One objective: more new customers in Pune stores.
Not awareness, not followers. Frido's Pune stores already convert people who come in. The job is to bring in people who would not have come in on their own, and to do it at a cost the business can live with.
Store visits
Camp participants checked in at a Frido store within the tracking window, whether they buy or not.
New buyers
Tracked visitors who buy and are new to Frido's customer records.
Cost per new buyer
Camp cost divided by verified new customers, read alongside the profit each order leaves.
Discomfort doesn't start in a mall.
It starts at a home desk, in bed and on a weekend walk. Those are places a store never sees. I kept what's publicly known separate from what I'm guessing, because the guesses are what the first camps need to test.
The home desk
People who split the week between office and home may have a very different setup at each.
The bed
A guided trial helps people shortlist pillows before they'd ever think to visit a store.
The weekend walk
Regular walkers think about shoes for looks first; a quick chat can bring comfort into it.
So what: meet people where discomfort starts, then give them a personal reason to visit the store.
One idea, three camps.
The format is borrowed from something HR teams and housing societies already say yes to: the free health camp. Nobody needs to be convinced what a camp is. The camp lets people explore and shortlist. The store is where they compare the full range and choose.
Home Desk Check
"You work from two desks. You only have one back."
- WhereOffices with hybrid policies, IT-park lobbies
- At the campTalk through the home setup; try selected support products
- At the storeCompare shortlisted products and seating options
Sleep Fit
"Lie down. Find your pillow match."
- WhereResidential societies and townships
- At the campA short pillow trial in your usual sleep position
- At the storeCompare the wider range before choosing
Step Check
"Pune walks every weekend. Check your step."
- WhereGyms, walking and running groups
- At the campTalk through the walking routine; try selected products
- At the storeIn-store foot scan, subject to availability
How do you work, sleep or walk?
Explore a few Frido products, hands-on.
A personal shortlist, a QR and a source code. You pick the store.
Checked in on arrival; compare and choose.
Why not a mall kiosk? I considered it. It pays rent to reach people who are already in the mall, often the same mall as the store. Camps cost no rent and reach people at the moment the problem is real.
Office camp: Home Desk Check.
The lead format. It runs like the in-office health camps HR teams already organise: a room or lobby corner, a few hours, ten minutes a person.
How we get in
- 1Shortlist officesHybrid-policy companies near each pilot store: Hinjewadi, Baner–Balewadi, Kharadi, Magarpatta.
- 2Ask Admin and HR togetherOne room or lobby corner for one session. Pitch it as a wellness-calendar slot that supports their own hybrid policy.
- 3HR sends the inviteFrido writes it, HR forwards it, plus a same-morning reminder.
At the camp
- 1Show us your home deskA photo on your own phone and a few questions on seat, desk, screen and hours. Nothing is collected.
- 2Try the optionsPlain chair, then the same chair with Frido support cushions, then a seating option to compare.
- 3Take-home shortlistA personal shortlist with a QR and source code. You choose the store.
The invite HR sends
Tomorrow: Home Desk Check by Frido
Working from home on some days?Bring a photo of your home desk on your phone. A Frido team member will talk through your setup and let you try a few options.
Conference Room B · 12–3 pm
Bring a photo of your home desk
Sample copy. Room and time are set with each company.
Society camp: Sleep Fit.
A fold-out bed with a Frido topper and three or four pillows, set up in the clubhouse. People lie down in their usual sleep position and compare. It's a comfort trial, not a posture assessment.
Pillow trial in the clubhouse
- 1How do you sleep?Usual position; what you like or dislike about your current pillow.
- 2Lie down and tryCompare pillows by your own comfort, guided by Frido's product notes. A fresh disposable cover for every person.
- 3Your shortlistThe pillows you preferred, with a store QR and source code.
Proposed first slots
Main slot, when working residents come home.
Families. Before Diwali: "get the guest bed ready".
Presence and sign-ups for a later trial only. People are celebrating, not shopping.
Every pilot store gets its own camp catchment.
My day job is retail leasing, so I started where I'm most useful: who lives and works within reach of each store. Four of Frido's six Pune stores go into the pilot, each paired with the offices, societies or walking groups around it.
Elpro City Square and KOPA Mall: proposed phase two. Pairings are proposals, not confirmed tie-ups.
One look, from the invite to the store counter.
Four pieces, each with one job. The take-home card matters most. It turns a pleasant ten minutes into a store visit, and its source code tells us which camp the visit came from.
Concept prototypes. No prices or discounts on any asset. Product images and logo from myfrido.com, used for illustration.
From booking to billing in six steps.
Each step has one owner. Frido writes the invite, so the partner only has to send it. Visitors are checked in when they arrive, not only at billing, so a visit without a purchase still counts.
List hybrid-policy offices and societies near each pilot store.
Partner confirms date, space and slot in writing.
Frido-written invite, notice board, WhatsApp.
Check → Try → Shortlist.
Log the source code and visit on arrival.
Link the purchase; new or existing buyer; weekly sheet.
Readiness checks before every camp
- Written partner permission
- Hosts confirmed and briefed
- Demo and store stock ready
- Cards, QR and check-in register ready
Cost heads per camp: host time, print, transport, venue fees if any, hygiene, paid promotion. Two quotes for every vendor; each expense tagged to its event code.
Every camp connects to a store visit. Every purchase connects back to its camp.
| Camp cost (hosts, print, transport, promotion) | ₹15,000 |
| 120 participants → 30 store visits → 9 buyers, 7 of them new | 30% buy |
| Cost per store visit · ₹15,000 ÷ 30 | ₹500 |
| Cost per new customer · ₹15,000 ÷ 7 | ≈ ₹2,143 |
| Revenue at an assumed ₹4,000 per order · 9 orders | ₹36,000 (2.4×) |
| Profit left at an assumed 40% per order · 9 × ₹1,600 | ₹14,400 |
| Break-even · ₹15,000 ÷ ₹1,600 | ≈ 9.4 orders |
A source code shows attribution, not incrementality. Festive season lifts every store, so a camp only gets credit for the difference it makes.
Four weeks of camps, timed to the festive season.
Four proposed pilot stores, three camp formats, one tracking sheet. Results aren't judged inside the four weeks. Every camp gets the same 21-day window before anyone calls a winner.
Outreach, kit, baselines; Navratri sign-ups.
Sleep Fit evenings; first Step Check; Kojagiri.
First Home Desk Checks as approvals land.
Guest-bed weekend; lighter office camps.
Delivery, early response, handoff issues.
After the last 21-day window closes on 29 Nov.
What I'd validate with Frido first
- Partner permissions and space
- Store readiness for camp visitors
- Staffing and host capacity
- Foot-scan availability and terms
- A check-in register or CRM field
- Baselines and margin per order
Three things I'd carry into any retail brand.
Most store marketing waits for the mall to deliver people. A brand that sells something you need to feel can go and find its customers first.
The camp is the easy part. The shortlist card, the source code and the check-in at the store are what make it measurable, and they're where most activations fall apart.
A camp can look great on sales and still lose money once you count what it cost. I'd rather show that early than scale something that doesn't pay for itself.
One number proves it: new customers per rupee of camp cost. Not reach, not likes. People who came in because Frido came to them first.