Retail commercialization & category strategy for beauty brands
Getting into retail and being ready for retail are not the same thing. I spent five years on the retailer's side of the table deciding where brands, products, inventory and investment went — and I bring that judgment to the decisions you're making before, during and after you expand.
The gap
Founders walk in with the story of the brand. Retailers are evaluating the story of the business. Once the meeting ends, the conversation turns to a different set of questions entirely.
Is any of this actually incremental?
What happens to what's already on shelf?
How much inventory does this really deserve?
Is the growth real, or is it launch noise?
And what do we do if it doesn't sell?
Those are the questions brands don't always get to hear. They're the questions I spent years helping retailers answer — and the ones I help brands prepare for now.
The work
Before retail
Should we do this?
“Target wants us. Is this actually a good deal?”
The full economics of the opportunity, not the topline: retailer margin, markdown exposure, promotional and media investment, inventory and the working capital it will really take. Door count and launch assortment sized to what the business can carry.
At the table
How do we win the decision?
“We have a line review. Is our story strong enough?”
Pressure-testing the assortment and the financial case, the forecast and distribution logic, and the questions a merchant will ask once the presentation stops — plus what to concede and what to hold in the negotiation.
On shelf
Why isn't this working?
“We launched. The numbers aren't there.”
POS, velocity, SKU and store productivity, inventory health, markdown and promotional performance read together — to find the actual source of the miss rather than the obvious one, and a prioritized way back.
Ready to grow
What's our next move?
“We've been offered another 500 doors. Should we take them?”
More doors or more SKUs, what to optimize and what to cut, where the category has white space, which innovation earns its place — and where the next dollar of investment actually returns.
Start here
Bring me one decision you're facing — from any of those four moments — and I'll tell you what I'd be thinking if I were still sitting on the retailer's side of it. A standalone engagement that stands on its own, whether or not it leads anywhere else.
$1,250
Pre-read, 90-minute working session and written assessment. If the decision needs deeper work, that's a project — this tells you whether it does.
Beyond the Reality Check
Custom scoped
A specific opportunity, decision or performance problem that needs real analysis — modeling, diagnosis, recommendations, and help carrying them through.
Scoped and priced per engagement. Never hourly.
Ongoing
For founders and commercial leaders who need retailer-side judgment in the business on a recurring basis, without building the capability in-house.
I become the person you think out loud with before the decision gets made.
A capability inside the partnership
Scorecards, POS reports, merchant asks and financial terms arriving in a language nobody at your company grew up speaking. What the number means, why your merchant cares, and what to do about it.
About
A beautiful brand deck and a credible commercial case are two different documents. Most founders only ever build the first one.
I spent five years inside Target's beauty business, across haircare and cosmetics — working alongside merchants and brands to turn customer, category and financial signals into decisions about assortment, launches, inventory and growth.
Where
Target BeautyHaircare & cosmeticsScope
~$2BOpen-to-buy scopeBreadth
75+ vendorsMultinationals to emerging brandsI wasn't the buyer. I sat beside them with a different lens. When a merchant said "I love this brand," my job was often to answer the question underneath it: does the business support that decision? That's the seat I'm bringing to your side — product instinct and curiosity, trained to be pressure-tested against the economics.
Today I work with beauty brands before, during and after they land on shelf. Not to get you a meeting — plenty of people sell that. To make sure that when the meeting happens, and after it does, the business underneath it holds up.
Contact
Whether it's a line review you're prepping for, a launch that isn't performing, or a decision you'd rather not make alone — a short conversation usually makes the next step obvious.