Business plan for Online Business/ E- Commerce
Executive Summary
There are many different classifications of marketing. From Government to Business (G2B), Business to Business (B2B), Business to Consumer (B2C), to Customer to Customer (C2C). While many companies usually operate in one or more of these areas, Customer to Customer businesses operate only within that specific area. Customer to Customer marketing has become more popular recently with the advent of the internet. This assignment is design to give an online business plan for business to customer market and customer to customer market. I selected 2 names for the company that are Myproductbd.com & sellbazar.com. These companies have no existence I just selected them as a base company. Myproductbd.com is an online business providing fun, comfortable and easily accessible collegiate maternity wear via their own site and an eBay store. And sellbazar.com is also an online business but it is a customer to customer business.The assignment is design to make a plan for both of these company. In this assignment it is shown that how these 2 companies run their business, develop it, face computation and overall plan for the companies. Myproductbd.com targeted market includes both the many women who are sports fans (or married to sports fans), and friends and family members of expecting women who will buy the shirts as gifts. On the other hand sellbazar.com targeted the peoples who want to buy product in recondition or second hand type. Business plan for both of these companies are described individually.
Table of Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 4
Objective ................................................................................................................................................ 4
B2C
Company Summary ......................................................................................................................... 6
Start-up Summary .................................................................................................................................... 6
Products ................................................................................................................................................... 7
Customers ................................................................................................................................................ 7
Market Analysis Summary .............................................................................................................. 7
Market Segmentation ............................................................................................................................... 7
Strategy and Implementation Summary ................................................................................................... 7
Marketing Strategy .................................................................................................................................. 8
Sales Strategy .......................................................................................................................................... 8
Sales Forecast .......................................................................................................................................... 8
Competitive Edge ............................................................................................................................ 9
Fulfilling orders ............................................................................................................................... 9
Web Planning ............................................................................................................................... 10
Website Marketing Strategy ................................................................................................................... 10
Website Development Requirements ..................................................................................................... 11
Personnel Plan ............................................................................................................................... 11
Financial Plan ............................................................................................................................... 12
Alternative plan ............................................................................................................................. 12
C2C
Company Summary ....................................................................................................................... 14
Product or service .................................................................................................................................. 14
Customers .............................................................................................................................................. 15
Business model .............................................................................................................................. 15
Development ................................................................................................................................ 16
Marketing plan .............................................................................................................................. 16
Target market ......................................................................................................................................... 16
Sales Strategy ............................................................................................................................... 18
Promotional activities .................................................................................................................... 18
Advertising ............................................................................................................................................ 18
Competitive advantage .................................................................................................................. 18
Understanding the Competition .............................................................................................................. 19
E-Commerce development ............................................................................................................ 19
Internet auctions .................................................................................................................................... 19
Internet classifieds ................................................................................................................................. 20
Website design .............................................................................................................................. 21
Design .................................................................................................................................................... 21
Development .......................................................................................................................................... 22
Online ordering ...................................................................................................................................... 22
Financial plan ............................................................................................................................... 22
Income Statement .................................................................................................................................. 22
Balance Sheet ........................................................................................................................................ 23
Cash Flow Statement/Cash Budget ........................................................................................................ 23
Recommendation ........................................................................................................................... 23
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 24
Reference ...................................................................................................................................... 25
Introduction
Companies such as Craigslist, eBay, and other classified and auction based sites have allowed for greater interaction between consumers, facilitating the Customer to Customer model. Furthermore, as it becomes more economical for individuals to network on the internet via social websites and individual content creation, this marketing model has been greatly leveraged by businesses and individuals alike. E-Commerce stands for electronic commerce and get greater acceptance from the customers. It is an electronic based commercial system in which customer can order for something from a website or virtual market place and sellers sell it. In this types of business customers can buy product, pay for the product and engage with other types of transaction among them. Products are not physically appear but customers can collect information about them from their features. There are 5 major online market including B2B, B2C, C2C, P2P, and M-Commerce. Business to consumer market refers to the market from where customer can just buy something from an identified virtual market place such as amazon.com. On the other hand customer to customer market refers to those market where a customer can sell a product to another. These markets are generally run by customer. One customer offers a product and another buy it like bikroy.com, olx.com. In this assignment business plan for 2 major types of online market are describe with their way of development and business plan 2 particular company named myproductbd.com and sellbazar.com.
