Business plan of creating website business selling second hand bicycle
1.0 Executive summary
1.1 Objectives
Since this is a start up, the objectives will tend to combine personal, financial and social. The objective of this business plan is illustrating the advantage that introduction of website business selling secondhand bicycle has on the transport industry especially for those wishing to own their own modes of transport. Bicycles are the fastest and almost the cheapest modes of transport with low maintenance costs. One only has to put fuel and pay the license to be on the road. Otherwise, the rest is cheap maintenance.
The business is set to kick off in Minneapolis and with so many transport and courier companies in operation around the city; it becomes imperative for start of online auctioning of second hand bicycles. Some of these bicycles do not even need fuel to run, one just need to peddle. Having in mind that there are many companies selling bicycles at a higher price, the business will provide buyers with a variety from willing sellers. The business will operate from a website meaning that everybody can be in a position to buy from wherever provided there is internet. In this century, everybody should have access to the internet and in fact, almost all households in the world have a gadget that can connect to the internet. It is with such objectives that the proposed website business for selling second hand bicycles will incorporate the best market and web business to leverage competition (Perry & Stephen, 2001, p201-208).
1.2 Mission
The selling of bicycle industry is highly competitive and the same case applies to the courier industry. Since the two go together, consumers of both services have become very knowledgeable especially because of the introduction to computers as a marketing and selling tool. This has made it difficult for business owners to run the industry due to the high demand from consumers and at the same time enormous competition. Introduction of the website business will attract a much wider clientele from all over the world making the industry better and affordable. The company will enable people to select, match and buy the bicycle of their choice from the comfort of their homes (Perry & Stephen, 2001, p201-208).
Unless there is enhancement of customer service, there is a higher chance of the website business losing depleted database and the important clientele mentioned above. For the purposes of enhancing service and keeping up with the competition, the new website business will bring the best of technology for the purposes of enhancing its performance through execution and tracking of every bicycle sold and in transit. Since there many consignments and documents routed to destinations for the purposes of saving time, sellers need to introduce reliable, fast and foolproof services and this is what the website business has specialized in, there are no documents and consignments unless the ones filled online and on receiving the bought package.
The main mission of the website business is to reorganize the information in the world making it globally valuable and easily reached. The website business will grow enormously but In order for it to prolong on a competitive plus, it needs to reassess both internal and external environment in terms of weaknesses and strengths. A SWOT analysis on the company requires very detailed focus on both the internal and external. The analysis that the business will give will concentrate on the internal strengths and weaknesses, which will automatically uncover the external threats and opportunities. The website business will have products such as mobile phones and pads easily used while on the bicycle. The common products are second hand motor bikes, second hand bicycles, second hand racing bikes and second hand mountain bikes. These products have penetrated well in the market and they are doing very well. I cannot forget to mention that they will be successful because they already are in other markets.
1.3 Keys to success
The website business for selling second hand bicycles will run the array with the renowned search engine that deeply belongs to Google. It has none of its kind in the search engine marketplace. However, it has some competitors that dominated the early market of search engines. They include Yahoo, Lycos, msn, and many more. Nevertheless, Google became a household name as searchers quickly discovered that it was not just an ordinary engine of searching. Google differentiated itself from the rest by showing detailed and only one of its kind information (Perry & Stephen, 2001, p201-208).
How will the website business manage to differentiate itself from the rest by giving unique and beneficial content? The answer lies in the system that the business knows how the content it will give is useful. The pages on the web rank according to significance and unsavory reputation. Researchers say equity in brand uplifts Google’s fundamental nature. In the world’s most powerful brands list, Google has emerged top several times. According to mill ward Brown, a renowned internet-marketing firm that deals with research, the significant company is valued at 86 billion dollars. On average, the website business selling second hand bicycle intends to receive over 30,000 searches per every second concerning the second hand bikes. This is roughly equivalent to 2 billion searches per day. The brand will promote trustworthiness, steadfastness, ease of understanding and swiftness.
