The retail sector is undergoing a historic upheaval. The rise of internet shopping threatens bricks-and-mortar operations; traditional high streets are losing business to out-of-town malls; a severe recession is reducing the size of weekly shopping baskets; and many high street names are disappearing.
However, this gloom does not extend to the consultants hired to give advice to retailers.
“The state of the global retail consulting market is changing, because of the upheaval in retailer business models,” says Steven Skinner, retail practice vice-president at Cognizant Business Consulting. “Gone are the days of plugging in large business systems and building large data warehouses.