Value Retailer Strengthens Its Field Organization for Better Store Performance

The client is a value retailer operating over 5,100 stores across the U.S. and Canada, with multiple banners and aggressive growth plans. Leadership recognized that its field organization had not kept pace with store growth. In many cases, store count had doubled, while retail field support headcount remained the same. Additionally, each region, and even districts within regions, had unique characteristics, e.g., urban vs. rural locations, high volume vs. low volume sales, and stable vs. high growth markets. Because they were required to perform a variety of support activities, district management had become less effective in managing store-level operations. Previous attempts to address the field organization had been minimally successful. ​

The Parker Avery Group worked closely with the retailer to fully comprehend the business requirements and design a field organization that would enhance the ability of field management to:​

• Successfully run their stores​
• Provide a stronger focus on developing associates​
• Support corporate growth plans

The work effort included the following key activities:​

• Reviewed the current field organization structure and identified opportunities for improvement​
• Designed the future field organizational model including the definition of roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships as well as the recommended headcount for each role​
• Defined a high-level roadmap for transitioning to the future-state organizational model​

Key project deliverables included:​

• Current and future-state role-based RACI​
• Best practice gap assessment​
• Design guiding principles, requirements, and priorities​
• Future field organizational model with metrics​
• Hierarchy design and job descriptions​
• Future headcount requirements and financial impact analysis​
• Organizational change guidelines and tools​