The Successful Business Plan for Ann Taylor - Case Study Example

? THE BUSINESS PLAN When going through the initial documents it is necessary to garner the facts that will relate to the viability and the feasibility of the plan and this will help make the person realize what actually is the market for the new product that is about to be launched. It is very important that a proper market research is conducted before the new line is launched so that the efforts do not go in vain. The financial situation of the company should also be analyzed and the cushion should be kept so that if the venture incurs loss or becomes difficult to carry on the original company does not suffer any losses. ANN TAYLOR should extend their brand to the cosmetics line as well so that they can secure their name as the complete brand for women offering from shoes, jewelry, casual dresses, and formal event dresses as well, this will give them a complete edge over the other competitors and secure a niche for them. The main objective of the introduction of the new line is to add value to the existing brand. The mission of the business is to provide any women belonging to any class to dress in a fashionable and pleasing way and be able to accessorize their personalities with the best possible dresses, jewelry, footwear and now makeup. The vision of the business is to be the world leader for the women all over the world, and to be the fashion leaders. As far as the stakeholders of the project are concerned, the major stakeholders include the management, employees and customers of the organization. For instance, management is highly concerned about the effectiveness of the project because it has incurred huge fund for its success. The employees are the primary target as their skills would be improved from the entire training process and customers concern can be addressed in the sense that they would get better delivery of products and services once the employee’s skill is improved. The development of the employees should be done at two levels. Two of the departments are responsible for this together. In the first place it is the responsibility of the department’s manager for the employees to make sure that the employees working under him are motivated and are giving their performance as is required by the company. The departmental head is responsible to make sure that the development of his employees is not neglected and takes place duly. The easiest way to find the gap in the requirements by the company and the kind of work that is delivered by his staff is constant research within his department. When the manger is designing the strategy that is required for the department, the core competencies for the department should be defined as per the requirement, also the skills that are required to be possessed by the employees to reach the goal task of the department. The skills and the competency of the team should also be analysed on constant basis. It is the duty of the manager to relay any kind of gaps that he discovers after the analyzing of the skills and the competencies to the Human resource department of the company and inquire if there are any kind of related trainings available, and be able to convince them that this sort of training can help the organization achieve better and improved results. It is necessary that the training requirements of the department are clearly identified and relayed with the exact gaps that exist so that adequate training is provided to the employees to fulfill that gap. It is a very common practice that departmental heads do consider finding and defining gaps as their own personal duties, they consider it as the duty of the Human Resource department. They consider that the HR department of their firm should identify and provide the training. The departmental heads should understand the fact that it is they who are responsible for providing the catalyst for the work that is ultimately to be carried out by the Human Resource department of the organization, but it is necessary that the departmental head should inform them about the existing gaps. Every organization today has a training need analysis conducted on regular basis and it is conducted by the Human Resource department of that organization. The training need analysis helps the organization learn the things that are further required to enhance their workforce’s capabilities. The most appropriate way is that the employees should be informed about the required traits and skills through the training sessions or other kinds of seminars. Whenever an organization provides training to its employees they are doing a kind of investment in their workforce. Today different researches claim that the most important part of the human resource development of an organization is to train their employees as per the requirement so that they can make the most of it. It creates an edge in today’s world for the organization. Ann Inc. is an organization that provides woman apparel which is suitable for all kind of occasions. The brand is known as LOFT, which offers casual clothes and the company that has patented the brand is Ann Inc. The other brand is Ann Taylor brand, which offers ready to wear fashion and work clothes. They cater to the needs of women providing them with up to date fashion. The prices vary from high to easily affordable ones, thus the company is not restricted to the high class only. The company was earlier known as Ann Taylor, by the name of the owner but then it changed its name to Ann Inc. this is the name under which it is registered. The Ann Inc is a leader in the women clothing, so I felt that we should utilize the niche factor and launch a totally new product that will go well with the existing line of business. The new project that is planned to be launched is the cosmetic brand. Being the leader in the clothing industry and having a sizeable chunk of the women consumer can prove to be fruitful for this totally new project. There will be many problems initially, but they all can be overcome easily, at first the major force that they will feel which is working to propel them backward is the competitors of course the known and established cosmetic brands would never want a new underling to sprout and considering their revenue out put it can pose as threat to them. They will obviously start some sort of campaigns that will try to diminish the market capture of the new Ann Taylor cosmetic brand. The easiest way to jump start the project is by giving samples to the existing loyal customers of the apparel and offer them garb able deals. This way they can establish their clientele without much advertising. The project might be a bit risky but with proper marketing techniques the risk can be minimized. The risk that the brand may face is in the form of existing brands that are already established, also it might be possible that their apparel clients may also take interest, but this all can be solved with strategic marketing. The pricing at first should not be very high. The prices should be around 10% lower than market average and therefore, this will help establish a better impact on the customers as they might feel that the cosmetics products are better and are offering better prices as the cloth brand is already a established one and therefore, they will have very little problems in trusting the brand. The new idea can also help retain and strengthen the existing customer base as they will not need to travel to different places and get hold of the cosmetics. They will be treated under one roof and this will also bring in new customers. The brand is