Retail consulting

Talk about the floor, the range, or the week's trade.

Retail consultants are hired by owners of one shop or a small chain when margin, stock, or the rota is off. The proposal should say which shops you will stand in, which numbers you will use, and what the owner will decide at the end.

The shop, the range, or the week's trade

Pick the object. A range that is too wide for the stockroom. A Saturday rota that leaves the floor thin at 2 p.m. A margin that disappears in a discount they run because a neighboring shop did. Write the shop by name or by count. 'Retail transformation' is what a chain's board buys from a large firm. Your client locks up at night.

Say which weeks you will be on the floor, not only in the office above it. The Saturday you skip is the Saturday they judge you by. Include it in the fee so you are not negotiating your presence later.

Which numbers the owner already has

Use the till, the stock file, and the rota they already keep. A new retail analytics stack is a different sale and a distraction from a range that does not fit the fixtures. If their numbers are a mess, the first product is a week of numbers you both trust, and the proposal should say the recommendation waits on that week.

The outcome is a decision the owner makes: lines to drop, a staffing rule for Saturday, a markdown habit to stop. You can recommend. They order the stock and pay the staff. Write that, or you will be blamed for a delivery they chose not to place.