Our case studies

Transitional and strategic support to support the re-organisation of the Commercial Department for a market leading European ferry operator 

A leading European Ferry company operating 12 vessels in Northern Europe had commenced a 5 year transformation of the business requiring the realignment of their Commercial Team to focus on enhancing Customer Experience at all touchpoints and to grow revenue through share of wallet initiatives. To enable this change, a programme of digital initiatives was initiated coupled with a reorganisation of the Commercial Team to create an integrated unit. The Commercial Director took the decision to exit the business Our co-founder was asked to provide Interim support to guide Senior Management and the Commercial Team during the initial re-organsiation and later provide cover as Interim Chief Commercial Officer during COVID to help prepare and lead the business for the future. Shipshape Consulting bought their extensive expertise benchmarked on best practice from elsewhere in the passenger shipping, freight logistics, travel and retailing sectors. 

Address decline in sales and modernise the Tour Operation offered by an award-winning Ferry Company

Shipshape Consulting has undertaken a strategic review of an award-winning Ferry Tour Operation carrying c100k passengers across a number of markets to address a continued decline in passengers. The ferry company wanted to offer more cross-sell and up-sell opportunities by creating more reasons to travel aimed at attracting new customers and refresh the interest of regulars. A product range review focused on retaining the best sellers whilst new products were identified to achieve growth. Digitisation by the company has allowed it to modernise its’ business model and create a new organisation specifically focusing on revitalising the holiday operation with the ambition to more than double the number of passengers who will book more than just the ferry.

Design and deliver a strategy to improve customer experience, revenue & ridership for a North American ferry operator   

A major North American ferry operator had made great strides to turnaround the quality of service provided to their customers. They reached a point where they were ready to embark on the next phase of their journey to benchmark what was being offered by ferries and the travel sector in Europe and elsewhere. They asked us to undertake a review of their current offer and identify a roadmap of enhancements to enhance the customer experience. Since 2014 many of our team have provided their know-how and experience. We have devised and recommended commercially driven strategies to improve the customer experience, revenue and ridership. Our initial recommendations were presented to the Main Board and since then we have embarked on a complex project plan to deliver a Business Information Trading Suite, Visual Identity for on-board outlets and vessel environments and New Coffee shops and Retail outlets on-board vessels. The relationship is ongoing with further customer enhancements identified on the horizon

Develop the retail concept EMEA strategy for a leading Japanese multi-national corporation  

The EMEA board believed that retail had the potential to deliver c.20% of the revenues within a 3-year period and that the existence of flagships stores in major markets could drive the growth of the wholesale market and the apparel category. This was a start-up business with ambitions to deliver scale through aggressive growth. A specific business challenge was that the wholesale sales team were highly resistant to the establishment of a retail presence. Over an 18-month time period our Associates developed a European retail strategy for 3 brand concepts and the business plan (including the P&L, cash flow and capex requirements) across 14 countries

Development and roll out of a luxurious but affordable dining experience for a UK F&B chain  

As a business start-up, the design brief was very open: to create a brand and develop an impactful concept for the bar and restaurant physical entity which could penetrate the competitive F&B offer in the affluent South-East region of the UK. The longer-term ambition for the brand was always to extend across multiple sites and formats rather than a single site, which was a crucial consideration during process of design conception. Following the completion of the initial site we worked with specialist suppliers and contractors to draft a robust process for delivery at roll out. The commercial success of the initial site supported the further roll out of the concept to other locations. Furthermore, the concept was extended to a variety of formats (at a UK airport, high street) to leverage the flexibility of the core concept 

Deliver the commercial capability up-skilling programme for a UK market leading building materials, plumbing and heating provider  

Across the Group there were over a dozen Buying, Category Management and Supply Chain teams working in silos, with different and desperate ways of working and some very good and very poor ways of working. Our Associates created, delivered and embedded a Group-wide Commercial capability technical and behavioral up-skilling training programme by establishing a ‘Commercial Academy’ based on the principles set out in the ‘what good looks like’ Commercial capability ways of working framework. The aim was to improve consistency and productivity of the core Buying, Merchandising and Supply Chain competencies, drive best Category management practices and drive a common way of working