a well established one with all the classes of America. There are a number of stores all over the country. The store not only caters to the daily needs of the women clothing but also help them with the dresses for formal gathering. They have positioned themselves in such a way that they are the first thing that comes to the mind of many. There are four lines of the store Celebrations, maternity, beauty and collections. They provide clothes for all kind of occasion for women from to very personal kind to the bright flashy ones for special occasions. Every woman knows that one place where she can get all her clothes required fulfilled is at Ann Taylors. By the name it might seem like some up class expensive boutique but the place is for all sorts of gentry that might want to come. Also, the image that comes up in the mind when one hears ANN TAYLOR is of a women dress. That’s how the firm has developed its marketing niche. The target population for the ANN TAYLOR is women, and only women. Women from all age groups from teens to old age can find a dress that might suit them. Brand positioning is all about creating a customer centric approach that caters according to the customer needs. Ann Taylor has been doing that since the start. They have a very customer centric approach. The four P’s of marketing are very closely applied and followed here. The product is customer centered and revolves around the needs of the customers. The placing of the apparel stores is also very convenient, and the stores can be accessed in the posh alleys as well as the normal area. For promotion the ANN TAYLOR brand managers use posters at subways and transport buses to newsletter and e-marketing for promotion of their brand. The pricing of the products are very flexible ranging from low priced to expensive tailored suits specific to the wants of the women (Nickels, William, McHugh, M. McHugh, 57-89). The clothes of the brand are known throughout the world for their quality. a. Financial They would need extra money to extend their business. Since they are launching a whole new line of perfumes therefore, it is necessary that they will need to setup a laboratory for the makeup and the testing that would be required. They will also need finances to establish packaging line that would help them package the cosmetics related things that they will produce. It will not be difficult for them to get hold of the finances as they are already having a very established brand. It would be advisable that they do not merge the fiances of both the brands. But the established brand name can make it easy for them to take out loans. They can use the concept of natural colors and makeup products; this will make it less risky for them to indulge in. b. Human They will need to hire a Managing Director for their new makeup line. The rest would be to get hold of some cosmetics related chemists who will help The required quality standards for the project highlights that there is a higher need for the management to ensure the attainment of quality in the training project, as ineffective treatment would adversely impacts the overall performance of the organization. As a result, there should be an appropriate planning be done with respect to attaining quality, which includes regular review of employees after every session of training to them. This would help in exerting necessary control and allow for ensuring the achievement of quality training of all the employees. Thus, by way of continuous evaluation of training as provided to employees, necessary management of the quality of entire project can be ensured. Quality management is a very serious side of any business. There are many aspects that are to be considered when working on a business. First of all there is a need of a leader who actually works for the company and knows how to deal with the employees. Such leaders will obviously look to develop and establish a rapport with employees and struggle to achieve the organizational goals. Leadership is the most important contributing factor for any organization. The need for a sound manager is very essential if the business wants to develop (Osterwalder, Yves, and Clark, 35-67). They also need to train some of their existing employees as beauticians as this will help them cut costs in hiring new cosmetics related employees. The training would prove beneficial for them in the long run as well as this will prove that they are interested in increasing the worth of their employees and the employees will feel more motivated and they remain dedicated to the firm. c. Physical They will need to acquire a lab and a packaging unit. They should not actually purchase it as this might be quite expensive and since it is just the starting of the business, it is advisable that they should rent the facility at first, once the endeavor starts giving results and eh payback period of the business is achieved then they can purchase the facility and continue their production there. The best way to deal with the committee’s objection is to come clean in the start. They can provide lab test initially that testifies that no animal was harmed in the making of the cosmetics and also they are proven to have no harmful effects on the skin. Also making cosmetics using herbal and natural products will also help achieve a large clientele because people are generally interested in softer products for their skin. They can start campaigning for the cosmetics by using their own models, also handing out giveaways and using mall-intercept techniques can help boost sales. The cost of production must not be very high because every company has a R&D department, the money for startup can come from there. At first the cosmetic range need not be vast, but it should contain products that are related to each other because this way it will not make the client go for half the thing somewhere else. By having an effective launch using the existing apparel models can help the firm to establish a firm standing. Also, they should start at an exclusive product for just their regular clients can also build up the anticipation regarding the cosmetic range. Later newer kinds of stuff can also be introduced. The key function of any organization’s marketing department is to identify and predict the consumer’s expectations related to the products of the company, and then identifying means to be able to deliver best from the products of the company. The concept of Consumer behavior summarizes all aspects of a purchase. It is not time bound or age bound. Every person looks to beautify their personalities and this would be like offering a complete package to the customers. The customers who would be coming in can get hold of the clothes they want along with the makeup accessories that they would require, so that with the launch of the makeup brand they can actually provide the complete look. As they are already offering accessories and footwear, thus makeup is like an added bonus and this will also help boost their overall sales too. REFERENCES Business Plan. Edmonton: Alberta Advanced Education and Career Development, 1999. Print. Osterwalder, Alexander, Yves Pigneur, and Tim Clark. Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2010. Print. Abrams, Rhonda M, and Eugene Kleiner. The Successful Business Plan: Secrets & Strategies. Palo Alto, Calif: ThePlanningshop, 2003. Print. Nickels, William G, James M. McHugh, and Susan M. McHugh. Understanding Business. Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2008. Print. Finch, Brian. How to Write a Business Plan. London: Kogan Page, 2010. Internet resource Read More