retail strategy consulting Archives

Columbus Consulting International Celebrates 20 Years of Transforming Businesses

The firm’s industry practitioners have delivered solutions to over 350 retailers, wholesalers and consumer goods companies COLUMBUS, OHIO – Oct. 21, 2021— Columbus Consulting, one of the retail industry’s leading consulting firms, is celebrating its 20th ...

Marketplaces Make Money

By Brad Eckhart
With growing consumer dependence on sites like Amazon, Uber and Airbnb, we are squarely in a platform economy. This means that a significant amount of buying and selling today takes place via an online platform or technology framework. Savvy retailers are shifting to digital-first transactions – and benefit from engagement and sales

Ramping Up Your Retail Game

The future of retail requires an ecosystem overhaul. Today, CEOs are faced by the rigorous challenge of retaining customers who are elastic – meaning fluid in their ever-changing expectations and behaviors. Join Robin Lewis and ...

Global Fashion Brand-Merchandise Planning & Inventory Management

The retail and wholesale teams required better reporting and the ability to drive decisions with more accurate and consistent data...

Fashion Brand-Integrated Planning

The current sales forecasting process across wholesale and retail was supported by spreadsheets with limited analytical capabilities...

Warehouse Club-Merchandise Planning

Identified the opportunity to improve their merchandise planning processes while also addressing many functional deficiencies of their legacy solution...

Fashion Brand-Inventory Management

To support continued growth, this fashion retailer’s team needed to become more strategic to better target merchandise to consumers...

Tim Mark

Versatile Leader in Solution Design & Retail Strategy Tim is an Associate Partner with Columbus Consulting with a strong background in consumer packaged goods and retail. Tim’s passion for connected planning started over five years ago ...

Kavindra Malik

Established Development of Analytical Processes Kavindra is a Partner of Columbus Consulting. He began his career as Assistant Professor at Cornell University and continued his career in consulting for retail and consumer goods companies, and in ...

Melissa Boone

Expertise in Allocation System Design & Implementation Melissa is a Managing Partner with Columbus Consulting with over twenty years of retail experience. Focus includes strategic planning, functional and business process design and optimization, system implementation and ...

At Home

Making a House a Home: At Home’s Journey to Becoming the Leading Home Décor Retailer Download This Case Study What makes a house a “home?” Ask a dozen people that question, and you’ll get profoundly varied answers ...

COVID-19 Response: The Importance of Location Planning

Tuesday, May 12th, 2020 from 11:00am – 12:00pm EST Columbus Consulting will discuss the need to prioritize Location Planning as we manage through and come out of COVID-19. Our experts will address the shift in Location Planning and how to manage ...

Modeling Your Short Term and Long-Term Merchandise Planning & Forecasting Strategy

Tuesday, April 28, 2020 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM ET Columbus Consulting is offering a 3-part series on Winning Leadership: Managing Your Business and MP&A Team Through COVID-19. This series will share an executive management toolkit ...

How to Lead Your MP&A Team Through COVID-19

Thursday, Apr 23, 2020 11:00 am – 11:45 am Columbus Consulting is offering a 3-part series on Winning Leadership: Managing Your Business and MP&A Team Through COVID-19. This series will share an executive management toolkit for ...

Retailers Need to be Transformation Journey Leaders, Now More than Ever

We know that retail is going to transform into a different world than the one we knew before COVID-19. As retailers, we’ve all had conversations on how the industry’s landscape is constantly changing.

COVID-19 Crisis Management: Sharing My Retail Lessons Learned

While the coronavirus has caused unprecedented disruption in the retail industry, some aspects of this pandemic are not entirely unique.

Retail Planning: The Business Case for Anaplan

By Jared Dolich
Anaplan is an ideal platform to enable virtually all retail, wholesale, and ecommerce planning activities. The value provided by Anaplan combines the flexibility of spreadsheets and the connected business drivers in today’s most common point solutions. But the best part is that when fully deployed to the organization

UnifiedRetailing 2019 London

This event is a bit special. Seriously. We only organize these events when there is a major shift in retail thinking that we believe needs to be discussed among industry peers in a way that ...

On-Demand Webinar: Inventory Optimization

Today customers expect a free-flowing, buy anywhere, fulfill anywhere, return anywhere marketplace in which purchases may originate in one channel, be completed in another, and returns are handled in a third. To successfully transition to ...

Increase Sales and Fulfillment Across Multiple Channels Through Inventory Optimization

By Charlotte Kula-Przezwanski in collaboration with Mi9 Retail June 2019 The soul of a retailer lies in its stores. It can be seen and felt. It is what makes the brand an exciting place with a distinctive ...

Can today’s retailers adapt to the need for frictionless shopping?

By Island Pacific in collaboration with Charlotte Kula-Przezwanski June 2019 Retail is facing a seismic shift New technology, the internet, social media and an empowered, fickle and less brand-loyal consumer have combined to create a new phenomenon. We ...

