Operational for Online Second-Hand Luxury Brand Store - Business Plan Example

Operational Plan Executive Summary As entrepreneurs there are few retail business and options that can be considered and one of the reasons because the industry is high on budget. However, there is one part of the business that can be considered and that is online business on second-hand luxury brands. There are many companies that produce copy of the original brand and there are people who dispose of the original brand because they buy a new product. These two varieties of products can be utilized to start a business which is easy on the pockets. The reason of selecting the industry is to start a business that would be easy on our pocket and easy on the pockets of the customers. People find online shopping easy keeping in mind the routine they follow on their daily basis. Our business summary would include the same. It will incorporate all the important strategies needed to start a business. Mission, Vision and Objectives The mission of the business plan is “To be the leaders in building an online site for selling second-hand and copied luxury brands” The Vision of the business plan is “To establish an online store for people who cannot afford to buy original material. To build a market for the middle class and to ensure that all stake holders involved also gets the experience of popular and extravagant brands” The objectives of the business is to ensure that even the second hand products are in good and find conditions, the customers should be delivered the product on time, the website should be user friendly and the customer must be able to find the required product easily, there should be different payment methods provided to the customer for their ease and convenience, to have effective ways of market and the customer would include products for all kinds of customers including males and females. Product description and purpose Online shopping is a fast moving industry in the market, and people of all ages are now looking online for products and services, these will include male and female population and the family people also searches for their other needs which includes homes decor and children. These would include all kinds of fashion accessories. The product will include all kinds of brands including women, men, kids, life and living, brands and community. The brands for women would include bags, shoes, clothing, accessories, jewelry and these would be further bifurcated in to different types of products for examples the brands for bags would include handbags, clutches, travel bags etc, the shoes would include different varieties including boots, trainers, flats, mules, heels, ankle boots and etc. The men variety of products would include clothing, bags, shoes, accessories and watches, the kids would be further divided into girls and boys, shoes and accessories. Life and Living would include design and decorations, art and culture, pet accessories and etc. The customer would have the facility of finding through special brands names as well; the site would include a separate section for search through brands and finally community. Although the customers would include anyone and everyone who is interested in buying second-hand luxury product, however, we need to select a geographic region and we select the market of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh for this reason. The purpose of selecting this region is the high demand of such products in this region, there is a large market for people who are found of second-hand luxury plan in this geographical region. The main reason of selecting the region mentioned above is the high demand for such products in the market. We would focus on branding our online by targeting people in the Central Asia region. We would focus on targeting people of all ages, including males and females. Our focus would be on the targeted region and target audience. Research has been conducted before we concluded the target audience and target market. An online survey was conducted, this survey incorporated people from 15 different regions, mix of males and female, mix of age and was taken by a and audience of 500 to 600 people. We used the online soft-wares to make a product survey online, the same product survey was used to identify the needs and demands of the such market and which regions shows the highest demand for these markets. Industry and competitors The online industry has recently taken its turn in the Asia regions, previously this market was not known to the customers. Since last 10 years the industry has seen many brands and many online stores which carter to similar needs of the market. Many of the stores are related to apparel and accessories. These online companies would include a variety of product and companies. There are few companies which are area specific, such as daraz.pk one of the leading online stores for Pakistan and sells a variety of product which include, home accessories, shoes, apparel, cosmetics, beauty products and etc. however, the company only incorporates brands from the Pakistani market. The industry is new to the certain region, which is why very little statistical analysis is available for this industry. It is difficult to identify the amount of online companies, and it is further difficult to analyze which companies are selling the similar type of product that we are targeting. However, keeping in mind the general search conducted the market is in its growth stage and for this reason the new entrants have a rooms to find a niche and then build a market share. Each of the company has not been able to build a loyal target audience, they look for other online resources and the new entrants have the opportunity to make and establish their business. Although the market has already many