Challenge

We were engaged by two major telecoms retailers to use our solid understanding of the US retail landscape to launch a brand new JV retail channel in the US.  The target was to launch 500 stores within two and a half years, with forecasted turnover reaching $2bn.

Phase 1 of this project was to launch an initial 15 stores in selected locations across the US.  This would allow us to develop a sustainable business infrastructure for Phase 2, a new operating model which also involved the acquisition of existing businesses.

Approach

We laid the foundations by building a go-to market strategy, identifying new store sites, and organising business reviews, internal work streams and cross functional workshops.  These allowed us to gather and define over 1,400 requirements.

This preliminary planning allowed us to define all cross-functional processes, design an enterprise IT architecture and enable the selection of third party vendors.  These requirements were also used later to define the MVP requirements and narrow down our scope for launch.

Following on from this we led the work stream for the target operating model design across 11 functions.  Efficient business reviews and 1:1 meetings with functional leaders allowed us to minimise  the number of feedback iterations and enabled clear RACI and process hand off definition.

We recommended and implemented an entirely cloud-based IT architecture, defining principles and researching best-in-class applications.  Applying a structured scoring system we also managed the selection process and outsourcing approach for 80 software, maintenance, marketing and consulting vendors.  Decisions took into account integration between vendors, a crucial element which enabled us to achieve such an aggressive launch strategy.

We defined and built “to-be” processes for the front of house and back of store retail operations, mapping 1,000 to the bespoke process tool ahead of schedule.  They were designed to integrate into a continuous improvement program that enabled employee feedback and enhanced process accessibility.

In order to achieve the ambitious targets of scaling to 500 US stores in just over two years, supply chain optimisation  was vital.  We managed the design and implementation of the supply chain across business functions to ensure effective end-to-end operations.

We defined best practice models for other departments such as marketing, IT and retail operations, allowing the client to build best-in-class business functions that would enable the company to straightforwardly scale their operations.  As an added resource, we provided the expertise missing from their core team to ensure we hit the go-live date with maximum resources.

Outcome

15 brand new retail stores were successfully rolled out in selected locations across the US.  Post-launch we stayed closely involved, providing daily operational support and carrying out business activities whilst coaching new employees.

We then engineered the transition of these initial stores to the Phase 2 operating model, project-managing the supply chain, retailer operations and IT work streams.

At the same time we executed the post-acquisition integration of 18 existing businesses.  We developed detailed resource plans and budgets and project-managed the HR, PMO and IT work streams, which again was delivered on budget and to schedule.