UnifiedRetailing 2019

This event is a bit special. Seriously. We only organize these events when there is a major shift in retail thinking that we believe needs to be discussed among industry peers in a way that ...

JDA Icon 2019

You are welcome to join us for dinner, drinks and fun at the Top Golf venue in The Colony, Texas. This is an informal event - all JDA ICON delegates are invited to participate.

How to effectively manage international growth in today’s multichannel environment

By Island Pacific in collaboration with Charlotte Kula-Przezwanski March 2019 Is it possible to create a truly successful international and multi-channel brand? On the face of it, it is easy to understand why any retailers might succumb to ...

Unified Retailing 2019 Brings Together Retail’s Brightest Minds

Columbus Consulting will host the inaugural event April 4, 2019 in New York City COLUMBUS, OHIO – Oct. 09, 2018 – Columbus Consulting International, a leading industry consultancy specializing in retail business processes and systems, announced ...

FIT and Columbus Consulting Examine New Concepts in Retail During New York Seminar Series

FIT and Columbus Consulting Examine New Concepts in Retail During New York Seminar Series COLUMBUS, OHIO – Sept. 25, 2018 – Columbus Consulting International announced today its continued support for the Fashion Institute of Technology’s (FIT) ...

PacSun Embraces Unified Commerce With the Help of Columbus Consulting

PacSun Embraces Unified Commerce With the Help of Columbus Consulting The company built a Unified Commerce Roadmap that will deliver a seamless customer experience across retail channels COLUMBUS, OHIO – Jan. 10, 2018 – Columbus Consulting International, ...

Finish Line Explores and Implements New Business Processes

Finish Line Explores and Implements New Business Processes with Guidance from Columbus Consulting International Columbus Consulting helps Finish Line jump into new territory as the retailer upgrades merchandise financial planning and assortment strategy solutions COLUMBUS, ...

Columbus Consulting Completes Merger of C3 Management

Columbus Consulting Completes Merger of C3 Management Consulting to Strengthen Consumer Experience Expertise With this merger, Columbus Consulting culminates 2017 with significant company growth in U.S. and Europe, as well as notable partnerships with tier ...

Columbus Consulting International Experiences Significant Growth in European Market, Partners with Notable Retailers

Firm now has more than 20 customers in Europe and team includes large network of partners, principals, independent consultants and alliances COPENHAGEN – Oct. 10, 2017 – Columbus Consulting International, a leading industry consultancy specializing ...

Preparing for Data Driven Labor Management

One of the major impacts of the continual march of “Omni” retailing is to re-define the role of the store and the staff who service it. Experiential shopping doesn’t happen by accident, and exceptional customer service ...

Labor Management – Understanding the Basics

By Columbus Consulting No matter how many robots, kiosks and other fancy machines are created to improve the in-store experience, retail stores still need human power to operate and the personalized customer services provided by store ...

Assortment Planning – Understanding the Basics

By Columbus Consulting Assortment Planning is like a box of chocolates. No really. The next time you have a box of chocolates, take a look at what you have. There are lots of choices that you ...

Soft Surroundings Selects Columbus Consulting International To Lead Allocation and Merchandise Planning Implementations

Columbus Consulting will help Soft Surroundings execute solutions and processes needed for growing omni-channel business COLUMBUS, OHIO – March 08, 2017 – Columbus Consulting International, a leading industry consultancy specializing in retail business processes and ...

2017 Thinking Retail Amsterdam

Jon Beck, CEO, Columbus Consulting, is slated to speak at TXT’s upcoming symposiums, Thinking Retail later this month in Amsterdam and Thinking Retail NYC in April. At Thinking Retail, TXT’s symposium dedicated to end-to-end merchandise lifecycle ...

In The Media

Following you will find a collection of articles that have been written by other’s that include references to Columbus Consulting’s staff, knowledge or experience. Simply click on the article title to read the article. Please note, ...

Planning and Managing the Critical Aspects of a Full Merchandising Season

By Charlotte Kula-Przezwanski
Retailers could learn a lot from the Italian micro-economist Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto, who in 1906 came up with the principle that is sometimes known as the 80/20 rule.

Enterprise Performance Management – Understanding The Basics

By Columbus Consulting Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) is an area of software and process which is designed to guide and connect companies through the planning, analytics and reporting activities across the entire organization. Download This White Paper

Allocation – Understanding The Basics

By Columbus Consulting At its core, allocation is the optimal deployment of inventory to best meet customer demand. It is usually the last step in the merchandise lifecycle before the sale. Allocation originated from merchandising, when ...

Merchandise Planning – Understanding the Basics

By Columbus Consulting Every planning professional or retail executive knows the answer to this question, right? In reality, though, it’s not that simple. Merchandise Planning (or Merchandise Financial Planning) means different things to different people depending ...

