VIEW RESULTS SHEETS
The results that I got from my questionnaire helped me to decide what type of business the 20 people I interviewed wanted where they wanted to be placed and also how far the were willing to travel to get to it.
Question 1: the first question tells me weather or not the people I am interviewing are in Crewgreen 17 of them were and 3 were not, the 17 people that I did interview were the people in my opinion gave me the best answers but I did take into consideration the other 3 people’s answers
Question2: The 20 people that I did ask told me their nearest service the shop the hairdressers and the newsagents were given to me by the people who mostly lived near Crewgreen or in it the other 3 people gave me “other” results which were services which I did not have a list of.
Question3: This question gave me the business which I was to set up the people that I interviewed told me that they wanted a florist which in question 2 only had 2 people saying that this was their nearest local service so a florist is the business I am going to have to set up.
Question4: This question is just as important to me as question 3 this told me where the people wanted it to be I gave them 3 choices as these were the only 3 choices available to me and them they chose to have the new business placed in the site next to the old pizza shop (which had previously failed as a business)
Question5: This question told me what my competition would be as if people were willing to travel say 6 miles they would be in the range of maybe another florist but if it was only 2/3 miles then I would most likely get their custom
Quesation6: This question told me what other services are similar to the one they mentioned in question2 e.g. if they said chip shop a pizza parlor would be a similar service so this would again tell me what else my completion would be but as only 2 people said florists this ment that only two people can say that there is a service similar to this e.g. flower arranger.
List of local competitors that sell flowers in the area 8 miles.
The Flower Cabin (7.8 miles)
The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, Mytton Oak Road, Shrewsbury
Shropshire, SY3 8XQ
01743 352588
Vicki’s Flower Shop (6.5 miles)
3 Station Road, Minsterly, Shrewsbury
Shropshire SY5 0BG
01743 791860
Both of these premises are with in the 8-mile local radius that I have set. I do not think that the other flower shops around will affect my business as they are so far away maybe only 7/8 miles but that in my personal opinion is to far to go for a LOCAL flower shop I consider LOCAL as been about 5 or 10 minutes down the road and even a small walk away so no I don’t think they will affect my business. My opinion can be backed up through my results 90% of people agreed with me said that even 3+ miles is to far to travel to get flowers and where my flower shop would be situated is just the correct distance. I know from my own experience that Vicki’s flower shop is one big business and that she also runs the flower shop at The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital this is in my opinion a good thing for me as she owns both and will save me time on asking her questions about how she runs them etc.
Crew Green is located approximately 10 miles from Shrewsbury, Oswestry and Welshpool it lies about 2.5 miles from the English boarder its has the back drop off briden hills and is a popular place for walkers and alike. Crewgreen is a “passer by” village is sits on the B4393, which is main road and short cut from Shrewsbury to Oswestry and Welshpool, and vice versa it is about .5 of a mile long and has a few large housing estates on it. The ideal location for my flower shop would be to in a good visible position where people can see it from the road while traveling in the car and can be accessed by every type of person including disabled people this will improve my access to people and opening my self up to a wide variety of people. The actual shop is 40 foot long and 20 foot wide the car parking in front of it is 45 wide and 50 long. The shop has been used previously to many things this includes a pizza shop a chip shop and a newsagents from these previous shops there has been certain things that has been left behind and certain things that needs doing to the shop. The actual location in Crew Green would be the only place where it could be positioned this would be on the side of the road with parking already there to see the position of it see the red dot .It has adequate parking with two plots to it one is large than the other the larger of the two would be too larger for a flower shop so I would use the smaller one as I have had previous experience of standing in both with nothing in them. There are no changes I would need to make to the location or building as they are both adequate and can hold everything I need. My purposed position is right opposite a housing development and currently there are new houses been built next to it this would give me a brilliant starting market and a high first month income as people would like to put fresh flowers in the house and put new shrubs in the gardens. The village also has a bus stop about 100 yards away from my business and a pub only a few yards up the road it also has a primary school which almost all pupil are from Crewgreen. The pub will have no affect on my business because people coming to and from the pub will not be interested in flowers if their intention is to go to the pub the bus stop may give me some passing by trade
SEE PHOTOGRAPHS
As in any business you can become a sole trader, go into a partnership or become a limited company
Sole trader
Advantages the main advantage of been a sole trader are that: you need nothing at all to start trading except the trade you use (costumers), they are very easy to set up you are your own boss and also most importantly decide where the profit goes an d how it is spent .The disadvantages of been a sole trader are that I would have to work long hours with little holidays. I see the main disadvantage of been a sole trader is that if I was taken to court and was asked to pay a big fine I would have to pay it not only from the business assets but from my own this could see me becoming bankrupt.
