What challenge(s) do our clients face?
How do we help?
In Retail’s fast-paced and results-driven environment, all solutions must provide short-terms impacts in order for any initiative to last, granting funding for the long-term transformation
We’ve had the great privilege of working alongside dozens of retailers striving to improve their company competitiveness and profitability. Our approach has been developed with hands-on, coping with the retailer of all types, sizes, and scales for more than 25 years.
Whether to improve on-shelf availability, optimize the assortment, or reduce expenses, our approach in Retail is geared towards business transformation. As solutions are thought out, they are tested in practice on pilots, on the company’s day-to-day activities, which feedback into the design, generating results, movement in the organization, and enabling the client’s team to learn on the job the new solutions and ensuring sustainable results. Transformation takes place in the daily life of the company!
COMMONLY APPLIED SERVICES
- Entry Strategy and Value Proposition: How to establish a model for serving the market, leveraging revenue and profitability and improving efficiency, in line with both the company strategy and the needs of consumers
- Category Management: Translation of consumer behavior insights into business intelligence that drives assortment, display, promotion, and pricing models.
- Out-of-stock & Inventory Transformation: End-to-end optimization of retail replenishment back-bone, from merchandising to store operations and Supply Chain processes, systems and governance model
- Cost-Efficiency: Identifying levers for cost optimization through a broad and deep business diagnosis
- Footprint Expansion: Helping companies establish a solid foundation for consistent, sustainable organic growth – structuring processes, ensuring visibility, control, speed, and alignment among areas
SUCCESS STORIES
CHALLENGE
One of the largest grocery chains in Brazil, with over 50,000 SKUs and 300+ stores had suffered from out-of-stock problems for nearly a decade. The company had been dealing with a stark contrast between either severe OOS inventory or excess inventory.
APPROACH
Through the completion of a comprehensive diagnosis of the causes of out-of-stock and overstock, it was clear the client required a complete turnaround of their Supply Chain, with a focus on inventory and breakdown for both FMCG and non-food goods.
With this in mind, we implemented a new organizational structure, a set of new inventory policies per channel (Direct store x Cross Docking and Stock), and re-designed supply routines/processes. With a strong focus on change management, we ensured the new methodology was tested in some pilot categories for 4 months, allowing for time to embed the new ways of working and to address any unforeseen problems.
We also introduced a new vendor relationship reward program that fostered better relationships between this retailer and industry suppliers, which today is highly known and recognized in the Brazilian market.
RESULT
The work resulted in a -70% out-of-stock rate reduction, achieving the lowest historical rate ever, and reducing inventory levels at the same time (-5%), resulting in a significant increase in margin, and ultimately delivering the company’s annual target results. The team was also restructured reducing head-counts though a higher degree of automation.