e-Commerce Fashion Store Business Plan Sample

AK Apparel is an e-commerce startup based in Melbourne South East, Australia. It deals with the B2C market and selling unique kinds of apparel including sportswear, gym, or fitness wear by combining graphic artist/tattooist artwork into apparel. According to young customers’ demand, we specifically designed AK Apparels that express both classical and modern art into functional active sportswear and accessories that make you feel elevated for any sport and street performance regime.

As we aim to be a well-recognize brand when it comes to the latest and trending apparel all over Australia within 5 years of business operations. For achieving our vision, we will ensure that our customers can express themselves through a brand that promotes positivity and fashion their way. We will only deal with exclusive artwork and upscale fashion. We not only want to sell good quality stuff with unique tattoos and artwork on it but also to build a community of artists whose works won’t be confined in museums but forever express in sportswear and accessories.

We require $20,000 to launch successfully. Start-up funds will be used for outsourcing raw material, packaging, distribution, tagging, and supplies. The investment will also be used to create a quality website. We will also use it for a customer build up and marketing purposes such as ad campaigns, social media promotions, because there is a need to make the target audience aware of the brand to get sales. We will scale-up our business for its maximum potentials. We are very confident that our plans and strategies will prove to be successful in the market and which will help us to bring lots of sales and ultimately which will generate positive cash flow for the company.

Overview

The popular culture is no longer regional. The advent of cable television, syndicated radio programs, and the Internet has created a world where fashion statement in Australia will be on the streets in a small Midwestern town in a matter of days. The speed of our telecommunication system has increased young customers’ expectations and demands for products that represent their own cultural statement. Specifically, express both classical and modern art into functional active sportswear and accessories. A brand you feel elevated for any sport and street performance regime.

There is direct/indirect competition in the area. The competing companies are well known in the market on a national level. If positioned correctly. AK Apparel has the opportunity to rise above the competition by exploiting the consumer’s desire to purchase a product that meets a specific need instead of coming up for traditional products. The key to exploiting this opportunity is to create a corporate image that gives consumers the comfort that they are getting a professional-quality product than what the competition offers.

Company Description

AK Apparel is an e-commerce startup based in Melbourne South East, Australia. It deals with the B2C market and selling unique kinds of apparel including sportswear, gym, or fitness wear by combining graphic artist/tattooist artwork into apparel.

The objective of AK Apparel is to provide a unique artistic work into a global sporting environment that is stale in options and choices being offered. To effectively communicate our vision pertaining to art or to artists; made in the manner of an artist; conformable to art; characterized by art. It aims to collaborate with established companies to build harbors that relationship in indorsing art in general by persevering classical painting and modern artwork. We want to build a community of artists whose works won’t be confined in museums but forever express in sportswear and accessories.

AK Apparel takes pride in using high-quality fabrics that are known worldwide for their durability, and unique elasticity. Every piece is handmade with attention to detail and our customers’ desires in mind. We do not outsource any of our production overseas and absolutely all production is done in-house, with paramount attention and superior quality control. We paired our production with a robust quality control process second to none. Our fabrics fit better and outlast the most known brand names. This is evident through our growth and increased customer satisfaction.

AK Apparel is an online boutique that offers a comfortable and more so most things that help with comfort, relaxation during gym and sports activities in an affordable price range that gives happiness to every customer because we value the customers’ smiles and money. AK Apparel ensures the quality product within cutting edge designs, trending tattoos, and artwork on our apparel categories. We will run from casual to luxury, comfort and classy having focused on quality and appearance meets new fashion vibes.

We will give a variety of products so customers will have choices and we can easily maintain positive cash flow while delivering unique and trending apparel to our customers. We will make our product accessible throughout our community and in the whole of Australia, Melbourne by way of establishing an online store and gradually spend our business.

We believe that an online business must have a good customer relationship, therefore, we will have the best customer representative who knows how to maintain long-lasting customer relations. We will provide a rewarding work environment and fair compensation to our employees; ultimately provide excellent value to our customers.

