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Anonymous A
on Nov 12, 2019
Global
I want to receive updates regarding this question via email.

Is there a basic rationale behind sizing products that are widely used in commercial scenario?

For example, when estimating the number of capsule coffee machine, it's probably widely used in office buildings rather than households. How should I approach the segment? 

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Top answer
Antonello
Coach
on Nov 12, 2019
McKinsey | NASA | top 10 FT MBA professor for consulting interviews | 6+ years of coaching

Hi,
identify different segments in a market sizing is great and often needed. In your example, you can divide the problem into 2 different parts or simply state that at work there will be x% of the total capsules.

Here you can find other examples of:
- commercial products vs household: https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/how-much-would-you-charge-to-clean-all-the-windows-in-seattle-4965
- 2 different use of a product: https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/market-sizing-milk-consumption-5087#a11020

Best,
Antonello

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Vlad
Coach
on Nov 12, 2019
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi,

I recommend the following:

  1. Ask the clarifying question first: Are we looking only at the b2c segment or other segments as well. Mentioning this by itself will give you the extra points. In many interviews, the interviewer will allow you to neglect
  2. Make a B2B branch in your analysis. But start analyzing with B2C first since it's easier.
  3. There are many tricks on how to make a B2B calculation approximation depending on the industry. Here are some of them:
  • Personal experience (e.g. when I look on the street, every 10th vehicle is commercial. Thus there are (B2C / 10) commercial vehicles. Now you can calculate commercial gas stations, Tires, etc.)
  • Calculating the space. For example, if you need to calculate the commercial real estate, you can 1) calculate how many buildings you have in the city (using the estimation of what % of the land is occupied by them), 2) subtract the apartment buildings 3) multiply by the number of floors and space. 
  • Calculating the number of businesses: (Working population - % working in public sector) / (SB, Medium, Enterprise split * avg number of employees in each). For each size of the business, you can calculate whatever you want, even light bulbs used.

To give you an example:

Once in the interview, I was Calculating the B2C tire market assuming that the new cars already have tires (sold via B2B channel). E.g. if the avg. lifetime of a car is 10 years, the replacement rate is 1/2 and the replacement rate per car is 4/10, since the first 2 years are covered by the tires from the b2b market.

Calculating b2b market included calculating the tires for the new cars (B2C market of the new cars * (4 tires + 1 extra)) + commercial vehicles * (avg number of tires per commercial vehicle). 

Best

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Questions about market size are frequently asked in case interviews in consulting because they require a blend of logic, mathematics, and common sense. They can be asked as standalone questions or as part of a larger case. Applicants who are familiar with market sizing questions can really perform here. What Are Market Sizing Cases?If you're applying to top consulting firms like McKinsey, BCG, or Bain, you're unlikely to escape a market estimation case. Market sizing cases are considered "back-of-the-envelope" calculations because they can be done on the back of an envelope. Despite the name, it's not just about estimating market sizes; other estimations may also be asked for.For example, if you're discussing a British clothing retailer's growth strategy, you could calculate on an envelope how large the online clothing market is and what percentage of the market the retailer already penetrates. If you perform these calculations quickly, the conversation with the client stays fluid, leaving a good impression.You can receive the question about market size as a standalone case (although this is less common) or as part of a more comprehensive problem, such as market entry. The good news: There's no right or wrong answer when it comes to the question of market size. The interviewer is less concerned about the specific number you come up with for the market than the approach you took to arrive at that number. Why Are Market Sizing Cases Commonly Used in Consulting Interviews?Market Sizing Cases are used to test your quantitative and logical abilities. The interviewer wants to ascertain whether you work well with numbers and if you can make informed assumptions and deal with ambiguities. Questions about market size aren't just about the size of markets; they also involve other types of estimations, such as the number of golf balls in a jumbo jet. As you may have noticed, math is crucial in tackling these questions since you don't have a calculator to rely on. Most importantly, you need to be comfortable dealing with large numbers like millions and billions as well as percentages. More on that later. How Do You Best Approach Market Sizing Cases?Now that we understand the theory behind Market Sizing Cases and their relevance to your case interview, let's take a closer look at the process.Segmentation – The Key to Market Sizing CasesIf you've done some reading on case interviews before delving into market sizing questions, you might have come across areas where segmentation is necessary. Segmenting data is a crucial skill you must master as both a candidate in a case interview and in your later career as a consultant. Segmentation generally refers to dividing a larger whole into smaller parts or segments. The principle you need to understand to do this correctly is the MECE principle.MECE stands for "mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive." Simply put, segmenting a group of data according to the MECE principle means forming subgroups that do not overlap but collectively cover the entirety of the data, meaning no data is missing. An example useful for market sizing questions is dividing a country's population into age groups (as different age groups often behave differently).Below is a breakdown into Group 1 in the age range 0 to 14, Group 2 in the age range 15 to 64, and Group 3 for everyone over 65: Note that none of the groups overlap, so no age is counted twice, but also no age is overlooked. Now that the population is correctly segmented, we can treat each group differently. If we had divided the population of the United Kingdom into the aforementioned groups, we could estimate clothing expenditures per person in these groups in online retail. Common sense suggests that expenditures per person in the 0-14 age group are lower than in the 15-64 age group. We can justify this estimation by noting that the majority of 0-14-year-olds do not purchase their clothing online. 
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