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How many elevators are needed in a mall?

market size Market sizing
New answer on Apr 12, 2021
3 Answers
1.8 k Views
Anonymous A asked on Apr 10, 2021

I'd probably want to look at it in terms of area. I'll benchmark that based on X mall which is 5km and there is only one elevator. So i'd say for every 5km there is only one elevator. And if the mall has an area of 10km then we need to 2 elevators. Is that reasonable? Or is there a better way to approach the problem?

(edited)

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Ian
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Apr 10, 2021
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

Hi there,

You'll really get the best out of this exercise if you try it yourself. Why don't you post what you're thinking and we can help?

Hint: Do you think this makes more sense top-down or bottom up?

General Tips

Remember that there's rarely a "best" answer with market sizing. What's important is that you break down the problem the way it makes sense to you. Importantly, break it down so that the assumptions you make are the ones you're most comfortable in.

For example, do you know all the major brands? Great go with that. Do you understand all the segments of that country's population (either age or wealth or job breakdown)? Go with that. Do you know the total market size of a similar industry? Then break it down that way.

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Henning
Expert
replied on Apr 11, 2021
Bain | passed >15 MBB interviews as a candidate

The key to maket sizing questions is to estimate it bottom-up and not top-down. Benchmarking simply based on a competitor is top down and won't win you any points.

There are probably dozens of different approaches, but one specific one could be the following:

  1. Estimate the number of people in a mall any given time - to make it simple, split into morning / afternoon weekend / working day.
  2. Make assumptions on how often people switch floors during the day.
  3. Estimate capacity of a single elevator and with that the number of elevators.

Hope this helps!

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Clara
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Apr 12, 2021
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut

Hello!

You are also missing something key: depends on how many floors it has, not only on total surface.

How would you factor that in?

Cheers,

Clara

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