CATO is a retail consultancy that translates corporate strategy into store experience through diagnostic listening, narrative framing, and operational integration

Sound familiar?

Pouring time and money into new apps and platforms, only to watch adoption fizzle in stores

Launching communication campaigns that flood already-strained store channels

Rolling out another EVP or culture project that looks great in a deck but never reaches stores or changes engagement scores

You're in the right place.

Why Good Strategies Often Don't Mean Much To Stores

Most corporate strategies arrive in stores without the context, translation, or buy-in needed to actually work.

Corporate teams invest enormous energy building programs, frameworks, and initiatives. The intent is right. The content is solid. Leadership is aligned.

But stores experience the company differently.

Not through strategies or programs — through schedules, managers, workloads, and a thousand small daily signals.

When corporate work isn't designed for that reality, it loses traction. Not because stores don't care. Because the work was never built for how they actually operate.

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What we do differently:

Most consultants stop at strategy.
Most agencies stop at messaging.

We go further — into stores, into the day to day, into the real friction points most corporate teams never see. How:

‍Diagnostic listening — we talk to store managers and district leaders to find out what's actually happening on the floor
Narrative framing — we reshape how the work is framed so stores understand what it means for them
Operational integration — we embed the work into existing store rhythms so it doesn't compete with everything else

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Our Process

Phase 1: Clarify the Intent

We start by getting sharp on what you're actually trying to achieve — and where the current gaps are between your goals and what stores are experiencing.

Phase 2: Diagnose Store Reality

We meet with stores and listen. To managers, district leaders, and frontline teams. We find out where friction exists, where the narrative breaks down, and where capacity assumptions don't match reality.

Phase 3: Redesign for Fit

We reshape the work — clarifying the narrative, removing contradictions, and building an integration plan that works within existing store rhythms, not on top of them.

Optional: Activation Support

If you need support beyond strategy, we help translate the plan into tools, assets, and experiences that make the work stick at the store level.

Our Work

Sustainability Strategy, National Grocery Retailer

‍The sustainability team wanted to improve store participation and move engagement scores.

Through listening sessions with store managers and district leaders, we discovered the real issue wasn't awareness — it was narrative clarity.

Store teams didn't understand what sustainability meant in a retail context. They associated existing initiatives with social programs rather than environmental commitment, and defaulted to "we're a business, not a non-profit" when asked about it.

We redesigned the strategy around a clearer narrative — one that connected sustainability directly to how the business operates and what store teams witness every day — and built an integration approach that gave stores the context and framing needed to make it their own.

Onboarding Experience, Learning & Development Team, National Grocery Retailer

The L&D team came to us wanting a better digital experience for a key corporate role. What started as a UX project became something more fundamental.

Through discovery interviews we found that the existing onboarding hub was organized the way content is managed internally — by topic and delivery type — not the way a new hire actually ramps up. New employees were left to infer what mattered most, manually sequence their own learning, and rely on managers to fill gaps the system could have filled.

We redesigned the experience around a six-week ramp-up framework — sequenced by role reality, not content category — so new hires could navigate independently, understand what mattered and why, and get up to speed without adding to their manager's workload.

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Let's Connect

If your strategy isn't landing in stores the way you intended, let's talk.hi@catocreative.ca

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As the partner bringing our organization's employee experience brand work to life through pictures and words, there was no question who I would collaborate with when it came to establishing the mental wellbeing brand and narrative. My interactions with Bekki and her team were easy, energizing and excellence-focused. Thank you for your patience, creativity and diligence. Together, we created something special.

Shana N.

Manager, CoE Integrated Health Management, Mental Health Program

I worked with Bekki in creating some graphically designed documents for a major company initiative. I was extremely impressed by the quality of the work she provided, her professionalism, attention to detail and excellent service. She made recommendations that were valuable in realizing the vision of the document and always responded in detail and promptly. I would very much recommend her for other individuals who are looking for similar services.

Michael E.

Human Resources Director, Sobeys Inc.

I see this collaboration as an extension of our team that knows our business, and is able to challenge certain things – always with respect and for the benefit of the team. We can sometimes be biased in some of our interventions and having an external person who questions us, allows us to see certain things differently; which is a good thing.

Isabelle H.

Manager, Talent Development, Empire | Sobeys Inc.

I run a boutique fitness studio where my entire business model is situated around face to face interaction. With a deft hand, Bekki has helped me transition online (social media, youtube, and other avenues) and has allowed me to continue to support my customer base, despite the global need for social distancing. She has provided input when needed, suggestions when warranted, and has taken my vision and executed it perfectly. Bekki's ability to produce top of class digital content on a moment's notice is single handily saving my small business.

Thom W.

Owner, Breaker Strength

Thom W.

Owner, Breaker Strength

Shana N.

Manager, CoE Integrated Health Management, Mental Health Program

Isabelle H.

Manager, Talent Development, Empire | Sobeys Inc.

Michael E.

Human Resources Director, Sobeys Inc.

It's been such a pleasure working with Bekki and the CATO team. They're always so creative, flexible, collaborative and dependable. Thank you for finishing the project well ahead of schedule. This achievement not only highlights your commitment to excellent work but also strengthens our professional partnership. I look forward to more successful projects in the future.

Heidi I.

Sustainability Manager, Sobeys Inc.

About CATO

We started CATO because we'd seen too many good corporate strategies fall apart between headquarters and the store floor. Not because the work was wrong — but because it was never designed for the reality stores live in every day.

Our team brings together corporate strategy, store-level experience, and a deep belief that the gap between what companies intend and what stores experience is closeable. We've worked inside retail. We know what a Tuesday morning actually looks like on the floor.

That's not something you can learn from a deck.

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Bekki Cait

Head of Creative Strategy & Employer Alignment

Matthew Copeland

Head of Retail Workforce & Frontline Experience

James Schofield

Head of HR Strategy & Solutions

W. Coby Milne

Head of Workforce Engagement & Productivity

Casey O'Shea

Administrative Manager

Hayley Ng

Production Designer