Featured question
Why are there 19 nail salons within a one mile radius of my flat?
18 August 2026 · 4 min read
What our obsession with manicures reveals about consumer behaviour, repeat demand and where the next £1 of growth could come from.
A fresh perspective on growth
What if your next
opportunity breaks the rules?
I help consumer businesses challenge the status quo, uncover overlooked opportunities and turn a different perspective into a practical growth strategy.
The way it’s always been done is a starting point. Not a strategy.
Markets move. People change. New possibilities emerge. I question the assumptions, follow the evidence and work out what your business could do next.
What I do
Question.
Investigate.
Build.
- 01
Question
Challenge the assumptions the plan is resting on and define the question that actually needs answering — which is rarely the one the business started with.
- 02
Investigate
Analyse consumers, categories and markets properly: who buys, why they switch, where the behaviour is shifting, and how big the opportunity really is.
- 03
Build
Translate the evidence into choices — which markets, which customers, which route — and a practical plan for getting there.
Shannon Has Questions
I question things
for a living.
And for fun.
Shannon Has Questions is where I write about consumer behaviour, psychology and economics — and what they mean for the businesses trying to sell to people. Curiosity first, conclusions second.
International market explorer
Where should you
look next?
Answer a few questions and this builds a first shortlist of markets worth investigating. It is a starting point for a conversation, not an authoritative recommendation, and it works from your answers rather than any country attractiveness index.
Current coverage: six European markets — the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Poland.
The biggest market isn’t always your best next market.
- 1. Where you are today(current step)
- 2. What you can support
- 3. What matters most
- 4. Where to look next
6 of 6 markets currently eligible for the shortlist.
How this shortlist works
Operational fit, 0–100
- Language match with the market: 30 points.
- Fulfilment you have confirmed: 40 points.
- Channel access: 30 points. Selling through retail or distributors — including the mixed route — needs a partner selected in that market. Selling direct online earns the 30 only when language and fulfilment are both in place; otherwise zero.
This is a heuristic built from your own answers. It is a starting point for a conversation, not a sourced measure of how attractive a country is, and language, fulfilment or a partner being present never proves a market is worth entering.
Category size, where it exists
- Beauty and personal care: each country’s 2025 sales as a percentage of the largest eligible country’s sales.
- Market scale priority: 70% size, 30% fit.
- Balanced: 40% size, 60% fit.
- Operational fit priority: 100% fit.
- Pet food and other categories: ranked on fit only. Where coverage differs between countries, the figures are shown as context and kept out of the ranking rather than treated as zero.
Scores are rough sorting aids, not precise measurements. Where markets land level, they are shown as tied rather than separated arbitrarily.
Work
Experience behind
the questions.
Experience across international consumer and commerce businesses, including:
- Skyscanner
- ACG
- PepsiCo
About
I’m Shannon. I started Sel Retail because the most interesting growth ideas tend to sit just outside what a category takes for granted — and finding them means being willing to challenge the status quo, dig into how people really behave, and stay curious long enough to see the thing everyone else walked past.
Ways to work with me
A focused question. A clear scope. A practical next step.
- 01
Growth Diagnostic
£3,000–£5,000
2–3 weeks
“Where should your next growth bets go?”
For businesses deciding where to focus.
- Review of your business, consumers, competitors and relevant markets and channels
- 3–5 prioritised opportunities, quantified where possible
- Recommended next actions
- 02
Growth Strategy Sprint
£8,000–£15,000
4–6 weeks
“How do we turn an opportunity into a plan?”
For teams ready to develop a chosen opportunity.
- Market and category opportunity analysis and customer proposition
- Commercial case and go-to-market strategy
- Roadmap, operating implications and KPIs
- 03
Fractional Strategy Lead
£5,000–£10,000 / month
Ongoing · 1–2 days per week
“Who will help us move the strategy forward?”
For leadership teams needing ongoing senior strategy support.
- Ongoing prioritisation and decision support
- Hands-on support translating strategy into execution
- Work alongside leadership and internal teams
Indicative fees. Final scope, timing and fee agreed before work begins.
Contact
Have a question
worth challenging?
Tell me what you are trying to work out and what is getting in the way. If you built a shortlist above, bring it along and we can pull it apart together.
Preview form — enquiries are not sent yet