Mood of cautious optimism emerges in Retail

Finally, a hint of some good news in the retail sector. A quarter into the year which was expected to be the worst in memory, the much feared retail meltdown has failed to materialise. At the recent Retail Week Awards I spent much of the evening discussing the current retail climate with leading executives from the sector and was encouraged and slightly surprised by the quiet confidence and optimism. Retailers ranging from the big players to the more specialist were talking about encouraging trading figures but there was still the need to look at tighter cash management and more efficient stock inventory management. However, what was particularly interesting was the number of people discussing project and change management – projects poised internally to go but waiting for one obstacle to overcome, Financial Year End.

Now that the Financial Year End period is well and truly upon us and many retail businesses reporting and publishing results (and Easter behind us) there are many in the sector predicting that the level of activity with regards to interim management assignments will set the scene for the remainder of 2009. The market for retail interim management changed in 2008 with businesses either ‘battening down the hatches’ or looking at restructuring / turnaround. Is it now time for another change? With retailers waiting for approval for budgets following year end for internal projects and the urgency to get experienced sector practitioners in place to deliver these projects I am confident that despite a shaky start that it will be a good year for experienced interim managers in the sector. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this.

Jonathan Flynn is Head of the Retail Sector at Interim Partners.

Leave a Reply