Business Plan for E-commenrce company - Coursework Example

? My My Shop Nikita Clay DeVry Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 2 Business 3 Products Offered 4 Mission Statement 4 Industry 4 Business Goals and Objectives 5 Business Models 5 Marketing 5 Market Targets 5 Marketing Strategy 6 Competitor Analysis 7 Competition 7 Strengths and Weaknesses 8 Competitive Advantage 9 Conclusion 9 References 10 Abstract This paper will discuss a business plan to be used to create an e-commerce site for a company called MyName-MyShop. It will also discuss the business mission, vision and goals. Additionally, the paper will discuss the marketing strategies and underscore the strengths as well as weaknesses of the business. Furthermore, it would provide useful insights regarding the competitive environment of the company. Basically, the business plan seeks to provide vital information regarding how the newly established company will thrive and survive in the highly competitive business environment. It is a business plan for an online beauty designs company. The company shall deal in affordable but customized beauty products like necklaces and flashy wrist and stylish caps of various shapes, colors and sizes. The paper will therefore discuss the business description, products offered, mission statement and goals. It will also discuss the business models, marketing strategy, and competition analysis. MyName-MyShop aims at establishing itself as the people’s online market for all their needs. Business Description Products Offered MyName-MyShop is set to be an online business that will focus on customizing its products with labels that its clients identify with to attract and retain a large pool of customers. It plans to deal in beauty products like chains, necklaces, earrings, wrist chains and caps to start with. These products appear to be so common in the market but less personalized with names that buyers find appealing to them (Harvard Business Press, 2005). It therefore gives buyers a chance to have their various products designed with the names they prefer engraved on them. Mission Statement The mission statement of the company shall be “Committed to letting the small things we have bring happiness in big ways.” This is reflective of the nature of the products being offered in the market by the company. The characteristic customization is what would actually “create happiness in big ways” for the clients. Working to attain this is imperative in enabling the company to uphold quality production at all times. Industry Current trends indicate that the sale of customized beauty products in the US market contribute a significant 5.5 billion US dollars to the national economy annually (McKeever, 2010). This is all inclusive comprising of various products such as caps, wrist watches, anniversary jewelry and so forth. Further, the market is relatively fragmented and seasonal in nature. Thus during holidays, sales tend to soar to very high levels. This is attributed to the gift giving practice that occurs during this time. Also, the market is categorized in to three main echelons: low end, middle end and premium end. In the upper echelon, there are companies such as the BlueNile while the middle end is dominated by Best Gem Diamond Company. MyName-Myshop seeks to assume the upper echelon position because it would place particular emphasis on high quality production. Business Goals and Objectives The business aims at starting its operation in ten major cities and expands to cover the whole nation in five months, five states in a year and 50 states in the whole year. This expansion would enable it to attain its goals within a specified time period. In addition, it would enable it to explore the available niches and maintain an upward growth. Business Models The business model will focus in providing quality and affordable trendy products to customers. These trendy products will be customized to customer’s specifications. According to Pinson (2004), customization of products would be imperative in enabling the business to maintain high returns from sales. Incidences of rejections would be reduced as customer needs would be put in consideration during the entire production process. Marketing Market Targets In terms of marketing, it targets the youth, families, groups and individuals who would wish to customize a few items to suit their everyday life or memorable occasions. The target group is expected to shop online and indicate the words they want to be engraved or written on their products. For example, a dating person can buy a watch whose face is designed to have his picture as a gift to his girlfriend. The picture is sent online as a successful transacting. Options to be made available are picture, text, or both. A group of friends going for a camp may customize caps that fit their occasion for a memorable event. One does not have to visit the shops in person; there is an online form that a customer ticks as appropriate and shops with a visa card. Delivery is to be done within 24 hours to 72 hours depending on the distance and customer own choosing. Products that require quick delivery may be slightly of higher price than those that have a longer period. Marketing Strategy With respect to marketing, the company will rely on various strategies including sales promotions, direct mail, publicity and advertising. With respect to sales promotion, Gumpert (2003) contends that relative activities and deals are aimed at stimulating demand. It is widely agreed that sales promotions are instrumental in modifying the behavior of clients in a short term. However, it is worth noting that sales promotion can in some instances have adverse impacts on the brand image. This is regardless of whether the strategy is done in store or conducted online. However, the company will place great emphasis on the aspects of recognition and exclusivity. This way, relative activities would possibly not cheapen or compromise its image. Another marketing strategy that would be employed by the company pertains to advertising. MyName-Myshop would maintain aggression in this regard by employing multiple strategies to reach potential customers simultaneously. This would be attained by providing sufficient resources to pursue various alternatives that would relay to the public an ideal brand image. According to Abrams (2010), the down sizes of this particular approach pertain to the relative costs. In addition, advertising would probably reach random markets, some of which are not actually our potential buyers. To curb this, the company would take initiatives of reviewing the psychographic as well as demographic profiles. From this, it would be able to identify the names as well as subscription magazines of potential buyers. Once the actual market niche is identified, men’s magazines, radio advertisements, television adverts would be avoided at all costs. Although these are currently explored, it is worth acknowledging that their ability to reach our specific markets is limited. This is because of their undue emphasis on the entire consumer community as opposed to certain specific clients who show interest. To this effect, the company can focus on increasing advertisements around the months of January and February. This would enable it to reap optimally from the soaring sales that are associated with the New Year and valentines holidays. Another marketing strategy worth exploring would be the publicity option. This is advantageous