Digital Retail Advisory
The right technology and strategy mean little if the organisation cannot execute on them. Capability and org design advisory that connects people decisions to commercial outcomes — not just headcount plans.
The Problem
Many retailers are running digital businesses on organisational structures designed for physical retail. The accountability is unclear, the capabilities are in the wrong places, and the speed of decision-making is calibrated to a slower competitive environment.
Digital teams are often assembled role by role in response to immediate needs — a developer here, a digital marketer there — without a clear view of the capability model the business actually needs. The result is gaps in critical areas and duplication in others.
Technology investments and platform changes regularly outpace the organisation's ability to use them. New tools get deployed into unchanged teams and processes, and the gap between what the technology can do and what the business actually does with it never closes.
What This Covers
An honest assessment of the current state — what capabilities exist, where the gaps are, what the business is missing relative to the demands of its digital ambition, and where investment in people will generate the most commercial return.
Designing team structures and accountability frameworks that fit the actual operating model of a digital retail business — covering roles, reporting lines, cross-functional interfaces, and the decision rights that determine how quickly the business can move.
Defining how the digital function connects to the broader business — how it works with commercial, technology, and operations teams; what it owns versus influences; and how it is resourced and governed to deliver against commercial priorities.
Defining the roles the business actually needs — not just copying industry benchmarks — including capability profiles, seniority calibration, and the interview and assessment frameworks that improve the quality of hiring decisions.
Building digital capability within existing teams — identifying the skills that need to be developed, designing the learning interventions that will actually change behaviour, and embedding capability development into the rhythm of how the team operates.
Supporting the leadership side of organisational change — helping senior teams communicate clearly about what is changing and why, manage resistance, and sustain momentum when transformation fatigue sets in.
Why It Works
Patrick Rechsteiner has built and led digital teams inside retail businesses — not just advised on them from the outside. The perspective is shaped by what it actually takes to hire well, develop capability, and structure teams for commercial performance.
Capability and structure questions are only meaningful when they are connected to what the business is trying to achieve commercially. The advisory starts from the commercial ambition and works back to the team design — not the other way around.
Org design advice that cannot be implemented is not advice — it is a document. The work is focused on recommendations that are actionable given the organisation's actual constraints: budget, existing tenure, and the pace at which the business can absorb change.
Who This Is For
Businesses at an earlier stage of their digital build — establishing the team structure, defining the roles, and putting in place the operating model that will carry the next phase of digital growth.
Organisations that have completed (or are completing) a significant technology or platform change and need to redesign the team and operating model to actually run the new environment effectively.
Executive teams that know the organisation is not performing at the level the digital opportunity demands — and need a clear-eyed view of where the capability gaps are and what it will take to close them.
Get in Touch
Share the organisational challenge or capability question in front of you. Patrick will respond with a direct view on whether and how the practice can help.
Prefer to email directly? patrick@rechsteiner.io