BusinessPlan
The technology we created for iHeartShops can be applied in many markets as a tracking tool:- a Car Service company can track clients in need of its service, or as a promotional tool:- an established beverage brand that needs to create a social map portraying what their consumers are doing (i.e. drinking their favorite beverage right now, at that part of the world).
We have implemented a fashion/shopping project, based on our already established knowledge, in order to show its potentials:
Business Plan
1 Executive Summary
1.1 Objectives
To create and maintain ad-hoc or prearranged customer-driven buzz and shopping incentives for people within a vicinity.
1.2 Key Mission
As the smartphone market explodes we want to provide a social platform based on geolocation technology to connect brands and consumers, creating a trust relatioship between them and enabling the brands to make interactive, near real-time sales.
1.3 Keys to success
· First to market
· Established underlying technologies
· Deep understanding of the women shoppers’ market thanks to long term feedback from success stories ermou.gr and ermoumag.com
· Extensive targeted user database and the channels to engage them
2 Company Summary
2.1 Company Ownership
The company is under incorporation
2.2 Start up Summary
The “iHeartShops” Startup was created based on an idea and analysis by Vicki Kolovou during the 2009 Athens Startup Weekend II.
3 Services or Products
3.1 Description of Services or Products
The “I Heart Shops” service is a platform that utilizes microblogging and the Web for the following purposes:
· Organize prearranged or ad-hoc shopping safaris (or shopping parties, instances)
· Engage women customers to organize and collaborate in their common shopping goals
· Engage Shops to respond to the customers’ desires with discounts, offers etc.
· Keep track of shops performance in responding to customer demand with meaningful (or bogus) discount and offers
· Make sure shopping safari instances take place in a small vicinity and for a short, user-defined period of time
3.2 Characteristics
· Customer Driven Marketing, Promotion and Sales opportunities
· Shops and Businesses Engagement
· Ease of Use through proven platforms like Twitter
· Ad-hoc or Prearranged Safari Instances for Maximum Customer Acceptance, Engagement and Use
· Built on the user base of successful related shopping and fashion portals ermou.gr and ermoumag.com
· Scalable to any market, product and service imaginable
4 Market Analysis Summary
4.1 Market Research
4.1.1 Worldwide
· Women rule the social media
o 57% of the Twitter visitors are female (7.7 millions)
o 57% of the Facebook visitors are female (46 millions)
(according to data gathered by briansolis.com about US)
· The top activity for women online is shopping and the third most popular activity is social networking.
· 62% of all women talk about products, and 71% of those with children ages 13 to 17 talk about products.
· The most talked about category of products on social networks by women is beauty products.
(according to survey by SheSpeaks.com)
· The Earth’s largest consumer group is women, spending approximately $5 trillion.
· Women buy differently than men. They have a different perception of value and at the top of their list are trust and respect, or they won’t buy. Women want you to help make their lives easier and to experience enjoyment in the buying process. They love to buy for themselves as well as for others. Women buy from a space of how it feels as well as ease, rather than practicality and speed, which is largely the male-dominated approach to buying.
· Some key perspectives around women, trust and loyalty. Women believe:
o Selecting a brand I trust makes my life easier—72% belief factor.
o I am willing to pay more for brands I trust—70% belief factor.
· Women recommend a product they believe in three times more than men.
(according to the training and consulting company Aspire, aspiremarketing.com)
· 17% of consumers planning to use social media during their holiday shopping.
Among these:
o 60% plan to use social media to find discounts, coupons and sale information.
o 53% intend to use social media to research gift ideas.
o 52% plan to check the gift wish lists of friends and family.
· Nearly one in five consumers (19%) are expected to use their mobile phone to assist with their holiday shopping:
- 55% to find store locations
- 45% research prices
- 40% to find product information
- 32% to get discounts and coupons
o 31% to read reviews
· 25% or consumers are expect to make a holiday purchase with their phone.
· 44% of shoppers are expected to use a coupon they obtained online.
· 39% of consumers often read consumer-generated reviews of stores or products online.
· 25% of consumers will likely purchase a product this holiday season based on an online recommendation.
· 34% of consumers say that online consumer reviews and ratings influence their buying decisions more than advertising.
