UAE Shoe online Business Plan - Assignment Example

UAE Shoe Online Business Plan Executive Summary The UAE shoe online will provide a distinctive avenue for communication through the Internet medium. It will provide is a remedy for an enhancing demand for clear and comprehensively fashionable shoes at fair prices. The company’s objective is to enable the community access a fashionable shoes from all parts of the world. This business plan is created to obtain funding amounting to $2,200,000. Nevertheless, the supplemental funding is needed to start work on web design, purchase of server, computers and software, brand marketing and modifications, and to clear expenses incurred during the initial year of management. Additional funding has already been obtained from; firstly $50,000 from the Local Entrepreneurs Funds; Secondly $700,000 are personal savings, thirdly; $1,200,000 from two investors, and lastly $10,500 as a short-term loan. UAE shoe online will be included as a Limited Liability Company category. This will cushion the proprietor, and the two outside investors from matters of personal liability as well as double taxation. Nonetheless, the investors will get the treatment accorded to shareholders and hence will not be given anything more than their personal investment worth $600,000 each. The funding, an extra amount to the capital contributions invested by the proprietor, shareholders as well as the LEF, will enable UAE shoe online to successfully start and sustain operations throughout the first year. Nevertheless, the large initial capital investment will enable UAE shoe online to avail to its customer’s absolute an online shop for shoes of its kind in UAE. A unique, fashionable, and innovative atmosphere is needed to present the customers with a setting that will enhance easy shoe buying. Successful business at the end of the first year will provide UAE shoe online Company with a consumer base that will enable it to be self reliant in the following year (Evans & Brown, 2009). Objectives- UAE shoe online company’s objectives for the initial three years of business encompass the establishment of an upscale, unique, innovative setting that will distinguish the company from local shoe sellers. Keys to Success- The setting up of a matchless, innovative, fashionable atmosphere that will separate the firm from other domestic establishments and future shoe sellers; the creation of UAE shoe online Company as a fashionable shoe company; and the establishment of an opportunity that is user friendly in the execution of duties. Mission- As the fame of the Internet grows exponentially, affordability and proximity of resources of the online medium is significant. UAE shoe online company provides individuals, first online shop for shoes, regardless of where they are, purposely to advertise and ensure continuation of education. Introduction We are now looking to provide our services online. UAE shoe online will provide shoe products and supplies to be consumed by the general population. UAE shoe online also promises to provide quality products at affordable prices with efficient processes. Our mission is to exceed customer expectations with the vision of being the best online shoe supply company. UAE online shoe’s operations are to include online services and marketing will allow the company to keep pace and exceed the performance of its competition. UAE shoe online will provide a wide variety of shoe products with our focus being on the general population. We offer everything one may need for shoe in the home from incontinence men, women to children. In today’s society with many people choosing to make their purchases online we are also going to market ourselves to the online world. UAE shoe online, we are experts in fashion products and have carefully selected only the top quality brands. Our products will be priced to save consumers money, our service is always prompt and courteous, and our promise, as a new online company, is to have our deliveries always be fast and reliable. Online advertising is the best modern way to attract, capture, and retain customers in a mass market. Consumers are informed about the availability of the product in the market, the exact locations where it can be purchased, and the advantages of using the product. The internet provides businesses a place to advertise and market their product to a large number of people very quickly. Online advertising allows a business to market their product and services as compared to other competitor online services allowing the business to stand out from their competitors. Last, the company policy regarding shipping, returns, damaged items, and customer satisfaction will be available on the website as well as any other relevant information. We will begin by carrying out an analysis that explains whether there is need for online shoe company in UAE, advantages to be derived from the business, and how consumers will benefit from the online sales. A period and/or deadline will be established for training, acquiring new staff and educating them about the goals and objectives of the new business. An analysis needs to be made to determine source of capital and will begin by doing a budget on cash needs. If need be, capital can be raised for the new business and this will be via bank loan, or increasing share capital for shareholders causing them to contribute more capital (Kotler & Keller, 2008). After this analysis, a good business plan will be drawn. It will give an account of the current business operations, expected operation after start-up, details of experience and qualifications of staff, and employment status. This will help consumers know more about the company profile so they can decide if they want to create a relationship with the business, also this will help the company to secure financing from banks (Kotler & Keller, 2008). Company Locations and Facilities A place has been selected at city centre. This location was chosen because of proximity to busy down town alongside its visibility to many individuals and offices situated at the place. Other reasons include spacious and secure parking. All such qualities are in line with UAE shoe online Company’s goal of creating a vital hub of shoe selling. Start-up Summary The firm’s start-up expenses will cover Web designing software, office renovation as well as modification, capital