Retailing remains a fragmented business, with millions of transactions occurring in thousands of local outlets and over multiple channels making competition for the consumer dollar fiercer than ever. When the biggest store in the world is a shopper’s phone, retail companies have to radically rethink the value they add. The retail leaders of today and tomorrow must thrive in a world of complexity and uncertainty, embracing data and forging new partnerships in the quest for customer loyalty. Our ability to reach across sectors can bring new perspectives and solutions to seemingly intractable problems. 

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Whether you are a specialty retailer or a global giant, the ability to attract, develop, and retain dynamic leadership is critical to shaping your future. But new technology, omni-channel retail, market power shifts, and ever-changing consumer habits are continually redefining the type of leadership needed to succeed in today’s retail space. Our retail leaders must possess unique and exacting skill sets with cross-cultural understanding; the agility to integrate digital, social, and e-commerce market trends to drive growth, the capacity to develop strategy beyond their own experience, and the ability to influence and inspire even in the face of an unknown future. They must lead through change, intuitively and analytically understand the evolving consumer, and decisively respond to market ambiguity. Needless to say, finding leaders and experts who fit all of these bills is a tall order. New technology, omni-channel retail, market power shifts, and ever-changing consumer habits are continually redefining the type of leadership needed to succeed in today’s retail space.

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The difficulty of finding top executive talent with the needed range of competencies highlights the importance of a strong internal leadership pipeline. With our deep industry expertise and truly global reach, we can help you implement strategies to identify the next generation of retail leaders early and develop them to their full potential, or find the best-qualified leaders elsewhere, if necessary. 

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Reed & Sterling understands the requirements of increasingly complex management positions in the retail and apparel sectors. We develop customized plans illustrating how organizational structures need to evolve. Successful companies need both creative and conceptual executives who know how to enhance brand image, operational excellence, customer experience and quality product into a competitive advantage.