(according to Deloitte’s 24th Annual Holiday Survey of retail spending and trends)
4.1.2 In Greece
According to Ermou's Twitter account stats on Twitteranalyzer.com Trending actions of Ermou's followers are:
· shopping
· #etsyfreeshipping (offer)
· looking/getting
4.2 Market Segmentation
The shopping market is mature in many ways. Shops in established market areas like Kolonaki or Ermou often rely on their own history, clientele, personal relationships with their customers and brands in any combination.
The marketing schemes they use are traditional. They are usually based in advertizing on Radio, TV, newspapers, magazines of common or targeted interests, banners etc. They include seasonal or other sales offers.
Use of new technologies like the Internet is slow to penetrate this market. The reasons for this is either past generation owners who can’t appreciate the opportunities, branches of Brand shops where the management and decision makers are difficult to reach and also can’t always appreciate the expected benefits.
Several “discount card” schemes that have emerged over the years have not succeeded long-term customer or shop engagement.
The present luck of rhino on both the customers and the shops sides makes shopping bargains gallant and sudden sales peaks can rejuvenate a troubled market. Ad-hoc offers for small customer groups present a last minute opportunity for shops to cover outstanding obligations by momentarily increasing sales through targeted offers.
4.3 Target Market Segment Strategy
The market in question is this of women shoppers.
Their needs are well identified and addressed by portals ermou.gr (part of StreetGuides.gr) and ermoumag.com. Feedback from tens of thousands of users, members, newsletter recipients and contest participators lead to the conclusion that organizing their buying habits, preferences & desires and communicating them to the shops is beneficial to both.
It has taken the shops’ executives a long time to get educated and respond to new approaches to their customers-to-be. This process has produced both an extensive knowhow of the way both ends feel and think and, even more importantly, the relations and trust that allow for any next step to happen with relative speed and ease, through established channels of communication and time- & market-proven practices.
4.4 Service or Product Business Analysis
4.4.1 Competition and Buying Partners
In http://Socialshopping.com the shopper can view offers by shops supplied by either the shop itself or by its customers but the information is not “pushed” to the shopper. It does not provide for events planning. It does not reward loyal customers. Offers and shops are not organized by location.
In http://justbought.it the user can share her shopping experiences with an optional photo and show the shop’s location on a map in near real time. The site is customer-centric. The user can’t plan events or view offer from shops.
In http://foursquare.com the user can build a relationship with the store and maybe gain rewards for loyalty. The user can share his location publicly or with his friends but cannot organize shopping events.
5 Strategy and Implementation Summary
5.1 SWOT Analysis
5.1.1 Strengths
· Deep market knowledge and understanding
· Established relations and trust with the shops’ executives and the women shoppers
· Extensive contact databases of engaged shops and shoppers who are already on the Internet in one way or the other
5.1.2 Weaknesses
· Platform misuse (offers or "offers" flooding) or spamming
5.1.3 Opportunities
· To establish a market of communicating would-be customers and shops that respond to their buying needs
5.1.4 Threats
· FourSquare.com is very close to "iHeartShops" and already established in this market. Adding our now unique features is relatively easy.
5.2 Competitive Edge
· First to market
· Deep market, shops and customer understanding
· Established ties and trust with both shops and customers
5.3 Marketing Strategy
· Create buzz on Social Media (Twitter, Facebook )5.4 Sales Strategy
· Shops subscribe to the service so they can post offers· The data set will be available for targeted market research for a fee
· Premium service to hire a Shopping Assistant to do the shopping on behalf of the customer
6 Management Summary
6.1 Personnel Plan Running of the project requires:
· A full time salesman at 2,500€
7 Financial Plan
7.1 Funding
· Self funded, so far· VCs and investors are welcome
7.1.1 Start up Funding
· Domain registration· Server setup
· Initial application development (15,000€)
7.1.2 Operating Cost
· Personnel (as described above)· Server Hosting (2,000€)
7.2 Important Assumptions
· Users own smartphones and will install our application· Internet access in the vicinity
· Shops' engagement
7.3 Projection& Milestones
· Launch by 31/12/2009 of ALPHA version· BETA version 31/3/2010
· Full version by 30/9/2010 with over 8.000 users signed up, considering ermou.gr has over 30.000 montly users, 1.523 signed up for it's newsletter, Facebook page has 1.349 fans in 3 months and ermoumag.com has over 16495 monthly visitors accumulated within 6 months