amount to offset losses in the initial year, initial stock, servers, computers and the equipment for communication that are indispensable in getting its customers coming. The company will need office stationery and machines to get going immediately the operation are afoot. Start-up Expense Details: 10 computers = $1875 two printers = $250 one scanner = $75 software = $4,500 Three internet modems = $2,700 Five CCTV cameras = $795 Initial stock of shoes $ 2,000,000 Viability of the Product or Service The product needs to satisfy consumer needs in order for it to be viable. Viability of the products is what provides a market outlook on the product, how it will be marketed, who the target market is, and the purchase locations. This provides an analysis on the way consumers will perceive the product or service in terms of how this will satisfy their demands, and help increase the possibility of using the product again. The company must present the product attractively online and list all the benefits of using the product. This will be followed by customer testimonials giving detailed information of that product, over a period, showing the benefits to consumers. Before going online, the company will analyze the product using the BCG model where the product will be classified as a star, a source of income, a problem child, or a dog. Once proper analysis has been made, the company will do a budget analysis to determine the extent of budgeting requirements. If the product is a star, more expenditure has to be incurred to ensure that there is wide market coverage for the product to make sure there will be a long period of consumer usage of the product. If a source of income, modest expenditure should be incurred since the objective is to get as much revenue as possible from the product before phasing it out of the market. Current Online Competitor Assessment The primary difficulty for industries entering onto the Internet is in getting consumers use to the idea of buying a particular type of product via the Internet. Today, a wide variety of industries has made this transition, including the fashion goods industry. Thus, many different competitors for UAE shoe online already have online-based business but most competitors remain completely click and mortar companies. Each of these companies offers similar products to be sold at UAE online shoe. The primary difference between the competitors and UAE shoe online will be our advertising as well as the pricing of our products. Many companies allow their customers to order their products online to have those products delivered to their homes. Others allow ordering of the products for quick pickup at their existing brick and mortar locations. UAE shoe online plans on combining these two models, allowing both online ordering with either product pickup or home delivery. This will differentiate UAE shoe online from its competition. While planning the online business, the company will carry out a visibility cost analysis: assessing the staffing needs to carry out the web designing, maintaining, and providing frequent press release, responding to consumer queries, receiving online orders, dispatching products purchased and carrying out general administration for the new business. Web designing will cost around $5000. Staff members will consist of full time and part time employees that will earn a monthly salary. Their key performance indicator will be based on the number of customers served. There will be funds for equipment, which includes computers and laptops to be used to maintain our online business. The task to maintain the online business includes consumer feedback, process of orders, etc. To carry out a proper online start-up, the promoters must identify potential competitors, which are companies offering similar products or services. Once the competitors have been identified, an assessment will be done to determine the competitor’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. UAE shoe online has several similar online business competitors. We will separate ourselves by assuring quality, affordability, and exceptional customer service. All products we provide are from leading manufacturers. We will take into serious consideration the strengths and opportunities of the competitor, try to see where the competitor is doing very well and how that is made possible so that we can look for ways of making that our opportunity aimed at taking that market share. These competitors’ approach to online marketing is informed by unilateral investment in marketing schemes and approaches that reach to their target consumers with ease. For instance, some has their websites integrated with mobile phone interface that allows its consumers to receive customized details of the products and services provided in the comfort of their homes all the time. Most of these competitors have also enlarged their market share by integrating services of social networks like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter to popularize their products and services (Brigham & Daves, 2004). This notwithstanding, UAE shoe online has braced itself to deal with these competitive forces and it is its strategies and investment in state-of-the-art technologies that are user friendly for its consumers as well as bring convenience in their business transactions with the company. Of the many approaches taken by UAE online shoe, what stands out is its integrated online coverage, which has been realized by having its online business sited and connected to a large network of websites and social networks, which serves to popularize its products and services (Kotler & Keller, 2008). SWOT Analysis The key strengths of the company will be skilled and knowledgeable staff that is friendly. Conversely, the weakness that the firm is likely to encounter is the fast speed of evolution that the 21st century technology has become, calling for appropriate measures to check its evolution, efforts that could be futile. Nevertheless, UAE shoe online opportunities incorporate the growing number of computer use and Internet revolution that has technically put resources online for clients and Internet surfers to access. Threats on the other hand encompass computer virus, system hackers and cyber theft (Potts, 2007). Online Marketing Suggestions and Strategies We are going to use the Market-Development