Campus Couture

Campus Couture allows its members to search dresses by new arrivals, size, color, style, or price. We aim to offer rental services for women to attend date nights, cocktail parties, and formal events idyllically for the Western Community. Campus Couture, Inc. Was incorporated in 201 2 and is based in London, Ontario.

Goals and Objectives

The initial goal of Campus Couture is to present our aggregate research and analysis to generate confidence in our business model and its feasibility.  Within the Campus Community: Establish a consistent base of users that rely on Campus Couture's site for their semi-formal and formal wear Establish ourselves are the forerunners in designer wear for the targeted consumers Minimize Start-Up Costs: From an operations standpoint, we strive to minimize start-up costs and maximize our customer-base in the first fiscal year, while generating a constant stream of profit in later periods.

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Promote Website Traffic: By increasing awareness about Campus Couture, we aim to capture 15% of Westerns female population to become active members of Campus Couture, Inc. By the end of our first year of operations. Financial: Usually negative cash from operations is risky, however sometimes is necessary to get the business afloat. Breakable by the end of 2nd fiscal year. Personal Goals: $1 5,000 in drawings by the Second Fiscal Year End (2013-2014) Drawings for Campus COUtUre Board of Directors at 70% Of net income by 3rd fiscal year-end Work part-time; between 5-8 hours per week

Key Success Factors

• Successful Market Penetration: Initial market penetration is vital for our business to prosper. As a consequence of our generally unfamiliar business concept, our marketing practices must be well-planned and innovative in order to win over our customer base. Due to the influence of word-of-mouth and social media activity amongst our target demographic, we believe that once this initial base is established, we can expect a steady increase in customer base moving forward.
• Trendiest and Affordability: Trendiest and affordability are key determinants of Campus Couture's success, as today's youth wants to maintain a fashionable image without the substantial expenditures associated with purchasing an outfit. Campus Couture aims to keep its product offerings current and updated adhering to the latest fashion trends. Furthermore, each rental will be a fraction of the retail cost of the dress, meaning that Campus Couture will be a practical alternative. Affordability is the keystone to our business model, and it is imperative that it is maintained.

Our price model is based off of the number of times we expect each dress to be rented, thus increasing the customer base and the number of rentals. We can expect to increase inventory, while driving down rental rates in the future.

1. Strengths: Campus Couture adheres to a unique business model and can take definitive strides to provide our members a vast selection of dresses that cater to our students and young professionals. Campus Couture has skilled personnel that are capable of handling the daily operations and logistics involved with running a rental service. They have unrivaled insight into our target market as we are Western students representing other Western students. The use of social media technology has provided Campus Couture direct access to the target market, making us trendsetters for the rising trend in economical pending habits in this post-recession era.
2. Weaknesses: Campus Couture has limited funds, inventory and connections to the fashion industry. This makes our company more vulnerable to our competitors who possess extensive fashion expertise and large capital allowances for advertising. Our business also has the unique task of having to overcome the negative stigma attached to renting apparel. As well, the business's success is heavily reliant on keeping up with the latest trends and appealing to the young female's fashion needs/style. A strong marketing campaign and commitment to Campus Couture's business objectives will hopefully overcome these weaknesses, as well as increase traffic to our website. Seasonality will also impact our feasibility since a large portion of our target market attends Western University but leave for the summer months.

External Analysis

As of January 201 2, students across Ontario have begun receiving $1 ,600 annually from the provincial government, as part of an initiative to lower to tuition rates. This helps alleviate the financial stresses for students and also puts more disposable income back into their pockets, thus proving that female students will have increased means to rent dresses and purchase other novelties. Transmutes' are popularizing among environmental groups. These are individuals who value non-ownership for environmental and ethical reasons. The rhetoric behind this lies in the fact that "the more people share, the fewer goods need to be produced  and fewer resources will be used up. " Therefore, dress rentals definitely cater to those consumers who will only use something when they truly need it.

Economic

Due to rising university tuition rates, Western students on average have less disposable income and therefore increased pressure to spend their money wisely. Statistics Canada reported in 2008 that Canadian females between 16 ND 1 9 had an average income of $7,100 whereas females between 20 and 24 earned $15,100. If a student in either age cohort had to cover living and post- secondary expenses, they would have little or no money left for other expenditures. According to Western Statistics, approximately 681 9 bursaries, accounting for roughly $1 5 million were given to students requiring financial assistance. These statistics imply that many Western students are looking to economize and curb their spending habits in order to offset their debt from student loans. The population of females at Western is currently 13,990 females that have gig demand for fashionable dresses due to the ongoing social scene in London.

The price of clothing has escalated in as many years due partially to increased commodity, labor, and shipping costs, as well as markups associated with name brands. Consequently, consumers are finding it increasingly difficult to appear fashion forward at a reasonable price. On average, Western undergraduate students attend 6 to 8 major events per semester.  Provided that we can offer our clientele high quality dresses at a reasonable price, we aspire to take advantage of this opportunity and create successful business model that aligns with the needs of price sensitive Western University female students.

Social

Online shopping has also revolutionized over the past decade. According to Statistics Canada, in 2007 about 8. 4 million Canadian individuals aged 16 years and older used the Internet to make almost $12. 8 billion in purchases. By 2010, 113. 8 million orders were made by 1 1 2 million Canadians with a value of $15. 3 billion. From 2007 to 2010, the percentage of online shoppers that used the Internet to purchase clothing, jewelry, and accessories rose from 29% to 36%.

