Strategy & Consulting · Retail & Consumer
Strategy for retail that has to work on the shelf and the ship-to
Retail and consumer decisions are unforgiving because they touch inventory, margin, and cash all at once. We work the strategy with you — assortment, channel, expansion — and then help drive the rollout, so the plan changes what customers actually experience.
The Outcome
What strategy that ships gives you
Not a deck that dies in a drawer — a decision you can defend and the execution to make it real.
A channel and assortment strategy you can act on
Clarity on which products, channels, and customers to lean into — argued from your sales, margin, and inventory data — instead of chasing every SKU and marketplace.
An expansion answer before you commit inventory or a lease
A feasibility read on a new store, market, channel, or product line — demand, margin, working capital, and the downside — before the money is tied up.
A rollout that reaches the store and the website
Roadmaps and project management that turn the strategy into resets, buys, and operational changes customers see — not a plan that stops at the buying office.
How we work
Here’s how we’d work it — and stay to execute
We won’t hand you a strategy deck and walk away. What follows is exactly how we’d work the decision you’re facing — grounded in your real situation and data, resolved into a clear recommendation, and then executed with you. Where the answer turns on something we can’t yet know, we build to test it rather than guess, and every conclusion is one you can trace and defend.
Who it’s for: Owners and operators of retail businesses and consumer brands — single and multi-store, DTC and wholesale, product and consumer-services — who need to decide something with real inventory and margin at stake (a channel shift, an expansion, an assortment reset, a repricing) and want senior help both deciding and executing it.
The Core Workstreams
How we’d work the strategy problem with you
Four ways we typically engage a retail or consumer business. We start from your sales, margin, and inventory data — not a generic playbook — and scope to the decision with money on the line.
Growth strategy
Channel, assortment & pricing strategy
The question: which channels, categories, and customers should we concentrate on — and what do we cut — to grow profitably instead of spreading inventory and attention thin?
What we’d deliver: What we’d deliver: a channel and assortment strategy built from your sell-through, margin, and inventory data — category roles, channel mix, and pricing direction, with the trade-offs and the SKUs to exit named explicitly.
Feasibility
New-store & channel-expansion feasibility
The question: does this new store, market, marketplace, or wholesale push pencil out before we commit the lease, the inventory, and the working capital?
What we’d deliver: What we’d deliver: a feasibility study — demand and market assessment, margin and working-capital modeling, break-even and downside scenarios, and an honest go / no-go / modify recommendation with the assumptions exposed.
Operations roadmap
Operations & inventory execution roadmap
The question: we’ve set the direction, but how do we sequence the buying, inventory, and store or fulfillment changes without stranding cash in the wrong stock?
What we’d deliver: What we’d deliver: an execution roadmap that phases the operational changes — assortment resets, inventory and replenishment, store or fulfillment ops — sequenced to protect cash flow and seasonal peaks.
Project management
Rollout & reset project management
The question: who owns the moving parts of a store opening, channel launch, or assortment reset so it lands cleanly instead of dragging across a season?
What we’d deliver: What we’d deliver: hands-on project management — workplan, owners, milestones, vendor and supplier coordination, and a weekly cadence — driving the rollout to a live result on the shelf and online.
The Fuller Scope
Other ways retail and consumer teams put us to work
Not every engagement is a full strategy reset. These are common, tightly scoped problems we help retail and consumer teams decide and then execute.
SKU rationalization
A disciplined decision on which products to keep, cut, or reprice — worked from contribution margin, velocity, and inventory carry — then a phased exit plan that protects cash and customer relationships.
DTC vs. wholesale vs. marketplace balance
Where to invest across channels, argued from channel-level margin and cost-to-serve — with a plan to reweight the mix without whipsawing operations.
Pricing and promotion strategy
A structured look at price architecture and promotional cadence to protect margin — grounded in your own elasticity and promo history, then rolled out with discipline.
Inventory and working-capital plan
A plan to right-size inventory and free up cash — buy plans, replenishment logic, and markdown discipline — managed onto the floor, not just recommended.
