PROVEN IMPACT

Results, written in retail’s own numbers.

Selected engagements from the founder’s executive and advisory career, anonymised where required. Each follows the same honest structure: the situation as we found it, what we did, and what changed. Figures relate to the engagements described; client references available on request.

TRANSFORMATION · NEW FORMATS

Convenience network growth programme

The challenge.

A leading Saudi holding group with 86 supermarkets and hypermarkets across three countries had no presence in convenience — the fastest-growing grocery channel in the Kingdom — and an existing small-store estate trading below potential. The board wanted a convenience vertical built from a blank page, without distracting the core business.

Our approach.

Treat the vertical as a startup with a parent’s balance sheet: design the brand, format and unit economics first; prove them on real sites; industrialise only what the pilot earned. Workstreams covered concept and brand creation, range development, lease negotiation, build procurement, financial feasibility and board reporting.

The solution.

• New convenience concept designed end to end — range, layout, operating model, staffing and service standards
• Build programme re-tendered with structured competitive tension
• Standardised operational reporting installed across all functions
• KPI framework and training modules created for the new store teams

Results & commercial impact.

• +21% existing network revenue in the first 12 months
• −35% store build costs via the new tendering process
• +26% SOP adherence through standardised reporting
• Brand, format and roadmap delivered to board

---

OPERATING MODEL · ERP

Untangling an over-engineered approval estate

The challenge.

In a 400+ store grocery group, every purchase order, inventory movement and trade agreement crawled through layers of duplicated sign-off in Microsoft Dynamics 365. Decisions were slow, accountability was diffuse, and the ERP was encoding the problem deeper with every release.

Our approach.

Map the true decision flow — not the org chart — across four domains: procurement, inventory, trade agreements and master data. Set approval thresholds by risk, not rank. Rebuild workflows around single ownership.

The solution.

• Decision-flow maps for four domains
• Approval architecture based on risk-weighted thresholds
• Governance model naming one owner per decision type
• Roll-out plan sequenced with the ERP release calendar

Results & commercial impact.

• −54% approval steps removed across the estate
• 4 domains rebuilt end to end
• Store-critical approvals now move in hours, not weeks
• Control retained exactly where financial risk sits

---

CATEGORY · MARGIN

One markdown standard across 400+ stores

The challenge.

Reduced-to-clear was run differently in every store: margin leaking on short-life stock, no consistent measurement, and waste decisions made by instinct at the shelf edge.

Our approach.

Design one barcode-led RTC method simple enough to execute correctly on a second shift — then train it, measure it and report it like any other commercial KPI.

The solution.

• End-to-end RTC process design
• Full SOP authored and approved
• Training programme and store communications delivered estate-wide
• Compliance reporting wired into existing dashboards

Results & commercial impact.

• 400+ stores on a single standard
• SOP and training delivered estate-wide within weeks
• Margin recovered on short-life stock; waste decisions now rule-based
• Method owned and run by store teams, not consultants

---

COMMERCIAL EXCELLENCE

National retail excellence at 486 sites

The challenge.

The region’s largest fuel-and-convenience network — ADNOC Distribution, where our principal led retail business excellence — needed one performance standard across 486 stations and 12,000 employees, and a way to see daily whether it was being met, while expanding into new territory.

Our approach.

Build the measurement system first: standardised KPIs and digital reporting collecting 44,000 data points across the network, so leadership attention could go where the numbers said. Then formalise capability through a dedicated training academy.

The solution.

• Group SOP architecture and standardised digital reporting
• Retail KPI framework across the network
• Design and launch of the ADNOC Excellence Training Academy
• Commercial implementation of retail standards, including expansion into the Dubai region

Results & commercial impact.

• +14% commercial growth across the network
• 18% pump-to-store conversion achieved
• Expansion to 486 stations; 40 stores opened in 3 years in the earlier Dubai build-out
• Excellence Academy training a 12,000-strong workforce

---

M&A · MARKET ENTRY

The operating case behind a 15-store acquisition

The challenge.

A potential 15-store supermarket acquisition had a financial model but no operating truth: could the target’s stores be run profitably, integrated cleanly, and brought to the group’s standard — and at what cost?

Our approach.

Commercial due diligence the way an operator buys: store-by-store trading assessment, format and catchment review, synergy and integration costing, and a single-page investment-committee recommendation the board could defend.

The solution.

• Full commercial due diligence across the estate
• Operating case with integration plan and synergy assessment
• Risk register with priced mitigations
• Investment-committee paper and recommendation

Results & commercial impact.

• 15 stores assessed, store by store
• Board-ready go/no-go with priced integration plan
• Deal risks surfaced before commitment, not after

---

MERCHANDISING · SUPPLY CHAIN

Space and stock accuracy that lift availability

The challenge.

Planograms had drifted out of step with rate-of-sale and stock records could not be trusted — quietly costing availability, sales and shopper trust across the estate.

Our approach.

Fix the data foundation and the physical plan together: rebuild planograms around real demand while installing perpetual-inventory routines that keep the stock record honest enough to replenish against.

The solution.

• Demand-led planogram rebuild
• Store clustering for affordable tailoring
• Perpetual-inventory SOP, training and exception management
• Availability measurement at the shelf edge

Results & commercial impact.

• On-shelf availability measurably lifted across the estate
• Stock records restored to replenishment-grade accuracy
• Planograms and PI routines owned by store teams

---

What clients say.