ExquisiteLeight’s Boutique, Inc.: Business Plan Presentation

Executive Summary

• Our Company:
  • ExquisiteLeigh’s Boutique, Inc. is a fashion retail store in a boutique format located in Odessa, TX;
• Our Product:
  • High-quality women’s clothing and accessories by independent American and European fashion brands;
• Our Customers:
  • Women (18-40 years of age) with mid-range income;
• Our Goals:
  • to create the niche for trendy, unique, mid-priced clothing in the local retail sector;
  • to support and promote independent designers.

Our Company

ExquisiteLeigh’s Boutique, Inc. is a fashion retail store in a boutique format located in Odessa, TX.

Our Product

Our store provides a wide range of high-quality women’s clothing and accessories by independent American and European fashion brands.

Our Customers

The target audience for ExquisiteLeigh’s Boutique, Inc. includes women, 18-40 years of age, who have mid-range income. Our potential customers are looking for mid-priced designer items to enhance their personal style.

Our Goals

As a boutique fashion retailer, ExquisiteLeigh’s Boutique, Inc. aims to create the niche for trendy, unique, mid-priced clothing in the local retail sector. It is the goal of our business to support and promote independent designers, while responding to the needs of our customers.

Market Analysis

• Industry Description:
  • large franchise-based stores/ fast-fashion/ mass-produced low-quality items.
  • stable niche for high-quality designer products.
  • customers in Odessa, TX prefer boutique stores to large hypermarkets (Walmart).
• Target Market:
  • fashionable 18-year old to 40-year old women with mid-range income.
• Competitors:
  • local boutique stores Kirby’s Kloset and Haute Stuff Boutique.

Industry Description

The current state of fashion retail industry reflects the prevalence of large franchise-based stores promoting fast-fashion and selling mass-produced low-quality items. However, there is a stable niche for unique designer products of higher quality, as the customers in Odessa, TX tend to prefer boutique stores to large hypermarkets such as Walmart.

Target Market

Our primary target customers are fashionable 18-year old to 40-year old women with mid-range income. Our target audience wants trendy designer items such as jeans, tops, and accessories, for mid-range prices. As the boutique will be located near the middle-class residential community, its female population have the potential to create a loyal customer base generating a significant portion of sales.

Competitors

Our primary competitors are local boutique stores Kirby’s Kloset and Haute Stuff Boutique located far from residential areas and selling women and children’s clothing along with home decor high-price range. Our store is focused on women’s clothing and accessories and offers the solution for customers seeking a nearby store selling unique, but mid-priced products.

Company Description

• Our Mission:
  • to provide a unique shopping experience and excellent customer service for fashionable women;
  • to achieve customer loyalty and brand loyalty;
• Location:
  • Odessa, TX (Northwind Crossing commercial retail development) next to the Parks Bell Ranch;
• Company Advantages:
  • wide selection of exclusive fashion brands;
  • high-quality products;
  • excellent customer service;
  • superior business location;
  • reduced overhead costs (rent, maintenance, labor).

Mission Statement

Our mission is to provide a unique shopping experience and excellent customer service for fashionable women with mid-range income. While we want to achieve customer loyalty, we also wish to promote brand loyalty by careful selection of designers.

Location

ExquisiteLeigh’s Boutique, Inc. is located in Odessa, TX and the store will be launched in Northwind Crossing commercial retail development. The retail space is within the walking distance of the Parks Bell Ranch neighborhood surrounded by several major freeways.

Company Advantages

• Wide selection of exclusive fashion brands introduced by direct cooperation with independent designers.
• High-quality products at affordable prices.
• Excellent customer service and fashion advice via regular training for the sales assistants.
• Superior business location next to a large neighborhood and major freeways.
• Reduced overhead costs of rent, maintenance, and labor costs, since boutique format requires a small retail space and a limited number of employees.

Organization

Employees are grouped into departments based on their skills and tasks performed).

Since the store has a small boutique format, it requires a simple organizational structure. Functional structure was selected for the organizational chart, so the employees are grouped into departments based on their skills and tasks performed.