Objective
The objective of the assignment is to make a business plan for both B2C online market and C2C market.
Secondary objectives are including
To make a plan by how both types of company can develop.
To make their competitive edge and finding ways by which they will sustain in the market.
To give a proper idea about operating system of both B2C and C2C online business market.
Company Summary Company SummaryCompany Summary Company Summary Company Summary Company Summary Company SummaryCompany Summary
Myproductbd.com is a new Internet business that will sell a line of collegiate maternity wear for expecting mothers. In the future, the company will also explore the professional sports market as a new channel for growth. The owner will run the business from his home office. Inventory will be stored in a 1,200 sq. feet and designated storage area will within the basement. Sales will be primarily through an eBay store until our own site is fully developed, part way through the first year.
Start-up Summary
Start-up costs for Myproductbd.com equal TK 15,00,000 and include legal costs, computer supplies, new product marketing, website design and licensing* for the shirt designs. Start-up assets total TK4, 00,000 most of which is dedicated for start-up inventory.
*LICENSING: Based on research, licensing is required to use official college mascots and names. This is not cost prohibitive; however, the regulating board for licensing has strict requirements regarding who can and cannot be granted permission to use collegiate likenesses. As of this date, our proposal is under submission and we are awaiting a final decision.
START-UP REQUIREMENTS
Start-up Expenses
Legal TK1, 00,000
Computer TK2, 50,000
Marketing TK1, 50,000
Web Design TK15, 000
Licensing TK50, 000
TOTAL START-UP EXPENSES TK5, 65,000
Start-up Assets TK4, 00,000
Cash Required TK6, 00,000
Products
Myproductbd.com will provide fun and comfortable collegiate maternity wear shirts, t-shirts, 3pieces and ladies pants via our website, and through an eBay store, which serves as a portal to our main website. Manufacturing will be done by a third party, and fulfillment will be handled in-house initially.Customers
Our target customers are generally woman but there have one 2 items shirt and t-shirts customers are both man and women. Our customers are generally middle class adult people. Customers can also be lower class and lower higher class people. Targeted geographic segmentation is all over the country including both cities and villages.Market AnalyMarket AnalyMarket Analy Market Analy Market Analy Market Analy sis Summary sis Summary sis Summarysis Summarysis Summarysis Summary
The primary target market is the women who are like 50% of countries population. These woman often buy maternity clothes for themselves. The secondary target market is the over 25,000,000 people who shop for and buy collegiate clothing each year. By being made aware that collegiate maternity wear exists, they are able to purchase items as gifts for someone they know who is pregnant. As an online store, we will focus on the portions of these market segments which are comfortable shopping online.
Market Segmentation
The two groups of people who would buy maternity clothes are woman, and those who would shop for a woman, perhaps a husband or a family member. Based on these segments, our projected sales forecast is conservatively set at less than 1% of the total potential market, as highlighted in the following table and chart.Strategy and Implementation Summary
Our marketing strategy is to create product awareness among expecting women and their families by strategically placing Internet ads, using direct mail tactics sold and generating PR. We offer a unique product that we feel confident expecting women will find fun to wear during their pregnancy.
It will be a novelty item that will allow them to stay connected to their interest in their collegiate team both at games and around town.
