiser really visit this store this week?” – they can see the check-in, the tasks done, the photos as proof. This transparency builds trust in the service. We often get feedback that clients love being able to log in and instantly answer questions for their bosses using the data.
• Timely Decision Making: Since data is live, clients can make faster decisions. If they see via A Team Live that many stores are out of a particular SKU, they might expedite a shipment or adjust orders immediately, rather than finding out a month later in a report
• Accountability and Performance Tracking: The system also serves as an accountability tool for us. Because tasks are time-stamped and we enforce call completion, there’s a clear record. Clients can track our performance metrics too. This keeps us on our toes and gives clients peace of mind that commitments are being met.
• Historical Data and Reporting: Over time, A Team Live becomes a repository of historical data. Clients can look back at what was done last quarter, or how a certain promotion performed. The photos and notes serve as a learning tool – for instance, you might scroll through and see that certain stores always have an issue (maybe a specific layout quirk) which we can then address systematically.

Cutting Edge for Hardware Market: We pride ourselves that A Team Live is “proven cutting edge technology designed for the hardware market and A Team exclusively”. Unlike generic field reporting apps, it’s tailored to the complexities of hardware and DIY retail. It understands the call cycles cover hundreds of large-format stores, and it’s built to handle lots of photos and data points efficiently. For example, we know our clients might want multiple photos per store (because a Bunnings bay is big – one photo might not capture it all), so the system doesn’t limit that and keeps them organized.

Some clients log in daily to check “What happened today?” They might spot a photo of a beautifully merchandised bay and shoot a quick congratulatory email to the team or use it in their own internal presentations. In one case, a client’s sales manager was so impressed with the live data that they used it to update their national sales forecast on the fly, since they could see stockouts being resolved store by store.

Security and Support: We ensure the portal is secure (password protected, encrypted). And we offer support – if a client ever has trouble or needs a new type of report, our team can help. We also do periodic enhancements based on feedback. It’s our investment in providing a best-in-class service.

In summary, A Team Live is what truly sets us apart as a modern merchandising partner. It embodies our commitment to responsiveness and relevant information. Instead of waiting for answers, our clients have them at their fingertips 24/7. As we like to say, “A Team Live reporting is cutting edge and designed to respond quickly to your questions with relevant information”. In a fast-paced retail supply chain, that ability to get timely answers is invaluable. With A Team Live, we aren’t just selling a service, we’re providing actionable insights – live.