CASE STUDIES
Dive into Crabtree Consulting's impactful services through our comprehensive case studies. Witness our expertise in action with tailored solutions for both manufacturers and retail clients, showcasing successful outcomes that illustrate our mastery in addressing business challenges. We deliver tangible results and drive success for our clients.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Ensures a project is executed with precision and attention to detail, allowing upper management to focus on day-to-day operations.
Collects and organizes information from multiple departments, freeing up upper management's time for other priorities.
Takes the burden off upper management by handling meticulous projects, such as transitioning to a new software system or implementing processes for data accuracy.
Manufacturer
SOP & Data Infrastructure Overhaul
One missing connection was hiding exactly where this wholesaler’s real profit was coming from.
The client is a wholesaler with three distinct revenue streams, selling directly to private collectors, to other wholesalers, and to retail jewelers, alongside a separate business in rare old mine cut diamonds and signed estate pieces. The accounting system and the inventory software had never been connected, so the CEO could not see which of these divisions was actually making money.
Service:
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Built the bridge between the accounting system and the inventory software so sales and cost data flowed into one place for the first time
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Created a scorecard breaking profit out by division, isolating true margin on private sales, wholesale, and estate inventory
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Standardized data entry and built pricing formulas behind every style number so the numbers stayed accurate going forward
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Trained the team to run and read the new reports without outside help
Outcome:
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The CEO could see true profit by division for the first time in the company’s history
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Data replaced instinct on which division to grow next
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Reporting that once required chasing down multiple departments now lives in one file
Retailer
POS Software Conversion
55,000 SKUs and 40+ store locations, migrated with zero data loss.
A 40+ store retail chain needed to retire two separate POS systems and move onto one, with every employee record, vendor, customer file, and inventory count mapped and re-imported without disrupting daily sales.
Service:
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Managed the full data conversion end to end, mapping employee, vendor, customer, and inventory records into the new system’s fields
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Handled roughly 45 inventory uploads and 90 invoice uploads per location during the transition
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Mapped and imported approximately 55,000 SKUs across the organization
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Set user roles and security permissions store by store
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Reported weekly to the CEO as the single point of contact for the entire project
Outcome:
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Zero data loss across employee, vendor, customer, and inventory records
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Stores stayed open and selling throughout the conversion
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The CEO tracked progress through one weekly report instead of five departments
DATA REPORTING
Reduce reliance on the IT team for report generation and provide guidance and content direction for more efficient execution.
Build and automate customized reports for inventory management and customer-specific lists to gain deeper insights for effective decision-making.
Increase data-driven decision-making to optimize business operations, targeting weaknesses and identifying opportunities for growth.
Retailer
Watch Division Reorder Overhaul
A multi-store watch retailer carrying several luxury watch brands had no reorder process, and it was costing them turn on their best sellers.
The watch division had no standard operating procedures for reorders or inventory allocation, and the CEO could not get the reports he needed because the data behind each timepiece was incomplete.
Service:
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Rewrote every inventory role’s job description based on what the team was actually doing day to day
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Reviewed every task for inefficiencies and rebuilt the process from the ground up
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Diagnosed why top sellers were not being reordered in time and fixed the reorder cycle
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Rebuilt the product attributes in the POS system so reporting became possible by brand and style
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Established inventory management and distribution rules by location
Outcome:
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Faster reorder cycles on the brands driving the most turn
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The CEO could finally pull the reports he had been asking for
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Inventory allocation by location replaced guesswork
Retailer
Multi-Store Attribute Revamp
All of the data the CEO needs, now in one report instead of four.
A multi-location jewelry retailer had years of rings, earrings, necklaces, and bracelets logged in the POS system without consistent attributes, so inventory could not be searched accurately and the CEO could not get reporting broken down by category.
Service:
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Rebuilt data attributes for every jewelry category with the inventory team
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Allocated the correct attributes across the entire on-hand and sold assortment, style by style, using the new attribute structure
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Reallocated the past year of sales history to the corrected attributes so reporting was accurate retroactively
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Rolled the new structure out across every store location
Outcome:
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Stores can now search and use inventory across the whole multi-store footprint down to the specific details, including metal color, center stone shape, prong style, and more, not just by category or style
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The CEO can ask a precise question, like which carat-total-weight tennis bracelet is the top seller, and get a real answer instead of waiting on a manual pull
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The new level of reporting now flags aged inventory, tracks what's selling versus what isn't being reordered, and keeps the business healthier overall
PRICE STRATEGY
Conducting a comprehensive market analysis on competitors' pricing to ensure our client's products are priced correctly for profitability and competitiveness in the market.
