Launching a new TV, smartphone, console, or small appliance model means addressing five questions at once: where I am positioned today, what competitors are doing on the flyer, how my products are performing on the physical shelf, who is slashing prices online, and how visible I am in search engines. No single tool answers everything. However, there is a logical path that lines up these questions and makes them governable, leveraging the five modules of the QPoint suite dedicated to durable goods.
This tutorial is designed for Category Managers and Trade Marketing Managers working in the consumer electronics and appliance industries, as well as for retailers in the electronics GDS and mass retail who handle these assortments. The goal is not to tell what the QBerg modules do, but to show how to use them in sequence to turn five disconnected photographs into a unified omnichannel view.
The five QBerg worlds: the omnichannel perimeter map
Durable goods today live in an ecosystem in which the consumer touches the product on very different touchpoints. Flyer, physical shelf, e-commerce, search engine: each of these moments tells a part of the competitive truth. The QPoint suite covers this perimeter with five modules, each dedicated to a specific world:
- QPoint Flyer monitors the promotional pressure on flyers distributed by electronics and retail store brands.
- QPoint Store detects the assortment, display, and prices at the physical store.
- QPoint Web Promo observes active online promotional campaigns on e-commerce sites.
- QPoint Web continuously tracks web list prices on Italian and international e-commerce sites operating in Italy.
- QPoint SoK (Share of Keyword) measures the visibility of brands and references in online search results.
Used individually, these modules provide valuable but fragmented information. Used in sequence, according to a structured decision flow, they become the backbone of an integrated price intelligence and store intelligence strategy.
The decision flow: the right order in which to query modules
The guiding principle is simple. One starts with the channel that moves decisions in the short term (promotion and price) and proceeds to the channel that governs long-term positioning (visibility and perception). For the Trade Marketing/Category Manager of durables, the logical order is as follows: Flyer → Store → Web Promo → Web → SoK.
Step 1 – QPoint Flyer: the pulse of promotional pressure.
The flyer, print or digital, remains one of the main drive-to-store in the durable segment. It is here that signs play their most aggressive cards, and it is here that the Industry Manager understands how much promotional visibility his or her brand is getting over competitors.
With QPoint Flyer you answer these operational questions:
- Which competitors are occupying the promotional space in my category and in which specific segment (TV =>65″, premium range smartphones, consoles, food preparation, air handling)?
- How is the share of promotional visibility distributed among the brands present, as measured by the proprietary QP3 metric?
- Which brands are pushing my category the most and which ones are replacing it with their own private label?
- How does the visibility share evolve over time, comparing the current period with the same period in the previous year?
For the Trade Marketing Manager in the industry, the Flyer form is the litmus test of the promotional agreements made with buyers: if the QP3 share drops, something in the negotiation is not working. For theSign, the same form is used to check whether one’s promotional pressure on the category is in line with direct competitors or whether one is leaving room uncovered.
Step 2 – QPoint Store: what really happens on the shelf.
Effective promotion on the flyer is not enough. The product must actually be on the shelf, displayed correctly, priced consistently with the agreed-upon grid. This is where QPoint Store, the module dedicated to store intelligence at the physical store, comes in.
The information that QPoint Store makes available to Managers covers:
- The assortment presence of the product in the different outlets of the monitored brands.
- The prices of the observed products.
- Out-of-stock (OOS) detected on the shelf, a major cause of lost sales and erosion of the consumer’s perceived price image.
- Shelf obsolescence, i.e., the presence of old models taking up space by subtracting it from new launches.
- Breaks in the price grid agreed between industry and sign on the individual store.
For the Trade Marketing Manager, the Store is the module that closes the circle of the business plan: the promotion exists on the flyer, but is it really active on the shelf? For the Sign, the same module is used to monitor its network and identify outlets where execution is not up to par.
Step 3 – QPoint Web Promo: where online promotion plays out.
Durable goods consumers take an omnichannel path: they see the offer on the flyer, check it out online, perhaps return to the store. For this reason, the promotion lives not only at the physical store, but also and especially on the e-commerce sites of brands and manufacturers.
QPoint Web Promo monitors active online promotional campaigns: banners, promotional landing pages, “deals” and “promo of the month” sections of monitored sites. It allows you to understand:
- How many online promotional campaigns are active in your category and by whom they are run (sign, manufacturer, marketplace).
- Which references are being pushed online as owl products to attract traffic and drive-to-store.
- How do online promotional visibility share and print flyer visibility share compare: are they aligned? Is there a strategic rotation between the two channels?
- Which insignias are building a coherent omnichannel promotional strategy and which are operating in watertight compartments.
- Of course, also prices and display quality of products.
Step 4 – QPoint Web: list price and online erosion.
Once the promotional pressure is read, the ordinary online selling price, the one the consumer finds when the product is not in promo, must be monitored. This is the terrain of QPoint Web, the module dedicated to continuous price monitoring on e-commerce sites.
