Marketing:
The business will require advertising; I am capable of producing posters and leaflets on Microsoft publisher or Microsoft word on the computer. This will reduce costs. I will set out an allowance a month for new advertising to refresh last months.
I will create 1200 leaflets to give to each pupil of the school and each teacher, as these are the only potential customers. I also will create posters to erect around school.
I will never need to set up my own website unless I expand out of school however I may in time wish to pursue a section dedicated to Scrumptious Smoothies on the Emmbrook schools website to promote the business
Costs of marketing will cover paper and ink cartridges I will allow for £50 month marketing equipment.
Financial Sources:
Due to the limited amount of expenditure to run the business and set up, I will not need to take out a bank loan, however in the future, if I needed to purchase a loan, I have researched leading banks offering loans which may be used in the future if still available (figures correct to 15th April 2007) –
I will use my own money to set up the business however there were a range of financial options open to me for starting up the business, bank loans, loans from friends/ family, personal savings and also grants from The Prince’s trust which funds to support young entrepreneurs.
The estimated start up cost for my business will be no more than £1000. This cost covers equipment to be purchased, applying to become a sole trader, rent, insurance covers and legislation covers.
Monitoring Quality:
Quality control methods must be introduced in order to sustain customers to the business. If quality is to be maintained then I will have to monitor quality standards on a regular basis. This may be recorded upon statistical monitoring.
I will record on a regular basis the number of faults with any smoothie returned as a percentage of output. Furthermore the quality of the fridge will be examined so it’s in the best possible condition as this is where the smoothies will be stored and this needs to be safe.
Customer feedback will be another method of quality control to investigate the number of satisfied customers.
It however is not just the quality of products being sold, the quality of service is needed to be at a high standard and punctuality needs to be high to allow the customers access at break times to decrease disappointment.
Operating days and times:
As Scrumptious Smoothies is a business operated in school, it will only be open during the school year.
Scrumptious smoothies will only be open 5 days a week, Monday to Friday and only at break time (10.50 -11.15) and lunchtime (1.20 – 1.45) therefore operating 50minutes a day however if successful and demand for more opening time I may consider re opening for after school.
Using the internet and accessing Emmbrook schools website I have identified the holiday dates for when the school will be open
Therefore there will be 189 days were the school is open and 176 days were the business will be out of action.
All bank holidays, inset days, half terms and End of term holidays will be accounted for in the cash flow and a reduction of sales will be modified by the number of days in which the school is open for that month.
Market Background
Market Research:
The UK smoothie market is worth £100m and doubling yearly.
Smoothie bars are appearing in shopping centres across the world.
The size of the market is increasing for smoothies. Consumers are pursuing healthier lifestyles and demand healthier food and beverages therefore there’s a Growing demand for purer, natural, vitamin-rich and health foods. There’s raised awareness of unhealthy, artificial additives and harmful preserving processes therefore need to be avoided by smoothie organizations and as a result of these facts there is an enormous growth in the smoothie market.
Research conducted 17th February from -
‘Smoothies are set to be the high street success story for the UK soft drinks industry over the next few years, figures suggest, harnessing a growing trend for healthy fast food.’ From 17th February
Innocent Smoothies and PJ Smoothies are the major selling competitors of smoothies in the UK.
Innocent Smoothies are the markets leading brand owning 48% of the smoothie market in the UK and this share is growing every day. Innocent smoothies claim that their smoothies are the fastest-selling smoothies on the market. Last year they invested more in marketing than ever before - over £3.4m, and this year that figure will be doubled.
PJ smoothies have a 33% of the market share.
17th February
Local Suppliers:
The suppliers to Scrumptious Smoothies will be the wholesalers. I have chosen to purchase in bulk, as prices will be cheaper than from supermarkets. The wholesalers that offer the best price is Costco. Costco is situated in the near by town to where I live, Reading which is only about 4miles away, this is convenient for travelling and limits costs.
Costco and Makro are the only two wholesalers in Reading and the choice of Costco was clearly because they offered the same product I required but at a lower price compared to Makro.
The price for Smoothies at different leading shops at the 18th February.
