Target Market/Customer Base
a.) Characteristics of the target market
- Demographic Profile: Our market would be primarily business owners or building owners. The age of this market would be about 25 - 60 considering start up companies and more developed businesses. The pay of this clientele would be a very wide range considering start up businesses would not yet have a lot of capital, and developed ones would be very well off. We are going to estimate this income to be about $30,000 to $400,000 per year for the CEO's and owners of companies that we would be focusing our marketing on. The sex of this market would be fairly mixed but with a larger focus on women because they are more drawn to flowers and beautiful things. Our market is highly educated and successful considering they are making decisions in representation for various companies.
- Business Customer: The industry of our customer is the Agricultural Industry considering we are working with plants and other natural products that would be going into the ground. This industry brings in a net cash flow of $400 billion from 2011-2015. People who used our product would probably buy 2 dozen friendly flowers to cover one store front considering an average size store front in Pittsburgh.
- Geographic Parameters: We will initially sell in the Pittsburgh area to stores, but soon entering into the suburbs to sell to families and local building owners. Seeing that this is successful we will expand into other major cities and eventually over seas.
b.) Size of the market/expected market share
This is a one of a kind product aside from homemade flowers made from recycled products. Fake Flowers how ever have seen an increase in sales in the last year or two because people are becoming too lazy to take care of real flowers. In the past year 71% of flowers sold were real flowers apposed to fake ones. We would hope to take from the percentage of people who buy fake flowers because ours are very similar to this but still environmentally friendly.
c.) Market Segmentation
We would offer a lot of variations of our flower so that our customer base would still have a wide range of colors and styles to choose from when flower shopping. We would sell bundles in representative colors so that people could show spirit for their own business or sports teams and cities themselves. We could also connect to older clientele with flowers that look very natural or younger ones with very vibrant colors or fun designs.
d.) Customer Buying Habits
This is a product, that unlike real flowers, would be present all year long to make store fronts and garden beds look nice and kept even with snow on the ground. Our sales would go up in the Winter as people's real flowers died and they looked for a new way to spruce up their monochromatic yards. The average buisness would buy 2 dozen flowers per season, or more during holidays and special occasions. This means they would only be paying that price one or two times per year, keeping the prices very low.
- Demographic Profile: Our market would be primarily business owners or building owners. The age of this market would be about 25 - 60 considering start up companies and more developed businesses. The pay of this clientele would be a very wide range considering start up businesses would not yet have a lot of capital, and developed ones would be very well off. We are going to estimate this income to be about $30,000 to $400,000 per year for the CEO's and owners of companies that we would be focusing our marketing on. The sex of this market would be fairly mixed but with a larger focus on women because they are more drawn to flowers and beautiful things. Our market is highly educated and successful considering they are making decisions in representation for various companies.
- Business Customer: The industry of our customer is the Agricultural Industry considering we are working with plants and other natural products that would be going into the ground. This industry brings in a net cash flow of $400 billion from 2011-2015. People who used our product would probably buy 2 dozen friendly flowers to cover one store front considering an average size store front in Pittsburgh.
- Geographic Parameters: We will initially sell in the Pittsburgh area to stores, but soon entering into the suburbs to sell to families and local building owners. Seeing that this is successful we will expand into other major cities and eventually over seas.
b.) Size of the market/expected market share
This is a one of a kind product aside from homemade flowers made from recycled products. Fake Flowers how ever have seen an increase in sales in the last year or two because people are becoming too lazy to take care of real flowers. In the past year 71% of flowers sold were real flowers apposed to fake ones. We would hope to take from the percentage of people who buy fake flowers because ours are very similar to this but still environmentally friendly.
c.) Market Segmentation
We would offer a lot of variations of our flower so that our customer base would still have a wide range of colors and styles to choose from when flower shopping. We would sell bundles in representative colors so that people could show spirit for their own business or sports teams and cities themselves. We could also connect to older clientele with flowers that look very natural or younger ones with very vibrant colors or fun designs.
d.) Customer Buying Habits
This is a product, that unlike real flowers, would be present all year long to make store fronts and garden beds look nice and kept even with snow on the ground. Our sales would go up in the Winter as people's real flowers died and they looked for a new way to spruce up their monochromatic yards. The average buisness would buy 2 dozen flowers per season, or more during holidays and special occasions. This means they would only be paying that price one or two times per year, keeping the prices very low.
