The advent of Satellite Navigation transformed the way we get from A to B. Now there is something to make sure businesses don't take the wrong turn! Strategy Navigation (Strat Nav) is a brand new business consultancy designed to help companies large and small build a road map for their future.
The business has been started by Will Huggins, who gained his business credential over 10 years, much of which spent at Tesco HQ. The business will focus on helping manufacturers and suppliers develop their products and categories and improve their relationships with the major retailers. Another important arm of the business is to help clients optimize their presence on the internet.
"Many businesses find themselves in a rut in terms of strategy" say founder Will Huggins. "Developing the categories in which they operate and reaching their consumers over the internet seem either too difficult or too expensive. In fact, the opposite is true. The easiest and least expensive route to success is to focus on your consumer and communicate with them online. In times of recession these channels provide the highest impact at lowest cost"
In order to provide a full range of services to clients, Strat Nav has teamed up with selected industry experts in commercial training, online marketing and interactive media. With these partnership, Strat Nav aims to help more business find the right road to profitability!
For more information contact will@strategynavigation.co.uk or visit www.strategynavigation.co.uk to read the Strat Nav blog.
More Information about Will Huggins:
“After specializing in marine biology, Will graduated from Hull University with a degree in Environmental Biology, in 1997. The logical step from there was into the food industry (?) via a brief spell in a London television company (??).
Joining Geest Foods in 1998, He completed a graduate program in the foodservice division before settling permanently into a marketing role. During this time He build a competitor and customer database - at the time the most comprehensive in the foodservice industry, as well as managing the sales reporting. Increasing developing the desire to get commercial experience (it seemed to be where the action was) Will was given some small key accounts to manage.
From there He was offered a role in retail business development, facing the Tesco account. This involved working full time from Tesco head office to manage the category review and segmentation of ready meals.
At the end of this project (2001) Will had grown sufficiently attached to his desk in New Tesco House that He accepted a job offer to become the Customer Planning Manager for the Chilled Foods category. The biggest achievements in this role were the category relaunches of Yoghurts and Desserts, Sandwiches/ sushi and Cooked Meats. He also managed the range planning and merchandising for the cooked meat counter and hot deli count.
After 18 months in this role, Will was offered promotion to Category Manager, heading up the Wine Warehouse (now Wine Club) business in Tesco.com. His first senior management role, He developed a passion for strategy development, online merchandising and e-commerce. During 2 years in the role, Will relaunched the Wine Club, set up a promotional mailing program, launched a call centre ordering operation and a new online merchandising system. Sales grew by over 150% and the business moved into profit.
In 2004, He returned to the chilled foods category as the buyer for fresh pizza, pasta, soups, sauce and bread. Coping with the loss of a factory to fire damage and sourcing new suppliers from Italy were just some of the challenges. Turning the fresh pizza category from 2nd in the market and declining sales to a star performer with record market share was probably the biggest achievement.
By 2006 Will was ready for my next challenge and joined the Express team to develop the convenience format. As a key point of contact for the buying teams and marketing department, He managed the range planning for non food, household and health and beauty categories, the trade planning and promotions and the seasonal events and feature space. This role required a high level of influencing skills as He was often pitched against the buyers, attempting to resolve conflicts between the category and format strategies. Increasing sales and margin beyond target were his measures of success.
In 2007 Will took a bit of a ‘career gamble’ and left Tesco to join Bounty UK (the baby pack company, not the chocolate bar!). As General Manager for their online division, He once again had P&L accountability and led a team of over 20 people ranging from web development, product management, advertising operations to editorial. A huge learning curve and extremely enjoyable experience, where He launched Bounty’s internet TV platform, created a new website for new and expectant dads and helped to secure business from new sectors.
Will left Bounty at the end of 2008 when his cost saving plan "did [him] out of a job"! A few months later after many interviews, a couple of job offers and the advice of many great friends, Strat Nav was born.”