Costco – £0.96 individually Sainsbury’s – £1.25 individually
Asda - £1.24 individually Makro – £0.99 individually Tesco – £1.25 individually
Consumer Research:
I carried out a questionnaire to a selection on pupils from every year at the Emmbrook School, as these will all be the target market.
Questionnaire
I am trying to develop a healthy Smoothie selling business on the premises of Emmbrook School. In order for the business to be established please could you complete the following questionnaire?
- What gender are you?
Male □ Female □
- What year are you in?
7 □ 11 □
8 □ 12 □
9 □ 13 □
10 □
- Could you please indicate the annual salary bracket of you household?
Under 15k □ 15-30k □
30-45k □ 45-60k □
60-75k □ 75k+ □
- Do you deem it a good idea to introduce a healthy smoothie stall in school?
Yes □ No □
- Would you rather buy a smoothie or buy an existing vending machine drink (water or orange)
Smoothie □ Machine Drink □
- If you could and were allowed would you buy a smoothie at break and/or lunchtime?
Yes □ No □
- How often would you purchase a Smoothie at school if affordable?
Very regularly □ Regularly□
Often □ Sometimes□
Rarely □ Never□
- On a scale of 1-5 (1 being worst) how much do you like Smoothies?
1 □
2 □
3 □
4 □
5 □
- What are your 3 favourite flavours of Smoothies from the list below?
Strawberry and Banana □ Oranges, Bananas and Pineapples □
Cranberry and Raspberry □ Mangoes and Passion fruit □
Blackberries and Blueberries□ Pineapples, bananas and coconut □
- Do you usually drink Smoothies?
Yes □ No □
If yes, When?
For Breakfast □ For a Snack □
For Lunch □ When Thirsty □
For Dinner □ For Break □
- Would you like a selection of different flavours on offer?
Selection□ Only one flavour□
- Would your parents/guardians allow you to purchase such a healthy drink at school?
Yes □ No□
- Do you read school letters?
Yes □ No□
- Do you read posters or notice boards around school ever?
Yes □ No□
- What makes you interested in an advertisement?
Pictures□
Colours □
Writing □
- Where would you like a Smoothie stall to be situated?
Main Hall □
Under covered Way □
6th Form Common Room □
Canteen □
Field □
Other □
If other, Please Specify ______________________________
- How much would you be prepared to spend on a Smoothie?
0 -50p□ 50p - £1□
£1-£1.50□ £1.50 -£2 □
£2+
- When taking pack lunch to school, do you have extra money on you?
Yes □ No □
Questionnaire information and results
I had to research at the proposed school to see the interest of pupils demand and need for smoothies.
I carried out questionnaires to 10 pupils in every year at the school of all different age groups and genders; the participants ranged from year 7’s – year 13’s (11years old – 18years old). Questioning 60 people allowed 10 people from each year to be questioned. This is about 7.3% of the school as the school has about 1200 pupils
The questionnaire was broken down into sections:
Personal questions
Questions about the product
Questions about promotion/advertising
Questions about place
Questions about the price
The overall results are as follows –
1. What gender are you?
- 50% of the pupils asked were female and 50% were male, 5 males and 5 females were asked from each year group, I made sure that the research was done fairly to reduce any biasness that could have been present
- What year are you in?
- 10 people were asked from each year group to give a fair view of potential customers. In each year group section, half were male and half were female
- Could you please indicate your annual salary bracket?
- The results show that out of the 60 participants questioned that 31% which was 18 pupils had an average household salary of 30-45k a year, and furthermore 28% which was 17 pupils also had 45 – 60k annual salary a year, this shows that there is quite a high wealth of families in the school. The average income salary a year for the country is £27,000. Therefore this shows that the schools pupils have parents who have an above average of income.
- Do you deem it a good idea to introduce a healthy smoothie stall in school?
- 82% of participants which was 54 pupils agreed that it would be a good idea to introduce a smoothie stall in school which was a very positive reaction as this explains that there would be a demand for a smoothie stall.
- From the research of using different year groups it showed that the year 9’s were the highest participants deemed it a good idea of introducing a stall and all of the children said it was a good idea. In the table below it shows how many pupils from each year group said it was a good idea and how many said it was a bad idea.
