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SECTORS OF EXPERTISE

Consumer Goods

How we support our clients

We work with our clients to confidently understand the impact of transitions and revolutions, identify distinctive know-how, define the right playing fields, and build unique strategies to help our clients reshape their sector and industry.



For more than 20 years, we have been working with large groups, small and medium-sized companies, cooperatives and professional organizations in the food (grocery, fresh, ultra-fresh, beverages, wines and spirits), hygiene and beauty, non-food and luxury sectors on a wide range of issues:

  • Brand strategy and positioning

  • Acceleration of international growth through alliances

  • Digitalization of marketing and sales

  • Brand retailing

  • Sales policies

  • Development plan

  • Strategic plans

  • Strategic Due Diligence

  • Post-acquisition mergers

  • Industrial Operational Excellence

  • Implementation of new management practices at industrial and logistics sites

Kéa's solid expertise in both the Consumer Goods and Retail sectors (its historical sectors since its creation in 2001) makes it a leading player in the Kéa's solid expertise in the consumer goods and retail sectors (its historical sectors since its creation in 2001) makes it a leading player in the consulting market. In France, these sectors represent 50% of its turnover.consulting market. In France, these sectors account for 50% of its sales.

The agricultural and agri-food sectors are gradually regaining the strategic role they were given at the end of the Second World War to help France regain its food sovereignty. After an intense period of productivity growth (mechanization, seeds, fertilizers, industrialization, development of mass retailing, etc.), these sectors are now facing mutations and even profound disruptions throughout the value chain. And the challenges they pose:

  • Reinventing a more rational and responsible form of agriculture

  • Renewing the value chain concept by focusing on customer value, from farm to fork

  • Reconnecting farmers with consumers who want healthy, accessible products anytime, anywhere

  • Harnessing the promise of big data's enhanced intelligence for better controlled and tracked practices.


Food industry,
1st French industrial sector (€200 billion in turnover)

Our Expertise

AGRICULTURE AND AGRI-FOOD SECTOR

A core industry at the heart of the desirable transformations needed to meet the challenges of food, society and the environment

The world of consumer goods is in the midst of a major transformation (consumers in search of meaning, global competition, AI on its way to reinventing uses and consumption patterns, technologies that are disrupting business models such as robotization, the digitalization of marketing, blockchain and 3D printing, CSR at the heart of strategies...). So how can we face these changes with confidence?

Our projects with agricultural and food sector actors

Kéa brings its expertise in responsible transformation, orchestration of strategic thinking, organizational intelligence and mastery of technological levers.

We deal with general management issues (strategy and growth) as well as functional management (competitiveness and performance of businesses, management and human resources, information systems strategy).

In this way, we support all the players in the agri-food sector:

  • Input suppliers, cooperatives, manufacturers, distributors

  • In France, for export and internationally

  • Large customers, ETIs, SMEs and start-ups (in partnership with Digitalfoodlab and La Ferme Digitale)

  • Private players (including investment funds) and institutional players (banks, interprofessional organizations)

 

Based on proven methodologies in different contexts, our approaches are always developed with the client, with the aim of taking into account their strengths and constraints, through an approach and tools designed to ensure execution.

Kéa, which has become a  mission-driven company and a member of the B Corp community, is also involved in disruptive initiatives to build the food model of tomorrow (Faire! Mieux, a coalition of players in the sector to initiate positive change and solve transition issues), causes of general interest ("Eat better") and participates in reflection to transform the food sectors within circles of influence (Comité Sully, Open Agrifood Orléans).

Agricultural cooperative acquisition and integration

Kea supported the merger process and the construction of the strategic plan for the new entity, taking into account the cultural gap between the 2 entities. After defining the vision of the new entity, we aligned the 2 management committees and validated the strategic axes: supply chain, rationalization of the industrial tool, international development, brand positioning and innovation.

EBIT recovery program for a player in the agricultural industry

Kea has implemented an action plan coupled with cultural changes in management to ensure sustainability: in collaboration with the teams, an activity review enabled the validation of an EBIT recovery target of €30 million in 18 months, which was finally achieved in 12 months (reduction of production, purchasing, supply / pricing & control of margins / strategy on a segment of by-products).

Luxury as a structured industry is a relatively young sector: its exponential growth in recent decades has been fueled first by the era of "conspicuous consumption" in the 1980s and 1990s, and since then by the globalization of economies and brands (with the US, Japan and China as successive conquering territories) and the emergence of new consumer categories and countries, mostly Chinese.

The heralded era of "all data / all virtual", of slowbalization, of environmental and social concerns will not necessarily signal the end of the golden age of luxury, but rather its transformation and shift towards new territories - geographical, symbolic and industrial. Kéa's DNA, its projects, its clients and its "tailor-made haute couture" style of intervention make it one of the key partners for brands in the sector, from fashion and beauty to tourism, wines and spirits or housing.

In transformation, Luxury is moving towards new geographical, symbolic and industrial territories

LUXURY

What future for this “small sector with high symbolic value” carried by the France Brand?

Our projects with fashion and luxury players

For Kéa, transformation is a strategic discipline. Based on our excellence in this field, we support players and teams of all sizes and nationalities on the major challenges of the sector: brand and its purpose, the definition and support of responsible transformation programs, or the design and deployment of innovative responses to specific business issues in the sector (creation-to-market, operationalization of the brand, its relational signature, retail and omnichannel strategy, operational models)... always with the "Kéa Touch" on systems and culture issues, in a sector where human capital is at the heart of successful models.

