FashionCo practice case | Case Studies - Interview Preparation PDF Download

Client Background

Our client is FashionCo, a player in the women's fashion market. It’s been in the industry for a long time, but has experienced declining revenues each year for the past five years.

FashionCo wants to understand:

• What is causing this decline?
• What can the organization do to drive revenue?

FashionCo will have a management meeting at the end of the week, and the CEO wants a recommendation from Bain on how to proceed.

Case Setup

Start any case by understanding the question you're asked to solve. Ask your interviewer questions if you feel confused or need more information. We want you to succeed in your interviews!

Take the time (1-2 minutes) to think about how you would approach the problem. Always structure your thinking, and communicate your ideas with your interviewer.

Here are some sample questions to ask yourself:

• What are the possible drivers of declining revenue?
• What are customers' key purchase criteria?
• What are the quantitative and qualitative ways to solve FashionCo’s problem?

Analysis

After creating your framework, the next step is to guide your interviewer through your analysis and structure, one step at a time. Once you have provided an overview of your thought process, you can suggest starting by thoroughly investigating current marketing and consumer trends to gain a deeper understanding. After examining these trends, you can brainstorm potential strategies for generating revenue for the company.

The CEO will most likely need to approve a new sales and advertising strategy, so the CFO and CMO will narrow it down to two possible options:

Option A:
(i) Assuming a flat customer base of 10 million, the estimated percentage of customers participating in Year 1 of the rewards program is 25%.
(ii) Customers who opt into the rewards program will pay a one-time activation fee of $50.
(iii) Once activated, customers will always receive a 20% discount on their purchases.
(iv) The average pre-sale spend per person per year is assumed to be $100.

Option B:
(i) Assuming a flat customer base of 10 million, the average pre-sale spend per person per year is assumed to be $100, evenly distributed across all 12 months.
(ii) The proposed sales strategy involves offering a 20% discount for 3 months per year.
(iii) It is assumed that this discount will increase pre-sale purchase sales by 100% over the 3-month discount period.