Retail
Over the last 10 years, retailing has enjoyed significant growth as economic expansion from rising wealth, population growth, and opening markets has played out. During this time, retail formats continued to evolve.
Grocers moved into adjacent categories and developed strong private-label businesses. Big-box "category killer" retailers became even larger. New types of discounters emerged, and specialty retailers expanded their store networks across the U.S. and around the world. Brand owners—from cosmetics to apparel to specialty goods—opened their own stores to strengthen their franchises. The Internet, initially used mainly for research and price comparison, has now become firmly established as part of a "multi-channel" shopping cycle. Retailing innovations have not been confined to merchandising, packaging, and formats, but have addressed opportunities all along the supply chain.
Today, retailers face an increasingly competitive environment, with slower growth of consumer spending, shifts in consumer demographics, continuing expansion of power retailers into new categories and geographies, and the rise of new channels and store formats. Speed-to-market has become a major point of competitive advantage and is changing the retail and apparel sector, in particular. Consumers in many markets are also showing increased awareness of environmental issues, which is beginning to drive changes in the way retailers source, distribute, and sell products. The communications revolution is compounding these challenges by undermining traditional brand-building approaches while offering consumers more choice, easier access, and greater transparency.
As one of the leading management consultants to the retailing industry, Booz & Company has extensive experience helping clients achieve profitable and sustainable growth in an increasingly competitive global market. Booz & Company has a unique, integrated set of skills that complement those of our clients: A global network of retail consultants with broad experience addressing strategic, operations, and technology issues, as well as deep expertise in critical areas such as business and format strategy; expansion planning including acquisition evaluation, distribution, and supply chain management; promotion and marketing effectiveness; cost-base transformation; organization and change management; and working capital reduction.