New-market or new-store site decision
A feasibility read on a specific location or market — demand, competition, and the economics — before the lease and the opening inventory are committed.
E-commerce and fulfillment build-out
Vendor-neutral help scoping a DTC or omnichannel capability — platform, fulfillment, and operations — sequenced and project-managed so the launch actually holds.
Turnaround or margin-recovery plan
For an underperforming line or store: a diagnostic of where margin is leaking, a recovery thesis, and a staged plan we help drive rather than just present.
Decisions this work informs
Where the strategy shows up in the numbers
Strategy is only worth it if it changes a decision. Here’s what ours is built to inform.
Gross margin
Assortment, pricing, and promotion strategy aimed at margin, not just top-line volume.
Sell-through rate
Buy and assortment decisions matched to real velocity so stock doesn’t age into markdown.
Inventory turns
Working-capital and replenishment strategy that frees cash from slow stock.
Contribution by channel
Channel-mix decisions grounded in true cost-to-serve, not just revenue.
Markdown rate
Pricing and buy discipline that reduces reliance on clearance to move product.
Revenue per store or per visit
Layout, assortment, and experience choices tied to how customers actually shop.
We start from data you already have — sell-through, gross margin by category and channel, inventory turns and aging, markdown rates, and cost-to-serve — and we agree up front on how any change will be measured. We do not invent industry benchmarks or promise a specific margin lift; retail outcomes depend on your assortment, channels, and execution. What we commit to is an honest baseline, a defensible plan, and a clear way to tell whether the moves we make together are actually improving the numbers they targeted.
The Engagement
Rigorous, grounded, and executed
A scoped engagement built to answer a specific decision — strategy, feasibility, or the roadmap to execute — not a generic overview. We frame the question, do the analysis, and resolve it into a recommendation you can act on.
Strategy that ships. Unlike most firms, we don’t stop at the recommendation — we bring the project management to implement it, so the decision becomes results rather than a filed report.
Every decision is different. The scoping call is where we frame the question worth answering.
How It Works
From question to executed decision
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Frame the question
We define the real decision at stake and the specific questions the work must answer, so nothing gets studied that doesn’t move the call.
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Analysis & feasibility
Grounded analysis — market, competitive, operational, or feasibility — built on your real situation and credible, cited data.
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Options & recommendation
The findings resolved into clear strategic options and a recommendation, with the trade-offs and the reasoning laid out to be checked.
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Roadmap
A sequenced, owned, resourced plan to execute the chosen path — the bridge most strategy work never builds.
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Execute with you
We stay on to project-manage the implementation, keep it on track, and adjust as reality tests the plan.
FAQ
Retail & Consumer — strategy & consulting questions
Do you just deliver a strategy report and walk away?
No. The report is the start. Our edge is staying to help execute — the resets, buys, and operational changes — with project management and a weekly cadence until it’s live on the shelf and online.
We’re a single store or a small brand. Is this relevant?
Yes. We scope to your decision. For a single store or emerging brand that’s often one focused question — an assortment reset, a channel move, a repricing — worked at senior level without a big-firm footprint.
Can you tell us if opening a new location is worth it?
Yes. That’s a feasibility study: demand and market assessment, margin and working-capital modeling, downside scenarios, and an honest go / no-go / modify call with the assumptions made explicit.
How do you avoid stranding cash in the wrong inventory?
We sequence the buying and inventory changes around cash flow and season, and we build the working-capital impact into the plan rather than discovering it after the buy.
Do you guarantee a specific margin or sales increase?
No. We commit to an honest baseline, a defensible plan, and clear measurement — not fabricated numbers. Results depend on your assortment, channels, and execution.
Is the work senior-led?
Yes, senior-led throughout. You work directly with experienced consultants, not a rotating bench of junior analysts.
Can you help us build out e-commerce or fulfillment?
Yes, vendor-neutral. We scope requirements from how you actually operate, sequence the build, and project-manage the launch so it holds under real order volume.
How do we start?
A short scoping conversation about the decision you’re facing. We’ll tell you honestly whether it’s a fit, what we’d work first, and how we’d help you execute it.
The Full Practice