Business plan for flower shop

Executive summary

The company’s name is Emerson Davies Flowers Company. Its operation headquarters is in Portland, Oregon. The company will deal in the acquisition, marketing, and sale of flowers to the residents of Portland and its affluent suburbs. Emerson Davies Flowers Company aims at utilizing technology to enable members of the middle and elite classes to purchase customized flower arrangements. The design of the flower arrangements will be such that they will be applicable for house and office decoration, or for special occasions such as anniversaries and weddings. The company approaches its short term objective of capturing the floral market in Portland by targeting affluent businessmen and even corporate heads in downtown and midtown, Portland.

These areas will be vital in an upscale, regular flower and gift program. This will provide the backbone of consumers that the company will rely on eventually. The company will differentiate itself from conventional florists by laying emphasis on the cultivation of personal relationships with customers. It will achieve this task by using technology and excellent marketing strategies, a move which will draw customers and instill loyalty. It aims to institute a gift program and establish a system that ensures that forgetting special dates is a past issue. The company projects modest revenue in its first year in operation. However, it expects this revenue to increase during the second year. The company is ready for the influx of demand during key seasons, for example, Christmas and the all-important Valentine’s Day. The company will open its store in the middle of an upscale residential area, one mile from downtown Portland. This is a wise choice as it takes into account the rich and sprawling catchment area as well as the projected growth of downtown Portland.

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Statement of objectives

The mission of the company is to use technology to recognize and serve ideal target markets within a ten-kilometer radius of the company’s store. Emerson Davies Flowers Company will achieve this principal objective by using sophisticated marketing approaches in a bid to secure and nurture a core clientele of executive businessmen and women, as well as corporate heads.

The plan is to make the company unique and different from the conventional retail florists and online flower vendors as possible. This is achievable through the assurance of customized service, custom flower designs and frequent flower gift occasions. Emerson Davies Flowers Company is dedicated to carrying out its operations with an ever present enthusiasm to learn. The operations will include openness to new ideas as well as willingness and readiness to adapt to changes, which are common in the dynamic market. The company targets eighty thousand dollars revenue at the end of the first year of operation. It also seeks to maintain the average direct costs of sales at 40% or lower. Finally, the company aims at constructing pricing strategies according to an assumption of a ten percent profit due to an increase of sales in the second and the third years of operation. The key to success that the company will rely on includes the use of technology, design and sale of innovative and customized fresh flower arrangements. It will also offer additional services and products, and exceptional communication strategies.

Background

As evident from above, the company will base its operations in the city of Portland, Oregon. The primary target of the company will be the high- and middle income earners of the city and its suburbs because they have a modest amount of disposable income to grace their occasions and love ones with custom fresh flower arrangements. The company will have adequate market of its products and services as the city of Portland is full of affluent businessmen and women. These are ideal candidates for an automatic, innovative and fresh flower delivery venture which will help to keep their romances alive and their homes and offices stylishly decorated. In any case, the Portland is home to commercial premises that may require daily or weekly floral arrangements. It is important to point out that the company will not follow the structure of the conventional floral retailers. The company will avoid the steep price of downtown retail space by opening its store in an upscale retail residential area near the city. This retail sale point will occupy a projected 600 square feet. A third of this space will be available to facilitate retailing operations while the remaining space will be for storage and work purposes. The company operations will face little market oppositions as there are hardly any well-organized florist in this part of the town. For a long time, the inhabitants of this area have had to rely on shopping malls for their floral requirements.

Technical description of product/service

Emerson Davies Flowers Company will offer a number of products and services. The most salient of these are as follows:

Products

Original floral designs that employ a wide variety of flowers: Each of Emerson Davies Flowers Company’s floral arrangements will be a natural, authentic work of art. The company policy will see to it that each arrangement is unique and custom made to fit the needs of each customer. The floral arrangements of the company will include a wide variety of seasonal flowers in a bid to exploit the surge in demand presented by the various seasons. In addition, the retail store will contain displays of sample arrangements, which will be available at moment’s notice.

Unique containers

The Company will ensure that it has a wide collection of innovative and unique vases from which customers can select their favorites. The company plans to offer these to the discretionary buyer as well as make affordable offers for the routine purchases.

Flowering and green plants

In addition to flower arrangements, the company will also strive to make potted live green and flowering plants to customers. These will be essential in the decoration of both homes and offices.

Hand-tied bouquets

The company recognizes that some of its customers will prefer to use their own vases. As a result, the company will organize a line of products which will ensure that such customers receive exceptional hand-tied bouquets.

