A clearly outlined focus of the company helps with the establishment of its business plans in the future. The essential step that assists with this process is defining a firm’s vision, mission, and values. Vision defines the way a company expects to affect society, mission describes the means through which the said goal will be achieved, and the values statement reflects how said means will be selected and judged (Hedstrom, 2018). In this paper, the core aspects of the business plan for a local flower shop will be discussed.
This theoretical company’s goal is to take a portion of the local floral market’s share. However, the barrier to entry in this industry is low, making it possible, and the concentration is below 5% per firm (“Florists Industry in the US,” 2021). Entrance to this market through online retail frees a significant portion of resources and allows to direct them into promotions and advertisement. Moreover, revenue for such firms became unstable due to the necessity for self-isolation and social distancing (“Florists Industry in the US,” 2021). This notion provides an opportunity for a company that can focus on timely delivery of the said product to gain a portion of a market share.
The primary portion of our customer base would consist of the couples from the local population, including primarily younger generations who seek to obtain bouquets in a flash. Another potential audience is the married men who seek to surprise their spouses with an unexpected gift. It is possible to reach these groups through physical banners and online campaigns on the local websites and social platform groups.
The key roles that need to be filled are the following:
- Manager, preferably with knowledge of the floral industry’s internal operations.
- An employee for customer support services, as it will be essential to process orders online within a short period.
- A delivery worker must possess sufficient driving skills and the knowledge of the local area to shorten delivery times to the absolute minimum.
- A skilled florist who knows bouquet designs and is able to add an artist’s touch to them.
There are three SMART goals that a flower shop that aims to excel in the selected area must achieve to overcome its local competitors. With a clear set goal on expanding our services beginning from the area the local town, and we intend to cover two other nearby towns from the location of our shop within a year. Moreover, the timer for delivery must not exceed 180 minutes at the opening, down to 150 at the end of the next quarter. The average number of website visitors per day is expected to begin from 70-80 and gradually increase to 150 by the end of the planned online and offline advertisement campaigns.
In conclusion, an elevator pitch for a floral company that I described before should contain the discussed elements and look like this:
People might believe that the florist industry is oversaturated, but our shop aims to establish its presence by utilizing the deficiencies stemming from the current pandemic. We are a team of four, and we possess enough knowledge of this supply chain to provide rapid delivery of the freshest bouquets a customer could wish for. Our company’s website is available 24/7, and we begin working on every order as soon as we receive it from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM. While many local flower shops deliver orders picked online within 24 hours, we acknowledge that some events are just too critical for such a wait time and aim to deliver orders as soon as possible.
References
Florists Industry in the US. (2021). IBISWorld. Web.
Hedstrom, G. S. (2018). Sustainability: What it is and how to measure it. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.