Marketing Strategy
Myproductbd.com’s marketing strategy is crucial to the success of our business. We must create awareness of our product to our primary target market, as our products are of little use to anyone outside of this group. We will do this by: Utilizing the brand-name power of eBay and its popularity to establish credibility and increase awareness of our products
Strategically-placed ads on websites that are frequently visited by expecting moms, such as parentsplace.com, babycenter.com, americanbaby.com and babyzone.com
Placed ads on collegiate sites such as collegefootballnews.com and sports.yahoo.com
Adding our products to other sites as an affiliate provider
Direct mail and e-mail advertising to expectant customers
New product PR in publications for expectant customers
Sales Strategy
Sales are dependent upon creating awareness of collegiate maternity wear within our target markets, and therefore the sales strategy for Myproductbd.com is based on driving business to our website and our eBay store. Because we are a new product line, we understand that we will have to generate excitement about our apparel in order to generate business. We will strategically place pop-up and banner ads on websites relevant to both expecting mothers and sports fans, we will use direct mail and email lists, and we will seek public relations coverage in relevant media sources.Sales Forecast
The sales forecast for FY 2016 takes into account slower sales at the beginning as we create awareness of our product and website. Initially we will be selling one style of t-shirt, but will offer it with the logos of up to 132 different Division 1 universities. As the company grows, we will explore the demand for other types of collegiate maternity wear such as tank tops, sweatshirts and long-sleeved shirts. In the first three months, we will sell exclusively through eBay. Although thisadds to direct costs (roughly TK1 per shirt) because of eBay fees, we will save money on both marketing/advertising costs and website maintenance by holding off on fully developing our own site until we can see what items customers prefer. We anticipate that even after enabling sales on our website, eBay sales volume will continue to be higher.
The Monthly Sales Chart that follows indicates that we have some seasonality in our business. We expect sales to increase during the fall, which is when football season occurs and when sales for collegiate goods are the highest. Note that the direct costs shown in the Sales Forecast table represent only the direct inventory costs for t-shirts. There are other, non-inventory direct costs, including eBay fees and PayPal fees; these can be found in the projected Profit and Loss.
Competitive Edge Competitive EdgeCompetitive Edge Competitive Edge Competitive Edge Competitive Edge Competitive Edge Competitive Edge
The competitive edge offered by Myproductbd.com is our unique product. Currently, no major maternity retailer and few online stores offer collegiate maternity t-shirts. We will position ourselves as a specialty online store catering to expecting moms who want to maintain their support of their favorite team through their pregnancy. Because of our niche, we can effectively choose targeted sources to market our product to our customers. Our primary weakness is that we are a new business and we offer a new product. To generate sales, we must first create awareness that our product exists, and make it easy for potential customers to locate our online store. By offering a fun product that many expecting women would like to have, we feel we a quickly establish our presence in the maternity wear industry.
Fulfilling orders
Myproductbd.com will fulfill orders from our eBay store and later, our own website. All payments will be processed through PayPal in the first year, although we will evaluate the option to do Fax orders if customer demand it. E-orders: Customer can purchase online 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
Fax orders: Customers can fax in an order 24-hours a day, seven days a week if we implement this.
As the company grows, we will leave the option open to using a fulfillment center to take orders via the telephone.
Web Planning
The following sub-topics outline our plans to create and maintain our website. At first, we will have a simple text and image-based website which outlines our products and redirects customers to our eBay store. After the first three months, we will begin online ordering via our own website as well. Website of myproductbd.com may as follows:Website Marketing Strategy
Our website will provide information about us and our products as well as order processing to purchase our products online. We will include our web address in all of our advertising to reinforce to our customers how to find us online. Our company logo and motto will also need to be eye catching and easy to remember so that once our customers find us, they will remember us and suggest us to their friends and family.
Website Development Requirements
Initial Development
We will be working with an outside contractor to design the layout of the site. Initially, our site will provide an overview of the company, describe our products and services, and redirect visitors to our eBay store to purchase a shirt. The estimated costs for initial website development are listed in our start-up costs.Some of the features included on the website will be the ability to search for logos by school name as well as by "team name" (such as the University of Alabama "Crimson Tide," the UCLA "Bruins" and the University of Oregon "Ducks"). Good-quality pictures of our products and the logos on the products will be available, so the customer can see what they will be getting.
Full website (including online ordering)
In the third month of the plan, when we have a better sense of customer preferences, we will finish the development of the site to include online order processing (via PayPal). Starting in November (heavy football season) customers will have the choice of buying either directly from our website, or via our eBay store. Additional security functions are required for doing PayPal sales on our own website
Personnel Plan
As the company launches date approaches, one part-time (30 hours/week) employee will be hired to help with fulfillment with a second part-time employee scheduled for the third month, entering into the highest potential selling time frame, football season. As the company grows, more personnel will be added as needed. If projections for October through December are correct, temporary seasonal help will need to be hired to assist in fulfilling the order processing.Part-time staff will be responsible for processing all Internet and Fax orders, PayPal payments received, and will handle all shipping functions. Subcontractors will be used to help with website design and marketing, and these subcontractor costs can be found in the Profit and Loss tables Expenses section.
