Retail and consumer markets consulting

Our pioneering approach, built on distinctive capabilities, enables companies to focus on their greatest strengths and gain a competitive advantage. We help leadership teams at retailers and CPG companies around the world to reassess and reinvent their business strategies for long-term viability.

More on Capabilities-Driven Strategy + Growth

Today’s ongoing digital transformation means much more than taking advantage of the latest technology, social media platform, mobile app. We have the skills, technology, and scale to think and deliver big across your organisation — in digital innovation and product development, digital supply chain operations, digital marketing and sales, and workplace infrastructure.

More on digital and technology strategy

Are you struggling to expand revenue and profitability amid fragmenting consumer demand, shifting channels, and evolving technologies? Our Fit for Growth* approach is a proven model for unlocking performance that helps companies manage their cost in a more strategic way, allowing them to cut costs and grow stronger at the same time.

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We help clients develop the capabilities to improve efficiency and effectively serve omni-channel demand. We also enable rapid innovation and design-to-value product development, while managing differentiated product flows across lean supply networks.

More on operations strategy

A consumer products client was integrating acquired product lines that added substantial complexity with significant overlap across price points and features. Strategy& helped to redesign the product portfolio and establish standard product platforms with differentiation to meet distinct value criteria. The product platforms enabled consolidated operations and efficiency improvements that reduced the cost of goods sold by almost 20%, while delivering sales growth two points above the category average.

A large company began to see declining performance from some of its most profitable brands. Strategy& was engaged to develop a growth strategy based on a differentiated capability system, considering the largest opportunities across multiple businesses. We focused on how the client could add value to consumers, the critical few capabilities they had today and those capabilities that they must invest in to gain a right to win. This combined market-back and capability-forward approach enabled the company to develop a clear strategy focused on its greatest strengths and how its distinct capabilities could work together to provide a competitive advantage. The new strategy provided clear growth guardrails to prioritise investments and focus the organisation. As a result of our work, the company saw solid growth with increased operating profit and net sales.

A large online and offline retailer was struggling to compete with pure play online retailers on cost and service levels. In order to lower costs and get products to the shopper’s door more quickly, Strategy& helped the client invest in a ship-from-store capability, not just as a “surge capacity,” but as the primary means of e-commerce fulfillment. Strategy& worked with the client to develop best-in-class operations for in-store picking and packing, including time standards, lean six-sigma-process improvements, and packing area layouts. As a result, the client was able to significantly reduce fulfillment costs and improve service levels, making its offerings much more competitive and maintaining the viability of the store base.