Market Plan
a.) Sales Goals
We have set sales goals that our company must meet each year. It is very important that we are successful our first year so that we can continue and grow as a company in the years to come. By the first year, we should make a minimum of $60,000. As we grow and become more successful as a company, our revenue per year will grow so we will eventually be making on average $85,000 per year and about $7,000 per month.
b.) Description of Products and Services
Products:
- Paper flowers
(We hope to have more products in the future as our business expands)
Services:
- Providing paper flowers for customers
- Delivering paper flowers to customers
c.) Direct/Indirect Competition
Direct Competition - As of now, we do not have any direct competition because we are the only company that makes and sells paper flowers that are environmentally friendly.
Indirect Competition - Other flower stores or companies would be our indirect competition because they are selling similar products as us.
d.) Pricing Objectives/Methods
Retail:
Individual Flower - $3
Bouquet of Flowers (5 flowers) - $10
Dozen Flowers - $20
Discounts and Special Allowances:
We send you 20% off coupons in the mail for all holidays and your birthday every year.
When ordering for special events or parties, we can help decorate so you don't have to waste time trying to decorate yourself.
Seasonality in Pricing:
We offer lowers costs around Christmas time and also add "winter flowers" to our collection when the season changes to winter. We also have special Mother's Day flowers, at special costs, that are perfect gifts for your moms because they will last forever!
e.) Location
All products and services will be sold at our only store located in Pittsburgh, Pa. Products and services can also be bought online on our official website. Our website shows all the different kinds of flowers and colors that they come in, and also allows for the consumer to customize their own flowers that they can purchase. It is very easy to use and anybody can do it! Our Friendly Flowers have many advantages and disadvantages. One of the disadvantages is that they are not as appealing as real flowers, but there are many advantages that make up for that. They are environmentally friendly because they are made from recycled material, they last forever and never wilt like real flowers, and they really brighten anyone's day. Our store is set up just like any other flower shop. We have a counter where you make your purchases, and we have combinations of flowers everywhere! You can walk around our store and we guarantee that there will be something that catches your eye. We also have a delivery truck if you would like to place an order, you can either call on the phone or go on our website and we can drop the flowers off at your address or somebody else's address if you are looking for surprising someone.
f.) Promotion Activities
Advertising:
Commercials on TV
Commercials on the radio
Bulletin boards on 79
We have offered to work with nursing homes to decorate the patients' rooms with our flowers and the workers will tell everyone that comes to visit them that they are our Friendly Flowers. We also have donated to local sports teams so that they can hang banners of our company up around their fields so everybody that comes to watch their son or daughter play, they will see our banner. This is how we will get publicity.
g.) Packaging
When people come to the store and buy flowers we wrap them up in tissue paper and tie a bow around them. We also offer gift wrapping if the flowers are purchased as a gift. We still wrap the flowers in tissue paper, but we then put them in clear box (so you can see what's inside) and tie a bow around that box. When people order flowers online for a shipment or delivery, we put the wrapped flowers in tissue paper in sturdy white boxes, put a bow around it, and attach the shipment address to the tied bow. We use a plastic name tag for the shipment address so it does not come off of the bow.
h.) Customer Service Policies
Our company guarantees extreme satisfaction of our products. What's better than flowers that never wilt and help keep the environment clean? You don't have to worry about watering them, or putting them in a place where they get the right amount of sunlight, or replacing them after they die. All you have o worry about is finding a perfect place to put them where everybody can see them and ask where you got them. If anything would to happen to them, just bring them back to the store or send us an email and we will replace them.
i.) Sales Training, Management, and Methods
There really isn't a lot of training for selling our product. Flowers are supposed to make people happy so when selling them, it is important that we are happy and always in a good mood. Managing this company can be tricky at times, but we are able to stay strong and make sure everything works out. We have some special methods to how we make so many sales. We always make sure that we stress these flowers will never wilt. It upsets people when their flowers die, so it makes them feel better knowing that these flowers will stay beautiful forever. We also try to stress that these flowers are environmentally friendly. Keeping the environment clean is very important and knowing that if they buy these flowers it is helping the environment, more people will buy them because they want to keep this Earth beautiful.
j.) Growth Strategies:
We definitely have plans to grow in the near future. We hope to have more stores opening up in other cities other than Pittsburgh. We also hope that we become as popular as the real flower shops around the United States. In order for all of this to happen, we need to make sure that we are spending the least amount of money making the products and saving the most amount of money for spreading in the future.
