Business/Marketing Plan

Summary Sweet Mother Candy Shop will be a trustworthy, reasonably priced candy firm that provides online sales services to customers. The business will have a network of outlets in key locations throughout the targeted area to serve customers who order things online through the business website. The business will run a well-branded website that is simple to use, convenient to access, and presents a nice user experience to both current and potential customers. In the area and beyond, Sweet Mother Candy Shop wants to set a new benchmark for the management and operation of an online candy store. Therefore, as a set crystal clear goals and strategies to train storekeepers, website operators and customers care team on the crucial factors that entail running an effective online candy company that does not only satisfy the customers’ needs but also meets their expectations.

The strongest selling point of Sweet Mother Candy Shop is the unique branding strategy that ensures the company’s website is easy to access and use both for existing and new clients. Also, the company focuses on opening up stores in various strategic positions to allow quick delivery of products to the customers. Additionally, the company intends to provide all the customers’ choice of products including candies, chewing gums, toffees, chocolates, and sweeties. Moreover, the company will establish a wide range of products and distribution channels soon to explore all the available market to enhance profit maximization fully. Furthermore, the company will always actively participate in community activities besides integrating sustainable business practices to demonstrate its commitment to individual and collective sustainability.

The company’s main aim is to become the leading brand in the online candy distribution company within the first ten years of starting the business. Sweet Mother Candy Shop is personal business, and I am the sole owner of the company. I have conducted research and feasibility studies hence optimistic that the business will thrive and become the market leader in the industry. I have the strong business acumen and will hire a competent staff to enhance the highest standards that precisely meets the client’s needs. Together with the staff, we will foster an enabling working environment that offers human, sustainable approach to maintain high living standards for the company’s partners, staff, and customers.

Business Objectives

• To be the leading online distribution company in the region and beyond.

• To provide high-quality candies at affordable prices alongside offering outstanding services.

• To continuously provide food products that meet the customers’ expectations and needs.

• To explore unique marketing models that enables the company to be competitive in the dynamic market structure.

Vision Statement

To be the leading online candy distribution company in the region and beyond.

Mission Statement

To establish and operate a highly successful, unique, profitable, and reliable online candy distribution company that will expand beyond the region to meet the customer’s needs and expectations.

Core Values

Gratitude: The Company will maintain an attitude of gratitude to clients, suppliers, and employees to appreciate their input and services that propel the business forward.

Unique services: Offer friendly services that the customers expect and develop an informal, friendly, and comfortable environment that satisfies clients and make them want to come again.

Being Mindful of the Customer’s Needs and Employee Motivation: Strong customer care services, business ethics, customer satisfaction, and employee motivation are crucial to making the clients and staff feel special and valued.

Keys to success

Repeat Business: Customers who buy candies from the company once should always want to come back again and also recommend others to purchase from Sweet Mother Candy Shop.

Company’s Website: Design an effective website with a simple interface that is easy to use and conveys essential information that is necessary for the customers to know the available products and how to get their goods after placing orders.

Company Description

Sweet Mother Candy Shop will be an online candy distribution company that focuses to supply hard candy, dark chocolate, chewing, gums, and gumballs. The company intends to offer high-quality services and candies with interesting tastes to achieve its set goals as well as maintain the targeted market.

Ownership

Sweet Mother Candy Shop will roll out as a simple sole proprietorship with an individual as the owner. Also, the company will depend on family labor to provide the needed expertise.

Products and Services

Sweet Mother Candy Shop is ready to retail a large variety of candies, chewing gums, toffees, chocolates, and sweeties from various manufacturers both locally and internationally. The company aims to make profits from the candy industry alongside satisfying the customers’ demand for the products. The products that will be available for sale include hard candy, soft or creamy candies, chewing gums, milk chocolates, caramels, dark chocolates, and gumballs.

Competitive Comparison

The candy industry has a dense population of high profiled companies including Sweetie Candy Company competing to colonize the same market niche and distribute their products.

Suppliers

The company management has developed strong relationships with qualified and reliable suppliers who can provide high-quality products at reasonable costs and deliver within the stipulated schedule.

Management Controls

The company will practice effective management procedures to control costs and ensure high-quality products apart from maintaining friendly customer care.

Market Analysis

Market Trends

Candy distribution companies have been operational for long periods of time creating business gaps for the establishment of pop shops that retail sweeties and chocolates all over the world. However, most of the stores have physical locations, and customers have to walk physically to purchase products from the stores. The retailing stores exist in strategic places such as schools, parks, churches, and parks to easily attract children. Additionally, it is a common trend that the increasingly growing populations of children who spend most of their time on the internet create a dire need for the establishment of online distributing channels. Consequently, it is a normal trend for various candy distributors competes in using unique distribution channels to be the leaders of the industry.

Our Target Market

The company targets a wide range of customers including school children, corporate executives, tourists, students, expectant mothers, sportsmen and women, households, business people, bachelors, wedding couples, and spinsters.