This positive correlation demonstrates an increasing trend of online consumers and an opportunity for Campus Couture to capture this market because a large age of these shoppers were females under the age of 30. Currently, 60% of Western students are female; this rising trend along with plans to for the University to admit larger first-year classes secures Campus Couture's growing target audience. Overall, these conditions are very favorable for our company as there is clear evidence that our target market is steadily expanding, implying that Campus Couture will likely gain customers and increase profits over time.

Technological: Modern technological developments, like the Internet have increased the consumers access to information thus reducing time spent shopping and has made retail prices more competitive by shifting the power from suppliers to consumers. This transformation is forcing current businesses to review their current operations and marketing strategies to better accommodate consumer demands. Campus Couture believes that implementing modern information technology to target the budget-conscientious young female consumer and to fulfill their need for fashionable apparel can offer a competitive edge over our competitors.

Consumer Analysis

Market Research: In our survey (Exhibit 3, Exhibit), 63% of respondents were inclined to rent a dress while 32% indicated that the idea was not appealing to them. Many hesitated as they worried about cleanliness and unfamiliarity to the concept of dress rentals. Our results show that approximately 73% of respondents are either impartial, agree, or strongly agree to this concept. This indicates that if Campus Couture can successfully promote dress rentals as fashionable, economical, and sanitary to the masses, we will unleash potential for large sales volumes and high returns from this untapped market. In terms of pricing, 76% of females surveyed indicated that they would spend less than $1 00 and 55% would spend less than $70 on a dress for a special occasion, therefore implying that price is a determining factor for the typical consumer. Therefore, Campus Couture must rent out its dresses at competitive rates to appeal to a vast market In which some would prefer to purchase rather than rent.

Target Market

Campus Couture targets young female students and professionals from the Western and London community, ages 1 8 to 25 years old, who are searching for fashionable higher-end formulae at affordable prices. Students are very social individuals, but they are also on a limited budget With pressure to dress well, they want to look great by wearing new dresses. Buying new dresses is extremely costly, which is why this demographic would be more inclined to rent.

Competitive Analysis

Although, there are no specific businesses that provide a similar service to either community, there are many direct and indirect competitors impeding on Campus Couture's growth potential. Forever XIX: With 480 locations and revenue grossing over $2. Billion, Forever XIX is extremely popular among teen and young adult females and caters to an array of different styles at great value. In terms of marketing and promotion, Forever XIX has truly capitalized with its e-commerce venture. With Forever XIX opening up at Nashville Place in March 2012, Campus Couture could foresee immense competition from this clothing retailer. Forever XIX has far greater financial means to purchase inventory and to market their product. They have the potential to capture a larger audience due to their variety of inventory and reasonable pricing.

These factors could pose as a real threat to the success of Campus Couture. A drawback to their business model is that with lower pricing comes poorer quality. This brings out the traditional quantity versus quality debate, and Campus Couture would have to evaluate which is more important to the desired target market. Forever Xi's dresses lie in the same price range as renting from Campus COUtUre's designer ones, however online purchases incur corresponding shipping charges. SASS: SASS is a global fashion e-commerce website, located in the UK, which sells fashionable clothing and accessories internationally.

With 7. 0 million registered users and 35,000 new products each season, SASS attracts a wide range of demographics, allowing the business to penetrate the global market. By offering free shipping worldwide, consumers are more likely to purchase, however there are a number of downfalls, Canadian customers are required to pay both HAST and duties, increasing the overall cost to the consumer. This also makes international returns more difficult, as the consumer will have to pay freight for the item(s) to be returned, which could be costly.

In addition, this may even hinder the company's potential for making sales, as skeptic consumers would be hesitant to order without previously seeing the quality of the clothing. The efficiency of the delivery service is essential to ensure that customers receive their products on time in order to maintain customer satisfaction. Campus Couture differs as we offer rentals for similar items, but with a limited inventory. Our inventory will focus on the needs of the London community, instead of the world market.

With that said, we provide our Members the opportunity to have a personal fitting. In addition, Campus Couture will not have to bother with online payment security and delivery timings, as both will be handled in-store. And Ezra: Our market research relayed that H and Ezra were highly popular within our target market. Whereas, H has a flagship in London, Ezra, is only coated in Toronto. Many Western students are from the Toronto area and travel home frequently, thereby making Ezra a direct competitor. Both retailers have strong brand recognition and customer loyalty across Canada.

H's business concept is to give the customer unbeatable value by offering style and quality at a reasonable price. Ezra in comparison, concentrates on quality, design, and rapid turnaround. H&M's dresses retail between $20 and $60 whereas Ezra retails its dresses for $80 based on current website pricing. One weakness both of these companies share is their lack of an online store, while Campus Couture provides its consumers with the ability to reserve dresses online and on your phone. Oftentimes, customers find an item online and by the time they get to the store, the size or color of dress may be sold out.

Overall, retailers who transition their marketing strategy to reflect technological trends will be better equipped to handle the the needs Of the modern consumer. Boutiques along Richmond Row: Richmond Row is home to various local apparel retailers in downtown London. Regardless of our partnership with Elliot, a local boutique , they would still remain indirect competitors as similar items would be arrested to the same audience. Price is a huge factor as Elliot has sizeable profit margins for it sales, however with increased competition and lower prices for the similar goods may result in a price war. Ultimately, Campus Couture will be able to overcome this form of competition due to its offering of a fundamentally different service.

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