Consumer products and retail includes companies that make consumer-oriented goods as well as the store locations that distribute them from grocery to apparel, specialty shops, and big-box stores.

Companies in these industries must stay aware of consumer behaviors to ensure they are making and delivering popular products that meet demand at acceptable prices. On the production side, organizations are constantly facing decisions about product positioning, mix, price, and production volumes. On the retail side, they must generate a positive financial return at every location, manage personnel challenges including a high rate of turnover, and survive competitive threats through superior marketing and service. Profit margins may be low requiring that management constantly focus on efficiency.

Training requirements for the consumer products and retail industries include:

• Emphasis on people and process training to drive efficiency even with high employee turnover.
• A strong brand orientation to ensure employees associate the learning program with the company's image.
• Flexible delivery to accommodate the schedules of production employees, sales associates, and managers with minimal impact to operations.
• An understanding of the IT infrastructure at each location to ensure training delivery is efficient.
• Certification capabilities to demonstrate learning is effective.