Consumer goods consultancy
Too many decisions made on instinct, no roadmap everyone agrees on, launches that slip because the process was never really there. I help small and growing consumer goods businesses fix the structure around the idea, so the right products reach the shelf, and stay there.
Most consultants own one of these. After twenty years, I work across all four, and the real value is in how they connect, which is where growth is won or lost.
Positioning, proposition and tone that move a business beyond own-label anonymity into a brand customers believe in, not just buy.
Roadmaps, NPD and a disciplined launch process, so the good ideas ship and the wrong ones get stopped early.
Range architecture, pricing and a plan built on what consumers actually buy and how channels actually sell, not on what's always been done.
Margin, P&L and the sell-in story that turns a strong proposition into a profitable, retailer-ready business case.
Sound familiar?
Growing businesses reach a point where instinct stops scaling. The founder is across everything, decisions bottleneck, launches get messy, and nobody can quite agree what the brand stands for. That's when bringing in senior experience pays off, without the cost of a full-time hire.
Everyone's busy, but priorities shift with whoever shouts loudest this week.
Good products arrive late, half-briefed, or without the story to sell them in.
The range has grown faster than the proposition, and the point has gone fuzzy.
Track record
Took a business at its earliest stage and gave it a proposition, positioning and identity to stand on its own, leading the move from own-label thinking to a standalone brand ready for new channels.
Replaced reactive trading with insight-driven planning and a three-year pipeline, cutting aged stock from 25% to 12% in four months, and brought every stakeholder along rather than imposing it from the top.
Built and embedded a "perfect launch" framework across a consumer products group, breaking down siloed working and bringing real discipline to how new products reach the shelf.
Led a Europe-wide "back-to-growth" initiative in corded vacuums, identifying competitive threats and the actions that protected a 60% share and held the category's lead during a critical period.
Flexible by design, from a focused project to an ongoing advisory role. Always senior, hands-on, and shaped around what your business actually needs.
Clarify what you stand for, who you're for, and why customers should choose you, translated consistently across product, pack and message.
Build a roadmap and an NPD process that turns consumer needs into products worth launching, and gets them to market on time and on brief.
Shape your range, pricing and channel plan around real consumer and retailer insight, not habit.
Sharpen margin, the business case and the sell-in story that gets you onto the shelf and keeps you there.
About Nicol
I've spent twenty years across brand, product, category and commercial in consumer goods, in both global corporates and founder-led businesses, with final sign-off on propositions, packaging, claims and brand execution.
I've sat in the boardroom of a global manufacturer and at the kitchen-table pace of a startup, which means I bring corporate rigour without the corporate bureaucracy, and I know which one a growing business actually needs.
I work best where a business is ready to move from instinct to intention: to build something deliberate, take the team with it, and make decisions that hold up commercially. If that's where you are, let's talk.
Let's talk
No pitch, no pressure. Tell me where you're stuck and I'll be honest about whether I can help.
Email NicolOr connect on LinkedIn