Management

The Board of Directors includes Leigh McCallum, Michael D. Simmons and Kay M. Castro.

Marketing

• Dominance Marketing Strategy:
  • market niche approach to secure the company from large competitors (Walmart);
  • Marketing Manager = effective customer and demand management;
  • customer-driven approach based on target marketing and the company’s value proposition (Armstrong et al., 2018):
    • unique shopping experience;
    • superior customer service;
    • reasonable mid-range prices.

The company’s dominance marketing strategy will follow the market niche approach, which secures the company from large and popular competitors (Walmart). Customer-driven strategy is based on target marketing promoting a specialized boutique segment of fashion retail. The company’s value proposition will be presented in our mission statement which promises our target customers unique shopping experience, superior customer service, and reasonable prices (Armstrong et al., 2018). Our part-time marketing manager will be responsible for effective customer and demand management satisfying the needs of our customers.

Sales

• Sales Department:
  • in charge of sales at the store;
  • well-trained employees;
  • customer-targeted approach;
  • assistance and fashion advice to increase sales;
• Marketing Department:
  • advertising campaigns;
  • email newsletters for regular customers;
  • increase brand awareness and sales;
• Customer retention:
  • Loyal Customers (Customer Base);
  • Increased Sales and Profits.

Our Sales Department consisting of 2 full-time sales assistants will be in charge of sales at our store. At our boutique, the customers will be provided with assistance and fashion advice from our well-trained employees whose customer-targeted approach will contribute to the increase in sales. The Marketing Department will be responsible for advertising campaigns and email newsletters for our regular customers that will increase sales by promoting various designer brands and their products available at our boutique. Social media and online advertising campaigns will help to increase brand awareness and sales. Since the boutique belongs to the niche segment of fashion retail, customer retention is vital, as the sales and profits will largely depend on our customer base rather than new customers.

Product

• Our Product:
  • product concept is focused on the preferences of target consumers:
    • vquality;
    • vpricing;
    • vspecific features;
  • unique designer product helps to achieve customer loyalty and brand loyalty;
• Location:
  • Odessa, TX (Northwind Crossing commercial retail development) next to the Parks Bell Ranch.

The product concept is focused on the preferences of our target consumers in terms of quality, pricing, and specific features. ExquisiteLeigh’s Boutique, Inc. will offer a wide range of independent American and European designer brands producing women’s apparel including jeans, tops, skirts, and accessories. Our products bring the benefits of confidence and distinct personal style to our customers by providing trendy and fashionable additions to their wardrobes. Moreover, each product reflects the unique style of different designers. Our part-time Buying Manager will control the purchase and delivery of products to ensure that they conform to our company’s standards of quality and appearance.

Product Lifecycle

• development (designers develop and produce the product);
• introduction (our company delivers, advertises, and sells the product);
• growth (we promote the product and track its popularity and profits);
• maturity (we support sales by offering discounts);
• decline (we stop ordering the product and replace it with new trendy items).

The product’s lifecycle consists of the following stages: development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. The product is developed by designers of independent brands who use their own funding for its production (Armstrong et al., 2018). Our company will be responsible for product introduction as we deliver, advertise, and sell it to the customers with the help of our Buying Manager. The boutique will further promote product during growth and maturity stages by tracking its popularity and profit levels. Finally, during decline stage, we will stop ordering the product to replace it with new trendy and profitable items.

Funding Request

Our company is seeking funding in the form of equity financing from venture capitalists. Venture capitalists are ready to provide support new businesses in exchange to ownership of a fraction of a business. Thus, investors will receive the company’s shares, yearly dividends, and an ownership share of the company as equity securities. The minimum amount of funding from investors is $296,200. The funds will cover the fixed expenses and purchasing costs for the first year of operations. The break-even point will be reached during the sixth year of operations. The amount of proceeds (net profit) during the first year will be $33,800.

Reference

Armstrong, G. M., Kotler, P., Harker, M., & Brennan, R. (2018). Marketing: An introduction (4th ed.). Pearson.