Business Plan: Sweet Cat Center - Essay Example

Business Plan: Sweet Cat Center Introduction In today’s fast paced world, people are stressed and hard pressed for time. Any service or product thatrelieves anxiety or enables them to carry out their tasks in a carefree manner is embraced with open arms. The Sweet Cat center has been established with the sole objective of letting its clients spend time in a light-hearted manner with the belief in mind that the center will deliver on all its promises. Description of the business Sweet Cat center has been set up to provide childcare services in Saint John, New Brunswick. The mid-sized childcare facility has a licence to register 30 children. The Sweet Cat center provides safe and secure daycare for children aged up to 7 years. Market Research Plans Market research helps in gathering valuable information from the customers (Klopper, 2000). The Sweet Cat center will carry out market research to gauge the level of customer satisfaction. Improvements and modifications in its services will be carried out accordingly. The center also plans to gather information on the unmet needs of the customers and devise appropriate strategies to satisfy those needs. Product Development The Sweet Cat centre will strive to provide top-notch day care services. Since the company operates in the services sector, it will pay due attention to all the 7 Ps of services; product, place, price, promotion, physical evidence, processes and people (Khan, 2014). Sweet Cat will provide close personal attention to each child. The centre will provide a combination of educational and recreational services to ensure holistic development of the children. Sweet Cat has a vast repertoire of toys and games for children. The company will continue to add on to its existing collection of toys and books. At the same time, we will dispose of old worn out and out-dated material. The walls of the Sweet Cat center will have pictures of various cartoon characters. This will ensure that the overall ambience of the centre remains lively and vibrant where children can relax and enjoy. The appropriate physical evidence is bound to attract the target market (Buttle, 1994). Our center recognizes the fact that infants require special care. Therefore we will have a dedicated team of employees to cater to this segment. The center will offer some water-based activities to add to the fun quotient. It will also have kitchen facility to prepare food for the children. Organizational Development We, at Sweet Cat center are committed to providing top notch services to our clients. It will be mandatory for all employees of the center to undergo periodic training programs. This training will be arranged by the management and will address topics like soft skills, communication, engaging young children and basic etiquettes. The Sweet Cat center will be positioned as an ‘excellent and affordable place which strives for the holistic development of the child’. Business Development The Sweet Cat centre will operate from rented space in the McAllister mall. To begin with the centre will operate from four rooms to ensure that there is adequate space for all children. Sweet Cat will be open seven days a week. The center will be operational for 12 hours (9:00 am to 9: 00 pm) from Monday through Saturday. The centre will also remain open from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm on Sundays. Thus the Sweet Cat center will have the largest number of working hours as compared to the competing day care centers operating in the same area. The extended working hours will help the center attract more shoppers and thus increase its business. The Sweet Cat center has a huge opportunity to grow since its competitors provide services to clients only on annual contracts. On the other hand, the business operations of Sweet Cat are pretty flexible. As a result, it will accommodate children on hourly basis as well. Marketing Plan Our center will optimize the limited marketing budget. To begin with, the Sweet Cat center would resort to awareness advertising. Leaflets will be distributed to the shoppers. Point of sales material will also be displayed at shops that have the maximum footfall. Two billboards would be installed near the mall to achieve maximum exposure. A two page brochure will be sent to all residents living in the vicinity to ensure that working couples opt for a subscription plan that best suits their need. The center will hold some events like painting competition, musical concerts to pull the customers to the center initially. Such integrated marketing communication will help establish the center as a strong brand (Reid, 2002). Sales Plan Sweet Cat center is the only daycare center in the McAllister mall. It will provide services to the shoppers who visit the mall. The center will offer membership cards with an introductory offer of 20 percent rebate. Sales will be augmented by issuing stamp cards that will entail a discount of 15 percent for every five stamps. Pricing strategy The Sweet Cat center will adopt a policy of price penetration whereby it will charge a low price for its services. The prices would be approximately 10 percent lower than the prices charged by competitors for similar services. The objective of following this strategy is to attract large number of customers (Yannopoulos, 2011). The price will vary with the age of the child. For children aged up to 2 years, the Sweet Cat center will charge $4 per hour. The center will charge $3 per hour for children aged between 2 and 4 years and $2 for children aged between 4 and 7 years. The Sweet Cat center will also offer monthly, quarterly and annual subscription plans to cater to the needs of different people. These subscription plans will be more economical than the per-hour payment plans. The high level of service quality will lead to the creation of loyal customers (Ko et al, 1998). With passage of time, Sweet Cat will be able to attain leadership position with the help of this pricing strategy. Risk Mitigation Strategy In order to minimize risk, the Sweet Cat centre will cater to the needs of two distinct customer segments; shoppers and children of working couples. The centre aims to generate lion’s share of its revenue by targeting the shoppers. By availing the services of Sweet Cat, the shoppers can spend quality time and enhance their shopping experience while their children can have fun at the daycare centre. As a part of the risk minimization strategy, the Sweet Cat centre will also enrol children of full-time working couples. This will ensure a steady stream of cash inflow for the centre. Management The Sweet Cat centre is headed by its sole proprietor Sarah who is well educated and has a rich experience of managing children. All strategic decisions of the center will be taken by Sarah. Moreover, she will take active part in the day-to-day operations of the business and ensure that the teething problems are resolved. The sole proprietor will appoint a core team of senior level employees who will assist her in the smooth running of the center as the business grows. Human Resource Planning The Sweet Cat center will hire 6 employees during the initial phase of business. Thus, each employee will handle maximum of 5 children. After the first year of completion, the center plans to obtain another licence for enrolling additional 30 children. At that juncture, Sweet Cat will hire additional staff. A couple of employees would be promoted to the supervisor level to ensure that the quality of service does not deteriorate. Resource Summary The major resources required for the smooth functioning of Sweet Cat center include finances, human capital and infrastructural resources. The center will operate from rented premises so that the initial capital requirement is minimal. The cost of furnishing the center will be borne by the sole proprietor. The salary payout to the employees of the center will be the best in the industry. Financial Strategies Sarah, the sole proprietor will bring in the initial investment of $50,000. Any further capital requirement will be procured through a bank loan. The fixed expenditure to be borne by Sweet Cat will include rent, salaries and electricity and water charges. The financial strategy would be to fund these working capital requirements through the cash inflows (revenue). References Buttle, F. (1994). The essence of services marketing. The Service Industries Journal, 14(4), 586. Khan, M.T (2014). The Concept of Marketing Mix and its Elements (A Conceptual Review Paper).International Journal Of Information, Business And Management, 6(2), 95-107. Klopper, S. M. (2000). Unearthing market research: Get ready for a bumpy ride. Searcher, 8(3), 42-47. Ko, d. R., Wetzels, M., & Bloemer, J. (1998). On the relationship between perceived service quality, service loyalty and switching costs. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 9(5), 436-453. Reid, M. (2002). Building strong brands through the management of integrated marketing communications. International Journal of Wine Marketing, 14(3), 37-52. Yannopoulos, P. (2011). Defensive and offensive strategies for market success. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(13) Read More