Case Studies
Over the years, our team of experienced consultants has ensured the success of countless retailers around the world — from every sector and of every size.
Here are just a few examples.
Retail Strategy Review
Our client, one of Europe’s largest paper producers, had seen their industry sector decline by 42% over a 3-year period. They were in a sticky situation. We provided them with a 3-year market forecast, analysed their current offer, both retail and online, and devised a whole new growth and diversification strategy. They are now benefiting from double-digit growth in both sales and profitability.
Central Operations
We have helped three large supermarket retailers and one of the UK’s largest clothing retailers land retail activity with impact and consistency, setting their teams up from the start, creating job profiles, critical paths, key relationship building and committed schedules. We have helped our clients reduce activity that does not deliver, expand activity that does, implement activity from range change to POS through to appraisals to deliver consistent retail operations. We are now doing this with one of the largest retail groups in Australia.
Availability Improvement
Our client was delivering less than 50% size availability in certain categories of its apparel division and required a simple and cost-effective availability tool to drive store improvements. We rapidly designed a store process tool-kit for full customer availability tracking. Within 6 weeks, store controllable availability had reached an average of 98.2% and had delivered equivalent annualised sales growth of £12m.
Service Enhancement
An end-to-end analysis of our client’s customer returns data enabled us to identify a number of opportunities to make significant service improvements and cost reductions. We delivered an enhanced customer refund policy, designed a centralised refund reporting suite using the company’s existing technology, produced a store operating manual for returns processing and completed a productivity realignment exercise for all stores.
Inventory Management
Our client was holding excessive inventory in its stores, leading to poor operating processes, high markdown levels, double handling and poor returns on its total footage allocation. We delivered a best practice programme for delivery processing across every store. The results were a 25% reduction in warehouse space reductions, store inventory reductions of 47% and a reduction in delivery turnaround times from 48 to 18 hours.
Productivity & Process Improvement
Our client needed help to identify and eliminate inconsistencies within its store cost-to-operate model. We rapidly determined the most cost-effective and customer service-focused way to perform each task element and provided a bespoke workload model. As a result, £7m of resource was identified as incorrectly allocated and the way-of-working model delivered an incremental sales improvement of 3% across 20 trial stores.
Balance Scorecards
Our client had no way of managing the performance of its individual business units and required a suite of key performance indicators. We created key sales, cost, profit and internal business process indicators, and inventory control, retention, training and development monitors. The results? Over a 12-week trial period our client identified significant performance improvements within each of its business units and moved the project from trial to full company rollout.
Process Manuals
Our client needed to develop a category management process manual that would integrate the trading functions of two separate companies. Working with both companies, we were able to: adopt the best practices of each business; design a process manual that fully integrated both companies; implement a full category management training programme; and deliver a full rollout. The individual trading units of each business were flawlessly integrated and delivered a higher margin return than originally forecast.
Retail Academy Programmes
Our client was delivering inconsistent operating standards across its estate of 330 stores and needed support to drive service and operational consistency. We worked with key stakeholders to design: modular training programmes; a ‘way of working’ toolkit; a retail standards programme designed and implemented across the estate; and a regional support toolkit. All the programmes introduced continue to be used as the core support mechanism for training and development.
Dealing with Competition Workshops
Our client was keen to support a number of local retailers who were finding it difficult to compete with the large multiples in both food and non-food categories. In a two-day workshop, we created a new strategy that used their size as an advantage, creating points of difference from the retail giants and focusing on customer advocacy — all under the mantra of “small is a weapon”. The result was a real buzz in the community and a strong alternative to the multiples.
Retail Standards Workshop
Declining footfall and revenue were a concern to our client, which managed a number of markets, and the individual traders themselves. After detailed research, we created a workshop to build an improved retail offer across the entire market portfolio. This included a self-analysis tool that allowed the traders to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and introduced more professionalism into their businesses. Follow up visits confirmed a vast improvement in the sales of all the market traders.
Format Solutions
Our client managed apartment hotels globally but was unhappy with the look, feel and performance of its retail offer in the UK. We were asked to assess and reformat the entire UK proposition. A site visit highlighted the issues with the current offer and we rapidly provided a CAD plan of our proposed offer along with 3D visuals to allow the client to picture the end result before any expense. The results, after implementation, included a 35% increase in sales from launch and, most importantly, a much improved guest satisfaction score.
Format Development
An analysis of our client’s store merchandising process was undertaken to identify operational improvements that would boost customer availability, reduce product handling and increase product sell-through. As a result of the recommendations we presented, the client saw: a sales increase for the category of 5.6%; a 12% improvement in warehousing and merchandising productivity; a 23% availability improvement; and payback for the initial cost outlay of new equipment within 18 days of implementation.
Format Programme Management
We helped the UK’s largest PC retailer successfully implement a 41 store refit and new store opening program within a 5-month period. Working with key stakeholders, we: impacted all major aspects of the renewal programme; project managed the critical path of each store renewal; negotiated supplier support contributions; and devised a re-launch marketing strategy. As a result, the client was able to deliver the project on time and within budget (c.£22m).
Fixture Simplification
An analysis of our client’s store merchandising process was undertaken to identify operational improvements that would boost customer availability, reduce product handling and increase product sell-through. As a result of the recommendations we presented, the client saw: a sales increase for the category of 5.6%; a 12% improvement in warehousing and merchandising productivity; a 23% availability improvement; and payback for the initial cost outlay of new equipment within 18 days of implementation.
Retail Market Entry Strategy
Our client, a large corporation, was looking to get a number of its products listed with leading high street retailers but had limited experience of the retail buying process or the sales approach needed. We worked closely with the business to oversee this process and, as a result, the client has now successfully brought a number of its products to market and continues to grow its portfolio of retail distributors, which include John Lewis, Liberty and Harrods.
