consultancy
We specialise in offering sound business advice to mail order, e-commerce and multi-channel companies. Whether you’re a start-up or a multi-million pound company we can help you make your business more profitable. We advise on these key areas: -

• Marketing
• Merchandising and Buying
• Business Strategy

To give you some idea, what follows are some of the consultancy services our clients currently use us for: -

General Consultancy Consultants are often called in when something has gone terribly wrong and the company is looking for answers. Consultancy need not always be about doom and disaster. In fact it can be most effective when the company concerned is looking to improve already good performance. Even a couple of days’ consultancy can bring great benefits to your company, frequently providing huge amounts of extra turnover and profits.
It offers a quick review of your current activities and gives a reality check for your marketing. Ongoing consultancy, one or two days per month, can help keep your company growing and in touch with the latest trends and thinking.

The Marketing Audit/Company Health Check A very popular option. The audit comprises Andrew Wilson coming to your company and interviewing the appropriate members of your staff about your processes, strategy and activities. Andrew then prepares a PowerPoint presentation which he delivers to your team. The presentation highlights the good points and bad in your business and provides suggestions on how the good can be enhanced and the bad eradicated. As opposed to compiling a written report which generally offers a prescriptive solution, the presentation format is an involving and inspiring day for your team. It is not only educative but also offers opportunity for debate so that a consensus evolves which your staff can fully support.
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New company launches If you are thinking of launching a mail order or multi-channel company in the United Kingdom we can help you make your launch a success. Whether you are a completely new launch or an already successful brand operating elsewhere in the world we can help you get off to a great start. We can advise you on the viability of your strategy, put you in touch with relevant suppliers and offer post campaign analysis.
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Providing a peer Running a mail order company can be a lonely business. Often the owner or managing director has no peer group within the organisation with whom he can discuss ideas and concepts for moving the business forward. Sometimes the discussion of new, half-formed ideas may worry staff. In this situation Andrew has provided an informed sounding board for many of his clients. It gives the company principal the opportunity to thrash out ideas, however outlandish or revolutionary, without unsettling employees. Often these sessions have produced fresh new ideas which have produced exciting new directions for the companies to explore.
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Helping retailers launch a direct channel Distance selling to consumers is totally different from conventional retailing. Understanding the dynamics of the direct channels is the key to success. We can help you devise a workable, coherent strategy that will enable your company to successfully launch a mail order catalogue or website. We can help you to select a balanced product range, advise on a contact strategy and help you devise service level agreements with internal and external suppliers.
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Helping you grow Sometimes companies can just get stuck. They reach a certain size and seem unable to grow any further. If you find yourself in this position we can use our experience to help your company grow out of the rut.
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Helping you sell your company. If you are looking to sell your company we will probably know of someone who is likely to buy it. Also we can advise you, based on its current performance, what price range you can expect to achieve.
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Helping you buy a company If you are on the acquisition trail do get in touch. We have extensive contacts in the mail order industry and often know of companies that are up for sale. If you are currently involved in an acquisition we can advise you on the health of the company you are seeking to acquire
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Due diligence We provide due diligence services for both companies and venture capitalists involved in the acquisition of mail order and multi-channel companies.
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