Apart from giving constructive information, the website business will have a design to help those who own bicycles with information such as who visited the site, who can buy the bicycles and at what price, where the visitor to the site came from, how long the visitor and how the information met the user’s needs. Other details on the tools help include; the geographical area of the user, the keyword used to bring the visitor, questions that they could have. In addition, the time the user took and the pages viewed (Brinckmann, Jan, Grichnick, Dietmar & Kapsa, 2010 p24-40)
This tool will give the company opportunities of being more valuable in return with the view of the fact that no other bicycle selling business is capable of providing such information. The website business selling second hand bicycles will get strategic advantage from this tool in providing quality information. The website business for selling bicycles will have any limitations to the search engine technology and it will specialize in provision of free software used globally by many businesses. The website business will have a consistent growth clearly shown by its accumulated cash reserve.
2. 0 company summary
2. 1 company ownership
The website business selling second hand bicycle intends to meet the needs of those people who cannot afford to buy new bicycles. It will give them the chance to shop while at the comfort of their homes. Customer care has been of great concern in the past especially when customers do get what they expected. The website business will have 24 hours online customer oriented representatives to serve the customers. The customers will be the most valued entities of the business because the business is for them and for their service (Perry & Stephen, 2001, p201-208).
2.2 Company history
The company does not only intend to concentrate on selling second hand bicycles, it will also create a good platform for those willing to sell their bicycles to third parties. The business will therefore attend to sellers and no only the buyers. The technological development provides that the website industry today have the solutions of selling on an online platform and this is what will help the website business develop and beat competition (Perry & Stephen, 2001, p201-208).
2.3 Company facilities
Technology, populations and market segments as factors of the industry reveal the opportunities. These opportunities show off with threats therefore divulging the consequence. The Website business as one of the biggest online businesses application will have the ability to combine all Google services. This will make it the best tool in social networking and internet search. Maps and offers are also opportunities that the website business will have. Shopping is an opportunity in that every consumer is always curious about reviews on products. With the use of Google plus, sellers will tell who viewed what product. More to it, shopping on Google will show coupon deals for second hands bicycles or products available. This will only be possible if the website business will have shopping developed and interface that will link to Google offers. Other tools that are opportunities to the website business will include; news and finance, iMobi, Google Books and Google TV (Perry & Stephen, 2001, p201-208).
3. 0 products and services
3. 1 Product and service description
There is a global market initiative with the aim of concentrating selling goods over the web. The initiative is a part of the program me known as the worldwide action that also came because of the conference on renewable energies and internationally recognized. Bicycles are widely used especially in the developing countries and people are getting information on the same and moving from one place to another. If well utilized, bicycles can help bring up a countries economy and eradicate poverty (Brinckmann, Jan, Grichnick, Dietmar & Kapsa, 2010 p24-40)
3.2 Competitive comparison
The market and key competitors include market trends, market research and a brief analysis of the competitors in subject. Since every country has roads, bicycles are available and used all over. Buying the modes of transport like bicycles is good since they convert the human energy to transport energy and is preferable for the local and international market. Looking at the market segmentation below will give more information on demand and sales. Each country that will participate in the website business in the international market will contribute some policy measures. They will include; financing, tariffs, targets and regulation.
3. 3 sales literature
There has been a drastic change in logistics operations in the current world. Nowadays, logistics is less about the economic of scale and more of economic of scope. This means that majority of companies concentrate on the scope for growth and not volume. Logistic operators focus on quality as their first agenda. Many people today characterize business as evolving away from the previous objective of exchange transactions that are single towards a long-term mutual benefit of seller buyer relationship. It is through such strategic relationships that there is generation of managed supply chains (Perry & Stephen, 2001, p201-208).
3.4 technology
Outsourcing and globalization has given way to new vistas website operators in relatively all areas global operations be it forwarders, terminal operators, shipping lines, road haulers and rail operators. Integrating all these services under a single roof is what corporate managers are seeking today. As a whole, there is provision of new value added services by this integration and it comes in an integrated package.
