Quick commerce has compressed the distribution playbook
10-minute delivery has redrawn channel economics, assortment strategy and brand-building. Senior commercial leaders now need to think in weeks, not quarters.
← Sector Practices · 03 / 12
Consumer Goods & Retail.
Brand, category and channel leadership for a consumer market that turns over every quarter.
01 / Overview
The practice.
Consumer is the most commercially demanding sector we serve. Brand teams move every quarter, channels evolve every year, and the difference between a great hire and a mediocre one shows up in market share within two cycles.
We work with global FMCG majors, Indian consumer brands, modern trade and quick-commerce players, and the new generation of D2C brands competing for the same shelf — physical and digital. Search here is about commercial instinct as much as functional craft.
Our consumer practice covers F&B, personal care, home care, beauty, fashion, QSR, durables, retail operations and the full D2C and quick-commerce stack.
02 / Market landscape
What the market is doing.
The forces shaping leadership demand in Consumer right now.
D2C founders are professionalising
Hundreds of Indian D2C brands have crossed ₹100 crore in revenue. Their first non-founder commercial leaders — CMO, COO, CFO — are the most consequential hires they will make.
Modern trade and e-commerce now demand integrated leadership
Channel silos are dissolving. The best brands run Head of Commerce roles that span GT, MT, e-com and quick commerce as one P&L.
Premiumisation is creating new categories
Premium F&B, beauty, wellness and home are creating P&Ls that did not exist five years ago — and the leadership pipeline is thin.
03 / Talent landscape
"The best consumer leaders are deeply commercial, market-tested and movement-aware. Our process surfaces operators who have actually owned a P&L through a cycle — not just managed a slide deck."
04 / Roles we place
The mandates.
Representative roles across 5 role families.
Executive
- · CEO
- · President
- · Country Head
- · Managing Director
Commercial
- · CMO
- · CRO
- · Chief Commercial Officer
- · Head of Sales — GT, MT, E-commerce, Quick Commerce
- · Category Heads
- · Brand Heads
Operations & supply
- · Chief Supply Chain Officer
- · Head of Manufacturing
- · Head of Procurement
- · Head of Logistics
Digital & D2C
- · Head of D2C
- · Head of Digital
- · Head of E-commerce
- · Head of Performance Marketing
Retail operations
- · Retail Operations Head
- · Store Format Heads
- · Visual Merchandising Heads
05 / Our approach
How we hire for Consumer.
P&L-tested shortlists
Every commercial candidate is referenced on the size, complexity and outcomes of the P&L they actually owned — not the one printed on the business card.
Channel-specific fluency
GT, MT, E-com and Q-com are different sports. We map leaders by where they have actually won, and never substitute one for the other.
Founder-friendly senior hires
For D2C and emerging brands, we calibrate seniority to stage so the first big hire does not break the culture or burn the runway.
International expansion benches
For Indian brands expanding into the GCC, SEA and Africa, we run integrated India–export market mandates from a single team.
06 / Methodology
Our 5-step process.
The way we run a sector search end to end.
- 01
Commercial brief
We start with the P&L outcome the role must deliver, not the org chart it must fill.
- 02
Channel and category mapping
Targeted mapping across the exact channels and categories the role will own.
- 03
Reference-led screening
Back-channel referencing from peers, distributors, retailers and competitors before the first interview.
- 04
Capability and culture assessment
Structured leadership interviewing, founder calibration where relevant, and commercial case discussions.
- 05
Closure & onboarding
ESOP structuring for D2C, relocation for international hires, and first-90-day market-immersion plans.
07 / Capabilities
What we deliver.
- Consumer CEO and CXO search
- Sales, marketing and category leadership
- Supply chain and manufacturing
- Digital, D2C and quick-commerce
- Retail operations and store leadership
- International expansion (GCC, SEA, Africa)
- Brand strategy and category P&L leaders
- Independent consumer advisors
08 / Cross-border
India · UAE · Singapore · Canada.
We routinely place Indian consumer leaders into GCC roles for regional FMCG businesses, and bring diaspora leaders back into India for senior brand and commercial roles. Our offices in Gurgaon, Mumbai, Bangalore, Dubai, Singapore and Toronto give us a real-time read on consumer talent in every major Indian-origin corridor.
09 / Case snapshots
Recent work.
Anonymised to protect client and candidate confidentiality.
CMO for a top-3 Indian FMCG major
Confidential replacement of an incumbent CMO. Mapped 110 candidates across FMCG and adjacent consumer categories; closed in 13 weeks.
Chief Business Officer for a ₹500-crore D2C brand
First non-founder commercial leader. Structured compensation 50% cash / 50% equity with performance vesting.
Head of Quick Commerce for a global FMCG
New role created in response to channel shift. Built from a 70-candidate map across e-commerce, quick commerce and consumer-tech.
10 / Outcomes
Track record.
150+Consumer and retail mandates
25+D2C leadership placements
8Consumer categories served
89%Offer acceptance
11 / FAQ
Questions, answered.
- Do you work with early-stage D2C brands?
- Yes. We work with VC-backed brands from Series A onwards, and structure searches around founder calibration and equity-heavy compensation.
- Can you help with international expansion hires?
- Yes. We routinely place Country Heads for the GCC, SEA and Africa for Indian consumer brands going global.
- Do you cover both modern trade and general trade leadership?
- Yes — and we are explicit about not substituting one for the other. Channel fluency is non-negotiable in this sector.
Begin a search
Looking for a leader in Consumer?
A sector lead from our Consumer practice will be in touch within one business day.