Saffron Retail: Launching Into a Market With an Incumbent
Marketing
medium45 min0 submissionsMcKinsey
Scenario
Saffron Retail is a mature-stage apparel retail business in India, preparing to launch a new product into an established category.
The category is dominated by an incumbent holding roughly 50% share. The addressable market is about ₹3149 Cr.
Candidate segments:
| Segment | Addressable accounts | Share expressing willingness to switch |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise | 422 | 84% |
| Mid-market | 5,008 | 46% |
| SMB | 37,995 | 19% |
Constraints:
- Planned list price: ₹4619 per account per year
- Fully loaded cost of a field sales rep: ₹48 Cr per year
- First-year launch budget: ₹49 Cr
- The product is genuinely better on one dimension and worse on two
The founder wants to launch to all three segments simultaneously "to see what sticks".
Supporting data
market
- tam
- 3149
- incumbent share pct
- 50
segments
| segment | accounts | switch willingness pct |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise | 422 | 84 |
| Mid-market | 5008 | 46 |
| SMB | 37995 | 19 |
economics
- launch budget
- 49
- loaded sales rep cost
- 48
- list price per account
- 4619
derived hints
- accounts per rep to break even
- 103919
Your task
Design the go-to-market. Your answer should provide:
- Analysis — which segment to enter first and why, sized with the numbers given.
- Risks — what your plan depends on, and what would make you change segment.
- Recommendation — a specific first segment, channel, price and success threshold.
State any assumptions you make.
Ready to move forward? Up next: Kirana Connect: Where Should the Acquisition Budget Go?Next question
How you'll be graded
100 points, 60% to pass.
- positioning25
- segmentation25
- recommendation25
- quantitative analysis25
Hint
Reveal suggested structure
Beachhead selection; switching motivation; GTM motion affordable at price point; staged expansion