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Looking Forward to Change in 2017

​Happy New Year!

We have already seen a strong start to 2017 Retail Trading, which is a continuation from where we left 2016 and some encouraging early results. Many of our clients are already well on the way with their recruitment process for their resource requirements for the coming year. This means that an already competitive market will very soon become even more so, with the competition for the top candidates becoming further heightened.

Market Overview

To recap the Change Retail industry saw in 2016:

  • A continued upward trend in the demand for candidates with a Management Consulting background

  • The dearth of available talent in the market place has, in turn, pushed up the demand for interim resource.

  • A particular growth in HR transformation, Digital, Continuous Improvement and PMO Leadership & delivery.

  • A high percentage of counter offers - 75% of candidates who were offered a permanent role have been counter offered by their current employer

  • An increase in LinkedIn approaches with candidates getting on average 5+ messages from recruiters each week!

Key areas where we have found continued demand for strong candidates throughout the last QTR for 2016 within the retail sector:

Supply Chain & fulfilment

  • Continued drive on reducing lead times to customers through smarter fulfilment.

  • Interesting resurgence in new WMS solutions to support complexity and reduce costs.

Digital transformation

  • There was a real focus on re-platforming ageing web based infrastructure in order to meet the demands of customer needs.

  • Constant drive to understand customer habits more effectively whilst trying to maintain footfall in stores. All of this created significant challenges with legacy systems and reporting structures.

HR & Finance transformation

  • Cost savings in Payroll administration have been a real focus for a handful of larger businesses, who have also looked at their core HR systems in order to really engage with their employees

Buying & Merchandising

  • There was a focus on category management, product life cycle management and smarter sales & operations planning.

  • Customer shopping habits have really exposed certain retailers and their ability to effectively manage stock

Our team of experienced Change recruiters can give you expert advice on the current market. The Investigo Business Change and Transformation team launched in November 2006 and, since then, has grown to over 35 consultants. All our Business Change consultants have in-depth market and industry knowledge allowing them to build specialist, lasting, relationships with both clients and candidates. This has resulted in Investigo having one of the strongest talent pools in the Business Change industry.

The consultants focus on offering professional and personable recruitment services to a blue-chip, international client base and cover interim and permanent roles across all areas of the project lifecycle. Each consultant is focused on a specific market, so they have a deep understanding of the key trends and also what your competition is doing.

If you are interested in Change Retail roles and would to speak to one of our experienced, industry focused consultants, please contact Graham on graham.peck@investigo.co.uk / 020 3862 2781 or Ash on ash.carter@investigo.co.uk / 020 3862 2745.