Ecommerce_Business_Concept

Business Description- For some people shopping is fun. These “fashion forward” people can find their size on the rack, know what works for their body type and can find these things at an affordable price. “Fashion Forward” people have little problem going from store to different store to make an outfit and are usually good at creating a designer look for less. However most people aren’t “fashion forward” and don’t have the time, let alone the money to transform their possibly outdated wardrobe into chic fashion forward styles. For people who need a little help, they pay attention to style magazines or style segments during local news, but these aren’t enough. The advice given is too cookie cutter, expensive and too few ideas for men who are becoming increasing concerned with their overall appearance. This is the nature of the business MakeUover.com will strive to fill. This site is for the market of consumers who want to dress and look better, but don’t know how or where to start. Business Concept- MakeUover.com is the ultimate personal stylist website. We will create an online site that identifies fashion trends straight from the fashion capitals of Milam, New York, Paris and London and create a style structure for customers based on their information. What makes this e business unique is that 1) this website focuses on the total makeover of the consumer from hair/makeup to clothes, and 2) this site will connect consumers with brands, style trends and other websites that consumers will want to purchase from. This is how it works: Consumers will give MakeUover.com information about their body, (measurements, height, age, eye color, etc.) and their fill out a questionnaire to determine their personal style. Then, MakeUover.com within 48-72 hours, gives consumers recommendations on what to wear and offers advice on which stores to try based on their personal recommendations. The website would also provide links to other fashion web blogs, websites and a stylists/local boutique directory, so consumers have access to stylists in their area if they need it. The site will make money by using the advertising revenue and transaction fee revenue model so the site can be free to consumers. The website will also be provided as a smartphone application that will link to the customer’s password on the website. This e-business will target the core ages of 18-40 of both men as well as women. Even with the current recession men and women still spend money on appearance. In 2007 women were spending $4 trillion annually on consumer spending, while men are (Knowledge@wharton , 2007) growing increasingly concerned with the appearance of their body and are willing to fork over millions of dollars to enhance their physical image (A.Siva, 2006) . People want to spend money on appearance, but now more than ever people want to spend money wisely. MakeUover.com Industry Analysis- Fashion historians and observers have always found a direct relation between fashion and the economy. (Blue, 2011 ) It is a safe assumption to say that the fashion industry is dependent on the disposable income of consumers and first industry to suffer in a declining economy. The retail industry is the second largest industry in the U.S. (responsible for approximately 12% of all US employment) with over $3.8 trillion in sales annually ($4.2 trillion if food sales are included). Although the vast majority of all retail stores in the U.S. (approximately 90%) are single-store businesses, however these single-store businesses account for substantially less than half of all retail sales. Thus the majority of the revenue in the retail industry is generated by companies that run retail "chains". The biggest retailer in the world is Wal-Mart, which generated over $344 billion in revenue in its last fiscal year (wikinvest.com, 2011). The retailing industry consists of two main categories: hard retail (appliances electronics, sporting goods.), and soft retail, (clothing apparel). Mission Statement The mission statement of MakeUover.com: The sole mission of MakeUover.com is to help people dress better and discover their own voice through fashion. My idea for this concept came from TLC’s What not to wear television show. Women would be nominated by family and friends because their style of dress was typically out of date or in some cases inappropriate for their lifestyle.(wearing ill-fitting “sleazy dresses to your child’s soccer game for example) As the show goes on, the audience discovers that the nominated women suffer from self –esteem issues that led to poor style choices. As I thought about this assignment and my interest in fashion, I realized that most woman and men reflect their self-esteem issues in how they dress. In 1997 survey about body image by Psychology Today, 56% of women and 40% of men are dissatisfied with their overall appearance. Body image influences our behavior, self-esteem and psychopathology. (Garner, 1997) This is my mission statement because I believe that the clothes a person wears is an extension of themselves. It’s another way to “say something” about a person’s personality and express themselves as an individual. Business Goals * To create a well-designed Web site, that is friendly, easy to use, and introduces customers to different elements of style. * Identify and introduce current trends that consumers can apply to the wardrobe they already have or create a new wardrobe. * Build a management structure that is always creative and striving make MakeUover profitable and artistic. * Establish a partnership with up and coming designers, retailers, and stylists to obtain the most current fashion on trend