Strategy and commercial development
Where the opportunity is, how to position for it and which route to market is viable — assessed before significant resource is committed.
The questions a commercial strategy has to answer
A strategy is only useful if it changes what the business does next. The work is built around four questions that decide whether an opportunity is worth pursuing and how.
- Where is the opportunity that is actually addressable?
- Which customers, segments and geographies could reasonably buy, at what price and through which channel — separated from the market size that is simply quoted.
- How should the proposition be positioned?
- What the offer is, who it is for and why a customer would choose it over the alternatives already available to them.
- Which route to market is viable?
- Direct, distributor, partner or platform routes compared on margin, control, reach and the capability each would require.
- What has to be shown first?
- The evidence that would confirm or remove the decisive assumption, and the order in which the commercial questions should be answered.
Scope of work
An analytical engagement. We assess the market, the proposition and the routes open to it; commercial commitment, negotiation and delivery remain with the business and the specialists it appoints.
What you bring
- Current product, service or proposition documentation
- Existing market research, customer feedback and sales data
- Pricing, margin and channel information where it exists
- Competitor and substitute knowledge from the client's own market view
- Management's own hypothesis about where the opportunity lies
What you receive
Depending on the agreed scope:
- Market opportunity assessment with stated sources and gaps
- Positioning statement for the proposition and its target segments
- Route-to-market options compared on margin, control and capability
- Evidence and assumptions register for the decisive commercial questions
- Prioritised commercial roadmap with the sequence of next actions
How the evidence is handled
Every market claim is either sourced, assumed or calculated, and the deliverable says which. The assumptions register makes the basis of the strategy open to challenge, so a change in one input can be traced through to the conclusion.
How the work runs
Define the commercial question
Agree the decision the strategy must inform — a launch, an entry, a repositioning or a growth route — and the date by which it is needed.
Assemble market evidence
Gather what the client holds and what published sources support, and be explicit about what remains unknown.
Test opportunity and positioning
Work from the addressable segment up, rather than a headline market figure down, and set out why a customer would choose the offer.
Compare routes to market
Assess the realistic channels against margin, control, reach and the capability each route demands.
Roadmap and assumptions
Deliver the prioritised sequence of commercial actions with the assumptions each one depends on stated openly.
Selected industry applications
The sectors below are the ones whose own pages list this service in their support mapping. Each link goes to that sector's page, which sets out the decisions and the surrounding support. It is a selected set rather than an exhaustive boundary — the service can apply more widely than the hubs currently describe.
If you are still shaping the scope, the project scoping guide walks through the questions that make a brief usable. No email required.
Plastics & Packaging
Assess the opportunity for a packaging proposition — positioning, route to market and the evidence behind the commercial case.
View the Plastics & Packaging sectorFood & Beverage
Assess the market opportunity for a product or brand — positioning, route to market and the evidence behind the commercial case.
View the Food & Beverage sectorHospitality & Tourism
Assess the market opportunity for a property, brand or destination proposition, its positioning and the commercial route to market.
View the Hospitality sectorManufacturing
Assess the market opportunity for a product, service or capacity proposition, its positioning and the commercial route to market.
View the Manufacturing sectorConstruction & Built Environment
Assess the market opportunity for a development or materials proposition, its positioning and the commercial route to market.
View the Construction sectorWhat this engagement does not include
- Any guarantee of investment, funding, revenue, margin or market outcome.
- Legal, tax, competition or regulatory opinions.
- Brand identity design, marketing execution or media buying.
- Commercial negotiation, contracting or sales delivery on the client's behalf.
- Product design, engineering or technical specification of plant and equipment.
A commercial strategy describes the realistic options and the evidence behind them. It does not promise an outcome, and it does not replace the client's own commercial judgement or the advice of its legal, tax and financial advisers.