Retail transformation case study with B.TECH

THE OPPORTUNITY

Evolving an electronics leader for the next era

Founded in 1997, B.TECH is Egypt’s largest consumer electronics retailer, generating around $21.4 million in revenue in 2025. Over nearly three decades, the company has evolved beyond retail to build a broader ecosystem of businesses serving both consumers and enterprises. This includes subsidiaries such as b_ads, an omnichannel advertising platform that enables brands and vendors to reach up to 45 million customers across digital and physical channels; and B.TECH Business, a specialized B2B division providing comprehensive technology solutions in a one-stop shop.

Although B.TECH had built a strong brand and successful business, the organization realized that sustaining growth would require a fundamental reinvention, particularly as customer preferences have shifted more and more toward online shopping.

“Our customers’ needs were changing rapidly,” says Dr. Mahmoud Khattab, Chairman and CEO of B.TECH. “To continue earning their trust and loyalty, we had to adapt how we serve them, making it easier, faster, and more seamless to shop with us.”

The company set out to reimagine customer experiences, modernize operations, and increase market share by 50 percent. To bring this bold ambition to life, B.TECH partnered with McKinsey on an ambitious transformation journey.

THE SOLUTION

Building a tech backbone for scalable growth

From the outset, B.TECH and McKinsey aligned on what it would take to move quickly from ambition to action while building a foundation for lasting change.

After assessing B.TECH’s technology maturity, the team narrowed more than 60 potential tech and AI use cases to five core initiatives and derived a clear road map for a two-year transformation.

The first step was building the technology and operating model foundations needed to enable change at the aspired speed and scale. Clear technology principles, stronger data governance, state-of-the-art development standards, and modern ways of working helped ensure systems could scale and operate seamlessly across the business.

These changes were especially anchored by the launch of b_labs, B.TECH’s new tech and AI factory and engine of transformation. With agile, cross-functional teams, a product-led operating model, and a scalable recruiting engine, b_labs helped build internal capabilities through hands-on boot camps, coaching, and delivery—ensuring the transformation could be sustained well beyond the initial waves.

In parallel, B.TECH moved quickly to execution, launching a technology and analytics program to drive growth and profitability. The team first improved web and app conversion by identifying customer pain points, redesigning critical journey steps, and adding functionalities. At the same time, B.TECH implemented a state-of-the-art pricing process to bring greater effectiveness and efficiency to pricing decisions. All improvements were validated through rigorous A/B testing to ensure measurable impact.

In addition, B.TECH redesigned its fulfillment model by introducing a service and inventory control tower, giving leaders end-to-end visibility across service levels and inventory. This made it easier to spot root causes, act quickly through targeted interventions, and significantly improve e-commerce on-time delivery while reducing costs across inventory, warehousing, and transportation.

“This was not a technology program for its own sake,” says Abdellah Iftahy, a McKinsey senior partner. “Every initiative was anchored in clear value—from conversion to pricing to fulfillment—while the operating model and technology foundation ensured sustainable long-term growth.”

Unlocking retail credit for the wider market

For more than two decades, B.TECH had offered consumer financing, providing credit exclusively for purchases made within its own retail network. Early in the transformation, the team saw an opportunity to evolve this capability into an open-loop model, extending credit beyond B.TECH stores and enabling customers to use their credit limits across a broader partner merchant network.

Together, B.TECH and McKinsey built and launched mylo in 2024, transforming B.TECH’s long-standing consumer finance business into a next-generation, digitally enabled platform.

The team rapidly scaled mylo into a successful business by assembling a cross-functional team of experienced engineers—many from leading local fintechs—and defining and designing the offering. In parallel, they developed a bespoke loan management backend tailored to local needs, along with consumer and merchant apps that enabled seamless digital onboarding, checkout, and integration within the growing merchant network. From early on, advanced analytics and AI were embedded in the platform, with custom models for credit scoring, collections, and fraud detection drawing on nearly 30 years of B.TECH’s business data.

“However, it wasn’t always straightforward,” says Abdellah, “We had to take the risk of building the core loan management system from scratch, due to volatility in currencies. This ultimately created a stable, cost-efficient custom software foundation for scaling.”

Marcus continues, “At the same time, we had to build up a new organization with new talent and skills—with AI being a core skill across all the roles we had to fill with high-caliber colleagues.”

Within a year of launch, mylo had expanded to hundreds of merchants across more than 15 cities, becoming one of the fastest-growing fintech products in Egypt.

THE IMPACT

From transformation to tangible impact

The transformation has quickly started to deliver significant results. By combining strategy, talent, and technology, B.TECH has achieved rapid, sustainable growth and established itself as a digital leader in Egypt—successfully translating its bold ambitions into tangible business outcomes.

Approximately 35 percent EBITDA uplift was unlocked through tech- and AI-enabled initiatives in the first year post-transformation, with about 20 percent annual uplift thereafter. New online shop features, including ratings and reviews, have fueled a 14 percent uplift in conversion rates, while AI-driven pricing has delivered a 4 percent gross profit uplift. Additionally, the fulfillment control tower improved on-time delivery significantly from 30 percent to 80 percent. On top of all this, entirely new revenue streams have been unlocked; for example, more than 100 stores are now equipped to sell retail media products.

mylo’s microloan offering scaled much faster than originally anticipated, with more than one million loans issued in 2025. Forty percent of the loans stem from the newly introduced open-loop business—compared with 0 percent before the transformation—making mylo the second-largest microloan player in the Egyptian market (with approximately 15 percent market share) within just one year of launch. It is expected to outpace the incumbent, despite its more than eight years of experience, by the end of 2026.

Beyond commercial results, the transformation has generated meaningful social impact. Through mylo, B.TECH expanded access to microloans for underserved and often unbanked Egyptians—many of whom had been turned away by traditional banks—helping families cover essential expenses, particularly amid sharp currency devaluations and declining purchasing power. To support responsible lending, mylo applies rigorous risk-management practices to help ensure customers can access credit in a sustainable and responsible way.

At the heart of B.TECH’s social impact agenda is the B.TECH Applied Technology School, a flagship initiative launched in 2020 in partnership with Egypt’s Ministry of Education. Located in Cairo, the specialized vocational school provides students with fully funded tuition, hands-on technical training, and guaranteed employment opportunities upon graduation. The program equips young Egyptians with the practical skills needed to thrive in a rapidly evolving digital economy while creating a direct pathway to high-quality careers. Widely recognized as one of Egypt’s most successful social-impact initiatives, the school reflects B.TECH’s commitment to investing in the country’s future workforce and creating opportunities that extend far beyond its own business.

The company has further supported Egypt’s technology ecosystem through hackathons and community events that have helped develop local talent, foster innovation, and strengthen connections across the country’s growing tech community.