Financial Plan
Myproductbd.com projects the gross margin to be at approximately 65% percent. Sales projections for Year 1 are over TK15, 000,000. A monthly breakdown of the cash-flow analysis, balance sheet, business ratio, break-even analysis, and other financial details are shown in the appendix. Annual projections will be highlighted in the following sub-topics.We must track our eBay and PayPal fees to make sure they are projected appropriately in the Other Cost of Goods section in the Profit and Loss statement. As we gain experience with what the average cost is for Item Fees, Final Value Fees, and PayPal fees, we may need to change the Profit and Loss table to reflect the correct cost. At this point we have placed high estimates to make sure that we are realistic about the cost of doing business on eBay.
The fees are based on the following:
EBay fees (only apply to eBay store sales):
Insertion fee of TK.35 per item, plus Final Fee at 5.25% of total sale price on each sale
PayPal fees (apply to all sales):
First two months: Standard rate of TK0.30 per sale, plus 2.9% of total sale price on each sale
Afterwards: Merchant rate of TK0.30 per sale, plus 2.5% of total sale price on each sale*
These fees are very conservative, assuming that each unit sale is one complete sale. It is likely that at least 1/5 of our sales in the heavy sales months will be for multiple shirts, since pregnant couples often know other pregnant couples and buy each other gifts.
We will also be spending marketing dollars to promote our products with eBay's promotion tools. We want to make sure that we have enough money to buy some search placements as well as buying "bolded" listings in the eBay search results. As we sell more items we will adjust the marketing expenses either lower or higher -- depending on what is working for us.
Alternative plan
An alternative plan should be ready if the following one is not work properly. In alternative plan it should be include: identify an alternative plan and develop an alternative plan.Company Summary Company SummaryCompany Summary Company Summary Company Summary Company Summary Company SummaryCompany Summary
Customer to customer (C2C) markets provides an innovative way to allow customers to interact with each other. Traditional markets require business to customer relationships, in which a customer goes to the business in order to purchase a product or service. In customer to customer markets, the business facilitates an environment where customers can sell goods or services to each other. Here sellbazar.com is selected as a base company to complete the assignment. It is on kind of online business on the basis of customer to customer market. Customers are deal majority of the work here. Company just directs them by an eBay or website. This business like as bikroy.com and olx.com.
Consumer to consumer (or citizen-to-citizen) electronic commerce involves the electronically facilitated transactions between consumers through some third party. A common example is the online auction, in which a consumer posts an item for sale and other consumers bid to purchase it; the third party generally charges a flat fee or commission. The sites are only intermediaries, just there to match consumers. They do not have to check quality of the products being offered
Product or service
Consumer to Consumer transactions often involve products sold via either a classified or auction-like system. As such, the products and services bought and sold are usually varied in type and have a short development and sale cycle. Products sold may often be used or second-hand, since consumer to consumer sales are often facilitated through auction or classified sites. Here company may or may not interact on customers buying or selling process. Company may have or not any product of their own. They just act a middlemen in the buying selling process of consumers. In C2C market customers are sell generally Home appliance
Electronic product
Vehicles
Clothing
Playing instrument
Entertaining instruments
Pet animals
Customers
Generally customer for c2c market is the people who have knowledge about internet access. This is including students and job holders. Customers generally may post an offer to sell his product and another customer responses to the post over phone call or email. Product is sell by understanding between two customers. Here sellbazar.com makes money by charging fees to sellers. Although it's free to shop and place bids, sellers place fees to list items for sale, add on promotional features, and successfully complete transactions. Specialty marketplaces have also been added to serve the specialized needs of buyers and sellers. For example, eBay Motors serves the automotive marketplace, including vehicles, parts and accessories; and Half.com is focused on providing a fixed-price trading environment, initially for books music, videos and video games. Many online auction sites use a system called PayPal for sellers to receive online payments securely and quickly. A traditional credit card is not required to use this site because PayPal can be linked directly to your bank account.