Providing the marketing team with guidelines on selling pain points that our client excels at compared to competitors, and guiding them on visually appealing strategies to entice retail clients to choose our client's products.
Developing product programs to increase the average sale price and training the sales team to understand the value proposition, enabling them to sell with confidence and maximize sales.
Retailer
Basics Division Margin Overhaul
Buying on instinct was quietly costing margin on the store’s best-selling basics.
A 10+ location retail chain’s basics division had never had its vendor costs or retail pricing benchmarked against competitors, and merchandising wasn’t reinforcing the sale.
Service:
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Reviewed every vendor relationship against cost, margin, and retail price
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Purchased competitors’ product directly to compare quality side by side
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Benchmarked pricing against big box retailers and e-commerce competitors
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Identified new vendors offering higher margin at the same quality standard
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Rebuilt vendor order forms by category so buying stayed consistent
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Partnered with display companies and built training modules so merchandising matched the new pricing
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Set minimum stock levels for every basics program so the right inventory was always in stock
Outcome:
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Margin increased across the basics division
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Retail pricing held its ground against big box and online competitors
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Consistent min levels kept product in stock at all times, driving a better turn rate across the division
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The buying team had order forms and training in place to sustain the change
Wholesaler
Sourcing and Competitive Pricing Realignment
A loose diamond and finished jewelry wholesaler didn’t know where its pricing actually stood against the rest of the market it was competing in.
The majority of the wholesaler’s business was in loose diamonds, and it needed to know exactly where its cost was coming from, how its pricing compared across the wholesale market as a whole, and where its retail accounts needed help staying competitive at their own counters.
Service:
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Evaluated the wholesaler’s existing sourcing relationships to identify better vendor options and improve margin
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Price-shopped its full category lineup against the broader wholesale market, not one single competitor, quality tier by quality tier and carat weight by carat weight
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Identified specific categories where the wholesaler was priced out of the market and others where there was room to hold price
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Recommended new vendors where sourcing showed a better cost position
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Built ongoing competitive pricing reports so the wholesaler’s retail accounts could see where they stood in their own markets
Outcome:
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More competitive pricing let the wholesaler sell to more retailers while still protecting its own margin
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Retail accounts could buy at a price that kept them competitive in their own markets
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The pricing work, centered on loose diamonds where the majority of the business lived, carried over into a meaningful increase in finished jewelry sales as well
PRODUCT MARKETING
Conducts market analysis to determine optimal layout and design for marketing materials.
We generate data reports based on past sell-through to ensure the right products are included in marketing materials, while setting minimum and maximum levels to maintain appropriate inventory levels.
Provides pricing guidance to remain competitive with the competition and offers creative ideas that empower the end consumer to make an instant purchase.
Manufacturer
Building a Bridal Brand from the Ground Up
A manufacturer built a new bridal brand from scratch and gave retailers a reason to sell it.
The manufacturer wanted a white label brand its retail accounts could sell as their own, but had no product line, no branding, and no sales process in place.
Service:
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Led product development for every engagement ring and wedding band style in the new line
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Built the brand from the ground up alongside the marketing team
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Created retailer programs that made the line easier to buy and stock
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Ran monthly sales meetings to keep the team current on the offering
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Coached reps to think and sell like the retailers they were calling on
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Attended trade show appointments to launch the line directly to accounts
Outcome:
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A fully built bridal brand ready for retailers to buy and sell as their own
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A sales team equipped with programs that made the line simple to stock
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A repeatable retailer onboarding process for every new account
Manufacturer
Opening the Independent Retail Channel
A big box and e-commerce manufacturer opened its first wave of major independent retail accounts.
A wholesaler in Manhattan that had built its business selling to the largest big box and e-commerce accounts in the country wanted to sell to independent jewelry retailers for the first time without knowing how that buyer thinks.