Our marketing strategy will allow us to communicate the brand values, develop close working relationships with our customers and suppliers, and to identify the needs of our customers in an effective manner. Continued differentiation and growth are two goals we have set for AK Apparel that will definitely work.

We know that our customers are the reason why we are in a business which is why we will go the extra mile to get them satisfied and get what they are looking for whenever they visit our online store and also to become our loyal customers and ambassadors in and around our neighborhood.

Our customers’ best interest will always come first and we will ensure that we hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards by meeting our customer’s needs precisely and completely.

Vision

We want to become a well-recognized brand when it comes to the latest and trending apparel all over Australia within 5 years of business operations.

Mission

We will ensure that our customers can express themselves through a brand that promotes positivity and fashion their way. We will only deal with exclusive artwork and upscale fashion.

We not only want to sell good quality stuff with unique tattoos and artwork on it but also to build a community of artists whose works won’t be confined in museums but forever express in sportswear and accessories.

Strategic Objectives

AK Apparel’ strategic objective to long-term survivability and profitability are as follows:

• • Achieve handsome sales revenues during the first year of operation.
  • Increase sales modestly during the second year of operation.
  • To continue to communicate our strategic objectives to our target markets effectively.
  • To accomplish our growth targets within the given time and budget and expand and identify new markets for our product.
  • In order to ensure success, we will focus on the development of a strong relationship with all our customers.
  • Expand our customer base to retain a sufficient level of profitability.
  • Increase customer retention through quality and latest fashion products.
  • Establish a unique e-commerce store that focuses on exclusivity.
  • To be a well-recognized brand in the US within 5 years
  • Consistent in generating positive cash flow and Increase the revenue

Key to success

AK Apparel keys to success will be the following:

• • Unique collection
  • Quality stuff and material
  • Wide range of product category
  • Focused on customer relationship & loyalty
  • Outstanding customer care services
  • Exclusive e-commerce store
  • 24/7 availability via an online platform
  • Delivered at your doorstep

Target Market

When it comes to selling trendy and upscale fashion products, there is indeed a wide range of available customers. In essence, our target market can’t be restricted to just a group of people, but all men, women, and those who love to follow fashion will also be our potential customers all over Australia. However, we segmented our target market into the following;

• • Men/women
  • Young adults
  • Students
  • Fashion followers
  • Students
  • Middle-to-Upper class
  • 25-35 years of age
  • Finds “word-of-mouth” and referrals from friends and colleagues extremely significant when making decisions
  • Influenced by a brand and reputation of the product and its seller

Products and Services

AK Apparel is going to operate as an online platform that will retail a wide range of products which are exclusively designed and made by AK Apparel. We will outsource quality fabric from different well know wholesalers, manufacturers in Australia. We will sell casual to luxury, from sensual to elegance, comfort and classy having focused on quality and appearance meet new fashion vibes. Our initial products are:

• • Sport bras
  • Legging
  • Compression Short
  • Tracksuit tops
  • T-shirts
  • Crop-top

Our Business Structure

We are aware that the success of any business lies in the foundation on which the business is built on, which is why we have decided to build AK Apparel on the right business foundation.

As a matter of fact, we are setting out to build an AK Apparel that will be well accepted all over Australia. We want to build a dedicated workforce that will ensure that our customers are satisfied when they purchase our products.

We are aware that it takes a business with the right employees and structure to achieve all that we have set to achieve, which is why we will be putting structures and processes in place that will help us to create a brand that every customer is looking for.

With the nature of an e-commerce business, we are only expected to employ an adequate number of employees. AK Apparel will employ professionals and skilled people to occupy the following positions;

• • Web developer for the first year of business
  • IT person
  • Graphic designer
  • Marketing manager
  • Accountant
  • Customer service representative

Marketing Plans & Strategies

Our marketing approaches will be directed towards achieving specific objectives that support the strategic goals of AK Apparel. The truth is that all we do will be geared towards creating new market channels, increasing customers, and our market share.

Our business goal is to grow AK Apparel to become a leading e-commerce brand in the whole of Australia, which is why we have mapped out strategies that will help us take advantage of the available market and grow to become a major force to reckon with the available market in Australia. We are set to make use of the following marketing and sales strategies to attract the target audience;

Digital Media

As we are an online business so having a website is a basic thing for us. However, there are some digital marketing strategies we planned that help people to find us first.

