Perspectives on retail and consumer goods, Number 7

In light of the large-scale forces disrupting the US retail industry, once-optional moves have become imperatives.

Why the industry’s historic value-creation model is faltering—and how to reinvent it.

The magnitude and pace of change in the US market have undermined traditional growth models for many consumer-packaged-goods companies, especially larger ones. Companies need to combine greater agility with new types of scale advantage to compete more effectively.

Kevin Ozan became CFO of McDonald’s in 2015. Since then, the restaurant chain has had a string of successes. Here’s his take on what’s working, what’s not, and what’s next for the iconic brand.

In the United States and Western Europe, many traditional grocery retailers are seeing their sales and margins fall—and things could get even worse. Here’s how to reverse the trend.

Using advanced geospatial analytics, retailers can now quantify the true economic value of each of their stores across channels—and they’re uncovering surprising insights.

In the era of “fast products” and digital disruption, delivering growth requires putting in place new predictive consumer-growth capabilities, including innovation, based on speed, agility, and scale.

To get new styles into stores more quickly, fashion companies must improve internal collaboration, tap into consumer insights, and start to digitize the value chain.

E-commerce giants have raised the supply-chain performance bar. Now consumer-goods manufacturers face a stark choice: achieve new levels of predictability and responsiveness, or pay a heavy price.

If retailers treat indirect costs as an opportunity for business transformation rather than just a procurement matter, they can boost return on sales by as much as 2 percent.