Whether a brand is looking to grow in the same market, or looking to cross new borders, the right expertise can help de-risk moves and optimize returns. Retail advisory firms can help analyze the data to see where the most profitable markets are and can assist with ensuring decisions are benevolent. In the case of brands growing into Africa, the retail advisory firm will be even more important as they will have experience working alongside the local regulatory bodies and dealing with the complex demographics that drive the consumer.

If a retailer uses local consulting that has helped grow mutli-store organizations or to surface retail site selection, engaging these expert consultants can help, fueled by knowledge and experience , significantly accelerate growth by avoiding inefficiencies. This article will explore how retail advisory services, particularly in Africa, can change the trajectory of chain growth.

Role of Retail Advisory Services in Africa’s Expansion Boom

Africa is quickly becoming a great growth opportunity for global and regional retail brands. However, the key to realizing this potential is to have market-specific expertise—each African country has its own consumer disposing patterns, regulatory environments, and infrastructural realities, making an expansion strategy applicable to all African markets ineffective. For this reason, retail advisory services Africa-centric advice is an important element. With the help of experts, brands can determine the differences in markets, analyze how consumers spend their income, and devise entry strategies that are guided by the needs of consumers and local context. 

Retail advisory services advise how to determine viable store locations from urban centre physical and directional location to rural and developing areas. This can also include the things necessary to develop a sustainable supply chain network and gain a deeper understanding of existing competition. Retail advisory services are instrumental in creating a path forward with strategic consultants who are familiar with the local laws and requirements for doing business.

By utilising retail advisory services, brands have access to information in real-time that is specific to regions, allowing them to navigate how to approach logistical challenges and identify opportunities potentially being missed through general market research. Ultimately, they help convert a complex retail environment into a world of opportunity that can expedite multi-store expansion strategies and build stronger footholds across Africa.

Creating a Strategic Expansion Roadmap for Retail Chains

It is paramount for any retail chain planning to achieve systematic, scalable growth to have a clear expansion roadmap. A roadmap or guideline is tantamount to a blueprint defining where, when, and how a brand expands throughout a country. Retail advisory services specialize in developing these roadmaps through a combination of market research, demographics, and financial modelling. Expansion roadmaps will be especially critical in geographic regions like Africa, where consumer behaviours and market dynamics can vary wildly, not just across extensive regions, but also across cities and eventually within cities themselves. A trusted expansion roadmap enables a retail chain to:

1. Identify high FY target regions that prioritize higher regional potential, as well as mitigate risks of heightened costs of logistics and infrastructure, and local compliance.

2. Have a timeline in place to be cognizant of the timing of all initial investments and timing of forecasted returns on investments (ROIs) needs to be included to ensure all stakeholders are aligned. 

Retail advisory consultants continue to challenge and amend this roadmap where viable to additional market opportunities as they come to light or change in the market condition.

By developing and implementing an expansion roadmap, brands can avoid unplanned and frantic expansion plans which are draining on internal resources and time, and toward the intended systematic profitable growth. It is understood that having an aligned expansion roadmap will help facilitate successful expansion, and more importantly, eliminate risk while maximising opportunity, otherwise the opposite is true. Ultimately, a spatially aligned and well designed expansion roadmap will help establish the opportunity for retail chain expansion while reducing risk.

Formulating an Effective Retail Growth Strategy

A strong retail growth strategy is much more than opening new stores. It requires a full understanding of the brand’s positioning in the market with respect to its target customer group, price point, and operational efficiencies. Retail advisory services help businesses develop these pieces into a strong overall strategy by reviewing trends, competitors, and consumer tastes, especially in regional contexts, like Africa. A strategic growth plan considers whether it would be better to expand through franchising, direct ownership, or joint ventures based on the economy and regulatory framework of different regions.

And an effective growth strategy must also encompass digital channels and e-commerce strategies to give the business the opportunity to parlay those sales in addition to the physical expansions. Consultants provide both structure and framework for companies to align marketing, operations and logistics with their growth ambitions while maintaining consistency and scale. In Africa, retail advisory services build strategies that consider the diversity of affordability, infrastructure, and logistical constraints in African markets, so businesses grow aggressively and realistically.

Benefits of Expert Retail Chain Expansion Consultants

Engaging qualified consultants specializing in retail chain expansion creates immense value for brands undertaking rapid growth. These consultants understand the multiple layers of knowledge required to address issues related to market research, streamline operations, navigate compliance, and encourage customer acceptance. For brands targeting expansion into the African markets, the value of the consultants can be pivotal. Understandably, making sense of the regional rules, recognizing local consumer influences, and managing infrastructure hurdles may overwhelm the best intentions to expand without unfair, thorough insight to support the brand’s decisions. 

Consultants make those risks manageable since they have both actionable recommendations based on research about the brand and local knowledge. Additionally, they provide an independent point of view about expanding, much like manufacturers, restaurants or other brands without north star results, operating should be reasonable for the brand and sustainable operationally. Consultants will not only guide entry into markets, but also provide ongoing support as scaling occurs in various locations. This support will include optimizing supply chains, helping with retail sites selection, supporting the opening of stores, and continuing to support any local hiring process. 

Consultants create an efficient way for brands to manage their core business, and accelerate the process of expansion. Overall, consultants specializing in retail chain expansion make a complex experience of growth into orderly, efficient, and profitable experiences for retailers of every demand. 

Optimizing Retail Site Selection for Maximum Impact

Choosing the right store locations is essential to a chain retailer’s success, which makes retail site selection optimization imperative for brands looking to expand. A retail advisory firm can help facilitate this process by utilizing data-driven methods to assess foot traffic and accessibility, identify competitors, and strike demographic and population ratios. In Africa, where urban development patterns change dramatically from one region to another, as well as, consumer density can be completely different from one city to another, professional advice surrounding site selection is even more integral within the process. 

Consultant can assess not just a current market state, but can help to anticipate future growth and development of infrastructure, on a brand to select where the most long-term opportunity is for their product. Factors such as walking proximity to public transportation, parking situations and nearby attractions will all be evaluated to ensure store visibility and patronage. 

Retail advisory firms also employ predictive modeling to assess risks associated with locations thinking about changes in the economy or urban planning and can consider them when making recommendations about the location. In terms of site selection, optimising your area will prevent costly sites from ongoing operational inefficiencies and also give brands multiple entry points to customers, every new store opened should accommodate retail growth overall.

How Retail Advisory Services Drive Chain Expansion in Africa

Retail consulting services are key enablers for brands looking to grow in Africa’s growing and fragmented retail environment. These companies provide market insights at a local geographic level that allow brands to modify their global strategies for African markets and assess which cities and regions have the most potential for growth. These companies help brands address the challenges of entering the market by enabling supply chain improvement, workforce planning, compliance management, and customer acquisition strategies.

Consulting focuses on the store format stores would select to build, product ranges and promotional strategies based on purchasing habits of consumers in the relevant African markets.