Business model
Sellbazar.co is a commerce based business dealing with customers order and supply based business. Most C2C websites, such as eBay, have both streamlined and globalized traditional person-to-person trading, which was usually conducted through such forms as garage sales, collectibles shows, flea markets and more, with their web interface. This facilitates easy exploration for buyers and enables the sellers to immediately list an item for sale within minutes of registering. When an item is listed on a C2C site, a nonrefundable insertion fee is charged based on the seller's opening bid on the item. Once the auction is completed, a final value fee is charged based on the seller's opening bid on the item. Once the auction is completed, a final value fee is charged. This fee generally ranges from 1.25 percent to 5 percent of the final sale price.After the C2C site sets up the system in which bids could be placed, items can be put up for sale, transactions can be completed, seller fees are charged, and feedback can be left, while the C2C site stays in the background. For example, at the end of an auction, the C2C site notifies the buyer via e-mail that he or she has won. The C2C site also e-mails the seller to report who won and at what
price the auction finished. At that point it's up to the seller and buyer finish the transaction independently of the C2C site.
Development
Since products are usually second-hand, surplus, or used there is seldom a long development cycle associated with the products that are marketed via this method. However, in the case of individuals who are looking to sell a product or service they have developed to be sold on the small-scale, there is a product development life cycle. However, even when a product goes through a development life cycle when marketed in this manner, seldom does traditional marketing research occur. Oftentimes individuals are looking to make a quick profit, and simply place their product in the market place in hopes that it will be sold.Marketing plan
C2C marketing is of critical importance to retailers. When a shopper buys a product it can be shared with the shopper's friends that drive significant traffic back to the customer site. Additionally, shoppers trust user generated recommendations much higher than recommendations pushed by the retailer. Retailers like Cafe Press have implemented C2C marketing on their website and companies like Shop Socially are building C2C marketing platforms for retailers. Recent trends by Facebook and Wave spot that leverage free WIFI at a local business are indicative of C2C marketing's importance in SMB space. Most companies think of C2C marketing as the use of social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter. However, in many cases, the messaging tends to be business to consumer.Target market
To define a target market for your business plan, you should research the potential buying audience for your product. This could range from millions of people if you are starting an online business, to a few thousand individuals if you are opening a retail store in a small town.If you are catering to the consumer market, narrow your potential customer base to a defined demographic group. By doing so, your business will not only be more attractive to investors, but
you will have a much easier time compiling a sales and marketing plan. Study your product or service and determine the most likely consumer. Define the age range, gender, marital status, and income level of the individual most likely to be your customer. Explain the motivations for purchasing your product or service. Is it a necessity or luxury? What value does this product bring? It’s best not to assume or guess. Use surveys, questionnaires, or secondary research to gather your demographic data.
Once the company defined the target market:
Explain the purchase habits of this demographic group.
Show how your company will impact those purchase habits.
Explain the motivation behind this demographic group and how you will help them meet their needs.
Project future changes in this market.
Indicate how you will meet their changing needs.
Base your future projections on research and details from your findings. Make projections based on past buying habits, the average purchase amount, and other factors, such as your ability to make the products or services available. The more you know about this target market, the more confidence you will have in your sales projections.
The same need to identify your target audience (business-to-consumer market) will also hold true if you are serving a business market (business-to-business market). You need to determine which companies will benefit from your products or services. Will you meet the needs of a specific industry or several industries? Is it large or small businesses? Is it public or privately owned businesses? Define exactly the types of businesses that will buy your product or services and target them through your marketing efforts.
