Design for the Future – Leveraging Scale and Synergies
Challenge
A major Canadian multi-channel retailer/wholesaler faced complexities that drove inefficiencies and limited opportunities due to scale. The retailer recognized significant opportunities existed to better leverage its total company size with major suppliers if it were to retool the organization for future-forward growth. Furthermore, the retailer had not strategically utilized Category Management Best Practices to improve its competitive differentiation from each of the banners in its respective competitive sets. At which time, the retailer asked TPG to help design and implement a headquarters-based Category Management organization that would have the depth to support individual region/banner implementation groups. In addition, sustainable success would be dependent upon driving efficiency through the use of common, business processes among the marketing and merchandising organizations.
Discovery
We began by completing a detailed assessment of the current buying and merchandising processes across the multi-region, multi-banner retailer organization. Dissecting the landscape to develop and implement a new, strategic organization design to deliver TPG’s Best Practice Category Management approach would be imperative to cultivating a foundation of success in the retailer’s complex operating environment. We uncovered the need to enable banner differentiation while leveraging total company scale and efficiencies.
Impact
While managing a major acquisition at the beginning of implementation, requiring a significant adjustment and an on-going SAP system conversion, the implementation of the new design was completed on-time. Additional success came via Pilot Category Plans with key categories using the new Category Management business processes which yielded results in excess of initial targets.
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