Strategy to find or develop new market for our shoe products. This strategy will include using various media outlets to help make consumers aware of the business. This will be done via television, radio advertising, preferred magazine pullouts, Google AdWords™ adverts, and social web sites such as Facebook™, and Twitter™. This will be done to increase web presence. One area that most competitors fail is in enticing customers to their online sites. In the online world, it is through content development that websites become destination locations (Leech 2010). UAE shoe online intends on providing not only quality, affordable products, but also fashion information and articles. Products available through UAE shoe online can be detailed alongside relevant information and articles, creating possible avenues for opportunistic product marketing and immediate ordering by the customer. Online marketing will help to attract more people to the website, increase customers, and enhance brand loyalty. We will begin by having a web promotion plan that will start with an effective web design and development strategy. This design and strategy will be appealing to consumers and in return will give us good search optimization techniques. Good online marketing goes hand in hand with an efficient email-marketing tool where customers can be briefed about product features and any other relevant information. We will introduce reseller affiliate programs and associate programs all aimed at gaining more client referrals. Legal environment The dynamic enlargement of private businesses during the past few decades is partially the result of the United Arab Emirates consistent endeavor to build a favorable legal environment for the non-public sector of the economy. Many of UAE's crucial laws, such as the Constitution, Civil Code, Criminal Law, Corporation Law, Partnership Law as well the law on the promotion of small and medium-size businesses, have built-in clauses defining the growth of private businesses. The company will be facing the challenges of international legal environment, which makes it hard for the company to expand internationally. the company must follow the example of other online shops companies. Amazon for example is very successful in international markets. UAE online shoe could study their success strategy and follow it, otherwise they will not fulfill their own stated purpose. Pricing Strategies The recommended strategy for the shoe business would be the penetration pricing strategy. Prices would be initially set very low for the shoes and advertisements as compared to the other competitors. This will be done in order to gain an initial market share and reputation in order to establish awareness and acceptance of the UAE online shoe. That done, once the market is penetrated and name established the prices would then be gradually increased. Moreover, subtle to nominal discount coupons on the shoes shall be offered for regular customers based on the frequency with which they come to patronize. This will be a new strategy and will work to retain customer loyalty. Search Engine Providing customers fashion information and articles on the website will give UAE shoe online the opportunity to engage in search engine optimization. The inclusion of topic-specific articles allows the use of relevant keywords, increasing the content scanned by search engines. This is a critical area that when well utilized can greatly increase the find-ability of the website on the internet through available search engines. This is intended to increase the flow of traffic to the website, which ultimately is intended to result in profitability to the company (Kotler & Keller, 2008). Additionally, press releases available through the website will detail the milestones the company is taking to ensure it offers the best products in the market, and above all, the best design of the social sites. This integration will take the form of search engine optimization (SEO), allowing other companies to advertise on our site, carrying out email marketing, buy online media space, and carry out frequent press releases. Social Media Integration Social media networks will form another area that will be an integral part of UAE online shoe is online marketing campaign to be managed by our marketing personnel. On these social media networks, we will advertise daily specials on products and shipping. We will have a featured product every week to encourage new business with an incentive to clients who refer new clients via these social network sites. Our participation in social media networks will also give us the opportunity to announce new health articles and press releases, improving communications with both customers and investors. Another facet of such networking would be the incorporation of a virtual newsletter, updates to which would also be announced via our social media participation. As our social media presence grows, we will evaluate the need to add full-time personnel dedicated to social media marketing. For the long-term plan for monitoring, analyzing, and growing social media, there will have to be a personnel assigned to be constantly in touch with the customers that will be communicating and sharing their views through different chat rooms. To foster loyalty and commitment, reward strategies that will provide discounts for customers that are active in their invitation of friends to our website and those that are active in the chat rooms will be encouraged and this should be able to create a considerable database of dedicated consumers (Kotler & Keller, 2008). Online Customer Relationship Management We will also build a responsive opt-in email list, where consumers will communicate directly to us, publish online web releases, facilitate and run online contests and introduce a blog/online 24-hour customer support where the company can chat directly with online clients providing answers to their queries. In addition, the social networks through chat rooms will present another platform for customer relationship management. These in effect will greatly increase the relationship with customers and management of their communication and constant staying in touch with them. We will focus our marketing efforts on the general population in need of medical supplies with particular emphasis on those who wish such supplies delivered