Even with the rise of digital channels, a physical store presence is still central to driving sales, engaging customers, and building brand visibility. However, the cost of real estate is high and is often one of the largest outgoings of any retail organisation present on the high street. So how can organisations ensure that they are still meeting the needs of their customers, whilst optimising their cost through a tailored footprint strategy? What is the optimal number of stores needed to meet customer demand? Which stores should be retained and closed across a market?

Understanding your customer base is essential to developing a successful footprint optimisation strategy. Knowing who your customers are, in which locations, and what their shopping habits are enables an organisation to tailor their services accordingly. In the Telco space, we know that customers value face to face interaction with store representatives when looking for new handset devices, however, we also know that once they have conducted their research, many customers will choose to purchase the product or service online. As such, there are many questions Telco companies should be asking when it comes to their customers and their store footprint;

  • What footprint is required to serve physical retail customer needs, and for which transaction types?
  • What services are customers more likely to use in a retail store?
  • What influence does our physical presence have on digital adoption and brand awareness?
  • How will this requirement evolve over time as customers transact increasingly through a combination of channels, including digital?

By understanding the above, an optimised store footprint can be developed. 

How can we help you?

BearingPoint has pioneered an approach to optimise future physical footprint requirements, servicing customer driven demand across channels whilst minimising costs.

BearingPoint’s data-driven approach to footprint optimisation brings together internal customer and transactional data with external demographic and venue score data, alongside our deep supply-chain and retail experience,  to answer key commercial questions:

  • Which customer traits determine channel choice for which product or service type?
  • How is this evolving in line with the wider Telco industry and digital adoption trends?
  • Which are the most digital regions and what habits do those customer groups exhibit?
  • How does cross channel performance compare across regions, and how might regional objectives be set to more acutely reflect the demographic segment and digital propensity of those regions?
  • What is the likely impact of a store closure on online adoption?
  • Which customer groups are most likely to switch channels and which groups will require additional support to make the shift?

 

  • Footprint-Optimisation_BearingPoint.pdf
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