entrants but at the same time there is room for new people to enter the business, the regions are wide and each of the industry can only carter to a particular operating region. This has given revenue opportunity for each of the owners of the online selling companies. Management There are two factors that need to be focused when selecting the management for the company; these include the amount of human resource needed and their qualification. The company can start with a small number of team which can include 15 to 20 people. The online industry needs to have a team of 3 to 5 people who are handling the software of the business, which include the online outlook, and to keep the site update at all times. The product and pricing, these will also include the discount items. There is another team that would include 3 to 5 people and would focus on the business activities, these activities include handling marketing and financials. The marketing teams has to come up with effectives ways through which they will be able to promote their product, they need to ensure that their brand reaches out to be the first choice for people who are existing and new customers for online shopping. The financial aspect of the team has to see the cost and revenue of the each product, they need to define the cost elements which will include cost to market the product, cost to start business, products and booking, how would the team reach to the customer, the money collection and all other included. The initial funds required for the company is approximately $3000 to $5000, the online companies only need an effective team. There are no storages places, only a good and effective supply chain. The main aim is to ensure that they are marketed to the right region and right customers. The initial funds are required to build an online site, to have booking with the delivery channels such as TCS and leopard services, (Pakistan) and human resource. The office can be one room and vehicle can include a product as cheap as a bicycle. Another important team for the business is procurement team, the team will include 3 to 5 people and the team is responsible for the products availability and the supply and distribution channel. They need to ensure that they have an effective and healthy supply chain, and because of the variety of products they would have several supply of product and the team has to ensure that each chain provides them with the type of product demanded by the people. The team has to play a vital role because it is the most critical aspect of the business. The online shopping can only be effective if we have suppliers of the product. The last of the team is delivery team; these would include another 3 to 5 members, which are responsible to ensure that the product is reached to the customer on time. The delivery channels can be contracts with existing channels of each region. These contracts would ensure that the products are delivered to customer on time. This would reduce the cost of the company and would increase the delivery regions. Marketing strategy Since the time people are moving towards being one world and one land through the concept of world wide web, the communication channels have increased, television and the fact that the media of each region is broadcasted across boarders have given the opportunity of each brand to reach across geographical regions. This has given the opportunity to the online industry where the cost of market for the firms is very low. These brands sell themselves; the online industry has to market the products that are available on their web page. We would target all the famous and most used online websites; these include face-book, twitter, you-tube, and other online stores. Our market focusing would be online only; these would include initial discounts for the customers and other promotional strategies. The business would have a catchy name and unique design, these two would aid at initial promotion of our brand. Risk aspects in a strategic context The biggest risk of any company is the failure of business even though the team and brands were accordingly to the demands of the customers. The risk will include non-acceptability of the online store by the customers, the initial financials are not as budgeted and the risk of losing the supply chain. The online industry is new to the Asia region and has high risk with respect to all the factors mentioned. Bibliography Collection, Vestiaire. 2014. Vestiaire Collection. Vestiaire Collection. [Online] 2014. http://www.vestiairecollective.com/. Enterprenuer. 2014. Secondhand Clothing Store. Enterprenuer. [Online] 2014. http://www.entrepreneur.com/businessideas/secondhand-clothing-store. Katie. 2014. How to open a consignment or resale shop in 10 easy steps:. Auntie Katie. [Online] 2014. http://auntiekate.wordpress.com/2008/09/08/how-to-open-a-consignment-store-second-hand-is-first-rate-when-you-aim-for-resale-success/. KPMG. 2014. Luxury Brands in China. China : KPMG, 2014. Lahden. 2014. Business Plan for a Fashion Brand. USA : Lati University of Applied Sciences, 2014. Nagasawa, Shinya. 2009. Luxury Brand Strategy of Louis Vuitton . s.l. : WASEDA BUSINESS & ECONOMIC STUDIES , 2009. 45. PaltoAlto. 2014. Browse Retail and Online Store Business Plans:. PaltoAlto. [Online] 2014. http://www.paloalto.com/business_plan_software/sample_business_plans/retail_and_online_store_business_plans.php. Society, Luxury. 2014. 2014 Luxury Industry Predictions from the Experts. Luxury Society. [Online] 2014. http://luxurysociety.com/articles/2014/01/2014-luxury-industry-predictions-from-the-experts. Times, Business. 2014. Second-Hand, First Choice. Business Times Life Style. [Online] 2014. http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/lifestyle/shopping/second-hand-first-choice-20140524. Read More