Our Competitive Advantage

Studies indicate that the candy stores industry experience high competition hence requires high creativity and innovation to remain competitive. Also, surviving the competition needs customer-centric and proactive approaches. The company, therefore, is aware of the stiff competition and adequately prepared to compete favorably for the market share. The company will ensure that its website becomes the main selling point that attracts a variety of customers. Also, the firm will ensure that it makes all the candy products available for the customers. Besides, it will maintain an excellent culture of customer service, various options for payments, effective employ motivation will serve as a competitive advantage for the company. Moreover, the firm will offer attractive commissions and good working conditions to the online sales representatives to enable them to work unconditionally to deliver the set goals.

SWOT Analysis

The company engaged some of the professional candy consultants through the business concept and critically examined its prospects to evaluate if it has the necessities to operate a successful online candy distribution store. The company recorded the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that would enable the company to establish business models to compete favorably with other leading firms. Below is a preview of SWOT Analysis;

Strengths

The wide range of products, different payment options, an excellent culture of customer service, and mechanisms of employee motivation, the unique business model, and online website all add up as the strengths of Sweet Mother Candy Shop.

Weaknesses

Our prime weakness lies in the fact that Sweet Mother Candy Shop is a new online candy distributor company that lacks adequate capital to compete with the leading candy outlets in the industry favorably.

Opportunities

The company’s major distribution and marketing channel is the internet that keeps millions of people online thus giving unlimited opportunities to distribute the products to many customers.

Threats

The economic downturn is a fundamental factor that threatens the survival of most businesses because it affects the purchasing power of customers. Also, maintaining an online business is a challenging task for many existing companies as some clients may find it difficult to explore the online interface.

Market Strategy and Sales Strategy

Sources of Income

The company aims to maximize profits within the candy industry. The company’s major source of income will be distributing a variety of candies, including hard and dark chocolate to a wide range of customers at affordable prices.

Sales Forecast

It is certain that well stocked and strategically located candy store attracts many customers and makes high sales turnover that translates to increased revenue for the firm. The online marketing is an effective strategy that will ensure the company makes high sales and gains the expected income from the first three months of operation. Without a major economic meltdown and a worthy online competitor, the company projects to make sales of $70,000, $140,000, and $270,000 within the first, second, and third fiscal year respectively.

Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

To continuously be in candy business and expand boundaries, the firm must sell all the available candies to potential clients. Effective marketing and sales strategy would ensure that the company penetrates the available market and become the most preferred online candy distributor. Sweet Mother Candy Shop will adopt the given sales and marketing approach to reach out to its clients:

• Open up the candy company in style and organize a party for workers and all people.

• Send the company’s brochures and introductory letters to households, major stakeholders, and organizations.

• Create an enabling website that is easy to access and use.

• Provide a large variety of candies from various brands.

• Position banners at strategic locations besides using attractive handbills to create awareness of the online candy distributor.

Distribution Channels

The company will explore various channels of distribution including direct to end users model, a dealer network, and a value-added seller. The firm has a strong program to train and support the dealers with marketing campaigns and materials.

Promotion and Advertising Strategy

Publicity Strategy

• The company will explore various platforms to create publicity, promote, and market the products, including:

• Place regular adverts on local and national radio stations, newspapers, and TV stations.

• Leverage on social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Google+, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Badoo, and LinkedIn among others.

• Ensure that the company’s website is accessible to all potential clients and simple to use.

• Brand all the company’s products and staff clothes at regular intervals.

• Continuously advertise the candy business on the website.

Pricing Strategy

Pricing is a significant factor that gives mileage to candy Distributor Company. Customers often tend to purchase products from outlets they perceive to offer a variety at affordable prices (Zimmerer, Scarborough, & Wilson, 83). Hence, the company will hire family labor that will attract low wages to control employees’ cost.

Organization and Management

Organizational Structure

Sweet Mother Candy Shop targets to adopt efficient interview process to hire highly qualified staff twill will help the company o achieve its goals and objectives. Each applicant will meet the pre-defined set of standards. 70% of the employees will include friends and family members.

Management Team

The company will be owned and managed by an individual. However, it will hire competent staff in various positions including administration and human resource manager, store manager, sales, and marketing executive, accountant, customer service manager, cleaners, and website operator. The owner will be the chief executive officer.

Financial plan

Start-Up Summary

Setting up the company would require an estimate of $200, 000 to successfully start and operate the candy shop. The amount includes the wages of all the employees for the first three months of operation. Also, the money includes registration fees, legal expenses, marketing and promotional costs, and the cost of designing the website among other expenses. I, the sole proprietor, will raise the capital through savings and borrow part of it from my family and friends.

Conclusion

The feasibility of the business lies in the fact that there is a continuous trend of increasingly growing demand for candies among children, newly wedded couples, corporate, expectant mothers, and students. Additionally, the rapid technological advances, especially the development of the internet, have connected millions of people online making the world a global village. Most people within the targeted market spend a lot of time on the internet making the online business viable. Moreover, the company’s marketing strategy, sales strategy, a variety of products, effective customer care culture, employee motivation, and the unique business model would ensure that the company survives the competition and economic downturns.

Work Cited

Zimmerer, Thomas W., Norman M. Scarborough, and Doug Wilson. Essentials of entrepreneurship and small business management. Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2005.