Consumer Goods and Retail Practice

CMI advises company executives in the agri-food, non-food mass-consumer goods, and distribution industries


A consulting firm that works side by side with company CEOs and their executive teams, CMI specializes in business strategic diagnostics as well as designing and implementing sustainable profitable growth strategies in France and abroad. Our team of consultants collectively offers 30+ years of executive experience and 30+ years of experience in strategic and innovation consulting. Backed by our expertise in both realms, we develop implementable solutions for our clients by integrating the analytic rigor and perspective of consulting with a sharp eye for operational implementation.

Our areas of expertise


  • Sustainable growth strategies: diagnostic, development, and support for the full activation of corporate, brand portfolio, and go-to-market strategies;
  • Innovation: innovation strategies and models, business model and value proposition development, and integrated management of innovation funnels;
  • M&A: Strategic and commercial due diligence, build-up strategy, vendor due diligence, and venture building;
  • Data & digital transformation: identifying business opportunities related to data management, customer/consumer journey digitalization, and marketing automation.

The distinguishing characteristics of our approach


  • Tailor-made consulting that adapts our methods and processes to each project and company situation by striking the perfect balance between analytic rigor, creative thinking, and empirical validation;
  • Agile methods for designing and testing strategies when market context and competitive environments are complex and unpredictable; 
  • An offering that systematically integrates a diagnosis of know-how, organization and operating methods to identify the conditions for successful implementation of action plans in parallel with the business diagnosis;  
  • Support during implementation (PMO, client team mentoring, and skill transfer);
  • Partners who are heavily operationally involved in their projects at an operational level from start to finish.

Our experts

Alain TAPIE – Partner


With over 30 years of work experience both in France and abroad in Senior Executive, Marketing, and Sales Management roles in agri-food and consumer goods, Alain Tapie joined CMI in January 2020. His goal is to help agri-food and distribution executives accelerate their company’s long-term performance sustainably. His operational expertise enriches CMI’s expertise and complements the strategic advisory excellence that is CMI’s DNA.

Xavier Fontaine – Senior Advisor


With over 20 years of Consumer Goods international experience in general management, senior marketing & global category management on four continents (Europe/Russia, the U.S., and Asia/China) and two years of experience working in strategic consulting for his own company, QIAO, Xavier Fontaine joined CMI in Dec 2022. Specialized in advising international Consumer Goods companies in Foods & Beverage, Food service, Cosmetics, and Baby Care his goal is to help executives in the CPG and Retail industries accelerate their company’s long-term performance. His operational, international, and multicultural expertise enriches CMI’s global expertise.

Fermin EZQUER-MATALLANA


Fermin is a senior consultant and expert in innovation models with over 25 years of experience in developing innovation strategies, business models, open innovation platforms, and disruptive value propositions in Europe, the U.S., Latin America, and Asia. 

Fermin is the head of CMI Spain and Managing Partner of Think Creative, CMI’s Practice specialized in business model and value proposition innovation.

Philippe CARRÉ – Senior Advisor


Philippe is the Senior Advisor for CMI’s Mass Market/Agri-food practice. He helps clients define and execute their value creation strategy: organic growth, innovation, external growth, and reorganization by providing individualized support that combines strategic relevance and focus on execution effectiveness and speed. Philippe has over 30 years of experience working as Head of Marketing, Head of Sales, and CEO in the agri-food, agribusiness, and mass market industries. Philippe has worked for international companies in France and abroad and run multi-activity cooperative groups.

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