Guiding Commercial Evolution for a Retail Convenience Company
In a recent case study, the transformation of a leading convenience retailer has been highlighted, showcasing the significant impact of a Project Management Office (PMO) in streamlining Promotion & Markdown processes, Point of Sale (POS) operations, and Digital Menu processes.
The retailer, specializing in retail, food, and beverage offerings, embarked on a comprehensive business transformation to optimize and align its three lines of business. The PMO played a crucial role in driving internal initiatives, developing disciplined project plans, and ensuring effective communication with executives throughout the transformation lifecycle.
Key improvements and initiatives included:
- **Promotion & Markdown Calendar Alignment:** The retailer optimized the timing and coordination of promotional activities and markdowns across stores, enhancing synergy between commercial teams and improving bottom-line savings.
- **POS Operations Optimization:** The PMO's involvement in project planning and rollout likely supported refining POS workflows to support new promotional strategies and improve operational efficiency.
- **Digital Menu Process Enhancement:** The transformation encompassed streamlining the menu development process from culinary ideation to digital customer-facing displays. This optimization aimed to ensure menus remain dynamic, relevant, and consistent across multiple touchpoints, supporting better customer engagement and operational agility.
Clarkston, a consulting firm, served as an arm of the PMO to develop business cases, project plans, timelines, execution strategies, and executive communication. Their involvement optimized the efficiency of commercial teams and the execution of in-store events by POS operations.
The transformation focused on identifying synergy in organizational processes and bottom-line savings, particularly in supply chain and logistics, and commercial teams. A repeatable process was created to support project management and execution for supply chain and logistics, enabling routine warehouse builds and relocations.
In summary, the PMO's pivotal role in this convenience retailer’s transformation was to provide structured governance, project execution discipline, and cross-functional coordination that enabled targeted improvements in promotional alignment, POS operation efficiency, and digital menu innovation, thereby enhancing operational cohesion and customer experience in a competitive retail environment.
The client's transformation case study is now available for download, providing valuable insights into Retail Project Management Consulting. For more information, contact the company directly.
- Clarkston, the consulting firm, aided the retailer's PMO by devising business cases, project plans, and execution strategies for in-store events, thereby optimizing the efficiency of the commercial teams and POS operations.
- The retail transformation emphasized consistency and efficiency, particularly in the supply chain and logistics sector, with the development of a repeatable process for project management and execution, facilitating routine warehouse builds and relocations.
- The transformation's focus on promotion & markdown calendar alignment allowed the retailer to optimize the timing and coordination of promotional activities and markdowns, leading to improved synergy between commercial teams and bottom-line savings.
- The PMO's work extended to Digital Menu Process Enhancement, as the transformation aimed to streamline the menu development process from conception to customer-facing digital displays, fostering dynamic, relevant, and consistent menus across multiple touchpoints to enhance customer engagement and operational agility.
