Retail Group

What Retail Group does

The Retail Group is a UK-based management consultancy specialising in the retail, consumer and retail property sectors. Founded in 1989 (per firmographic record; one source records 2000 as founding date), the firm operates from a single headquarters at Dunnings Oak Offices, East Grinstead, West Sussex, and serves clients including major retailers (Amazon, Burberry, Tesco, Sainsbury's, B&Q, Toyota, Sony, Unilever, HSBC, O2, Camelot, Bourne Leisure, Thomas Cook, The Jockey Club, RFU), property owners and developers (British Land, Land Securities, Brookfield Europe, Savills, Quintain, Delancey, Simons Group, X-Leisure, MUSE), and UK local authorities (Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Glasgow, Westminster, Hackney, Newcastle, Blackburn & Darwen, Dundee). The firm is led by Managing Director Mike Evans and Director Paul Frater, who are described as actively involved in every project, supported by a small in-house team.

The company delivers three integrated service lines: Retail Consulting (store improvement and growth strategies, due diligence appraisals, location strategies, new concept development, staff training, expansion support, performance benchmarking, consumer research, merchandising and layout strategies, market entry analysis); Property Consulting (town centre strategies, shopping centre retail potential studies, planning and CPO support, pre-acquisition analysis, ATCM Town Centre Performance Studies, portfolio assessments, retail impact assessments, retail inward investment strategies, B.I.D. support); and Markets Consulting (relocation strategies, layout strategies, revenue improvement programmes, performance improvement programmes, traders' workshops for city, town, street and specialist niche markets). The underlying methodology is described as bespoke research and detailed analysis of consumer shopping behaviour delivered by a team staffed exclusively by experienced retailers. No proprietary software platform, technology stack, or AI/ML capability is disclosed; the offering is fundamentally a human-expert advisory service.

The business model is a sales-led professional services model. Revenue is generated through project-based, quote-based consulting engagements billed under multi-year contract cadences, with pricing tailored to each client's scope. Go-to-market is direct consultative selling by the principals, supported by a website presence and case-study-style client showcase. Geographic coverage is regional across the UK, with at least seven regions served and a claimed footprint of studies in 150+ towns and cities. The firm is privately held with no disclosed investors, parent company, or external funding.

Name

Retail Group

Legal name

The Retail Group

Website

https://theretailgroup.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Retail Group is a UK-based boutique management consultancy providing bespoke Retail, Property, and Markets consulting to retailers, property developers, and local authorities, delivered by a small principal-led team of experienced retail operators headquartered in East Grinstead, West Sussex.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Retail Management Consulting

akta.pro primary industry

Market, Shopper & Category Insights / Research Services (CRAOAOAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Shopper & Retail Insights (In-Store/Path-to-Purchase, Category Insights) (MPAAALAJ)

Keywords

• Retail management consulting
• Consumer behaviour research
• Retail property strategy
• Town centre consulting
• Retail market advisory

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Management Consultancy Services: Professional consulting services providing retail performance improvement, strategic advice, and bespoke research solutions to retailers, developers, landlords, local authorities and institutions. Revenue generated through project-based consulting engagements with a focus on delivering actionable recommendations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

The Retail Group is a management consultancy specialising in the retail, consumer, and retail property sectors. It provides bespoke strategic advice, research, and analysis to retailers, property developers, landlords, local authorities, and institutions to improve business performance, location strategy, and town centre vitality. Services span three lines: Retail Consulting, Property Consulting, and Markets Consulting, all built on detailed understanding of consumer behaviour at the retail frontline.

Product overview

The Retail Group is a management consultancy offering a unified portfolio of three interconnected service lines: Retail Consulting, Property Consulting, and Markets Consulting. All services are built on core expertise in understanding consumer shopping behavior and retail frontline activity. The Retail Consulting service provides revenue-increasing solutions for retailers across categories. The Property Consulting service delivers strategic advice for retail locations in town, out of town, and non-traditional settings. The Markets Consulting service applies the same retail-focused philosophy to help grow and improve various types of markets for local authorities, market operators, and shopping centre owners.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Retail Consulting
• Property Consulting Strategic advice to improve the performance of retail locations, including town centre retail and leisure strategies, shopping centre retail potential studies, planning study and CPO support, pre-acquisition analysis, ATCM Town Centre Performance Studies, optimum mix identification, portfolio assessments, national opportunity studies, retail impact assessments, retail inward investment strategies, B.I.D. support, and consumer research.
• Markets Consulting Growth and improvement consulting services for markets, including city centre markets, local town centre markets, street markets, and specialist niche markets. Covers relocation strategies, layout strategies, revenue improvement programmes, new market assessments, performance improvement programmes, local authority assessments, strategic reviews, operational reviews, and trader workshops and training support.

Named customers34 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Conlumino: UK-based retail insight and strategy consultancy serving retailers and property clients on consumer-facing strategy, very similar in size and end-market to The Retail Group. Direct head-to-head competitor for UK retail consultancy mandates.
• Springboard Retail Insights: UK retail performance research consultancy providing footfall benchmarking, town centre studies and shopper insights to retailers, landlords and local authorities — directly comparable client base and service mix to The Retail Group's Markets and Property lines.
• CACI: UK data analytics consultancy with a dedicated retail location and consumer insights practice serving retailers, property developers and local authorities on catchment analysis, site selection and town centre performance — overlapping heavily with The Retail Group's Property and Markets consulting lines.

Broad incumbents

• Knight Frank: Global property consultancy with a UK retail-leasing and asset repositioning practice that competes with The Retail Group's Property Consulting line for landlord clients such as British Land and Land Securities, although offered as part of a much broader real estate services portfolio.
• Cushman & Wakefield: Global commercial real estate services firm with a UK retail and leisure advisory practice serving shopping centre owners, landlords and investors — comparable to The Retail Group for retail potential studies and town centre repositioning mandates, but at much larger scale.
• CBRE: World's largest commercial real estate services firm with UK retail agency and asset services competing for retail property consulting work; serves many of the same institutional landlord clients as The Retail Group but across a global platform.
• JLL: Global real estate services firm whose UK retail and leisure team provides town-centre and shopping-centre strategy work to landlords and investors, directly comparable to The Retail Group's Property Consulting practice though with deeper analytics resources.
• NielsenIQ: Global retail measurement and consumer insights company serving retailers, manufacturers and property clients with shopper data and category insights — overlaps with The Retail Group's shopper-behaviour research work but at enterprise scale and with proprietary data products.
• Kantar: WPP-owned global market research and consumer insights firm with a retail and shopper practice serving many of the same enterprise retailers (Unilever, Tesco, Burberry, Sainsbury's) as The Retail Group, though with a quantitative/data-led approach rather than bespoke retail-operator consulting.
• Ipsos Retail Performance: Global market research company with a dedicated UK retail and shopper practice providing consumer and store performance research — competing for elements of The Retail Group's consumer research and benchmarking work, though delivered at a much larger scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-retail-group

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments1 record

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Retail Group