3.5 future products and services
Creating a website requires a lot of strategies and thoughts. Regardless of being a website business, complete profitability details of the business to the competitors are important. The business should evaluate and study the business prospect for the purposes of understanding the gravity of the risks involved and gravity of the venture. It is therefore important to create a business plan and a proper one for that matter and has to undergo testing against the current web market in order to understand the viability of website business selling second hand bicycle (Perry & Stephen, 2001, p201-208).
A business plan only helps in improving and developing the anticipated website business. It offers help to the proposed in order to understand the website business market, understand needs of the customers, define the wants from the business and understand optimization of the proposed business. During the first stage of the business plan, there is focusing on basic website business parameters. This include creating the mission statement, undertaking analysis of the market, identification of the keys to success, and creating an analysis that is breakeven to give the website business for example a critical head start towards the business understanding. However, website businesses are not as simple as they seem for in the website industry, there is a requirement for one to address merchandise development, packaging, office equipment via internet, signage and retail fittings, website creation and development as well as maintenance and finally the initial start up capital to run the business before generation of actual returns. Unless a business has the means to support the above expenses on its own, then it has to depend on banks for loans, finances and funding. In the website industry, the investment levels are lesser making it easier to look for start up capital (Perry & Stephen, 2001, p201-208).
The ideal platform for a website business would be developing the plan in stages and phases in order to meet the proposed website business for selling second hand bicycle goals. Addition of expense forecast and basic sales will be of great help in understanding profit and loss, which is vital in any business including the website business for selling second hand bicycles (berry, 2008).
4. 0 Market analysis summary
4. 1 market segmentation
This is where bicycle mode of transport gets comparison from other modes of transport. The figures represent usage and popularity, which is similar to demand and supply. All these are transportation trends and most of them are from the United States of America and the European Union. In 2009, the global demand or consumption of petrol energy decreased by 1.1% making it the first decline from the year 1982. While the consumption of all other energy sources, consumption of coal remained the same. In the same year, renewable sources and hydroelectric power consumption increased (Brinckmann, Jan, Grichnick, Dietmar & Kapsa, 2010 p24-40).
4. 2 market needs
Demand for modes of transport that do not use energy across all the countries has grown by more than 30%. This is because there is high inflation on all other energy sources. The fact that the average citizen has the awareness of the environment has helped in the development of the renewable energy, which includes solar energy and human energy. The key players in this industry will include Northern American countries, Europe countries, the Asian countries, and all the countries in the whole world. There are other countries but there is no comparison with these countries. The other countries in subject call themselves the emerging countries while the key players are the platform countries. Talking of the emerging countries, African countries will be the main beneficiaries of the Website business (Perry & Stephen, 2001, p201-208).
4. 3 main competitors
The Battle for module efficiency of conversion in the transport industry is very tough. Starting from when the website business modules set a verification of efficiency at slightly below 20%, many companies have been fighting to get the top rank. These companies include Hyundai heavy industries, LG MILLINET, Samsung and SHINSUNG holdings.
5. 0 strategy and implementation summary
5. 1 sales strategy
The industry of bicycles spends a lot of time discussing the company’s merits, prospects of the firm, for example the firms that cover the spirited background and weaknesses. To remain on top of the industry, the website business must work a lot on the price and manufacturing materials of the second hand pieces. These two will market the business fully and increase its sales globally. Well, the website business will have and already has a very strong competitive power but will use some tactics to ensure its products are different for the purposes of increasing sales. The website business will ensure there is low transportation cost per bicycle (Brinckmann, Jan, Grichnick, Dietmar & Kapsa, 2010 p24-40).
5. 2 Sales forecast
Cost per delivery remains the most competitive ingredient in the selling industry. This will lower costs and increase sales. The website business will be a big online company that will specializes in second hand bicycles. This has not happened again and therefore it will make more sales than other businesses in the same industry
5. 3 marketing strategy
The process of making strategy is quite intriguing but on the other hand invigorating. All the businesses have their share of researchers who respond to the process of strategy challenge through identification of certain character traits that either accompanies disillusion or exhilaration moments. Disillusion mainly originates from the often-gross outcome of effort bringing about an outcome that is not impressive at all. There is a lot of experiential research going into the strategy process. The information that has a revealing and insightful potential comes at a cost. This is not just a cost, but also one that can nip the career of the researcher if crashing comes by. Researching about the website business could a little bit be more hectic for the platform used to research is internet. The outcome of the research could be complex, messy and even fragile in a notorious way regardless of it being comprehensive.