Sales Strategy
Sales are dependent upon creating awareness of collegiate maternity wear within our target markets, and therefore the sales strategy for Myproductbd.com is based on driving business to our website and our eBay store. Because we are a new product line, we understand that we will have to generate excitement about our apparel in order to generate business. We will strategically place pop-up and banner ads on websites relevant to both expecting mothers and sports fans, we will use direct mail and email lists, and we will seek public relations coverage in relevant media sources.Promotional activities Promotional activitiesPromotional activitiesPromotional activitiesPromotional activities Promotional activities Promotional activities
Advertising
Advertising is essential towards the success of any business. In the case of customer to customer marketing, advertising often relates to online auctions and listings. As opposed to the pricey costs to advertise in Medias such as newspapers and magazines, products are already being promoted and publicized once users decide to officially put them on the internet. Potential buyers will become aware of products or services by conducting searches on the websites. Aside from possible fees and commissions imposed by the auction or listing site, advertising in this market does not require a substantial amount of money.Competitive advantage
Customer to Customer marketing has become very popular in the recent years. Customers can directly contact sellers and eliminate the middle man. Moreover, anyone can now sell and advertise a product in the convenience of one's home – enabling one to easily start a business. Therefore, a wide variety of products can often be found on auction sites such as eBay, including second-hand goods. Since majority of these sales occur over the internet, sellers can reach both national and international customers and greatly increase their market. Feedback on the purchased product is often requested to aid both the seller and potential customers. The actual buying and searching process is simplified and search costs, distribution costs, and inventory costs are all reduced. Moreover, the transactions occur at a swift rate with the use of online payment systems such as PayPal.Understanding the Competition
Where do your potential customers currently obtain the product or service you are selling? What strengths and weaknesses do those businesses exhibit? How will you offer a superior product or service? Let's say that currently, your potential customers are only able to obtain local foods by shopping at the farmer's market - which is only open for four hours, once a week - or through a community-sponsored agriculture (CSA) program, which makes people commit to buying a certain amount of produce each month and doesn't let them choose what they'll be eating. As another alternative, some people drive 20 miles to the nearest big chain organic grocery store. Many people like shopping at the farmers market because they get to meet the people who produce their food and interact with members of their community. Others like the CSA program because they no longer have to think about shopping for produce. And the big chain store offers a great selection.
E-Commerce development Commerce developmentCommerce developmentCommerce development Commerce development Commerce development Commerce developmentCommerce developmentCommerce development Commerce development
Internet auctions
Despite the success of eBay, numerous other online auction sites have either shut down or consolidated with other similar sites. Creating an innovative and efficient business model is vital towards success. Online auctions can be categorized into five main models: C2C, B2C, B2B, B2G, and G2P. C2C refers to customer to customer, B2C signifies business to customer, B2B refers to business to business, B2G signifies business to government, and G2P refers to government to public. In recent years, online auctions have even appealed to major businesses. For instance, Sears has reported selling items at higher prices on these auctions when compared to discounting them in stores.
The success of an online auction site largely depends on six variables: interactivity, product offering, level of trust, rate of growth and adoption, networking, level of commitment, and payment options. Interactions among users are crucial and thus, websites must be accessible and easily navigable. E-mails, community boards, and feedback all aid in increasing the interactivity. With the growing need for convenience, the variety of products offered can greatly attribute to the client basis. Especially with the growing number of online frauds, trust is essential in auction sites. Users must be guaranteed that their personal information will remain secured and that they will receive their
purchased product in a perfect condition and in a timely manner. With the fast-paced advancements in technology, auction sites must respond to these changes by staying updated. Moreover, sites also need to constantly search for business opportunities in order to expand their market. A large network of users is also crucial. Having an array of different sellers, buyers, suppliers, and delivery agents will increase the number of users, which would also raise the level of interactivity. In addition, forming alliances with different partners will also aid in the site's success. The level of commitment in buyers and sellers also plays a role in the auction's success. Similar to the level of trust, buyers must be ensured that they receive their purchased item, and sellers must actually receive payment. Although most prefer speedy online transactions, it is beneficial to offer different payment options that will accommodate different buyers.
Internet classifieds
Internet classifieds are another example of customer to customer marketing. An example of an internet classified company, is Craigslist. Craigslist utilizes the internet to attract a wide customer and buyer base which employs the website to list and sell items. Since the customer to customer marketing strategy is strongly focused on serving the customer, the business model of Craigslist is simple: serve the customer first. Utilizing this model, Craigslist has developed into a prime example of a customer to customer driven 'machine', which focuses on the customer selling to the customer.Revenues which support the company are derived through subsidiary channels, while maintaining the model and convenience of the site. In fact, Craigslist makes no money off the customer to customer interactions that occur on the classifieds of the website. All of their revenue is derived from portion of the website targeted at businesses. Thus, in other words, their revenue is derived solely from their business to customer model utilized by businesses to post jobs and hire new workers.