information to keep the MakeUOver.com website “trend accurate” * Implement a successful on line website that can be successful as a smartphone application and future electronic outlets and still keep as much of the online characteristics as possible. * Create a product that works. Business Objectives Business Goals * To create a well-designed Web site, that is friendly, easy to use, and introduces customers to different elements of style. The staff of MakeUover.com will do this by working with top web site designer companies that can develop a quality website that can also be optimized for mobile devices like Leveltendesign.com. We will work with Leveltendesign to create a home page that prioritizes the most important items on the home page with a directory, a site map and a search engine. We will schedule website updates every week so that the website doesn’t crash and our website content can be reorganized. * Identify and introduce current trends that consumers can apply to the wardrobe other already have or create a new wardrobe. MakeUover.com will accomplish this by attending fall and spring fashion shows twice a year and work with our staff to deliver the contents to our website. Provide a MakeUover.com blog that offers a daily fashion topic of interest to our viewers. The blog topics will give daily advice to viewers from their peers. Every fiscal quarter, we will introduce different up-in coming designers, creative boutiques and style segments that teach viewers how to create inexpensive looks that only look expensive. * Build a management structure that is always creative and striving make MakeUover profitable and artistic. Create a sole proprietorship structure within 5 weeks of creating this business plan, by filing paperwork within the state of Texas where the site will be based from. This will allow me to have full creative control ensuring the purity of the content. Establishing a competitive but fair pay and competition structure to attract top management talent, buy advertising available jobs in jobs sites and recruiters. MakeUover.com. will work with Top Design School to recruit and retain art and fashion design students every spring and Fall for one semester term internships, in order to obtain low cost employees. * Establish a partnership with up and coming designers, retailers, and stylists to obtain the most current fashion on trend information to keep the MakeUOver.com website “trend accurate” Offer new links every spring and fall of the current year to designers that carry current trends viewers would want to purchase. For example, for fall 2011, color blocking (combining one or more complimentary colors) is a popular trend, so this website will explain how to apply this trend to anyone’s wardrobe and link viewers to the websites that offer products that lend themselves to this trend, like Target or Nordstrom’s Department Stores. Offer new and present designers opportunity to debut their lines on MakeUover.com an average of 4-8 times a year. This will be done by creating a designers corner on the website and sponsoring a new designer’s fashion show during spring and Fall Fashion Week. Invite viewers to provide commentary on web content every week. * Implement a successful on line website that can be successful as a smartphone application and future electronic outlets and still keep as much of the online characteristics as possible. Again, MakeUover.com will work with a website designer like LevelTenDesign.com to create a site that functions that can develop a quality website that can also be optimized for mobile devices like Leveltendesign.com within 12 months. We will create interest in the smartphone or tablet application by creating a smart application free trial period of three months before charging a monthly fee. This will expose the websites to more mobile traffic and reach customers who use their mobile internet more than their computer. We will use a diverse ad campaign for at least 1 year of traditional and local media (TV, radio, print) with non-traditional media (engine searches, banner ads,) * Create a product that works. Develop a functional business plan within 5 weeks to present to banks for investment capital. Enlist at least 5 volunteers to contribute their services for free in exchange for free exposure and experience. Provide consistent content on the MakeUover website every week the site is online. Value Proposition The value of MakeUover.com is that it is simply a stylist in your pocket. The difference between this website and any other fashion blog, magazine or website, is that we will tailor the advice to our viewers measurements and information based on their answers to the site’s questionnaire. To give you an example of the questionnaire, viewers would be asked a question like this. 1) Which is more desirable' a) A vintage Hermes’s scarf b) Black open toed Jessica Simpson patent leather pumps c) A cute unknown name A-line dress you discovered at a local boutique d) Something that looks good on my body With a question like this we can determine if you have a since of personal style and what you are comfortable spending. The person that chooses a Hermes’ scarf is comfortable spending a higher range of money versus someone who would choose a cute unknown name A-line dress for example. Also the selection of the Hermes’ scarf shows that they may have a better since of what they like in fashion than the person who would choose whatever looked good for their body type. For the person that chooses answer A, we would direct them to higher price websites Like SaksFithAve or Gucci depending on other answers. For the person that answered B we would direct them