Metropolitan Department Stores

Prompt

You’ve been hired by the CEO of a department store that has numerous locations in a major metropolitan area. 

• 20 locations in the metropolitan and surrounding suburban areas (they are present in every shopping mall).
• The population growth of the city is flat
• Overall store revenue has declined slightly
• They recently hired a consulting firm to streamline the back-room costs

She needs to increase the store’s earnings over the next year and has requested your help.  How would you structure your approach to this problem?

PwC Case Interview: Overview

In this case, you have been called in to help your client, a department store that has hit a growth ceiling figure out ways to grow their profit margin quickly. Their revenue has taken a dip and they have streamlined their hidden costs already. What else can they do? It’s your job to dig into the market, get to know your client and come up with a strategic solution that will send their profit margin back in the right direction.

The Market Study framework is a good place to start in solving this PwC case interview. We highly recommend that you don’t stop there. The most sought after candidates take it a step further and blend the framework with their own business experience to come up with an original solution.

With a qualitative difficulty score of 2/4, this case will set you up to do well in a first round interview at PwC. The case contains no math exhibits.

PwC Case Interview: Tips

PwC is looking for candidates that can identify key issues to solve business problems.

In this PwC case interview, try to identify 1 key area of growth and time yourself as you present (2min for structure, 5min for math, 2min for brainstorming, 2min for conclusion)

If you need out-loud practice for your PwC interview, book an hour with one of our case coaches now.