Website designWebsite design Website design Website design
Design
C2C market transactions are based on customers offer and buy. So website should be develop on the basis of this. Website should be design as a way that can show the products price, location, and a brief information about the product also be along with the product. Details description and contract information should be include in clicking the product name or a button should be added. Website may as like:Development
We will be working with an outside contractor to design the layout of the site. Initially, our site will provide an overview of the company, describe our products and services, and redirect visitors to our eBay store to purchase a shirt. The estimated costs for initial website development are listed in our start-up costs.
Some of the features included on the website will be the ability to search for logos by school name as well as by "team name" (such as the University of Alabama "Crimson Tide," the UCLA "Bruins" and the University of Oregon "Ducks"). Good-quality pictures of our products and the logos on the products will be available, so the customer can see what they will be getting.
Online ordering
In the third month of the plan, when we have a better sense of customer preferences, we will finish the development of the site to include online order processing (via PayPal). Starting in November (heavy football season) customers will have the choice of buying either directly from our website, or via our eBay store. Additional security functions are required for doing PayPal sales on our own website
Financial plan
Your financial plan should include three key financial statements: the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow statement. Let's look at what each statement is and why you need it.Income Statement
The income statement summarizes your company's revenue and expenses. Revenues are your company's sales and/or other sources of income (for example, a car dealership might earn money from car sales, car leases and auto loans). Expenses include items such as the cost of goods sold, payroll, taxes and interest. The bottom line of the income statement shows the company's net income. Financiers want to know what kind of numbers your company is working with and whether your company is profitable. (To learn more, read Understanding The Income Statement.
Balance Sheet
The balance sheet shows your company's assets and liabilities. It's called a balance sheet because the assets must perfectly balance the liabilities. Within each category are numerous subcategories. For example, your assets will include things like cash, accounts receivable, inventory and equipment. Your liabilities will include things like accounts payable and loan balances. The balance sheet is important because it shows the company's financial position at a specific point in time, and compares what you own to what you owe. (For more information, see Reading The Balance Sheet.)Cash Flow Statement/Cash Budget
The cash flow statement shows the amounts of money you expect to be coming into and going out of your business in a given time frame. Topics you'll need to examine to predict cash flow include sales forecasts, cash receipts vs. credit receipts and the time frame for collecting accounts receivable. How much will these expenses be, and how often will you need to pay them? Will you have trade credit, and how long will you have to pay your suppliers? A realistic cash budget covering one year of operations and broken down into one-month intervals is an important short-term planning tool. You'll also need to prepare longer-term projections that go at least three years out, if not five. These are called "pro forma" statements, and they are based on your assumptions about how your business will perform.
Cash flow statements not only show potential investors that you know what you're doing, they also help you to make sure your business model is financially viable and to establish goals that you want to achieve.
Recommendation
Once the owner completed his initial plan and, hopefully, obtained the investment or loan you were seeking, keep in mind that your business plan should be a living document. Don't just store your business plan on a shelf and never look at it again, thinking that it has served its purpose. You will want to revisit your plan from time to time, dropping some components and adding others as you learn what works for your business and what doesn't. As your business evolves, you'll find thatolder versions of your plan provide a helpful reminder of how far you've come. As a bonus, continually updating your plan will put you ahead of the game if you later need to secure additional financing. There's no question that putting together a good business plan takes a tremendous amount of work. But if you do it right, your effort will pay off.
There should have solution for some problems and they are:
Being special type of business the company will faces the problem of legality so they should have make registration in order to avoid these problem.
As the concept is new, it should have strong promotional activities to aware the customer about the product.
Financial problems should be solved by managing cash from bank and friends.
Should have skilled employee to provide a greater service 24/7.
Make a strategy to the advantage over the competitors.
Be aware about political instability and other external; factors so they can be face when they occur.
No comments