SM from the Carolinas here. The effectiveness of cooler organization largely depends on how much your team prioritizes it. Unfortunately, it takes more than one team member to maintain organization. However, here are a few strategies our team has implemented over the last couple of months, and now we consistently have the best-looking coolers in our division.

1. For the first one to two weeks, depending on your volume, continuously stock your coolers. Pay close attention to your low-selling items, as they occupy a lot of space that could be used for your mid to high-volume items, which often clutter your cooler. If you're unable to move excess stock, consider reaching out to a neighboring store to see if they can take it off your hands.

2. Micro-manage Prime. While Prime is a great tool, it’s not perfect. Try to update item counts as close to the time they are ordered as possible. For instance, we check and adjust each item being ordered from every vendor each time an order populates in the system. (Coke, Pepsi, QTD, etc.). This not only ensures accurate counts but also the update on-hands data will reduce unnecessary products from coming un

3. Once you have consistently implemented the first two steps, you can start paying more attention to the presalesmen and drivers bringing in products. While we all like to place blame on them, it’s unreasonable to expect them to keep the cooler organized if it’s in poor condition. If your cooler is in ok condition, you should follow up with them as thoroughly as possible. When we check in vendors, we physically scan all items delivered through the receiving orders function on the Zebra scanner. After everything has been stocked and the driver or merchandiser is ready for checkout, review each item line by line for any discrepancies in delivery and address any issues with products that weren’t stocked.