The questions he answers are crucial to the marginalization of those who work in durables:
- At what price is my product sold on major Italian and international e-commerce sites operating in Italy?
- Is there price erosion on the web relative to agreed positioning? Who is the first to lower the price and how do other players react?
- How does the average online price compare with the price charged at the physical store and the promotional price in the flyer?
- Are there fixed splits between different sites, i.e., identical references sold at systematically different prices on different channels?
For the Industry Category Manager, QPoint Web is the module that protects the price image of the brand and individual models. For the Sign, it is the tool that allows it to position itself consciously against direct competitors, without chasing unnecessary markdowns or leaving margins on the table.
Step 5 – QPoint SoK: visibility in search engines.
All the work done on the previous four worlds risks being worth little if consumers do not find the product when they search for it online. QPoint SoK, the Share of Keyword module, measures just that: how much a brand or specific reference emerges in search results for strategic category keywords.
With QPoint SoK you can answer questions such as:
- When consumers search for “65-inch TV,” “5G smartphone,” or “combination refrigerator,” which brand emerges first in the results of major e-commerce sites?
- How is the share of search visibility distributed among brands in the category?
- Are my products findable on marketplaces and sign sites with keywords that consumers actually use, or are they hidden behind pages of results?
- Is there consistency between the promotional visibility share (Flyer and Web Promo) and the search visibility share (SoK)?
For the Trade Marketing Manager, SoK is the module that closes the loop: a product may be promoted, displayed and priced correctly, but if it is not visible in search, it does not generate qualified traffic. For the Sign, the same module is for understanding how to optimize its e-commerce catalog to intercept spontaneous demand.
Putting the pieces together: cross-channel reading
The added value of QBerg data lies not in the single module, but in the cross-reading of the five worlds. A Trade Marketing Manager launching a new TV model uses the modules sequentially, but then goes back several times to check for consistency across the different plans.
Here is a summary of the decision flow, declined for the two main targets of the durable segment:
| Step | Modulo QBerg | Domanda chiave | Per il Trade Marketing Manager dell’industria | Per l’Insegna |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | QPoint Flyer | Quanta visibilità promozionale ho sul volantino? | Verifica la quota QP3 e il rispetto degli accordi promozionali | Controlla la pressione promozionale sui competitor diretti |
| 2 | QPoint Store | Il prodotto è davvero sullo scaffale? | Monitora out-of-stock e rispetto della griglia prezzi | Audita l’esecuzione sul punto vendita |
| 3 | QPoint Web Promo | Le campagne online sono coerenti con il flyer? | Allinea la pressione promozionale cross-canale | Costruisce una strategia omnichannel coerente |
| 4 | QPoint Web | Il prezzo online tiene il posizionamento? | Protegge la price image del brand | Definisce il proprio posizionamento competitivo |
| 5 | QPoint SoK | Sono visibile quando il consumatore cerca? | Misura la trovabilità delle referenze chiave | Ottimizza il catalogo e-commerce sulle keyword reali |
This flow is not a checklist to be consulted once. It is a continuous cycle that accompanies the product from launch to maturity, and allows the sales team to react quickly when one of the five worlds begins to move in the opposite direction to the others.
When one world “betrays” others: the warning signs
The strength of the QBerg method lies in its ability to identify inconsistencies among the five worlds. It is these inconsistencies that signal to the Trade Marketing Manager where to intervene. Some concrete examples of cross-channel reading:
- QP3 share high on Flyer but OOS frequent on QPoint Store: promotional plan is not supported by shelf execution and real sell-out is being lost.
- Aggressive Web Promo but QP3 share on Flyer declining: promotion moved online without strategic substitution in print.
- Price stable on QPoint Web but SoK falling: the product is priced correctly but is losing findability, so in the medium term it will also lose sales.
- Strong SoK visibility but marginal Flyer promotional share: the brand is visible on the SERPs (Search Engine Result Page) of the sites, but the banners are not pushing it in print, a sign of a possible break in the relationship with the trade.
Each of these patterns is an operational alert: not a piece of data to be contemplated, but a trigger for a pricing, assortment, or trading decision.
Conclusion: from reaction to anticipation
In durable goods, the speed at which you move makes the difference between defending an edge and undercutting the market. The five QBerg worlds – Flyer, Store, Web Promo, Web and SoK – are not five separate products, but the five cameras pointed at the same battlefield. Using them in sequence, according to the decision flow we have described, means moving from a logic of reaction (responding to the competitor’s move when it is already visible on the shelf by now) to a logic of anticipation (catching the weak signal on the flyer or search before it becomes a margin problem).
For the Trade Marketing Manager in the industry, this method is the foundation of informed negotiation with the trade. For the Sign, it is the way to build a consistent assortment and price image across all touchpoints. For both, it is the operational translation of a simple principle: data has value only when sequenced in decision making.
Want to see how to apply this flow to your products? Request a customized demo of the QPoint suite and see how the 5 QBerg worlds integrate into your pricing and assortment decisions.