Sector · Interim Management

Retail and consumer goods

Retail and Consumer Goods Sector

From the shop shelf to the digital shopping basket: margins, turnover and customers.

In retail and fast-moving consumer goods, margins are a daily battle. Whether you’re a chain battling against private-label competition and rising costs, or a fund needing to turn around a portfolio company before selling it, the problem is rarely a lack of sales: it’s that every point of growth comes at too high a cost.

Selling more is pointless if the cost of serving that customer eats into the margin, if stock ties up cash, or if the online channel cannibalises the high street without delivering profitability.

EPUNTO Interim Management brings in Managing Directors, Operations Directors, Sales Directors or Supply Chain Directors who know the sector inside out. They step in whilst the campaign is already underway, with no ‘grace period’: they streamline the product range, restore margins across each channel and put in place control mechanisms that sustain results once the interim manager leaves.

Profitability by channel and margin management

The first task is to identify where money is actually being made and where it is being lost, with sufficient detail to inform decision-making.

Pricing and promotions: We review the pricing structure and the actual effectiveness of promotions, cutting those that drive volume at the expense of margins.
Product range and categories: We remove slow-moving stock and rebalance the mix towards categories that sustain profit, not just turnover.
Cost-to-serve: We measure the true cost of serving each customer, shop and channel, and take action on those that destroy value.

We’re selling more than ever, but we’re making less profit. Where do you start?

Based on margin per channel and cost-to-serve, not on sales. Within a few weeks, it becomes clear which product lines, customers and channels are destroying value. With that information on the table, decisions are made on where to cut back and where to invest, and the interim manager is left to implement them.

Do you have managers with real-world experience in my sector (food, fashion, specialist)?

Yes, and we don’t mix them up: the dynamics of a fresh food retail chain are quite different from those of seasonal fashion. We put forward candidates who have already managed your business model and your type of supplier.

We need to launch or revamp our online channel without cannibalising the shop.

This is one of the most common assignments. We work with a single stock and a single client, and with a profit and loss statement broken down by channel that includes last-mile delivery and returns. The question isn’t how much is sold online, but how much profit it generates.

We’re in the middle of the campaign. Can you come in now?

Yes. We put forward candidates within 48–72 hours, and the executive is usually up and running in under ten days. In the retail sector, the campaign window won’t wait, which is why an interim appointment is a better fit than a traditional recruitment process.

How do you differ from a retail consultancy firm?

The consultancy firm provides an assortment plan and a report. Our interim manager implements it: he sits down with the purchasing team, store managers and the logistics team, makes the unpopular decisions and is accountable for the KPIs on a week-by-week basis.

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Retail and consumer goods