Consulting and Advisory Services

Consumer Goods and Retail

IHS Consumer Goods and Retail Consulting advises clients on the importance of the economy for specific consumer product sales. By identifying the relevant economic and demographic indicators from our forecast dataset, we develop custom econometric category volume forecast models to be used in your strategic planning process.

Integrating our alternative forecast assumptions allows you to evaluate opportunities given different storylines. Our approach breaks out of the static point-of-sale perspective to give you foresight for your planning decisions.

IHS Consumer Goods and Retail Consulting offers a complete suite of consulting services for launching and growing your consumer goods and retail business. From helping a consumer goods firm to enter the Chinese market with confidence, to enabling a car manufacturer to respond to what-if scenarios, our advisory team can simplify your toughest challenges. Our key objective is to help our clients integrate specific insight regarding the impact of the economy on demand for their consumer product sales, including:

What are the key economic and demographic indicators that influence consumer purchasing decisions in a given geographic market?
How important is each indicator in driving product volume growth?
What are the forecasts for category volume growth?
How do changing demographics impact future product growth?
What is the sensitivity of these forecasts to alternative assumptions about economic growth or pricing?

Our core capabilities include:

Sales modeling and forecasting
Market sizing opportunities
New market entry assessment
Custom risk assessment
Regional and local analysis
Advertising and media forecasting
Special topics and workshops
Cost analysis and forecasting

Who uses our services?	How?
Consumer goods companies	Category volume growth forecast by geography Scenario and storyline analysis Determining market share
Major retailers	Understanding category demand by market – assist in store location assessments. Marketing campaigns.
Service providers	Market sizing and potential demand
Financial institutions	New market entry assessment Regional and local analysis

IHS Consumer Goods and Retail Consulting enables you to:

Measure how changes in different economies can impact your future business
Discover which international markets hold the most potential for your categories
Integrate economic and demographic forecasts into your regional marketing plans
Understand which new risks could threaten future supply chains
Understand the sensitivity of category forecasts to alternative assumptions about economic growth or pricing
Measure how changing demographics can impact future consumer demand
Integrate advertising and media spending forecasts into your promotion plans

Learn more about our services, or contact us for an exploratory meeting.

Case Study #1: Sales Forecasts Built on Quantifiable Drivers Impact

Challenge: An appliance manufacturer needed to quantify the factors driving white goods sales across markets so it could generate reliable forecasts--segmented by product categories--for use in the annual planning process.

Solution: After holding a business drivers workshop with the client, IHS Consulting built a customized forecast model that quantified the relationships between white goods sales and key driving factors (consumer spending, housing construction, turnover and renovation).

Results: The client gained a tool to generate forecasts for white goods sales across markets with a high degree of confidence. See Sales Modeling and Forecasting.

Case Study #2: Setting Proper Investment Levels for International Markets

Challenge: A semi-durable products firm needed an empirical, comprehensive assessment of which international market opportunities over a 10-to-15-year horizon would offer the greatest return on overseas investment dollars.

Solution: Working in tandem with the client, IHS Consulting developed a customized model that evaluated and scored global markets according to key business drivers.

Results: The client gained both a rich storehouse of empirical country data and a flexible scoring tool for prioritizing investments based on highest return. See Market Sizing Opportunities.

Case Study #3: Deep-Dive Evaluation of China's Semidurable Products Market

Challenge: A semidurable products firm considering investing in China required a deep-dive understanding of the market before determining an entry strategy.

Solution: IHS Consulting compiled a comprehensive evaluation of the Chinese market, including:
- A 15-year consumption forecast
- Tailored insight into economic, political, legal, tax, security and operational criteria
- Primary research into targeted Chinese consumer category and channel purchase behavior and intent
- Key regional assessments to help target investments properly
- Retailer and channel dynamics to bring clarity to competitive positioning opportunities
Results: Our client received a customized briefing book suitable for executive decision-makers, and IHS Consulting also led a seminar with the client's executive management to facilitate fruitful discussion of their strategy's implications. This gave the client compelling reasons to enter the market, along with the market knowledge to develop a successful entry strategy. See New Market Entry Assessment.

Case Study #4: Including Socioeconomic Drivers in Strategic Planning

Challenge: A major manufacturer of motorcycles traditionally based its strategic planning and budget processes on expected consumer preferences, as well as on technology developments and competitor behavior. Management realized that other drivers impact the demand for motorbikes and that it needed to measure that impact. Demographic, sociological and economic drivers needed to be analyzed.

Solution: IHS Consulting identified drivers and quantified elasticity by segment. We integrated client data on motorbike registration with the company's own databases. The motorbike market in each of the five largest European countries was split into between two and six major segments, consistent with the client's market segmentation. For each segment in each country, we built econometric models to test which were the relevant socioeconomic drivers, including age cohorts, number of new models launched, relative prices, weather, disposable income, unemployment, interest rates and consumption for entertainment.

Results: We found that demography and economy had a significant impact over a 10-year horizon. Our models identified and quantified the robust impact of socioeconomic drivers on each motorbike segment in each country. In general, the weighted demographic index, real income per household and unemployment rates proved to be relevant for all segments, while more specific drivers, such as the number of models, were appropriate where more granular segmentation was analyzed. See Regional and Local Analysis.