- Would you rather buy a smoothie or buy an existing vending machine drink (water or orange)
- 78% said they would prefer a smoothie
-
22% said they would prefer a vending machine drink
Therefore this shows that over ¾’s of the participants would rather buy a smoothie than a machine drink positively showing high demand for smoothies.
- If you could and were allowed would you buy a smoothie at break and/or lunchtime?
Again, the result from this question shows that a high percentage of the participants would purchase a smoothie at break and lunch times.
- How often would you purchase a Smoothie at school if affordable?
- Due to the general public wanting to become healthy it looks that the students follow this strategy and there was a lot more pupils who would purchase a smoothie very regularly and often this once again shows that sales could potentially be high.
- On a scale of 1-5 (1 being worst) how much do you like Smoothies?
- Over half the participants selected 1 and 2 this means that there is a large number of students who really like smoothies.
- What are your 3 favourite flavours of Smoothies from the list below?
- The smoothies that would get the highest sales from are – Mangoes and Passion fruit, Strawberry and banana and Oranges, Bananas and pineapples, therefore these should be the flavours I should purchase.
- Do you usually drink Smoothies?
- 54 % of pupils said that they drink smoothies and they drink them
When?
- For Breakfast is when most pupils stated they drank smoothies however a high percentage of the participants claimed they drink smoothies at break, lunch and for snacks, this relates very well as these would be the times when smoothies would be on sale.
- Would you like a selection of different flavours on offer?
- From the results of the questionnaire it is certain that different flavours of smoothies need to be on offer as 100% said they would like a choice of flavours
- Would your parents/guardians allow you to purchase such a healthy drink at school?
- With 54 out of 60 students being questioned said that their parents would allow them to purchase smoothies, this is encouraging as it means that sales would be supported by
- Do you read school letters?
- Just over half of the participants said that they read school letters and this would be away of informing the students of the business and with only half this could cause a slight problem with advertising this way.
- Do you read posters or notice boards around school ever?
- More people said no they don’t read posters around school this could result in poor custom through advertising as posters could be published to advertise.
- What makes you interested in an advertisement?
- I should consider advertising with pictures and colours with as least black and white writing as possible as 47% of participants preferred colours and 35% of participants preferred pictures
- Where would you like a Smoothie stall to be situated?
- The undercover way looks like the best place to situate the stall as this was the preferred location of the student’s results.
- How much would you be prepared to spend on a Smoothie?
- Using these results they show that I can charge £1-£1.50 for each smoothie as the majority of pupils said they would pay this.
- When taking pack lunch to school, do you have extra money on you?
- With this result of 82% of pupils bringing extra money even with packed lunch allows custom from pupils who don’t buy lunch.
Overall outcome decisions of consumer research
From the results it’s certain that the target market is very much aimed at the whole school however all the year 9 participants very much thought it was a good idea this is positive that my product can be aimed at everyone in the school as this increases my target range and the number of sales and potential customers.
With a high income salary of pupils parents it shows that there would be a chance of allowing the student to take extra money to school as they are not hard up and struggling.
It’s a great fact that many of the pupils think it’s a good idea to install a stall to the school and already drink smoothies and like them even further they drink them for breaks and lunch which is when they would be on sale at school plus they said that they would rather buy a smoothie than a machine drink. The pupils said they would purchase a smoothie very regularly and often which is brilliant as this secures a maximised number of sales.
It is clear that I will have to offer a selection of flavours of smoothies and the 3 favourite types of smoothie that I will sell first are - Mangoes and Passion fruit, Strawberry and banana and Oranges, Bananas and pineapples however in the future I can expand the product range and perhaps the product portfolio is the business is successful and if there is a higher demand for other flavours.
I can afford to produce posters and notice boards around school as over half the pupils say they do look at posters around school but from the research it shows that when I design advertisements they should be colourful and contain pictures as these are what the pupils say are eye-catching I can also produce leaflets to send home with school letters as another method of advertising and this can inform parents of the business who hopefully will support it, and 54 out of 70 pupils said their parents would allow them to buy a smoothie so it informs them of their child’s spending.
Through my research conducted at the school and using a map of the school and identifying communal areas it is proved that under the covered way would be the best place to situate the stall as this is a place where everyone passes.