in the sense that the relative costs are very minimal and the messages that are seen are more credible as compared to the marketer sponsored messages. The main barriers to this strategy pertain to heavy competition, uncooperative media and minimal control by the company over the messages (Abrams, 2010). Nonetheless, the company can still take measures to bench-mark the other companies in a bid to endorse its products during celebrity events. The celebrities may be encouraged to wear the products when attending major public events. In this respect, it is worth appreciating that jewelry is mainly about vanity and superficiality. Thus if customers see our products being worn by celebrities, they are most likely to wear the products. Another strategy worth exploring would be the direct mail option. Online researches regarding consumer attitudes towards direct mail ascertain that most consumers enjoy getting catalog mailboxes from renowned jewelry companies. Although it is a traditional methodology, the company will still explore it in order to reach its target market. In particular, it would focus on creating exclusive images of its brands and mailing the same to the clients. Although the method is comparatively expensive as compared to other options, it is the most powerful in enabling us to reach and ultimately get recognizers by various potential clients. Competitor Analysis Competition In his research, Lee (2011) asserts that the jewelry industry that would be explored by the company is comprised of a huge production base. While some of the producers work and manufacture their products on a local scale, others have established national distribution systems. Further, some artists seek to design the products for bigger companies to distribute while others solely design and make the pieces at an individual level. This is attributed to the large and seemingly distributed nature of the respective artisan jewelry design market. Generally, competition in this market assumes different forms. To begin with, the artists create particular designs at certain periods of time. The designs are manufactured by the companies on a large scale and then distributed nationally. The artists in certain instances own their personal studios from which they create the designs. They then sell the particular designs to large companies or maintain their brand names but simply sell the products under the large company. The latter option is particularly explored by the artists that lack national recognition. Alternatively, the designers opt to belong to the established companies and work under them. There are companies that have their own designers. In this regard, designing is a job that is done in-house on request by the clients. Also worth noting is the fact that while some companies value retaining, some sale their products on a wholesale mode. Most of the companies that pursue wholesaling do not offer customized products. With respect to purchasing tendencies by the clients, these fall into two major categories; personal and gift purchases. With respect to gift purchases, buyers order their products to be customized to fit the interests of the persons they wish to send the gifts to. Personal ordering on the other hand allows the client to order products that suit their tastes and preferences. Competition analysis indicates that so far most of the business that customize names are mostly limited to engravings and have not started exploring e-commerce. Strengths and Weaknesses Their strength is that they have been established for many years and some of them have goodwill. Their being established for a longer period of time according to Abrams (2010) gives them an upper hand because they have an established consumer base. In addition, this implies that they have put in place measures to counter their shortcomings and emergent challenges which they face over time. Their weakness is that they do not deal so much with designs that are repetitive in demand due to seasons and changes. Also, most of them do not have in house designers and therefore are unlikely to effectively attend to the customized needs of the clients. This is an advantage for the MyName-MyShop company that has experienced personnel that understand client needs and seek to design products that are consistent with the respective needs. Competitive Advantage The competitive edge of MyName-MyShop is very simple. It is based on the need to provide high quality customized services for the clients and ensure that they are delivered to them at the appropriate time. In addition, it relies heavily on the aspect of creativity and the need to provide unique designs that would not be easily found in the market. In this respect, it is worth noting that creative and unique designs do require a high degree of artistic skill. Also, the company is at its initial stages and thus might take some time to establish its operations. Relatively, it would also require some time to win the confidence of the clients. The competitive advantage that competitors may have over MyName-MyShop is that they are currently established and only incur operating and maintenance costs. This has huge implications on the holistic wellbeing of my company. In essence, it implies that the company will have to work for sometime before it can reduce its costs to be at par with its competitors’. Furthermore, MyName-MyShop would also need to go an extra mile in a bid to win clients as well as their confidence. Conclusion In sum, MyName-MyShop plans to assess and find out which products are so commonly demanded by majority of the youth. This is because the youth more than any other target group love trendy items. They therefore form the biggest target group for the market. This market has not been exploited online. It will also enable friends send each other customized surprise gifts. With respect to marketing strategies, the company would explore various options that range from publicity and advertising to direct mail. Although the costs incurred in pursuing this are relatively more, the resultant outcomes are rewarding. It is therefore worth investing in the relative efforts because ultimately, the rewards are sustainable and impact positively on the wellbeing of the company. With respect to competition by the company, the market environment is relatively competitive. As it has come out from the study, there are innumerable companies that have thrived in the business. They are already established and can be considered the key competitors of the company. Nonetheless, the company has a competitive advantage in the sense that it is the only one that seeks to pursue e-commerce. Undoubtedly, this will enable it to explore its market niche accordingly. This is regardless of the fact that its financial capability is far much lower than that of its competitors. References Abrams, R. (2010). Successful business plan: Secrets and strategies. USA: Planning Shop Gumpert, D. (2003). How to create a successful business plan: step-by-step guide. USA: Lauson Publishing Company. Lee, J. (2011). The Right-Brain Business Plan: A Creative, Visual Map for Success. California: New World Library. Harvard Business Press (2005). Writing a Business Plan: The Basics. Harvard Business School. McKeever, M. (2010). How to write a business plan. USA: Nolo publishers. Pinson, L. (2004). Anatomy of a business plan: A step-by-step guide to building a business and securing your company’s future. Chicago: Dearborn Trade Read More