Retail FAQ

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How long does the retail survey take?
During pilot testing, it took about 15 minutes to complete the whole survey. Of that, the first 4 minutes or so are done outside, then you go inside the store. We really wanted to keep the time inside to under 15 minutes, and since the whole survey takes under 15, then you can expect to be in the store for less than that. In addition, the more you practice and get comfortable with the protocols, the more efficient you can become answering the questions and therefore shorten your time in the store.
Can we delete or edit any of the questions? 37 questions is a lot! Also, it asks about a lot of different products, can we change any of that?
No, the survey cannot be edited and questions cannot be deleted. Although there are 37 questions, there is skip logic built in which will likely make the survey shorter. For example, if a vaping product is not sold at that store, then the survey will skip any future questions and answer options on vaping products.

The questions about the different products that the stores sell are important to be able to understand what stores would sell or are already selling if they did not sell tobacco. These options were based on previous work with retailers. In addition, it helps with the flow of the survey. Including these questions earlier in the survey also allows the data collector to roam around the store rather that immediately approaching the front, which is where tobacco products are usually displayed for sale.
Do I have to go to every store on the list?
Yes, visit every location on your list and do your best to complete your observation at every location. However, there are several reasons why you may not be able to survey the store. For example, retailers that have active smoking (e.g., hookah bars, cigar bars), substantial cost-consideration and membership fees (e.g., airport retailers, wholesale clubs), or restricted access (e.g., military base) should NOT be surveyed. If the store has an age restriction i.e. only 21+ or only 18+ may enter, then a data collector that meets those requirements must conduct the observation in those stores. If the location is closed, unsafe, or not found, you can write that on the field notes form and be sure to share that with your Lead Contact during debrief.
What if retailers ask to see the survey questions, can we share/show them the questions?
We recommend starting with showing them the letter that your LLA will give you for these types of situations. There's not really an easy way to show them all the questions you'll be answering.
Do I have to introduce myself in the store?
It is not a requirement, but LLAs have shared that it was helpful for them to introduce themselves.
Here's a story from the field:
"It was dependent on what was going on with the store, so if the store clerk was really busy, we would just go and start doing the survey and then, when the store clerk had a break, then we would say, "Hi we're with the health department we're doing a stir a survey, looking at the different products available. We just wanted to let you know what we're doing that kind of thing..." If the retailer is just standing around nobody's in the store when we come in, we always would introduce ourselves just to let them know what what our goal was for being in there. I've found that it works best if we as the health department staff always got really good reactions from the retailers when we did the surveys ourselves."
Here's another story from the field:
"When we visit retailers we walk with our badge for health department staff and sometimes if the store was just inspected by our environmental health inspectors, it might be a little confusing for them to see city or county staff and their store because some of them were like you were just here and we passed. So we meet regularly with our inspectors, so we know when there are retailers who are given warnings or possibly infractions because they're not following the law, the way they should it's just good to know when you walk into a store if they might have been visited by inspectors recently so just give a heads up to your inspectors saying that you're going to be doing the retail surveys, so they have an idea of who's on the field."
Some of the stores don't sell tobacco anymore. Do I still have to survey those?
Yes, please complete an observation for every store on the list. If a store does not sell tobacco, the questions related to tobacco products will be skipped and the survey will be shorter. These non-tobacco product questions allow us to measure change over time showing stores that stop selling tobacco and what they sell instead. There are also other non-tobacco product questions as well as questions about marketing of tobacco, which sometimes still happens even if the product isn't available in the store.