The research shows that pupils would be willing to spend £1 - £1.50 on a smoothie and because this would be a convenience product I can afford to sell the smoothie at a higher price than the supermarkets do meaning I can charge up to £1.50.
From understanding that the majority of pupils have extra money on them even when only taking a packed lunch to school is good because it means they have money to spend and could well choose to spend their money on smoothies.
Sales
From the positive outcome of the results for a smoothie stall, I have forecasted the amount of potential sales by examining the times of when pupils said they would drink a smoothie.
There are 1200 pupils in Emmbrook School only 60 of them took part in research therefore 1 participant stands for 20 pupils so for the results based upon the average of the school multiply the results by 20 more pupils.
9 participants said they would drink a smoothie at lunch, which could potentially be 180 pupils, and at break 12 participants said they would drink a smoothie at break which could potentially be 240 and an extra 10 participants said they would drink one when snacking this could be 220 customers. Therefore a very high customer rate is highly likely but it’s impossible to serve all these customers in 50minutes (break time and lunch time combined) so later on in this documentation, I will state how many sales I wish to sell (see cash flow.) I have to bear in mind of the how often participants said they would purchase smoothies at school but this seems to not be a factor for worrying as 18 participants said they would buy a smoothie very regularly and 8 said regularly plus 21 saying often, these results state a high expectancy of pupils purchasing smoothies, based on all the pupils in the school these results could account for 940 pupils.
Initial Research
Premises needed (location/cost):
The business will require a space in the school to allow my stand to be situated where electric supplies can be accessed.
I requested a map of The Emmbrook School and have analysed where the best place would be to situate the stand.
The options of communal locations on the school premises were the 6th form common room, the canteen, the main school hall, the field and the under covered way.
The common room was a limited place to market Smoothies as the only consumers there are 6th formers and this location would not be accessible for the rest of the lower school.
Selling the smoothies in the canteen is not going to be ideal due to competition, I am aware that the canteen would not allow for my business to operate in there space provided by school.
The main school hall is a very busy venue on the premises within the school where pupils with packed lunch sit to eat their food however with it being pupils with pack lunch; I have to take into consideration that these children may not be given money to take to school as they are taking lunch from home.
The field is not a very reliable venue due to weather conditions, in the winter months the field is closed and in summer although you get hot day you also get rainy days and a lack of electric supplies may be limited.
The under covered way is central to the canteen and the school hall. As long as an electric supply is possible this will be the location I will request to operate my business.
After consulting with the financial department of Emmbrook school it was an agreement that I am able to operate my stand under the covered way with electric supplies running room the library, the cost for this would be £25 a term and this cost covers the electricity rate. The reason the rent is due by the term is because on average the school breaks up every 6weeks for half terms and new terms.
The map attached shows the location of were the business will be operating in green and in blue shows the other places of where the business could have been operated.
The location of the stall
I will stand the refrigerator here
The letter attached is the agreement from the school of operating costs and location for my business this was signed and agreed by the finance manager of the school.
Equipment (location/cost):
The use of a computer will be needed in order to create advertisement, research on and record monetary values however I will not need to purchase a computer out the funding of the business as I will use a computer I already have at home to minimise costs.
I will need to purchase a till and a refrigerated cabinet display to display the smoothies that are for sale plus a refrigerated storing unit.
Cash Register
The till that I’ve researched for the best price is from a company of the Internet called CRG (Cash register group). The till costs £54.04 including vat.
I only need a basic till that can calculate sums and produce a total cost by typing in figures as my products will not be bought by the scanning of bar codes.
This can be purchased of the website based on the date of research on 26th February.
I have chosen to purchase the till from CRG (Cash register group) because after researching other companies on the internet CRG are sure to be the best price for the basic till that I need.
- Primemark sell the same till for £65 +vat
-
A2B Office technology sell a similar product for £69.99
Therefore the price of £54.04 compared to the other companies above is competitively the best.
Table and Chair
In order for the till to be practical it needs a stand, a table, this will allow for extra space near the till for comfort plus a chair.
