chasing consumables or arguing with suppliers. We work on the “hard” overheads and operational inputs – energy, waste, cleaning, telecoms, consumables and card processing – rather than people or property. Our job is to help you enable your on‑site teams to deliver the very best customer experience with the absolute minimum of hassle, while giving head office a clear, data‑driven view of cost and performance across the entire estate, from store openings through to store closures.
Who we work with and what we cover
We typically work with UK multi‑site retailers – whether in services, trade, fashion or specialist retail – with a significant number of locations and a material overhead spend across the estate.
Typical categories we manage include:
● Electricity, gas and water for stores, depots and offices
● Store and back‑of‑house cleaning
● Waste and recycling, including food and hazardous waste where relevant
● Fixed and mobile telecoms, lines and data connections
● Card processing and related banking fees
● Copiers, printers and scanners where used
● Core retail consumables such as till rolls, toilet rolls, cleaning materials and other
day‑to‑day essentials
In each category we look at both price and practicality – ensuring the supply chain works for busy store teams as well as for head office.
Typical problems we fix
● Vacated or relocated sites where utilities and other contracts have never been properly terminated, so you are still paying for energy or services at empty units.
● New store openings delayed because data lines or energy supplies were not ordered or connected in time for launch.
● Contracts with the same supplier on different terms and end dates across your portfolio, making it hard to megotiate or plan.
● Stores running out of basic supplies like till rolls, toilet rolls and cleaning materials because replenishment processes and contracts were never designed around real-world usage.
● Back‑billing, estimated bills and historic errors that quietly eat into margin without anyone owning the problem.
● A lack of estate‑wide visibility, leaving area managers and operations teams unclear on how their sites compare on consumption and cost.
● Under‑resourced central teams who are expected to handle supplier negotiations on top of their core responsibilities, with limited data and time.
How our process works
1. Understand your estate and priorities
We start by mapping your estate and clarifying what “good” looks like for your operations, finance and retail leadership teams – in terms of service levels, availability of supplies, risk, and how much local autonomy you want stores to have.
2. Map current contracts, spend and issues
We gather contracts, tariffs and spend data across energy, waste, cleaning, telecoms, consumables and card processing. At the same time, we identify obvious issues such as bills on vacated sites, mismatched contract end dates, stores that regularly run out of key supplies, and pinch points that have previously delayed store openings.
3. Design a simpler, tighter future state
We benchmark what you are paying against what a business of your scale should
be paying, and design a simpler, better‑aligned contract structure: fewer suppliers where that makes sense, aligned end dates, clearer specifications and supply processes that work for store teams on the ground. We also build standardised playbooks for openings, refits and closures so that data and energy are ordered at the right time and nothing falls between the cracks.
4. Implement and support day‑to‑day control
Once you have approved the plan, we negotiate new terms, close out old and unused contracts, set up improved ordering and replenishment processes for consumables, and make sure individual stores understand how to use the new arrangements. We then monitor bills, spot anomalies, and remain available to your teams so that issues are dealt with before they impact customers or delay openings.
5. Provide league tables and actionable reporting
We produce simple league tables comparing similar sites on key metrics such as energy consumption, waste, and spend on core consumables. This allows area managers and central teams to see how their stores are performing, share best practice, and focus attention where it will make the most difference.
Commercial model and timescales
Our retail work is delivered on a no‑savings, no‑fee basis:
● No upfront charges
● Fees calculated as a percentage of actual, delivered unit‑price savings
● Fees paid monthly in arrears, so improvements support the P&L and cash before
our fees do
You can typically expect to see a clear set of recommendations within six weeks of engagement. The timing of implementation will then depend on your existing contract terms and any operational constraints such as refits, seasonal peaks and programm freezes, but we structure the work so that disruption to store operations is kept to a minimum.
Book your 17‑minute call
If you want to reduce overheads across your estate, stop paying for vacated sites, avoid delays to store openings and make sure every store has what it needs to trade smoothly, book a 17‑minute call with Simon Unger. We will map your current situation, highlight where procurement support could have the most impact, and agree whether a structured, no‑savings, no‑fee review of your retail overheads is the right next step.
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