A private equity client owning one of the largest national off-price retailers had key questions that it needed answered in order to better determine the optimal exit strategy for the investment. Key questions included:

• What is the retailer’s customer segmentation? Who shops at the store today and why?
• What would the impact of a change in the retailer’s return policy be on revenue given the retailer’s value orientation?
• What is the optimal inventory strategy for one of the retailer’s most key categories?

Over the course of a three-month engagement, Parthenon worked closely with both the management team of the retailer as part of a task force to better understand the issues indicated above.  Parthenon's analysis included the following:

• Parthenon conducted a comprehensive primary research effort which included a conjoint analysis surveys to customers and non-customers (n=7,500) as well as focus groups across the country
• Parthenon performed an extensive inventory analysis to better understand the drivers of purchase in a key category

As a result of Parthenon’s analysis, the retailer has revised both its merchandising and inventory analysis and also decided to institute a major change in its return policy.