Service:
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Guided the team on packaging and presentation built specifically for independent retail buyers
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Built curated SKU packages for retailers around what actually sold by pulling on-hand and sell-through data with the manufacturer's IT team to make sure every package was built to turn
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Advised on what independent retailers actually need to see before they buy
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Reviewed sell-through data to set inventory levels sized for smaller independent orders
Outcome:
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Opened multiple large independent retail accounts across the country
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Gave the team a repeatable framework for approaching the independent channel
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Built back-end infrastructure that outlived the initial launch
TRAINING & WORKSHOPS
Boost sales reps' knowledge and skills to effectively communicate the company's unique selling propositions to retailers.
Provide an outsider's perspective with extensive hands-on retail knowledge, helping sales reps think more like retailers and understand their customers better.
Equip sales reps with all the necessary tools and ammunition to confidently engage with retailers and promote the products they are selling.
Manufacturer
Scaling a Basics Division from $10M to $22M
$10M to $22M in under two years, on a division of 1,500 SKUs.
A jewelry manufacturer’s basics division carried 1,500 SKUs of outdated products that had stopped turning. The division needed more than a refresh. It needed new styles, new marketing and sales tools, and a sales team trained to sell the line well.
Service:
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Guided the internal marketing team on creative direction, SKU selection, carat total weight, and pricing across a 100-page basics book covering the entire line
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Trained the sales team on the offering on a regular, ongoing basis
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Worked with IT to build Power BI dashboards showing performance by rep, store, and category
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Ran product development on new SKUs to keep the line current
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Partnered with the display team on merchandising for the division
Outcome:
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Grew the division from $10M to $22M in under two years
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Gave leadership a live, high-level view of performance by rep, store, and category for the first time
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Built a sales team that could sell the line with real product knowledge, not just a catalog
Retailer
Live On-Site Event Workshop
A multi-day, on-site workshop built the blueprint for a single weekend event targeting 10% of annual sales.
A retailer wanted to run a major sales event but had no structure for setting goals, targeting customers, or coordinating marketing, sales, and inventory teams around it.
Service:
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Ran a live, multi-day on-site workshop covering goal-setting, marketing execution, and inventory coordination for the event
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Built individual sales goals and stretch goals for every associate based on their monthly average and their personal customer lead list
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Taught the team to pull targeted customer reports and build a postcard campaign around past engagement ring buyers who had not yet purchased a wedding band
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Structured the sales team’s event-day packets, roles, and morning meeting cadence
Outcome:
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A repeatable event framework the team can run again without outside help
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Individual goals grounded in real lead volume instead of guesswork
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A coordinated marketing, sales, and inventory plan for a single high-stakes weekend
VENDOR NEGOTIATIONS
Utilize strong negotiation tactics to quickly reduce aged inventory, resulting in a leaner inventory that facilitates a higher turnover rate.
Implement data-driven decision-making processes to optimize procurement and sales strategies, enhancing overall efficiency.
Streamline operations and improve profitability by developing standardized procedures for inventory management and resource allocation.
Retailer
$4M in Aged Inventory Returned in One Year
$4M in aged inventory returned to vendors in a single year.
A 10+ location retail chain’s inventory team was handling vendor negotiations without a data system built to support it.
Service:
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Built Excel templates with over 1,000 formulas to extract and reorganize data the existing software system could not surface
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Used the data to prepare vendor-by-vendor negotiation positions ahead of every trade show appointment
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Attended every trade show meeting and negotiated aged inventory returns directly with vendors
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Trained the inventory team and IT department to run and maintain the reporting going forward
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Built communication protocols with store-level teams for new product launches
Outcome:
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$4M in aged inventory returned to vendors in one year
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Lowered the cost of on-hand inventory and increased turn
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The inventory team could see and act on data no prior report had surfaced
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Vendor negotiation shifted from relationship-based to data-based
Retailer
OTB-Driven Vendor Renegotiation
A vendor’s turn was sitting under 0.5 and nobody had run the math to say so.
A multi-store jewelry retailer’s inventory from one bridal and fashion vendor was moving slowly, and no one had calculated open-to-buy or a turn goal to know how much needed to come back before ordering anything new.
