Solstice Travel: Launching Into a Market With an Incumbent
Marketing
medium45 min0 submissionsBCG
Scenario
Solstice Travel is a growth-stage online travel business in Southeast Asia, preparing to launch a new product into an established category.
The category is dominated by an incumbent holding roughly 63% share. The addressable market is about $4647 M.
Candidate segments:
| Segment | Addressable accounts | Share expressing willingness to switch |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise | 672 | 66% |
| Mid-market | 5,588 | 53% |
| SMB | 67,393 | 11% |
Constraints:
- Planned list price: $5387 per account per year
- Fully loaded cost of a field sales rep: $89 M per year
- First-year launch budget: $31 M
- 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
- 4647
- incumbent share pct
- 63
segments
| segment | accounts | switch willingness pct |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise | 672 | 66 |
| Mid-market | 5588 | 53 |
| SMB | 67393 | 11 |
economics
- launch budget
- 31
- loaded sales rep cost
- 89
- list price per account
- 5387
derived hints
- accounts per rep to break even
- 16522
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: Basil & Co: Build the Line or Keep Buying?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