Consumer & Retail

The landscapes surrounding the consumer and retail sectors have changed so significantly that they bear little resemblance to what they were 10 (or 5 or even 2) years ago. Frankly, the speed of change is such that even 6 months can be transformative. We’re witness to, and participants in, a channel and category revolution born from a few game-changing giants (we’re looking at you, Jeff Bezos) and an industry seeking to stave off extinction. Innovation is an overused term, yet we see the seeds of it sprinkled throughout retail, restaurants, e-commerce, health and beauty care, apparel, luxury goods, FMCG, and even wholesale distribution. Innovation is everywhere here: the evolution of the direct-to-consumer model, product personalization, social media-driven brand interaction, augmented reality, experimentation with showcasing versus warehousing, and the contracted retail footprint which results.

And, of course, data. The advent of big data has made dinosaurs of historical metrics. Consumer and retail companies want to understand current consumer behavior (like the millennial-driven shift away from traditional goods in favor of tech toys and experiences), and real-time data capture is making that possible.

Where We Play

At Accordion, we help our clients harness that data – turning it from information into knowledge and, finally, into the kind of actionable market and performance insight that leads to value creation. Whether we are supporting business analytics or forecasting for a portfolio company or helping a fund sponsor execute upon an acquisition strategy. Whether we are rolling up, adding on, or carving out, we understand the unique, accelerated dynamics of the retail and consumer space and can help our clients turn disruption into opportunity.