Business Name and Image
The business’s name is “The Second Home,” which reflects the level of comfort and safety provided to pets and emphasizes the convenience of the service for clients.
The company’s image shall satisfy customers’ expectations regarding the quality of walking sessions with their pets, including the safety of the service, affordability, and simplicity of access. The company’s focus is on the neighborhood, which is helpful from the perspective of a friendly and warm atmosphere creating.
Service of Product Mix
The company will offer such services as solo walks with dogs who are not able to walk with others, core pack walks that include regular dog activities, and pet boarding. These offers are the same for all the competitors and cover all the customers’ needs.
Added-value services are an additional time of walking and a different number of pets. Such services are appropriate because they improve the adaptability of offers provided.
Pricing
The pricing strategy is competition-oriented pricing as it enables to successfully compete with larger companies based on smaller prices but lower area coverage (neighborhood only).
Solo and core pack walks are offered at $8 for 30 minutes walk, which is enough for most pets. For a 1-hour walk, $12 will be charged, while $4 will be charged per additional dog. 10% discount is offered when more than ten bookings are made within the month.
Distribution
The users of the product are pet owners who do not have time for walking or are away from their homes.
The customers can order an employee’s visit or attend the place where boarding of pets is done to access the service. The place will be decorated with toys and tools, such as leads, for the company to look professional and hospitable.
Promotion
The customers will see the banners nearby the place where boarding service is done, and internet resources will also be used on a regular basis to provide information about the company. Advertisement in a local newspaper can also be made with a frequency once a week, to attract the older clients who might need such services. It is expected to participate in local events and distribute flyers with discounts on the streets.
Promotion Evaluation
It is possible to estimate the number of customers who tried the service through one or another promotional method by offering to pass a small questionnaire. With the use of feedback, some means can be detected as ones that shall be paid more attention to or shall not be used or adjusted.
Market Potential
It is possible to estimate market potential by accessing public information about the profitability of other cities’ similar companies and dividing the number by the difference in the population size between the city and the neighborhood. It will enable us to detect how much the target audience can potentially spend on these services. The dollar value can be found by dividing the expected profitability for a period of time by the cost of the company’s operation.
Sales Forecast
Three types of sales forecast estimates can be used: qualitative techniques, such as multiplying the estimated number of customers by the average value of customer expenditures, and causal models, based on other companies’ historical data. Time series analysis is inappropriate as there are no prior data.
The company will be using qualitative techniques as a referential method for business planning as it enables accurate calculation with no preliminary data.
Legal Organization
The insurance will be carried based on a small business insurance quote, and the types required are property, general liability, and workers’ compensation.
There always will be an employee on duty in the place where boarding is carried on, as pets might need care during night hours.
The company’s intellectual property is the customers’ personal details that will be accessed from one personal computer and protected with a login and password.