Partnership
Advantages of becoming a partnership is that: you can have up to 20 people with in the a partnership which mean you have more ideas and have less work each to do and also have more money to invest in the company when starting reduce bank loans etc. The disadvantages of this method of trading is pretty much the same as a sole trader i.e. unlimited liability and it is unincorporated but it also mean that because there is more than one boss the people in the partnership may disagree on something and may have different views on things o it can become complicated.
Limited Company
The advantage of been a limited company is that you can go into two sectors either a public sector or a private sector they both have advantages and disadvantages a limited company as a whole has the advantage of having a separate legal identity (which mean the company is sued lets say if there was a problem not the individuals who run it), it also can spilt it self itself in to shares also if a member of the share holders dies you can carry on trading and the biggest advantage been that is has limited liability (which means it only looses the money which people have put into the business even though the debts maybe over the amount entered). The disadvantages of this type of this method of trading is that it is a lot more expensive to set up because of all the legal paper work that has to go start trading also although it isn’t a major thing the company has to show its yearly paper work each year for the public and government.
From what I already know I have decided to make my business a sole trader business as these are the easiest to set up. Also in a sole trader business I will get to keep all of the profits although some with go for other things e.g. fixed assets and external costs. Also as I am a sole trader business there are fewer regulations that I have to comply with. As a sole trader I do not have to make my business accounts available to any one except the Inland Revenue. This is useful as it saves me time, and it keeps my business dealings secret to the public. Also I am my own boss and choose my own working hours and can decide what I keep each month and decide what needs to be seen to, pressure of running although might be higher as I have to do everything I have the lower pressure because I am my own boss as I have said and can sort things out as and when I decide to. Been a small firm I have my advantage over been a larger firm e.g. been in a partnership these are simple: I have more communication with the customer so I know what they want and can build up a friendship with then leading to loyal customers. Another is that been small I have lower fixed costs which means I can be more flexible with my prices.
I have decided on the name “Flowery Florists” this is because I am selling flowers and I am a florists it is a simple name but I think that it is catchy and would catch peoples attention
What is the aim of “Flowery Florists”?
The aim of “Flowery Florists” is primarily to survive short term and to be able to compete with other flower companies in the local area although there is none apart form a lady who sells dried flowers about 2 miles away in her home. Also to brake even, but provide a high quality service to the public. Then it is to make a profit. For the first year the aim of my business will also be to become a well-established business, and to remain open (not be forced to close due to lack of business or trade).
Sources of finance
Buying/ renting: for buying or renting my purposed location of around £120000. It would make sense to take out a bank loan or even a mortgage to repay the bank in small affordable installments I might even take out a loan of £130000 this extra £10000 would be used to buy all my equipment needed to start off the business and to pay off my first month or two bills e.g. electricity. I have found out that I can borrow £130000 at 14.9% APR (variable) over ten years paying back an amount of £1244.75 a month back this is a lot of money for a small company who especially in its first few months would not be able to repay this amount. I have chosen to go with a mortgage, which is a longer-term finance (20+ years). A bank would not lend me a mortgage for any length of time for my business, this would be because I have no assets and if I fall behind in my repayments I have no way of repaying the bank back with out loaning yet more money. My only way of realistically owning this property is to start of by renting it for a short period of time e.g. a year and then see what money and how well the business is doing. To rent this property it would be £500 a month this would be paid every calendar month this amount of money I could afford probably because it is a nice amount that I think the business could make. I have found out that I need to pay Business rates on the property these are rates in which I pay for the land I sit on. Where I am situated out of the town I will pay low business rates, as the local council does not see my purposed business as having high ratable values.
