I used to plan the shop floor. Now I plan the stack behind it.
Merchandising taught me that every decision — a shelf, a price, a promotion calendar — has to work as a system. Software is no different.
From merchandising floor to independent advisor
Before founding Lambert Retail Consulting, I spent years in merchandising for a French retail chain — planning assortments, setting promotional pricing, and coordinating the calendar that every store and every channel had to follow at once.
What I noticed, again and again, was that the software behind those decisions rarely got the same rigour as the decisions themselves. A pricing tool would be chosen because a regional manager liked the sales rep. A CRM would be picked because it was cheap, then quietly abandoned eighteen months later. I started this practice to bring merchandising discipline to a part of the business that's usually run on gut feel and glossy demos.
Today, Lambert Retail Consulting works only for the retailer, never the vendor. No reseller margins, no referral arrangements — if a tool isn't right for your business, I'll say so even if it's the one everyone in your sector uses.
How I got here
Joined a French retail chain as merchandising assistant
Started in assortment planning — category mix, seasonal calendars, and store-level pricing execution.
Promoted to senior merchandiser
Took ownership of pricing strategy across multiple categories, working directly with the tools meant to support it — and frequently working around them.
Led the chain's first competitive pricing tool selection
Ran the evaluation end to end after watching two earlier software purchases fail to gain adoption — and started getting asked for the same help by peers at other retailers.
Founded Lambert Retail Consulting
Left the in-house role to advise retailers full-time on software selection, starting with two contacts from her merchandising network.
35+ engagements across Europe
Now working with small-to-mid retailers across France, Belgium, and neighbouring markets on pricing, ERP, CRM, and loyalty selection.
Principles that don't change per client
Vendor-neutral, always
No referral fees, no reseller margins, no preferred-partner lists. Recommendations are based on fit, not on who pays me.
Test with your catalogue, not theirs
Demos run on a curated sample. Pilots run on your actual SKUs, your actual seasonal spikes, your actual edge cases.
Write it down
Every engagement produces a requirements brief, a scorecard, and a decision record — so the reasoning survives staff turnover.
Stay through go-live
A signed contract isn't the finish line. I stay engaged through onboarding to make sure the tool that won the pilot is the one that ships.
Have a selection decision coming up?
Let's talk through it before an RFP goes out.