About
Contact us

Capability Building

Developing the skills to drive lasting change. We give government organisations the practical tools and knowledge to manage change internally. By blending our award-winning commercial experience with a clear understanding of public sector processes, we work alongside your leadership to upskill workforces, break down silos, and build long-term capability.

Whether you need to train a team to be more market-focused, build internal consultation skills, or align public and private interests, we provide the independent support and practical training to turn high-level strategy into day-to-day operational capability.

How We Help

User-Centric Culture

Better community outcomes start with how decisions are made inside councils. We work alongside officers to embed user-orientated mindsets, giving teams practical strategies to deliver better results for all stakeholders.

Bridging the Sector Gap

Public-private partnerships often stall when teams don't speak the same operational language. We bring hands-on experience from both sectors to satisfy regulatory demands while keeping pace with the market.

Confidence in Delivery

We help local government teams successfully lead high-stakes community consultations. Through practical guidance we help build the skills to handle tricky public reactions, maintain goodwill and keep initiatives on track.

Ready to Transform Your Hospitality & Leisure Business?

Partner with First Retail Group and turn your hospitality ambitions into measurable commercial results.

Case Studies

Hutt City Council

Working in Unison

Thinking Like the Community. Before Hutt City Council broke ground on Riverlink – its largest project ever – FRG delivered practical workshops to reshape how leadership and operational teams approach public interactions. We challenged officers to evaluate how their daily choices affect the community.

The Impact. This work helped Hutt City spot exactly where external interactions could improve and build a much more reliable, consistent approach, ensuring council decisions perfectly match the real-world needs and expectations of their changing audience.

Invercargill: Pace to Progress

Customer-Centricity

Customer-First Approach. First Retail Group developed and delivered the Pace to Progress programme for Invercargill City Council to reshape how officers approached their roles around planning and compliance. By enabling leaders and operational teams to reframe council services from a customer’s standpoint, we got everyone moving in the same direction.

The Impact: This practical training built the skills and internal unison needed to make improvements that matched the city's refreshed brand, organisational aspirations and stakeholder expectations.

First Retail Group Ltd (FRG)

We are specialist retail and commercial strategists. FRG drives award-winning customer engagement, exceptional experiences, and measurable revenue growth for consumer-facing brands and premier destinations. Our expertise spans retail, hospitality, healthcare, leisure, tourism, and service categories, as well as precincts, centres, towns and cities.

Privacy Policy

Contact

Level 3, 44 Victoria Street, Wellington, 6011
New Zealand

hello@firstretailgroup.com

DDI NZ +64 4 979 9668
DDI AU +61 4 888 60415

© 2026 First Retail Group. All rights reserved.