Retail and Consumer Goods

Retailers and Consumer Goods companies operate in a highly dynamic business environment where important commercial and operational decisions are passed to majority of staff including managers, buyers, and associates. Coping with increasing customer expectations, globalisation and challenging economic times means having the right organizational structure in place, with the right individual targets and lines of responsibility.

Building these capacities is not an easy task, and represents a significant deviation from how a retailer has operated in the past.

We recognize that transforming an organization in this way is a major challenge in itself, and work closely with our clients to manage the changes involved and help them transform their business in a way that gives them a long-term competitive edge.

TESTQ’s Retail and Consumer Goods practice has a proven track record of helping our clients develop and execute market-driven programs which have tangible and sustained impact. We help our clients to rejuvenate and re-invent their business model to deliver significant improvements in their sales growth and profitability. We take pride in our unique approach combining state-of-the-art analytical techniques and real-world experience that makes lasting change happen by working at multiple levels within client organizations.

Our unrivalled record of delivering transformative solutions is based on deep industry knowledge and a collaborative, hands-on approach. We focus on delivering value and on building our clients’ capabilities.

Over the past few years, sales growth at the top publicly listed European retailers has been a mere one or two percentage points above inflation; average EBIT margins have dropped to around 0.5 to 1.5 percent of sales. Changing consumer lifestyles and preferences, the Internet, and continued economic uncertainty are causing financial distress among many retailers.

Key issues affecting companies in the retail and consumer goods sectors include:

• Increasing Property Cost
• Rising e-Commerce
• Merger and Acquisition and Consolidation
• Complex Supply Chain Management and Stock Issues
• Accounting, reporting & regulation pressures due to changes brought about by International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)
• Consumer and Demographic Issues
• Human Resources Issues
• Tax Issues