Field note · Retail
Configuring the store before capital is spent
National formats set the frame. The local configuration of each new or modernised store is where much of the return is decided.
The situation
A Swiss retailer is opening and modernising stores across its region. National guidelines fix the format, but the regional team decides much of the local configuration: space by category, services, layout and opening assumptions.
Once the capital is spent, those choices are expensive to change.
The decision that matters
For each new or modernised store, the regional leadership commits to a configuration for its specific catchment, within the national guardrails.
How we approach it
AI compares each proposal with how similar stores in similar catchments actually performed after opening or modernisation, and makes the local assumptions explicit.
The owner sees two or three realistic configurations side by side, with their expected economics, before the investment is approved.
Impact
The approach targets a low single-digit million improvement in annual EBIT across the store programme.