Services

A forget-me-not club: It is crucial to note that special occasions represent nearly 50% of reasons for floral sales. Therefore, the company will initialize a flower and gift program which will be exclusively for man. In this program, interested parties will give a minimum of seven dates a year in which they would need flowers. These include the Valentine’s Day, anniversaries and birthdays. The company will then automatically deliver flowers at the man’s place of work on each of the dates, but only after making a courtesy call or email afterwards. Damage-proof cases will contain these flowers to ease the transportation process from office to home. The packaging will include colors of the company. These colors will serve as an additional marketing tool for the company. Other services include home delivery of flowers and referral programs, which will see those who successfully refer clients to the company acquire a 25% discount on all purchases. In store presentations, gift cards, survey or comment cards, and a unique buying experience are some of the services which will make the company unique from the rest. Marketing data

The floral industry is driven holiday purchases. The most popular of these holidays is Christmas with a staggering 30% of total floral sales. Mother’s day and Valentine’s Day follows at a close 25% and 20% respectively (Aboutflowers, 2012). Easter and Passover, thanksgiving, and the sweetest day follow in that order of popularity. Besides, floral sales gracing holidays such as Grandparent’s day, father’s day, Boss’s day, and St. Patrick’s Day, they have also boosted by special occasions such as weddings, funerals, parties, celebrations, birthdays and anniversaries (Aboutflowers, 2012). As evident, the company targets the middle and high income earners of Portland and its environs. Consumers in these categories have disposable income necessary to help them indulge in floral extravagances. The second part of Emerson Davies Flowers Company market entails the various business establishments in downtown and midtown Portland. The most important segment of such establishments includes the hotel and restaurant industry as they may need flower arrangements for their reception halls and guest rooms. Other businesses that may require flower arrangements on weekly or even daily basis include law firms, clinics and hospitals, real estate, and insurance company premises.

Marketing strategy

The company intends to gain a substantial portion of the market share. This may be possible through niche positioning, providing high quality products and providing a unique retail experience and excellent after sales services. The company will ensure that it gains a clear competitive advantage through the use of technology and elaborate marketing techniques. It will use online buying techniques and the new media promotional channels to market its product. The overall marketing strategy of Emerson Davies Flowers Company is to provide a unique, independent and specialized niche, which will focus on recurrent flower gift programs. Custom designs, quality products and excellent personalized service will be the tools that this strategy will need to get underway and sustain its operations. The marketing objective is to establish a good reputation as an automatic and non-complicated place to buy flowers and foster romance. The company also aims at establishing itself as an innovative and creative producer for office and business owners, who need flower arrangements in their places of work. Besides, Emerson Davies Flowers Company needs to establish and strengthen brand recognition, as soon as possible, to attract and keep customers. The positioning strategy of the company entails targeting affluent businessmen and women, featuring high quality and custom flower arrangements, as well as personalized services. A unique retail experience will enable it to differentiate itself effectively with vendors who offer similar products. The company focus will predominantly fall on men but not wholly. The company will acquire clients from the residential neighborhood by word of mouth. However, the overall marketing strategy will involve serious measures of building brand awareness, which will include promotional channels such as advertising, public relations and website. The company will complement these through the use of the new media promotional channels as the later are more interactive and target market segments effectively.

Operations plan

Besides the normal over the counter sales, the operations of the company will entail home and office deliveries and keeping tabs on the calendars of clients, to provide them with timely services. The company will also ensure a continuous supply of flowers and other accessories (such as ribbons and vases), which it will use to make custom flower arrangements. The accessories can be easily available through wholesale prices from vendors in the town. However, a steady supply of fresh, high quality flowers is a different issue. The company will make arrangement to establish greenhouses in the area. These greenhouses will provide these flowers, but if some species are not locally available, the company will ensure it gets them regardless of the transportation costs. The company storage area must, however, contain a cold room to make sure that these flowers remain fresh as long as possible.

Management plan

The company’s management will constitute an initial staff of six permanent employees. The manager will be responsible for supervising all departments of the establishment and ensuring commonness of purpose in all these departments. Two of them will be floral experts. Such employees will have vast experience in decorations and flower arrangements. These two will be responsible for all the arrangements from the establishment’s work area. The rest will be a receptionist, a finance officer and a delivery person. The manager and the delivery person will be responsible for planning deliveries (the right place, the right time), but the delivery person bears the responsibility of ensuring that the flowers are safe and undamaged at the point of delivery. In case of an influx of demand such as the one common during holidays, the company will hire causal employees to ease the pressure of the regular employees.

Human resource plan

The company will ensure that its employees are satisfied and motivated. Therefore, its employment policy revolves around a healthy rewards and benefits package, which will ensure that the staff remains motivated. A satisfied staff will propagate their contentment and enthusiasm to their work and finally, customers. Keeping the employees satisfied also reduces the chances of a high rate of employee turnover and its associated problems. In any case, this helps the company to attract and retain top level employees.

References

1. Aboutflowers. (2012). Holiday Statistics on Buying Flowers. Retrieved Dec 07, 2012, from Aboutflowers.com: http://www.aboutflowers.com/holiday-statistics.html Fifield, P. (2012).
2. Marketing Strategy. New York: Routledge. Handlechner, M. (2008). Marketing Strategy. Munich: GRIN Verlag.
3. Sheila Holm, K. B. (2007). Seven Step Business Plan. New York: Pelican Publishing.

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