Retail's Revolution

Retailers are rethinking the rules that have shaped their business for decades. Breakthroughs in digital and mobile technology, as well powerful emerging forces, such as smart-device-empowered consumers, are forcing retailers to re-imagine the fundamentals of retail, including a glut of brick-and-mortar space. And when it comes to the profession, it's the most creative consulting solutions that are flying off the shelves.

For all of the complex opportunities (same-day delivery), innovative breakthroughs (click-and-collect) and steep challenges (omni-channel) rippling through retailers today, the industry's most notable focal points are surprisingly fundamental: Power. Space. Time. Money.

"We're really in a period of disruption—and investment," says PwCs' U.S. Retail and Consumer Sector Advisory Leader Ron Kinghorn, "It's really going to change the landscape as we know it over the next decade or two." Given the essential nature of these challenges, retail consultants must do more than deliver rigorous analysis, deep industry expertise, hard-earned operational knowledge and strategic savvy. It turns out that creativity is an increasingly valuable retail-consulting skill. There is ample "room for imagination" in crafting solutions, asserts Thierry Chassaing, The Boston Consulting Group Senior Partner and Managing Director who leads his firm's global retail practice.