Must have Digital marketing methods includes:

• • Our quality website
  • SEO
  • Social media presence (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn)

Email or SMS Marketing

Email marketing strategies are quickly becoming the most effective business promotion tool, and it really works for any type of business and any size of business you are dealing with. 

So we planned to make people aware through email marketing because it is a good way, especially for the professional network as Email marketing has a median return on investment of 122%, which is 4 times higher than any other channels like social media, direct mail, and paid search.

We can communicate about seasonal discounts, occasional sales, and many more through SMS marketing.

Videos on YouTube channel

YouTube is one of the best search engines used today. Using YouTube channel for Informational videos improve business exposure in all local areas and must bring a new customer to our website. Videos are the best source to introduce our business and the product categories we offer and tell our customers about new trends, product quality, style, and features in just a short video. We can also make a promotional video for our social media channels for the branding of AK Apparel.

Referrals incentive

One best source of referral is our present customer who will be satisfied with our product/services and asking them to refer that among their family, friends, colleagues, etc. because word of mouth plays an important role in every business.

Promote with blogging

A blog is a great place to promote any business and its offering, especially if we regularly publish free content related to the latest product, fashion, and trends. If we write articles about a wide range of product categories we offer for our target audience or blogs with content about new tattoos, artwork on apparel and many more so it will definitely generate some word of mouth and customers will on the way.

Customer Experience

Delivering consistent customer experiences to all our customers; making our first impression count positively to those that patronize our product for the first time.

Offer Incentive

This is what can be a creative strategy that will help to boost our sales. Usually, online customers feel hesitate to sign up for an account or website until they get some incentive for doing this. An incentive can give immediate benefit to the new customer such as we can offer a 10% to 20% discount on our products for creating an online account on our website or subscribing to the latest updates.

Offer Loyalty Program

Customer loyalty programs are a wonderful way to ensure customers come back again and again. We will design this program to give large discounts and special perks for returning visitors. The tactics of this program work by allowing customers to earn points and reach certain levels each year (Gold, Platinum, Diamond, etc.). This loyalty program will also help us to create word of mouth in the whole country.

Testimonials

Social proof or Testimonials always plays such an important role in a customer’s decision-making process. Very few people are comfortable being the first person to purchase from a new brand. They want to know if others have some positive experience. So, we will add a few positive testimonials in our social media pages and on the website so it will definitely leave a positive impact on our store’s customers.

Mobile Application

In the future, we can introduce our mobile app for AK Apparel and offer an incentive to download the mobile app.

To have a Mobile application becomes the most important thing for business owners in the genre because more than 85% of users of worldwide web are mobile phone users in which 70% are preferring mobile apps and latest mobile trends.  

So the mobile app is one of the best ways to engage customers with our products and it helps to grow as the following reasons are;

• Mobile app help for easy interactions with customers.
• Always be visible 24/7
• Provide complete information to the customers right out there
• Increase brand value
• Make them loyal with the brand
• Help to enhance productivity
• Edge for competitors

Publicity and Advertising Strategy

As a matter of fact, our publicity and advertising strategy are not solely for selling our products but to also effectively communicate our brand values. Here are the platforms we intend leveraging on to promote and advertise our online store;

• Place adverts on both print (community-based newspapers and magazines) and electronic media platforms
• Sponsor relevant community programs.
• Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like; Instagram, Facebook, Twitter to promote our latest products.
• Install our Bill Boards on strategic locations all around major areas in
• Engage in Exhibitions/sponsors from time to time in targeted communities.
• Distribute our fliers and handbills in target areas
• Position our Flexi Banners at strategic positions in the location where we intend to get customers to start patronizing our products.

SWOT Analysis

The following analysis highlights the internal strengths and weaknesses of AK Apparel and the opportunities and threats facing the business in our external environment. We must work to improve our areas of weakness.

Organizational strengths must be leveraged in order to capitalize on external opportunities as they arise, and contingency plans formulated in order to deal with threats presented by the environment.