to them, rather than spending personal time at a brick and mortar store location, a large but specific target market. To attract new customers in our marketing strategies we will offer a 10% discount to new customers and a 10% discount for customer referrals that result in purchases. Customer service is UAE online shoe’s top priorities with their focus on warehouse efficiency assuring products are shipped within 12 hours of purchase. In addition, UAE shoe online offers free ground shipping on orders greater than $50.00 and free 2 day express shipping on orders greater than $100.00. Although some does ship in stock items same day if orders are placed by 4:00 pm central time, they only offer free shipping on orders greater than $125.00. The other strength of these competitors is they have a wide assortment of clearance items on their website, however a weakness is most are unavailable. This causes decreased customer satisfaction. As regards online marketing strategy and marketing, our target audiences are especially the young to medium age customers who are mindful of their appearance and therefore are keen on keeping their fashion in constant check. In order to reach this target market of our online product sale, we must optimize the online content. In order to do this, we have to ensure the information we have on the website is targeted to consumers and has the right words consumers will be looking for. We must have a clear hierarchy and text links, where every page will be easily accessed by one link. The information on every link should be useful, with a clear and accurate description of the content. We must limit flash files, portable document files and dynamic content since this will reduce our search optimization progress or we employ Meta tags to exclude such content from search engines to increase our ranking (Brigham & Daves, 2004). The slogan that is used for UAE shoe online marketing is “Your fashion; our Top Priority.” For the younger customers who are greatly enthused by celebrities and modernity, celebrity endorsement is an approach that will greatly appeal to them increasing the sale of our products to them. It can also be anticipated that teens will certainly purchase the product regardless of the price as long as it appeals to their tastes. Online customer relationship management is the way the company will manage its relationship with customers, clients and any other sales force. It accomplishes this by organizing, automating, and synchronizing sales, marketing, customer service, and technical support activities. All of this aimed at ensuring customers get the satisfaction they deserve. The objective being to retain current customers, entice and acquire new ones. This will reduce marketing costs and increase customer acceptance. We will have dedicated staff who will answer customer questions in real-time, we shall work on an online agents offering live chat with customers, and this will help customers get immediate solutions to any immediate concerns (Eley & Tilley, 2009). The data collected through our online customer relationship team will be trended and reviewed by management. As areas of opportunities are identified, education will be done for the team at UAE shoe online in order to improve. When positive trends are identified, this also will be communicated to our team in order to assure continuation of customer satisfaction. E-Commerce Solutions As regards e-commerce operations of the company, the website will have provisions for clients to register and order for their goods that they want and in the registration, they will be required to give their addresses for purposes of sending the packages to them. This would increase the need to ensure the security of the website. A proper and secure payment system such as PayPal or wire transfer should be in place that enables customers to pay online for products and services and delivery of the products must be real-time as per the information provided by the customer during time of purchase. The product must be tested to make sure quality is guaranteed to eliminate cases of customer complaints and consequent shipping back the product. Just as in the physical world, a company’s name online is a crucial part of its image. UAE shoe online will have to purchase a registered domain with a unique web address. Working with companies such as WebsitePalace.com or Misk.com, UAE shoe online will identify a unique, available web address that is both memorable and suitable to the image UAE shoe online wishes to create. The use of domain names will hide the IP address of the company website and give customers a more natural means of addressing and sharing the company’s website. This also creates one of the most common problems companies encounter in establishing their online identity: the prevention of spam email overwhelming their staff. To reduce this problem, UAE shoe online will use an imbedded customer contact interface to hide internal email addresses. By UAE shoe online having a register domain; it is like having a place online to call “home.” International Considerations Online business reaches the entire world at the click of a website link. Companies today must anticipate and expect to make sales to a very wide market, it should strategize to have feedback from potential areas away from home country where purchases are high and so it should plan to have a franchise operating there if this will be economical as opposed to sending the products from home country. The website should have a translation tool which will help customers not able to read English to translate the data to a language of their choice, and adequate measures should be put in place to accommodate different cultures for instance in terms of packaging, advertising might be restricted in certain ways in some cultures (Eley & Tilley, 2009). To address the needs of modern businesses, there must be a detailed plan for the expansion/growth of an online healthcare business, which gives the framework of operations, detailed account procedures to be followed and an outline of the expected benefits resulting from the expansion. This is what the company management will look at and assesses the possibility of having the business expanded and therefore try to increase sales though online advertising. The expansion should be carried out in stages since this will give the