We have set sales goals that our company must meet each year. It is very important that we are successful our first year so that we can continue and grow as a company in the years to come. By the first year, we should make a minimum of $60,000. As we grow and become more successful as a company, our revenue per year will grow so we will eventually be making on average $85,000 per year and about $7,000 per month.
b.) Description of Products and Services
Products:
- Paper flowers
(We hope to have more products in the future as our business expands)
Services:
- Providing paper flowers for customers
- Delivering paper flowers to customers
c.) Direct/Indirect Competition
Direct Competition - As of now, we do not have any direct competition because we are the only company that makes and sells paper flowers that are environmentally friendly.
Indirect Competition - Other flower stores or companies would be our indirect competition because they are selling similar products as us.
d.) Pricing Objectives/Methods
Retail:
Individual Flower - $3
Bouquet of Flowers (5 flowers) - $10
Dozen Flowers - $20
Discounts and Special Allowances:
We send you 20% off coupons in the mail for all holidays and your birthday every year.
When ordering for special events or parties, we can help decorate so you don't have to waste time trying to decorate yourself.
Seasonality in Pricing:
We offer lowers costs around Christmas time and also add "winter flowers" to our collection when the season changes to winter. We also have special Mother's Day flowers, at special costs, that are perfect gifts for your moms because they will last forever!
e.) Location
All products and services will be sold at our only store located in Pittsburgh, Pa. Products and services can also be bought online on our official website. Our website shows all the different kinds of flowers and colors that they come in, and also allows for the consumer to customize their own flowers that they can purchase. It is very easy to use and anybody can do it! Our Friendly Flowers have many advantages and disadvantages. One of the disadvantages is that they are not as appealing as real flowers, but there are many advantages that make up for that. They are environmentally friendly because they are made from recycled material, they last forever and never wilt like real flowers, and they really brighten anyone's day. Our store is set up just like any other flower shop. We have a counter where you make your purchases, and we have combinations of flowers everywhere! You can walk around our store and we guarantee that there will be something that catches your eye. We also have a delivery truck if you would like to place an order, you can either call on the phone or go on our website and we can drop the flowers off at your address or somebody else's address if you are looking for surprising someone.
f.) Promotion Activities
Advertising:
Commercials on TV
Commercials on the radio
Bulletin boards on 79
We have offered to work with nursing homes to decorate the patients' rooms with our flowers and the workers will tell everyone that comes to visit them that they are our Friendly Flowers. We also have donated to local sports teams so that they can hang banners of our company up around their fields so everybody that comes to watch their son or daughter play, they will see our banner. This is how we will get publicity.
g.) Packaging
When people come to the store and buy flowers we wrap them up in tissue paper and tie a bow around them. We also offer gift wrapping if the flowers are purchased as a gift. We still wrap the flowers in tissue paper, but we then put them in clear box (so you can see what's inside) and tie a bow around that box. When people order flowers online for a shipment or delivery, we put the wrapped flowers in tissue paper in sturdy white boxes, put a bow around it, and attach the shipment address to the tied bow. We use a plastic name tag for the shipment address so it does not come off of the bow.
h.) Customer Service Policies
Our company guarantees extreme satisfaction of our products. What's better than flowers that never wilt and help keep the environment clean? You don't have to worry about watering them, or putting them in a place where they get the right amount of sunlight, or replacing them after they die. All you have o worry about is finding a perfect place to put them where everybody can see them and ask where you got them. If anything would to happen to them, just bring them back to the store or send us an email and we will replace them.
i.) Sales Training, Management, and Methods
There really isn't a lot of training for selling our product. Flowers are supposed to make people happy so when selling them, it is important that we are happy and always in a good mood. Managing this company can be tricky at times, but we are able to stay strong and make sure everything works out. We have some special methods to how we make so many sales. We always make sure that we stress these flowers will never wilt. It upsets people when their flowers die, so it makes them feel better knowing that these flowers will stay beautiful forever. We also try to stress that these flowers are environmentally friendly. Keeping the environment clean is very important and knowing that if they buy these flowers it is helping the environment, more people will buy them because they want to keep this Earth beautiful.
j.) Growth Strategies:
We definitely have plans to grow in the near future. We hope to have more stores opening up in other cities other than Pittsburgh. We also hope that we become as popular as the real flower shops around the United States. In order for all of this to happen, we need to make sure that we are spending the least amount of money making the products and saving the most amount of money for spreading in the future.