Equipment and stock: in order for my business to operate I will need to sell something and according to my results I need to be selling flowers this is my stock I have found a stockiest of flowers and they sell flowers per…. (What ever you need) they have different varieties of flowers and they also sell pots, planters, fake flowers and also all tool and accessories that you may need to have when buying flowers. The form of finance when buying all these things for my stock is my own finance the money in which I have saved or already have. This form of finance is best although to start with it may need to be a few thousand this amount should go down each month I am in business. I owe no one any money and it has only a few disadvantages of been that if the business goes down then all the money I put into it will go with it and will put my self in debt as well. I will also have to buy equipment to run the business e.g. computer, cash till this will also come out of my own finance. Below is a list of the things that I would buy if I were to be really setting up the business (this does include stock):
Things I need to for the building and what I need stock wise:
Equipment:
Door x3: £220 Shelves (pine) 5ft x10: £10
Counters (glass) 4ft x 4ft x1: £274
Wood Flooring 10m2: £20 per m2
Sign 8ft: £130
Paint x3: £10 per 2.4ltr
Spot Lights x2: £35
Cash Till: £105
Computer: £500
Chair: £40
Stock:
Oasis: £10 per 20block
Pots 1inch x20: £3
Pots 18-inch x10: £30
Moss x10: £2 per bag
Fake Flowers (various) x100: 80p per flower
Real Flowers (various) x100: 80p per flower
Wire x3: £10 per 200grams
Wrapping Film x3: £15 per 25yards
Premises:
£120000 for the shop with its contents
The total price with all the things that are needed to make my business up and trading would cost me the grand total of: £122,294
Marketing Mix
The sort of people customer I intend to get ideally is the passer by as people in the villages would only come when the flowers that they had bought had died this would only maybe give me their custom once ever 2 weeks but if I was to get passer by trade then I would make money as thy would buy the flowers and leave and then come back again but by this time I would of sold more flowers to different people. I sent my questionnaire to were adults (between 20 and 70) this gave me a range of results the reason I did not send any of my questionnaires to children was as I though that kids would not of been interested in what I would have been doing and not given a correct answer. I am not interested in any particular sex I feel that mainly the female gender asked for flowers because of how they think and what they like to do with in there day. The sort of person I intend to get buying flowers are female middle-aged people this is a small market but it should provide me with a good small income.
The possible types of advertising that I could use are the local paper, leaflets, posters, radio adverts, handouts, television, national paper and billboards.
The only suitable methods that I would use for advertising are the newspaper (local) not national as it would not be relevant to my sphere of influence also I would use leaflets as they are easy to make and distribute also I would use a grand opening as lot of people would come and know where it is I would also use radio adverts of around 30 seconds long. Also I would use poster these are easy to produce and stay in place and are read everyday by hundreds of people. I would also advertise in the yellow pages for my area as it it’s relatively cheap and is viewed by hundreds of people. I would not use any of the other method e.g. the cinema advert as my business is just getting established and does not have the money to be paying for a thousand pound 10 second bit of film also I didn’t use billboards because it would not look right a very small business need a hugh billboard on the side of a building when all I am is a small sole trading business. Television is too expensive and is the same as the cinema but is generally seen by more people and a wider range of target groups and would not be relevant to my sphere of influence. The Internet site I could produce my self but it would take a lot of time and would be competing with a lot of other people florists web site but a plus side of the web site is that I could do online ordering and could do a parcel survive so people could order on the internet and then send it to then so i could have customer from any where I the country but this idea of the internet would be unsuitable until I am established.
The advertising mediums that I chose would cost me:
The local newspaper “shropshire star” would cost me nothing to advertise as long as my advert is fewer than 160 characters long. I would also advertise in the yellow pages and their web site this would cost me a total of £150 £110 for the web site space and £40 for a place in the book. It would cost me £200 for 100 non-color leaflets with double-sided information on. The grand opening I could not put a price on as it depends what I use and what methods I use to open it. Also the radio jingle would cost me around £200 for a 30 second radio jingle. The posters would be very easy to put up and would cost around 50p per poster, which is in color.
LOOK AT MY ADVERTS
I have done 3 adverts to show what my advertising methods that I have chose could look like the:
Leaflet has a basic design which shows what I think is the necessary things that needs to be shown the name and the opening time and also importantly the way in which to get to it.
