Doubling a diagnostics chain's catchment without doubling its capex.
Growth wasn't a store-count problem. It was a hub-and-spoke problem — and a home-collection problem the chain had underestimated.
Effective catchment reach
Lower capex vs. original plan
Home-collection growth in year one
The Challenge
The chain had opened 30 new collection centres in eighteen months and revenue-per-centre was falling in every one. The board's next move was another 40 centres in the same footprint.
Meanwhile, home-collection volume — treated as a support channel — had quietly grown to a third of tests, and the routing was breaking under load.
Our Approach
We segmented every test into three flow archetypes: routine, urgent, and specialty. Each has different economics, different SLAs, and different optimal delivery geometry.
Catchment analysis with real transaction-level data showed the true growth opportunity was densifying phlebotomist routes in existing hubs, not adding physical centres. We modelled a scenario against the client's own — same revenue lift, 55% less capex.
The recommendation: pause centre expansion, invest in routing software and a home-collection scheduling layer, and reposition three underperforming centres as specialty-only labs.
The Outcome
The engagement delivered 2× on effective catchment reach, 55% on lower capex vs. original plan, and 36% on home-collection growth in year one — measurable, defensible, and owned by the client team on day one after handover.
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