2017 NRF

2017 NRF was a great experience

Executing On Time

By Charlotte Kula-Przezwanski
think we all know that great apparel brands maintain competitive advantage by consistently executing on time. Executing late, or under constant pressure, is not a mark of creativity. It’s just bad management.

omnichannel

By Charlotte Kula-Przezwanski
Omni-channel, cross-channel, or all-channel retailing--whatever you may call it, retailers of all sizes are struggling to get it right. The goal is to satisfy customers who want a consistent shopping experience in the store, through e-commerce, and through catalogues and call centres.

Agile

By Charlotte Kula-Przezwanski
The current pace of social, economic, technical, and environmental change appears likely to continue or accelerate nearly everywhere in the world. If adaptation is key to survival, retailers must strive to be ever more agile. But adaptation in response to change is defensive and reactive.

Spreadsheets to Software

This white paper produced in collaboration with Island Pacific focuses on the urgency around moving your company away from a purely spreadsheet driven enterprise and onto a more reliable planning solution. Through analysis ...

Lifeway Christian Stores Selects Relex

RELEX Solutions, in collaboration with Columbus Consulting International, is to support LifeWay Christian Stores with upgrading its supply chain management in order to reduce inventory and increase availability 26 July 2016: LifeWay, one of the world’s ...

2016 Thinking Retail Webinar

Planning New Life out of Old Brick and Mortar Thursday, 9th June 3:00 pm BST – 10:00am Eastern Duration: 40 minutes While online sales grow you also need to increase your Store profitability. Today’s shop anywhere anytime culture puts ...

See the Big Picture 2016

See the Big Picture: How Best to Expand Internationally with Integrated Merchandise Planning for Retail & Wholesale Channels LIVE WEBINAR Tuesday, June 14, 2016 3pm GMT/10am EST Your consumers today expect to find whatever they need whenever, wherever they interact ...

TXT Thinking Retail Symposium 2016

Columbus Consulting Speaking at Thinking Retail Symposium 2016 London March 17, 2016 Charlotte Kula-Przezwanski will be speaking about the “Benefits of Effective Critical Path Management“, focusing on: 5 core principles of retail merchandising Definitions OF Critical Path management Milestone examples Core Principles Tools Customer ...

New Partners in 2015

COLUMBUS, OH. March 2015– Columbus Consulting growth continued throughout 2014, and with the election of 6 new partners, the firm now represents over 600 years of retail executive experience. “We are thrilled to have our new ...

Columbus Consulting Hits 150th Client Mark

Columbus Consulting announced the signing of the company’s 150th client in March 2015. The Ohio-based retail-consulting firm added 28 new brands to its portfolio in 2014, including companies such as Under Armour, Cato, Boscov’s, Cabela’s, ...

Katrina Mossman Joins the Board

Columbus Consulting announces the election of Katrina Mossman to the Board. Ms. Mossman, a Partner with Columbus Consulting, has over 20 years’ industry experience. Katrina, in partnering with her clients, provides disciplined execution and business-relevant solutions ...

Agile Retailing

Change has always been a constant in retail and the current levels of uncertainty and disruption are likely to continue. Now more than ever, Agility is as important as efficiency and effectiveness. Columbus Consulting have just ...

JDA Focus 2014

We look forward to connecting with you at JDA Focus 2014. This is a great event for as it brings together JDA’s customers and experts, thought leaders and delegates from across North America to discuss process ...

TXT Think Retail NY

Are you looking to understand more about how to integrate Assortment Plans and PLM in the ever changing Omnichannel environment ? Join us at TXT Thinking Retail! Event in New York on the 22 May ...

TXT Think Retail

Integrated Plans from the Customer View deep into the Supply Chain. This is a great event for you all to attend as it brings together TXT’s customers and experts, thought leaders and delegates from across Europe ...

Oracle Industry Connect

Join us for this incredible event, March 25 – 26, 2014 at Marriott Copley Place, Boston, MA.

Record 2013 – Additional Leadership for 2014

COLUMBUS, OH. January 8, 2014 – Bolstered by a record-setting 2013 in North America, a successful launch in Europe, and significant expansion of the Columbus partnership, Columbus Consulting announced today a number of changes to ...

Omni Channel Retailing

Inside you’ll discover: 6 things you must do, in sequence, to deliver the cross-channel shopping experience your customers expect.2 key internal factors many retailers neglect or ignore–to their disadvantage–in pursuing omni-channel initiatives.3 project-planning forms to help ...

Columbus Announces New Partner Melissa Boone

COLUMBUS, OH. November 5, 2013 – In support of another year of record growth and in recognition of her continued contributions, Columbus Consulting is pleased to announce that Melissa Boone has become a Partner in ...

Columbus Consulting Hits 100th Client Mark

Columbus Consulting announced that Carhartt became their 100th customer last year. The Ohio-based retail-consulting firm also confirmed the addition of over 10 high-profile clients since then, including Charming Charlie, Francesca’s Collections and Karstadt. “Columbus supported us ...