Yell.com advert this advert is on a well know web site under the florists section it has the telephone number and the address this advert is small but it does show map details and gives you the chance to view other surrounding florists.
Poster is my main form of advertising it show all the basic necessary information that is where it is when its open and its web site address if people want more information. I am not using a persuasive advert but a informative advert that describes what I am advertising and it leaves the consumers a chance to decide weather or not to go and find out more about what I am advertising. I have chosen not to do a persuasive advert because I from experience I think that been persuaded to need or go somewhere that u wouldn’t necessarily do if you hadn’t seen the advert.
My pricing method will depend on how much demand there is for my service and according to my results there is a high demand this mean I can charge more for the service I am offering a florists. The price also can depend on the quality that they are interested in having this in the case of my florists is using a different quality of flower or arrangement or presentation quality these would all affect my pricing. As I am starting out and am trying to induce as much business as possible I am going to go with medium quality and lower price this mean that if my costs for a flower arrangement of medium quality are £10 I would add at least 25% for labour charges and then an extra 15% for the selling price this would make a £10 arrangement of flowers (the price in which it cost me- breaking even) become a total of £14 this includes labour (the time in which it took to make it- this would change between each flower arrangement or bunch depending on how long it took me) the 15% would stay the same for while to try and keep my prices low and to entice customers in and buy flowers. Think that the correct term for my type of pricing is called “penetration pricing” this is when a company like my own would charge a low price to begin with to get loads of people interested and as it becomes more popular i.e. people start to become regulars of my shop then I slowly increase my prices until I have a product that is making me money and not just keep me afloat(breaking even).
Social Costs/Benefits
Stake holder are the people in my area of whom I may affect these are people and businesses I affect when trading this is split into two types internal and external.
Internal stakeholders in my business I am the only stake holder there is no other employees to be concerned with and as I am the only owner I am the most important stake holder who is primarily concerned with making a profit and making sure the business is successful.
External Stakeholders in my business are the customers who want a good service at a low price, the other external stake holder in my business would be the suppliers these are the people who supply me with my produce –raw materials e.g. my flowers this is often a wholesalers. The reason I affect them is that if I buy materials off them and lets say pay them at the end of every working month but at the end of that month cannot pay them, then themselves go into financial difficulty. The village I am in holds a community in which my business will affect and they would not only be my customers but they will be concerned on what damage I maybe doing to the area e.g. noise and light pollution but I can affect them in a good way as if there is a village fait I could supply the sponsor for the event and get a deal that would be worth hundreds of pounds by supplying all the flowers that would be at the show. Although not a hugh stakeholder he government will tax me on what ever profit I make from the business they will tax me through VAT and the like.
I would cause no pollution of any type to the village, as I am not open late at night as I would have normal working hours of 9-5 weekdays and 10-4 at weekends through this I would not cause any light pollution because at 5 pm at night it is still light and the light that I may have on would not be bright enough to affect any one. There would be no noise pollution, as I am not trading in anything that makes a noise the only noise from my shop would be people talking and the opening and shutting of doors. There should be not litter from the shop, as flowers like anything natural would decompose and the artificial or dried flowers that I may use would be put in the bin if they were no good.
As I am just starting out and am a sole trader I would not need staff and would not need to employ any body from the village so there would not be any employment the old way that I can see me befitting the village would be that I am another business trading in such a small village this would give the local area money and I would maybe get a contract to put flowers in the village to make it look nice.
Conclusion
As with any business I am going to have to over come a few starting problem these could be getting the cash to start up the business getting permission to put the business there. I think that the main hurdle that I will over come would be getting and attracting customers to my shop this but from my market research I think that it would as I think that the people I interviewed and wanted a florists would tell their friend about it and with local advertising methods it should have good chance. The one main concern I would have if I was to be setting up the business would be the cash this is a worry that I would have because been a sole trader I would have unlimited liability and it could ruin my life and devastate my finance if anything was to go wrong but on the other hand if it was to succeed as I think it would- look back to my results it would be a good little money earner. As the business is not up and running and I have no way of forecasting what its sale and revenue are like I can not really say what I think the businesses prospects are but if things were to go right which I hope they would I expect I would move to a different area and try to make my business expand and grow and try to make as much money as possible but only been a very small florists in a not too well know area I think that expanding is and would be a long way off.
