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Our retail clients sell everything from groceries to sporting goods, jewelry to furniture. Their revenues range from $10 million to $1 billion. We realize that they all have unique situations, so we customize our solutions so they can face fierce competition and win.

Retail Industry

Plante Moran helps retailers face fierce competition and win

The business consultants, tax specialists and CPAs of Plante Moran serve more than 400 retailers. They sell everything from groceries to sporting goods, jewelry to furniture. Their revenues range from $10 million to $1 billion. They have one location. They have more than 100 locations.

Because of our relationship with them, we know the retail industry. And we bring that information to every engagement. We also know that each retail business is different, so we take time to understand each situation and customize our solutions for each client. 

The right incentives can help you retain the people you need for success

In this era of increased global competition, businesses of all sizes are continually looking for ideas that will enable them to keep up with the constant demand for new and improved products and services. They depend on their employees for the next best idea and rely on their experience and relationships to make them work. The question is: How do you attract and retain the ideal people you need?

Plante Moran offers a menu of services for retailers

In response to the needs of our clients in retail, we have developed a menu of services designed to help them deal with issues like data security, site selection, and tax minimization. We have experts in these areas and more. On the 1,600-member Plante & Moran staff are engineers, architects, doctors, lawyers, certified fraud examiners, investment advisors, and, of course, CPAs.

Because our retail clients are facing constant change and fierce competition, our staff members are always looking for ways to help them maintain their profitability. 

Tax minimization and planning can help you find hidden cash

Our tax specialists can help retailers find hidden cash in their fixed assets and their property. For instance, when a client bought a mall for $42 million, engineers at Plante Moran segregated $15.5 million of building components and land improvements into shorter class lives. The result was a $1.9 million tax savings in the first five years and a present value savings of $1.8 million over the life of the center. 

Retain the best and brightest employees

Good people translate into greater profitability. With this in mind, our employee benefit consultants can help you develop and retain the best and brightest employees.

Employee benefits are expensive, but they are important to employee retention. Our employee benefit consultants can help you find a benefit plan that minimizes the impact on your bottom line and allows you to be competitive. In many cases, our employee benefit consultants have been able to produce an ROI of 4:1 or greater in the first year.

Let the business consultants at Plante Moran give your retail business the competitive edge. Plante Moran is poised to help you thrive. We travel across the country and around the world to work for our clients. In our state and local tax department, we have professionals who know the special concerns of retailers. We have staff certified in internal audits to do SOX compliance work. Plante & Moran will provide a seamless delivery of customized services so your organization can thrive.

Tax Savings & Minimization

At Plante Moran, our team of tax savings and minimization experts can help you look at state and local tax issues including multistate income and franchise tax, sales and use tax, and property tax. They will also investigate the possible opportunities for credits and incentives like historic preservation, energy saving improvements, and cost segregation to ensure that you are taking full advantage of all the available tax saving strategies.

Financial Statement Audit

Our experience with more than 400 retailers means we won’t have to waste your time asking a lot of general questions. But at the same time, we know which questions to ask so you can take advantage of opportunities to improve cash flow — from tax credits to real estate decisions.

Employee Benefits Consulting

Our employee benefit consultants will review your current healthcare benefits plans. We will create models to analyze the effects of changing various factors such as plan design, funding arrangement, vendor selection, and wellness strategies. We will help you develop employee benefits management techniques that will improve your cost management of the plans.

Fraud Investigation

According to the latest statistics from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), retail is in the top five industries for incidents of fraud. According to their statistics, retailers reported 63 cases of frauds with a median loss of $153,000.

PCI DSS Compliance

To stay competitive in the retail industry, customer convenience is critical, and the ability to swipe a credit card can make or break any deal. To ensure that you can continue providing that convenience, however, you must be able to prove that you are complying with the Payment Card Industry’s (PCI) requirement to document your data security standards (DSS).

Real Estate Site Selection

Real estate decisions have a lasting influence on a retailer’s ability to succeed. From site selection to negotiating the best lease or purchase price, Plante Moran CRESA (commercial real estate services advisors) understands that you are not just looking to “do a deal,” but to make the decisions that are right for your business. We will help you define a business plan, and then through our fully integrated, unbiased real estate advisory platform, execute the plan.

“It was tough when we managers were going through the process of developing an ESOP and buying the grocery stores (8) from the owner. The Plante & Moran team made sure everyone was taken care of. And we continue to rely on them. They help us deal with day-to-day balance sheet issues as well as cost cutting and cash flow modeling. They seem to be always looking out for us and encourage us to look at the bigger picture. We appreciate how deeply they are committed to our success.”

President/CEO
Specialty Grocery Chain