25+ years at the sharp end of retail, fashion and consumer businesses. Now channeled into sharp advisory, serious training, and the kind of creative thinking that actually moves organisations.
Zubair Fareed Patel
Founder & Principal Advisor, ZP Advisory
I built my career at the intersection of retail strategy, brand building, and people leadership. From Shoppers Stop and Future Lifestyle Fashions to Health & Glow and Absolute Brands, I have spent 25+ years inside some of India's most ambitious consumer businesses.
ZP Advisory is where that experience becomes yours. Whether you are a brand looking for sharper positioning, a leadership team that needs to think differently, or a retail business that wants to perform better at every level, I bring the full picture: strategy, creativity, data, and storytelling working together.
My personal brand is "Curious by Nature" for a reason. I do not think of myself as a traditional consultant. I am someone who has always been restless enough to ask the next question and experienced enough to know what to do with the answer.
"Creativity is not a department. It is how you approach every problem. Strategy, storytelling, data - they are all creative acts when done well."
Absolute Brands - Big Hello
Chief Business Officer
Health & Glow Pvt. Ltd.
Chief Merchandising Officer
Future Lifestyle Fashions
VP Category & Private Label
INSEAD · IIM Bangalore
Executive Programs in Strategy & Leadership
I work best with people and organisations that are serious about growth and willing to think differently about how they get there.
Retail and Consumer Brands
Established brands navigating category complexity, channel shifts, or the need to sharpen their commercial story.
Startups and D2C Businesses
Early-stage businesses that need senior thinking without a senior full-time hire - from go-to-market to brand architecture.
Corporate Leadership Teams
Teams that want to communicate better, think more creatively, or build a culture of data-backed decision making.
Investors and PE Funds
Investors who need credible, experienced eyes on a consumer portfolio company - for diligence, diagnostics or growth planning.
Multi-Generational and Family-Led Businesses
Second and third-generation business owners looking to professionalise operations, sharpen brand positioning, or build a growth strategy for the next chapter.
Across strategy, training, brand, data and storytelling - everything connects back to the same question: what is the most creative, intelligent path to real growth?
01
Retail and Consumer Advisory
End-to-end strategy for brands, startups and investors navigating the modern retail landscape. From go-to-market to category architecture.
Strategy02
Brand Architecture and Positioning
Building brands that stand for something - from defining your positioning and value proposition to expressing it across every touchpoint.
Branding03
Consumer and Market Intelligence
Structured insight into your market, your consumer, and your competition - so your decisions are grounded in reality, not assumption.
Research04
Executive and Corporate Training
High-impact leadership programs that shift mindset and embed lasting behavioural change. Delivered pan-India.
Training05
Sales Capability and Commercial Coaching
Lifting sales performance at team and individual level - through sharper thinking, better conversations, and a stronger understanding of the customer.
Sales06
Business Storytelling
Turning strategy, data and ideas into narratives that move people and drive decisions - in boardrooms, pitches and team meetings.
Storytelling07
Data for Decision Making
Building the habit and capability to use data confidently at every level - so the whole organisation thinks with evidence, not instinct alone.
Data08
Visual Data Strategy
Making your numbers work harder and look the part - from dashboards to boardroom slides that get read, understood and acted on.
Data Viz09
New Age Category Management
Future-forward frameworks for buying, ranging, and competitive positioning in fast-moving markets. Built for how retail actually works today.
Category10
Cross-Functional Capability Building
Embedding creative, story-led, data-backed thinking across Buying, Merchandising, Operations, HR and Marketing - so the whole organisation speaks one language.
Cross-FunctionalA few moments from training sessions, client engagements and leadership programs.
Category Management Training
Delivering a high-impact session on merchandising and shelf strategy
Apollo Pharmacy - Leadership Engagement
With the Apollo Pharmacy senior team after a strategy and storytelling engagement
Opinion Leadership in Action
Leading discussions on category storytelling, strategy and commercial thinking with senior retail teams
From keynote addresses to panel moderation, Zubair brings practitioner-level insight to India's leading retail, fashion and consumer industry platforms.
Speaker at IFF 2025
Speaker at Economic Times Great India Retail Summit & Awards 2026
Awarded at the FAME ET Retail Awards Ceremony 2025
25+ years across India's most recognised retail, fashion and consumer businesses.
Engagements as an independent advisor, trainer and consultant.
Retailers Association of India
Retail Industry BodyDelivered category management and business storytelling programs for RAI's member network - India's largest organised retail industry association.
Apollo Pharmacy
Health & Wellness RetailWorked with Apollo Pharmacy's senior leadership team on category strategy, commercial storytelling and capability building across one of India's largest pharmacy retail networks.
Insight without story is just data.
Story without strategy is just noise.
Creativity is what makes both of them work.
Whether you are a brand, a startup, or a corporate team looking to rethink how you operate, tell your story, or perform better - I'd love to hear what you are working on.
No. While my deepest experience is in retail and consumer, the services I offer - strategy, storytelling, brand thinking, data, training - apply across industries. I am already working with organisations outside traditional retail, which is exactly why ZP Advisory is positioned as sector-agnostic.
Both, depending on what you need. Some engagements are a focused project - a brand positioning exercise, a training program, a data strategy review. Others are ongoing, where I work closely with your leadership team across a longer period. We can structure whatever fits.
Yes. Training delivery is available pan-India, in person or virtually. I have delivered programs across multiple cities and have experience working with distributed teams across retail, banking, and FMCG organisations.
Honestly, the best way is a conversation. Book a 30-minute call and bring your challenge. If I can help, I will tell you exactly how. If someone else would serve you better, I will tell you that too. I value long relationships over quick transactions.
Experience at the coal face. I have actually owned P&L, led buying teams, built brands and sat in the rooms where commercial decisions are made. That context changes everything. You are not getting someone who studied retail. You are getting someone who lived it.