Development of growth and strategic plan for an independent luxury brand in the US

Kéa advised the management committee of a luxury ETI, which is held by an investment fund, on its strategy for growth and diversification: Strategic plan, management committee leadership, business planning, operational model implications, and brand and go-to-market management, including digital and omni-channel.

Transforming international organizations and governance models to support strategic change

For several major global brands, Kéa has designed and implemented various transformation programs focused on the specific challenges of the sector: definition and deployment of relational signature, retailization and omnichannel, innovation management, redesign of country/regional organizations.

As the second largest contributor to France's balance of trade, the wine and spirits market is undergoing radical change. The product of know-how and a way of life deeply rooted in French culture, the image of French production is an asset in a growing market. However, companies in the sector are facing profound shifts in consumer trends, the digitalization of commerce, increased international competition and strong societal expectations. The challenge for the sector is to successfully adapt to these disruptions while maintaining an image of excellence and tradition in the marketplace.

Our know-how and expertise in the sector enable us to support CEOs of large groups and SMEs in the transformation of their business model, which must reconcile new consumer trends, responsibility and the adaptation of their distribution: internationalization and digitalization.
 

E-commerce will account for $45.5 billion in 2024

WINES & SPIRITS

Wines and spirits, reconciling modernity and tradition?

Our projects with Wines & Spirits brands

We build into our projects the industry-specific pace of change, which requires long-term planning. Any change in production, sourcing or distribution is a long-term commitment for the CEO, so we work with our clients to identify weak signals to anticipate waves of change and use foresight tools to propose resilient strategies.

We cover a wide range of topics, drawing on the industry expertise of our consultants: Due Diligence, Vision and Strategic Plan, Omnichannel Distribution Strategy, Digital Acceleration, Supply Chain Excellence, Cultural Transformation and Responsibility.

Post-merger integration and transformation of the HR function of a player in the beauty industry

Kéa ensured the implementation of the PMI plan for the Luxury Division in the various markets and the transfer of activities to the new headquarters; then, for the Chief Human Resources Officer, Kea designed the HR transformation over a 3-year horizon (functional strategy for all activities and divisions, global, regional and local reorganization, redefinition of key HR processes, design of an employee engagement plan).

Responsible sourcing transformation for a variety of global beauty brands

Over several successive cycles, Kea has accompanied the transformation of the procurement function in a responsible logic: implementation of new standards (REACH), definition and management of a "traceability" project, creation of agile tribes within the procurement teams in Europe, and support for local CSR correspondents.

MEET OUR TEAM

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Kéa's dual mission is to support this huge and urgent transformation and to connect the players in the agri-food sector, whether upstream (seed producers, chemical manufacturers), agricultural cooperatives and traders, food manufacturers and distributors, data and digital players, or the ecosystem of stakeholders from trade associations or civil society.

One of the jewels in the crown of the French economy, the beauty sector in its broadest sense includes skin care, make-up, hygiene and hair care products, as well as perfumery.  It's a pioneering market and a field of experimentation in many ways:

  • in its frenetic pace of novelty and innovation, in its codes inspired by fashion and lifestyle (seasons, trends, collections, capsules, colors, etc.);

  • in its inspiration by the codes of fashion and lifestyle. );

  • in its inspiration from the codes of the pharmaceutical industry, with scientific research and development to enlarge the consumer and the development of "cosmeceuticals";

  • in the avant-garde of mass consumption, with the intensive use of new distribution channels through influencers and social networks and their famous "beauty tutorials".


These new methods of branding, influencing and selling, which sometimes clash with the values of diversity and ecology espoused by brands, have lowered the barriers to entry and turned the sector into an ultra-competitive field where brands are born, grow and die at an ultra-fast pace, forcing all players, regardless of their size, to undergo a permanent transformation, at the service of which Kéa applies its distinctive expertise in strategic, cultural and technological transformation.

A field of experimentation, where the evolution of the actors is at a rapid pace.

BEAUTY & COSMETICS

In a dynamic (im)balance between mass consumption, science and luxury

Our projects with Beauty and Cosmetics players

Responsible Transformation is our gateway to the sector, where we can intervene with or without a partner to address specific issues - or otherwise - in the sector: Agile marketing and innovation-to-market, changes in operating models ("positive operating models", sourcing, traceability, etc.), transformation of organizations and governance models, digitization and shifting centers of influence and consumption.

Mobilization of wine sector actors in the construction of the strategic plan

Kéa has set up a dynamic of strategic dialogue in order to express a new ambition for the development of the wines of the sector in the world before declining it on different dimensions (products, markets, etc.). The construction of this plan was carried out by bringing together the entire sector : 40 elected representatives and permanent members of the sector, 80 stakeholders and 7000 wine companies invited to contribute through a collaborative platform.

Support for an industry player in its approach to innovation

Kéa supported the Strategy & Innovation department in positioning, organization and projects: after launching a global participative innovation program, we contributed to the transformation of innovations into business projects in agile mode on 2 continents, to the organization and implementation of work processes in the group's subsidiaries, and to the structuring and management of the innovation portfolio.

Bordeaux Wines, aiming to reach 2025

Kea worked with the CIVB and industry stakeholders to support the strategic plan for Bordeaux wines.

8 ways to build the future

Transformations and disruptions in the wine sector by 2030

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