Retail Sector, Mass Distribution, Trade & Specialized Distribution

Interim Management in the Retail Sector, Mass Distribution, Trade & Specialized Distribution

MANAGERIM provides you with interim managers experts in the retail, mass distribution, trade & specialized distribution sector to help you meet your transformation challenges

The retail sector encompasses all activities and operations that make goods and services available to consumers, including online commerce, retail, mass distribution and specialized distribution.

In a highly competitive context and with the omnipresence of e-commerce, companies in the sector are faced with the challenge of being competitive and with increasingly high levels of quality and reactivity expected.

To face this challenge, they must be efficient on:

• the supply chain both in terms of tariffs, supplier management and inventory management
• the speed of delivery according to different methods (home delivery, click & collect, relay points...)
• control of all management flows and customer information and personalization of customer relationship
• the implementation of reinforced standards to ensure quality of service
• increased responsiveness requiring acceleration of all company processes and the elimination of non-value-added tasks
• innovation capacity in adjacent services offered to clients to stand out from the competition
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For mass retail and specialized distribution (food, DIY, sports, etc.), this means:

• offering their customers an optimal experience, both online and in physical networks by adopting a hybrid omnichannel model: physical/local and digital: the "phygital"
• improving the quality of the experience for over-informed consumers, simultaneously in search of autonomy, “tailor-made” and personalized advice, and who are demanding in terms of sustainable development and product traceability
• better identifying and predicting customer behavior, made possible by big data and predictive analytics technique
• coping with the proliferation of discount stores (hard discount)

This is why our interim managers are often positioned to help players in the retail sector to accelerate their transformation in order to strengthen their competitiveness and conquer new market segments:

• Boosting the continuous improvement of performance
• Rethinking the supply chain and optimizing the performance of procurement through new local suppliers and logistics to ensure faster delivery and closer to the customer
• Accelerate the digital transformation of their tools, methods and processes
• Exploit the full potential of e-commerce and make better use of data (data analytics) to improve customer knowledge and customer experience,
• Move towards creating new and fast channels of various distributions (drive, pedestrian, delivery)
• Continue innovation efforts and imagine new in-store services
• Boost the human resources management, training and talent management and retention policy
• Optimize resource mobilization (energy in particular) and promote ethical, societal and environmental commitment (inclusiveness, sustainable development, etc.)

MANAGERIM, your interim management firm, expert in the retail sector, mass distribution, trade & specialized distribution

Our interim managers are experienced women and men, managers and executives, all with successful prior experience in driving transformation projects in in the retail and specialized distribution sectors. They developed in-depth knowledge of the processes and challenges in the sector.

They accompany our customers -companies and stores of all sizes (supermarkets, hypermarkets, department stores, hard discounters, specialized distribution, e-commerce, etc.), in a very operational way, for a temporary period (4 to 18 months) in:

• emergency managerial situations:
  • temporary replacement of a manager (CEO, expansion director, retail / network director, regional director, store director, HR, CFO, supply chain, purchasing, quality, customer service, marketing, information systems, etc.)
  • occasional reinforcement of a team
  • crisis management
• piloting a transformation project
• steering performance improvement projects in the areas of finance, controlling, HR, IS, etc.
• managing complex projects (launch of new store concepts, store closures, development of e-commerce solutions, etc.)
• reorganization, restructuring, turnaround or M&A programs
• specialized and specific expertise in:
  • Business Development / Expansion
  • Treasury
  • Social relations management
  • CSR
  • Communication
  • Digitalization
  • Payroll and HRIS
  • Legal aspects
  • …

Examples of functions held by our interim managers

Here are a few examples of the rapid and targeted provision of interim managers:

• Interim Director of e-commerce distribution (e-commerce leader): management of teams and supply chain operations, network development, management of logistics and take-away sites, integration of service providers, management of supplies, of the company's sales department, deployment of click and collect
• Interim Network Development Manager for a leading textile retailer: branch developments as part of an expansion program, lease negotiations and modeling, adaptation of the concept store to the markets, retail management and international business development in franchise and subsidiaries, creation of a subsidiary in Asia

• Interim CFO and Treasury Manager for a leader in the distribution of building materials: team management, finance controller/ Business Partner, animation of digital transformation, securing flows of receipts and disbursements and key processes (e.g. year-end discount, referencing...)
• Interim Supply Chain and Logistics Project Manager for a leader in specialized distribution: management of a project to centralize supply flows for a vast network of stores on a new platform, launch and management of the platform, negotiation and management of the outsourced service, management of continuous improvement projects (WMS evolution, optimization of logistics costs, etc.)
• Interim Logistics Manager for a leader in the distribution of cultural products: managing and securing the synchronization of supply/storage/warehouse flows, organization management of e-commerce logistics
• Interim Head of Treasury for a leader in specialized distribution: in the context of a merger, audit and reorganization of the Shared Services Centre (models, IT tools, etc.), operational management of cash flows, cash forecast, banking relations, cash pooling and the dematerialization of payment methods, reinforcement of the internal cash culture
• Interim Regional Sourcing & Logistics Manager for a leading mass retailer: management of the teams operating the warehouses, management of logistics providers and carriers, animation of staff bodies, optimization of hourly cost and productivity
• Interim Payroll Manager within the framework of the implementation of a new HRIS for a player in the specialized distribution of decorative objects