5. 4 pricing strategy
Nevertheless, controversial normative orientation characterizes a significant research part. According to Chakravarthy, this is strategic change or in other words extending and protecting the existing strategies. ( Chakravarthy, 2003). In cases of success, such outcomes remain influential until proven hazardous, outdated or out fashioned. To cut the story short, a prescription guaranteeing normal profits for the website business would end up being the version of money machine for its strategic management (Brinckmann, Jan, Grichnick, Dietmar & Kapsa, 2010 p24-40).
6. 0 Web plan summary
The website business borrowed the idea from the Chinese giants who are very competitive. This will ensures there is total efficiency in conversion of second hand goods to money and all this will be the responsibility of the management. It will have a big and strong management power where it will be able to finance big projects and websites. This in other terms means it will have enough capital making it comfortable in terms of financial freedom hence well balanced and stiff in competition. Bankability for example made Dow will face challenges deploying second hand bicycles (Perry & Stephen, 2001, p201-208).
7. 0 the financial plan
There are many sources of start up funds including grants, savings and loans from banks and relatives. The website company intends to approach the local banks for funding. The website has the information that the bank manager would require which includes their character, ability to pay, margin of profit, purpose of the loan, amount to borrow, terms of repayment and security to show that the website business will be in a position to repay. Concerning the cash flow forecast, the website company will use cash flow charts to enable them not have overdrafts, as they are aware that cash is the king and different from profits? They know that they have to pay their suppliers because without suppliers there is no business.
8. 0 The future
Technology differentiation will be a performance related and will keep the website business for selling second hand bicycles moving. It will be able to offer technology differently in a cheap way and at the same time making sure that it has big profits. This risks a lot in the line of discussion as it could term it redundant. If not well managed, it is a big challenge like Solyndra faces today. All these will meet the local market circumstances (Brinckmann, Jan, Grichnick, Dietmar & Kapsa, 2010 p24-40)
The website business will enjoy a ready for action plus which mainly because it is able to sell more efficient and powerful second hand bicycles in the whole world. This alone will give the business the edge over other competitors. The website business will follow both stakeholders and stakeholders approach. Reason being it grows as a private business and after becoming successful, other shareholders can join in and buy shares.
References
Brinckmann, Jan, Grichnick, Dietmar and Kapsa, Diana. 2008. Should entrepreneurs plan or just storm the castle? Journal of Business Venturing, 25 (2010) 24-40
David, A. 1990. Marketing Research, Fourth Edition. America: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
De Bono, Edward. 1992. Teach Your Child How To Think. Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd
De Bono, Edward. 1991. Practical Thinking. Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd
Frances Brassington and Stephen, P. 2000. Principles of Marketing(2nd Ed.). GermanyPearson Education Limited
Hawkins, Barrie. 1999. How To Generate Great Ideas. London: Kogan Page
Hawkins, Barrie and Wing, Luke. 2009. How To Start A Business When You’re Young. London: A&C Black
Koestler, A. 1964. The Act of Creation. Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd
Len Tiu & Margaret, C. 2000. The Marketing Research Process, fifth edition. Germany: Pearson Education Limited.
LeBoeuf, Michael. 1994. Creative Thinking. London: Piatkus
Minto, B. 1996. The Pyramid Principle. London: FT Pitman
Reeves, R. 1961. Reality in Advertising Knopf. . London: Piatkus
Perry, Stephen J. 2001. The Relationship between Written Business Plans and the Failure of Small Businesses in the U.S. Journal of Small Business Management 2001 39(3) 201-208
Procter, T. 2000. Essentials of Marketing Research, 2nd Edition. Germany: Pearson Education Limited.
Wilson, Alan. 2006. Marketing Research An Integrated Approach. Harlow: Prentice Hall
