Businesses need to develop a professional approach to scale and create value, not just hire professionals.
MSU is an iconic store in Bangalore, famous for providing a large variety of sarees,
fabrics and bridal wear at great value, all under a single roof. With a strong and loyal
customer base, it boasts of one of the highest revenue per square feet in the
industry, along with leading industry margins. In order to maximize MSU value, the
founders wanted to open stores across new geographies and grow sales and profits.
In this, they faced various challenges, viz:
How do they replicate their unique in-store experience in new stores
How do they scale merchandising
How do they transition from family to a professional way of working
They partnered with Val-More to help overcome these challenges.
We started by first aligning all the stakeholders on an Enterprise vision, which
encompassed the vision for the Business, Owners and Family.
The next step was to understand how MSU creates and captures value. We did an
indepth consumer research and profiled their “bulls-eye” customer. Using various
tools of The Val-More Framework©, we articulated MSU’s Value Proposition, and
further strengthened their unique Customer Experience Journey. This become the
template for replicating MSU’s exceptional in-store experience when opening new
stores.
Scaling merchandising was a challenge since it was handled by family members who
had learnt this over time. We codified and helped improve existing merchandising
practices to handle multi-store operations, which could be learnt quickly and be used
to monitor & improve performance.
We helped transition from family to professional way of working by codifying
knowledge, developing SOPs across functions, creating an organization with clear
roles and responsibilities, and introducing best management practices. It was
important that the professional way of working was embraced by all the family
members, before hiring professionals.
As a result, MSU has launched its second store in Hyderabad in Dec’23, and in less
than a year it has delivered higher revenue per square feet compared to many
established stores in Hyderabad, while generating operating profit. It has been
successful in using a professional approach to replicate its unique in-store
experience, merchandising prowess, and develop a capable team to implement its
aggressive store expansion plan.
We at Val-More are truly proud of our partnership with MSU on their journey of
developing a professional approach to create value.
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