Client Context

The client is a well-established neighbourhood supermarket chain with multiple outlets across key residential micro-markets in a major Indian metropolitan city. The chain is known for its focus on convenience, product quality and strong local relevance, serving a diverse customer base across different income and demographic segments.

As the city’s organised retail landscape became increasingly competitive—with rapid expansion of large-format retailers, strong presence of regional supermarket chains, and the growing influence of quick-commerce platforms—the client sought to strengthen store-level performance and prepare for the next phase of growth. Despite favourable catchment demographics, select outlets were not delivering expected performance, prompting the need for a structured, data-backed understanding of customer behaviour and competitive dynamics at a neighbourhood level.

The Challenge

As the client reviewed store performance across multiple locations, several key challenges emerged:

• Limited visibility into local customer perceptions and how expectations differed by micro-market
• Difficulty in identifying store-specific performance gaps despite strong brand recall
• Increasing competitive pressure from neighbourhood supermarkets, large-format retailers and quick-commerce platforms
• Lack of structured benchmarking across pricing, promotions, service experience and convenience factors
• Risk of taking corrective actions without granular, customer-validated insights

The client required a disciplined, insight-led approach to diagnose these issues and support informed decision-making.

How Kepler Works

Kepler analysed local retail markets, gathered direct customer and competitor insights, benchmarked store performance, and translated findings into clear, actionable recommendations to improve competitiveness and store performance.

Impact & Outcome

• Enabled leadership to clearly understand why performance varied by location
• Reduced decision risk through customer-backed, data-driven insights
• Identified targeted levers to improve value perception, promotions and in-store experience
• Supported prioritisation of investments across stores based on micro-market potential
• Created a scalable framework applicable to future store expansions

Key Results

• 5 micro-markets assessed in detail
• 600+ consumer interactions across customers, competitor shoppers and residents
• 15+ competing retailers benchmarked
• 6 key performance dimensions evaluated per store
• Store-wise strategic priorities defined across short, medium and long-term horizons