to Macys or Kohl’s. for example. Another question we would ask to determine their size' For instance: What size you do normally buy' a) Petite b) Average c) Long d) Don’t know We would ask for the viewer’s measurements and based on this answer we would direct them to stores that specialize in a particular size. So if you are 5’2 and your measurements identify with petite, we would suggest stores like New York and Company for example. Most people need more advise that what is currently available through traditional means (style magazines and websites) and cannot afford the cost of a personal stylist. MakeUover.com will be the affordable medium between an expensive personal stylist and the generic advice of magazines and online style websites. Business Models The two business models that would best fit MakeUover.com would be the subscription revenue model and the advertising revenue model. The definition of the subscription revenue model is a web site that offers its users content or service charges a subscription fee for access to some or all or its offerings. (Carol, 2011). While the site would charge for the advice the other parts of the website would remain free, like the blog sites and articles for current trends. Under the subscription revenue model MakeUover.com would charge our website and smart application viewers for the service of providing personalized style advice for a fee ranging from $10.99-$20.00 a month. The definition of the advertising revenue model a web site offers its users content service and or products also provides a forum for advertisements and receives fees from advertisers. (Carol, 2011) The Advertising revenue model would probably best suit MakeUover.com because it would allow our product of personalized style advise to remain free while the site earns revenue from the advertising it sells. With both models, we will stay a web only business, by doing this we will be able to distribute information quickly and efficiently. Product and Services The products and services of MakeUover.com consist of fashion beauty blogs, current trend articles, stylist/retail directory and personalized style advice. Since the website is a services website only, we wouldn’t have any suppliers. Target Audience The Target audiences for MakeUover.com would be 18-40yrs or 25-50yrs. In both these age ranges, we would target both men and women who are: * middle to high income class * single or married * live in U.S * computer literate * have disposable income Marketing plan Our marketing plan would consist of a combination of online marketing and traditional marketing. For the first 1 year of our business we will have a marketing budget of $500,000.This will include: Advertising on other fashion websites and internet search sites under fashion, TV, radio, newspapers ads and billboards. We would also advertise through pop up ads on website and smart phone applications. Sales promotion and publicity would also be included in our marketing strategy, by offering product demonstrations at local malls and sponsoring local fashion shows or other fashion related events for charity. By doing this we can track our customers online by requiring their information (name email etc.) to send them weekly emails or links to product offerings of partner sites. Competitor Analysis The biggest direct competitors of MakeUover.com are: IFashionnetwork.com The Bobbi Schwartz group Personal Stylists Couture Personal Stylists The biggest indirect competitors of MakeUover.com are Vogue Magazine In Style Magazine The biggest future competitors of MkeUover.com are Nordstrom’s Personal Consultants Macys Personal Stylists Competitor Analysis Grid The biggest competitors who would be popular with our target markets are Vogue and In Style magazines and Macys Personal Stylists. Both InStyle and Vogue.com have their websites split up into web content that compliments their hardcopy magazines and reports on current trends and celebrate styles. They both present the latest fashion styles and advice on latest trends, videos and information about couture collections. Unfortunately most of the materials suggested on these websites aren’t affordable to our target audiences and the advice is again too basic for people who want styling themselves. Finally, one more competitive advantage MakeUover.com has over all of our competitors is that we help consumers personalize their style for cheap. When we identify trends and current styles that work with consumers’ body type, we also direct them to boutiques and other ebusinesses that have cheaper styles for less. Bibliography A.Siva, M. (2006, april). Body image Dissatisfaction :A Growing Concern Among Men . Retrieved September 23, 2011, from Milwaukee School of Engineering: http://www.msoe.edu Blue, C. (2011 , September 27). forbes. Retrieved September 27, 2011 , from Fashion and the Economy In Milan:Gucci,Prada,Versace,Dolce&Gabbana and More : www.forbes.com Carol, L. K. (2011). E-commerce 2011. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. Carreon, B. (n.d.). forbes. Retrieved september 24, 2011, from forbes.com: www.forbes.com Garner, D. (1997, Febuary 1). Survery Says:body Image Poll Results . Retrieved Sept 22, 2011, from PsychologyToday.com: http//www.psychologytoday.com Knowledge@wharton . (2007, November 28). Men Buy,Women Shop':The Sexes Have different Priorities when Walking Down the Aisles. Retrieved September 27, 2011, from Wharton : www.knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/ Laudon, K., & Carol, T. (n.d.). E-commerce. wikinvest.com. (2011, September 27). Wkinvest. Retrieved September 27, 2011, from Wiki Analysis:Retail : http://wikinest.com/industry/Retail