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REAL-WORLD StratigoNow IMPACT STORY

Product & Offering Design

Company / Organization

A car-carpet and automotive floor-mat manufacturer

Location

Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh, India

Industry / Sector

Automotive Accessories Manufacturing - specializing in stitched and molded car carpets, floor mats, trunk liners, and custom-fit interior accessories.

The business had been selling for years using the same approach as traditional carpet makers - catalogue sheets, basic samples, and a “take whatever we have” mentality. The industry had changed; car owners wanted fit, durability, and aesthetics, but the company continued to sell like a commodity supplier.

Accessories dealers routinely demanded 60–90 days of credit, making cash flow unpredictable and margins thin. Product-performance feedback was rarely tracked; new designs were copied from competitors; and the business had no logic for deciding which variants to produce, discontinue, or develop. As a result, the factory was always busy, yet profits remained painfully low.

Retailers and distributors were confused about the brand’s position - was it premium? Budget? Custom-fit? The promoter felt trapped: high effort, low returns, constant credit pressure, and no clarity on what the next product move should be.

The promoter believed the solution was to “launch more styles” and “reduce prices to beat competition.” He also assumed the only way to retain dealer relationships was to keep extending credit. He underestimated the real issue - the business did not have a product strategy at all. There was no understanding of which products created value, which destroyed value, which categories had potential, and how design could differentiate in a crowded accessories market. He was running a factory, not a product company.

120 days

Our first step was to understand the market from ground level - car accessory shops, multi-brand car care outlets, and retail behaviors in Uttar Pradesh and adjoining states. We studied competitor fit, material quality, pricing logic, and customer preferences. The gap was clear: the company had strong manufacturing capability, but a weak offering.

We rebuilt the product system from its foundations. We mapped the entire portfolio into performance buckets - fast movers, mid-movers, and silent loss-makers. This revealed that almost 30% of SKUs were either unprofitable or carried no strategic relevance. We retired these systematically. Next, we created a tiered product architecture - Essential, Premium, and Custom-Fit - each with distinct design cues, materials, fit logic, and pricing. This allowed dealers to understand the offering instantly instead of getting lost in a catalogue with random variants. We introduced fitment-based design, ensuring each mat set aligned with specific car models rather than generic sizing. This allowed the business to move up the value chain and reduce credit dependence - because premium-fit products allow upfront payments. We developed a new product development rhythm: monthly reviews, quarterly launches, and a design calendar built around real market seasons (festive sales, new car releases, monsoons, etc.). This gave the business a predictable innovation engine rather than ad-hoc copying. And finally, we simplified dealer communication - clean product cards, clear value propositions, visual differentiation, and margin logic that rewarded faster rotations instead of credit extensions.

The business transformed within months. Dealers began treating the company as a differentiated product partner rather than a commodity supplier. Credit cycles shortened because premium-fit products justified immediate or faster payments. Sales increased in the mid and premium tiers, margins improved, and the factory workload finally started translating into actual profit. Most importantly, the promoter experienced a shift - understanding that product design is not about “more styles,” but about meaningful offerings, clear categories, and disciplined product planning. The Bhadohi manufacturer emerged as a sharper, more modern automotive accessories brand with a portfolio that finally worked for the market - not against it.