Guide · Store audit
Retail store audit checklist: sections, scoring and the evidence each item needs.
A store audit is only as useful as its checklist. Vague items get vague answers; items without evidence rules get answered from the back office.
Typical sections
| Section | Example items | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Exterior and signage | Signage lit and clean; entrance clear | Photo of the frontage |
| Merchandising | Planogram followed; promotions displayed correctly | Photo of each bay checked |
| Stock and availability | Key items in stock; no damaged stock on shelf | Photo and count |
| Pricing | Shelf price matches the system; offers labelled | Photo of sampled labels |
| Hygiene and safety | Floors clean; fire exits clear; extinguishers in date | Photo of each |
| Expiry | No expired items on shelf; near-expiry handled | Photo of sampled batches |
| Staff and service | Uniform, greeting, SOP followed | Observation note |
| Cash and records | Registers maintained as required | Photo of the register page |
How to design it
- Write each item as a yes/no or scored question that two auditors would answer the same way.
- Mark critical items, such as safety or regulatory ones, that fail the audit on their own.
- Set an evidence rule per item: photo, count, note or none.
- Weight sections by what matters to the business.
- Keep it short enough to finish properly in the time allowed.
- Version the checklist and record which version each audit used.
Regulated categories
Pharmacy, food and other regulated outlets need items tied to the applicable rules. Have them reviewed by your compliance team rather than generated from scratch. For running the programme across sites, see field audit management.
How AutoAudit does it
AutoAudit runs field audits for compliance, retail-ops and quality teams from requirement to verified report and auditor payout. Each requirement is scored against eligible territory managers on proximity, rating, domain expertise, capacity headroom and SLA history, with tunable weights, and the top match can auto-assign against an SLA clock. Audits run on clause-locked templates from a certified base library, where critical items cannot be deleted or softened. Every submission is screened: geo-fence check-in with mock-location detection, in-app capture with EXIF, location and time embedded in each photo, a time-motion model that flags audits finished impossibly fast, and network-wide checks for duplicate photos and repeated answers. QC is a hard gate: nothing reaches the client and no escrowed payout is released until a sampled review passes. Client, manager, auditor and HQ each get their own console on the same live record.
Questions
What should a retail store audit checklist include?
Exterior and signage, merchandising, stock and availability, pricing, hygiene and safety, expiry, staff and service, and records, each with a clear question and an evidence rule.
What are critical items in an audit?
Items, often safety or regulatory, that fail the audit on their own regardless of the overall score.
How long should a store audit checklist be?
Short enough to finish properly in the time allowed for the visit; long checklists get rushed or filled in from memory.
See it on your own data. AutoAudit — Proof of every field visit. Book a 30-minute working session with an engineer.