company the flexibility to introduce new online products, give employees time to study and understand the systems, and allow employees the time and ability to assist clients, taking into consideration that, as the Internet is an international medium, their new target market will become the entire world. Inventory We will create program that would immediately record what products are picked and to what orders they have been picked shall help the order checker complete quality and accuracy check more efficiently hence giving way to more orders being completed within the hour. The system of the IT program to be imposed shall be connected directly to the online portal of the company hence notably getting an update right after an order has been placed and approved for supply. This makes the pick-and-pack process much easier to handle and much faster to complete. Remarkably, the number of operations on completing orders would gradually increase if this operation were pushed through to specifically connect the operations in consideration with the noted direction that the business is aiming to move forward to along with the demands of their regular clients. Suppliers The supplies of shoes will company from different countries. Some of suppliers will be from USA, China, Britain and Italy. Credit policies Creditors will be paid within 30 days while we will give a credit of 25 days to our corporate otherwise most of our sales will be on cash basis. Management and organization Following are the chart of organizational structure: A number of various issues determine the business structure of the company. These elements include social customs, goals, beliefs and principles of the current managers, ecological constrains and obtainable technology. The notion of business structure contains the statement that organizations have impervious and easy to find restrictions. That is one can quite easily distinguish the business from its surroundings. This principle is true for the majority of organizations today. A person’s position in a group defines his location in the social system. It recognizes his comparative standing in regard of certain aspects like power, leadership, and knowledge. Position is the evaluation of his place by others. It is the prestige or rank, which describes this place. Achieved position is considered as an individual achievement and is affected by factors like work experience, education and abilities. Status contributes to a quality of group behavior and other related activities. For instance, high-status people initiate and receive more statements than those with comparatively lower-status and thus these so-called high-status people are able to pass on more task-relevant and positive messages. The high-status human being is in an ethnically valued place in the group. Once an individual gains such a position in the group, she makes up a bank account of credits that permits her to diverge without reprisal later on. These credits may be utilized to guide the group in a refined direction. Position often, but not always keeps an individual away from resolving to or directing his followers from indulging in unacceptable behavior. For instance, a study of negative compliance in the military found that a higher officer who provides the instructions was held more responsible for the result than his subordinate was. Personnel Plan The staff will comprise of six employees hired on part-time basis. Each will work for twenty hours every week at $4 per hour. Additionally, one technician working on full-time, technologically knowledgeable enough to handle slight terminal repairs and examination will be hired to work thirty hours per week while earning $10.00 per hour. Conversely, the two private investors will be excluded in administration decisions. This easy structure enables a great level of flexibility, allowing easy and faster direct communication as well as swift reaction to market trends (Evans & Brown, 2009). Financial Plan The following section lays out the information of the company’s financial plan for a period of three years. Start-up Funding This business plan has been created to obtain finances amounting to $2,200,000. The supplementary financing is needed to start work on office preparation as well as modifications, purchases of equipment, and to settle expenses throughout the first year of business. Extra financing available as follows: 1. $ 50,000 from Local Entrepreneurs Funds 2. $ 700,000 are personal savings 3. $1,200,000 from two investors 4. $10,000 in the kind of short-term loan Start-up Funding Start-up Expenses to Finance $50,000 Start-up Assets to Fund $2,150,000 Total Funding Required $2,200,000 Assets Non-cash Assets from Start-up $20,000 Cash Requirements from Start-up $2,150,000 Additional Cash Raised $0 Cash Balance on Starting Date $30,000 Total Assets $2,200,000 Liabilities and Capital Liabilities Current Borrowing $60,000 Long-term Liabilities $240,000 Accounts Payable (Outstanding Bills) $0 Other Current Liabilities (interest-free) $0 Total Liabilities $300,000 Capital Planned Investment $2,200,000 Personal Investment $700, 000 Two investors $1,200,000 Additional Investment Requirement $250,000 Total Planned Investment $2,150,000 Loss at Start-up (Start-up Expenses) ($50,000) Total Capital and Liabilities $2,200,000 Total Funding $2,200,000 References Brigham, E., & Daves, P. (2004). Intermediate Financial Management. Mason: Thomson/South-Western. Daniels, J., Radebaugh,L. & Sullivan, D. (2009). International business: Environments and operations (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ : Prentice Hall, 2009. Eley, B., & Tilley, S. (2009). Online Marketing Inside Out. Melbourne: SitePoint. Evans, C., & Brown, B. C. (2009). How to open & operate a financially successful web site design business. New York: Atlantic Publishing Company. Hill, C. (2005). International Business: Competing in Global Marketplace. New York : McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2008). Marketing Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Leech, J. (2010). 21 Free Ways to Use Content to Drive Traffic to Your Site: Content is King Charleston: CreateSpace. Potts, K. (2007). Web Design and Marketing Solutions for Business Websites. Washington, DC: Apress. Wickham P. (2001) Strategic Entrepreneurship. New York: Financial Times. Prentice hall. Read More