Business
Plan
Eden jay Collins
Christmas
greeting Cards
10/11/18
Business and Objectives
A creative enterprise focuses around selling botanical print
cards and printed pieces of artworks, with three designs of each being sold
both individually and in packs with the objective of setting up a small long term business selling
with opportunity to branch out in the future with future ventures. The product
will be sold through online shops and at stalls, with potential in the future
to be sold in shops.
Short Term Objectives (the current year)
·
Create
a range of products in time to be sold for Christmas
·
To
have them listed online with as much time till Christmas as possible since this
is where most of the sales are
·
To
sell at a books stall at a Christmas market
Medium Term Objectives (the next year to two years)
·
To
start making profits back from initial investment
·
To
create new design to turn into products
·
To
sell different sorts of products, such as cushions or tote bags
·
Having
a physical presence of products in independent shops
Long term Objectives
(the next three years and beyond)
·
To
have design made on a much larger scale
·
To
have design sold in multiple stores across the country
·
To
have a whole range of products with a well-defined band identity
Start Up Loan
The start-up money will mainly go towards creating a large
bulk of products to sell over time to cut down on future costs, what remains of
the loan will go towards the cost of listing the products online as well as
paying for the cost of the Christmas market stall needed to sell them face to
face.
Skills and Experience
Experience and Employment
·
Selling at many market place stalls, as well at various
craft fairs, carnivals, church fair stalls, and craft stalls
·
Creating and producing illustrated prints and cards
for selling as said stalls with the research to back to influence them to be a
better product
·
Booking, planning, and setting up a pop-up shop, as
well as other stall types
Education
·
Illustration and art making in order to help create a
well design illustration in order to create a better product
Transferable Skills
·
Communication skills- used to help organise and orange
the pop-up shop as well as working in a team to help put the pop-up shop on
·
Photography- to take better product photos to help
show them off best online and help make them look more appealing and create a
stronger brand identity
·
Practical drawing and illustration skill- to help
create a better looking product
·
Research- knowing how to research target markets and
apply that to make the most of what has been learnt
·
IT- ability to work a computer well, this includes important
programs like Excel and Photoshop
Gaps in Skills and Experience
·
Working with a printer- I have never working a
professional printer before, neither online or in person so this will be
something I will have to learn throughout the project
·
Customer services skills- I still have a lot to learn when it
comes to client relations in being able to communicate without being pushy or awkward,
this is something that will be improved throughout the project especially at
the stall
Target Customers
Age - 30 to 60 years old
Gender - female
Income – All
Nationality – customers in the UK wanting to decorate their
home or who are on the lookout for Christmas cards
Potential customers can be anyone looking for Christmas cards
to buy for Christmas or are simply buying to decorate their home, this meets
their needs and wants by filling there need for a quality cards to send to
loved ones at Christmas while the prints fill the need of wanting a piece of
decoration to add to a room and completing it, or filling in a space left by an
older now taken down piece.
For pricing my product it came down to being able to make a
profit back from how much I had spent on set up combined with competitive pricing
in order for the price not to hold back sales on the cards as they will still
be a fair price.
Market Competition
For research to help gain information on what my target
market wants I ran surveys to help gain more information on them, this was also
done to help understand which designs they liked best as well as where they
shopped the most for the card and print supplies and help pin down the
demographic and where it shops at in order to get my work in the right place it
needs to be. I also looked at statistics and sales movement of potential
customers to help understand their shopping habits, as well as looking at the popularity
of sale website such as Etsy. I also did primary research by looking around
various home ware and card shops to see if what I had previously researched was
certain and to find inspirational examples which I could use when coming to the
creation of the product. I also used social media to see what sort of art
prints where selling and where popular, I also did this for cards but it was
much harder to find data on.
Example of a competitor
Name: Card Factory
Location: stores across UK
Website: https://www.cardfactory.co.uk/
Average
Price Range:
Individual
cards: 99p - £1.99
Packs: £1.99
- £3.99
Business Strengths
·
Physical
stores with good access in shopping centres and high streets which visual
advertising from the shop alone
·
Mass
produced cards making the price per unit a lot cheaper to bulk buy
·
Large
enterprise of a company with many branches and employee’s with a lot of stability
·
A
great selection of cards for all occasions as well as a diversified stock including
papers, bags, balloons, small gifts, and other items to help boost sales
Business Weaknesses
·
Even
though they have a store buying online is becoming more popular, leaving them
out on potentially more sales
·
With
the pieces being mass produced on the cheap they are also of lower quality and
the designs are also often old fashioned
·
Do
not offer more personal artisan cards as the company is just too big to be able
to implement something like that which means they also lose out on another part
of the market
My Business
What makes
my business different to the previous is firstly the size, with my business
being a one man show compared to the multi-shop giant. Though because of this I
can offer much more current better design and much higher quality pieces as
well as traditional botanical designs which also work to create great art prints which makes
up my USP.
Strengths
·
High
quality card production with a nice thick texture to them as well as unique piece
of art work which can come in a set to fill up a space if need be
·
Easily
accessed through the web and sold on a website which is has a great user interface
making it easy to buy
·
A
more personable touch to the art work as it was printed in much smaller numbers
then larger home wear companies
Weakness
·
In
the design it might not be as festive as some people are looking for as many
people enjoy cards with writing on them as my research found out
·
While
they are easy to access I have very little reach across the internet meaning they
will get very little exposure outside of the sites they are listed on.
·
As
a add on to the previous point I will only be attending one Christmas event to
sell the products at meaning I will not have that much reach in the real world
Future Opportunists
·
Continuing
to add to the brand and expand out in creating new design and products to sell
to build into a long term enterprise
·
Potentially
moving to sell in independent art shops
·
And
in the future selling design to larger companies for mass production
Future Threats
·
More
competition online as more and more people move to buying cards online and so
more people sell online too.
Sales and Marketing Plan
·
Through
social media, such as instagram posts and stories, as well as twitter, local
pages, and reddit
·
Through
personal accounts and re-posts
·
Through
word of mouth from family and friends
Mainly the
promotion will be done throughout social media and the influence I already have
their, though I am also planning on making use of word of mouth and getting people
verbally aware. There will also be promotion though the Etsy listings when they
are first posted by Etsy to help boost sales. There could also be sponsored posts
in the future through Instagram to help promote my work to a larger audience. I
could also do the same for Etsy where sponsored listing making it much further
towards the top allowing for more exposure and sales as a cause.
Operational Plans
The main
relationship needed for the business to function is the relationship with
printers, for my work I have chosen Printed.com as they produce the prints and
the cards from my designs making them imperative to the business. It is also
important to keep good working scanning equipment to get the best images needed
for printing and so another part that need to stay operational. I also do not employ any staff and have no
plans to in the future; this will only become a factor is the business grows too
large for just me to handle alone. For insurance purposed I currently have
insurance in place for public liability which covers events where it is not
already provided.
Supporting Evidence
Comments
Post a Comment