Service:
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Built a full open-to-buy analysis for the vendor by category, calculating monthly sell-through velocity and months of supply on hand
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Set a turn goal and calculated the ideal on-hand inventory level needed to hit it
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Broke down aged merchandise by asset versus memo status to identify exactly what needed to move
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Used a price point breakdown of what was selling versus what was sitting to guide the negotiation on returns and future buys
Outcome:
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A clear, data-backed open-to-buy number to bring into the vendor conversation
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Aged inventory identified and isolated by exact dollar amount and unit count
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A repeatable turn-goal framework the buying team can apply to any vendor relationship
FRACTIONAL BUYER
Optimizes vendor relationships and purchasing decisions with data-driven strategies, allowing ownership to focus on sales growth and customer experience.
Conducts competitor research and margin analysis across multiple product categories, freeing up leadership’s time from procurement complexities.
Takes the burden off management by handling strategic buying initiatives, such as consolidating supplier partnerships or implementing data-driven pricing for improved cash flow.
Retailer
Six-Category Buying Contract
More margin. Faster turn. Less money sitting in the case.
Crabtree Consulting stepped in as fractional buyer across a single-location retailer's six bread-and-butter categories with the fastest-turning product in the store: diamond studs, solitaire rings, tennis bracelets, diamond hoops, wedding bands, and solitaire pendants. Each category was running on inconsistent vendor pricing and no minimum stock levels. Sourcing better pricing and new vendors where it made sense drove turn up, margin up, and aged inventory down across the board.
Service:
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Ran a full category-by-category analysis across all six categories, flagging pricing gaps against market value
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Set minimum stock levels and placed purchase orders to bring understocked categories back up
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Negotiated directly with vendors on cost, including renegotiating existing band costs and requesting missing carat weights and vendor displays
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Revised retail pricing on current stock and documented suggested retails for future orders
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Compiled a full contract close-out summary across every category at the end of the engagement
Outcome:
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New vendor sourcing increased margins by 20%+ on the categories where vendors changed
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Six categories brought current on pricing, minimum levels, and vendor terms
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Stronger margins translated directly into better turn on product
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A documented pricing and vendor framework the client can act on after the contract ends
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A clean handoff summary so nothing fell through the cracks post-engagement
EXPERT WITNESS
A legal or insurance matter involving jewelry needs someone who has run the business, not studied it from outside. That's the difference we bring.
We review records and financial documents, assess what's consistent with standard industry practice, work alongside forensic accountants when losses are in question, and deliver findings that are evidence based, confidential, and built to hold up in court.
Case 1: Insurance Fraud Investigation
Suspected Inside Job
A national jewelry insurance provider had multiple robbery claims from one insured retailer and suspected an inside job it couldn’t prove on paper.
The provider’s own team could see the reports but couldn’t tell which irregularities were normal retail noise and which were indicative of a larger problem.
Service:
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Reviewed every report tied to the robbery claims alongside the retailer’s POS and inventory software records
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Cross-referenced vendor invoices against the retailer’s own data to check for timing and documentation that didn’t hold up
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Flagged inventory claims and vendor documentation that didn't match how a real jewelry business actually operates
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Delivered findings directly to the carrier’s investigative team
Outcome:
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The provider got an operational read on the claims its internal team could not produce alone
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Specific irregularities were flagged that pointed toward internal involvement rather than external theft
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Findings gave the carrier a documented basis for its next steps on the claim
Case 2: Post-Sale Fraud Litigation
Retailer vs. Retailer
A retailer bought another jewelry business, got sued over what the reports allegedly hid, and needed someone who could tell a real data gap from real fraud.
The buyer’s legal team needed an expert who could read the seller’s original reports the way real due diligence requires, and test whether the opposing side’s expert report actually held up.
Service:
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Reviewed the original reports at the center of the dispute, checking for the filters and fields a complete operational picture requires
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Reviewed the opposing side’s expert report point by point, testing every claim against the underlying data
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Briefed the retained legal team on exactly where the opposing report’s conclusions did not hold up
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Met directly with the retailer and their attorneys to walk through the case and where it stood strongest
Outcome:
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Identified specific factual gaps in the opposing expert’s report that undercut its central claims
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Gave the legal team a documented basis for challenging the opposing analysis
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Walked the retailer and their attorneys through exactly where the case stood strongest