I will purchase the table from Furniture at Work’s website costing £25; this is a reasonable amount of money to spend on a table considering that the following website price ranged from £64.99 for a squared table of the same size therefore I will use Furniture at Work
I will purchase the chair from Argos online, it costs £8.99, page 680 in the catalogue however purchasing it off the website it only costs £7.99 –
Refrigerated Units
I will need to present to the consumers what I offer therefore I need something that they can see different flavours of the smoothies I sell. After researching on the Internet I have found a tall, glass, refrigerated cabinet also needed to store the smoothies at the correct temperature.
The refrigerated cabinet display can be bought for £415 from Corr Chilled and refrigerated UK using website address –
I tried to see if it was available to be rented however there was no option to do this.
Corr Chilled and refrigerated UK offered the best price for the cabinet however there was not much other availability for them, Cookware UK offered the same type of refrigerated stand from website –
however this cost £564 including vat.
These figures are based on research based upon 26th February.
I have chosen to purchase a storage/display unit because it caters for storing and displaying and is accessible for customers to help themselves and then process to the till or myself can get the smoothie out for the customer depending on how I choose to operate.
Transport
I will require some type of transport when purchasing the smoothies from the wholesalers however I will use a domestic car and do not need to include this in my business plan but need to allow petrol fees and this can be seen in the cash flow.
Total Expenditure of Equipment
The total expenditure of equipment I need to purchase is as follows –
Till £54.04
Table £25
Chair £7.99
Refrigerated Unit £415
Therefore the total expenditure of equipment is = £ 502.03
Stock (location/cost):
I will purchase pre made smoothies supplied by Costco bought in bulk of the consisting flavours by the brand name Innocent Smoothies. It costs £9.60 for a Crate of 10, which costs £0.96 each. I will increase the price per smoothie by 54p, which will result in the smoothie costing £1.50, which provides profit however is still a desirable cost that customers are willing to pay, according to the questionnaire results.
Flavours: Strawberry and Banana
Oranges, Bananas and Pineapples
Cranberry and Raspberry
Mangoes and Passion fruit
Blackberries and Blueberries
Pineapples, bananas and coconut
I’m choosing to sell Innocent smoothies, as they claim their smoothies are the fastest selling smoothies on the market therefore this could help the sales of my business.
The reason I chose to sell the smoothies at £1.50 was for a number of reasons –
- This was the average price pupils were offered to pay after analysing the questionnaire results
- Market led pricing – I increased the charge slightly higher than a supermarkets price as its convenience drinks for the customers therefore I can afford to raise the price higher
- Added value pricing – this was a major influence on my decision, because no where in the school can you buy smoothies, only water or orange drinks can be bought therefore there would be high demand for something other than these drinks and being a well known brand ‘Innocent Smoothies’ provides extra added value
When purchasing the stock I need to take into consideration the famous motto of buying goods and services of the right quality in the right quantity at the right time, from the right supplier at the right price.
Costco’s has been identified as the lowest offering price of buying in bulk however a weekly purchase will be required as the smoothies only have a shelf life of 9 days therefore cannot be stocked up for longer than a week and a half and a selection of all flavours will be purchased but some flavours in smaller quantities according to the popularity.
Staff Skills (location/cost/availability):
At the moment my business will only consist of myself working however as the summer months approach and if the business is successful and there is a demand for smoothies I may employ someone to operate on the school field where all pupils will be by just carrying around a selection of a few smoothies due to the demand by pupils of the field.
I will then pay myself £300 a month, which is about £10 a day; this will be a fixed cost to the business.
In the future, if I do need extra staff I will recruit via CVs and interviews through the selection and process method, the job of selling smoothies is not a highly skilled job, as long as the employee is friendly and energetic they will be able to promote sales to the student customers of the business from Emmbrook School. I will also have to choose wisely the employee so that the productivity and output of the business is efficient, that the profit is still maximised and the employee is motivated, this may result in well paid however this will be a compromising salary.
When hiring staff in the future I will have to set up training to have the best possible interest in the employee’s health and safety. The training will be minimal, the factors of fire regulations in the school, which would be demanded from the school and not from myself, the safety of dealing with electricity when plugging in the till and fridge.
When legally planning Human resources I would need to consider the minimum age limits and wage requirements, issue a contract of written terms, avoid any type of discrimination, have in mind and be guided by the Health and Safety at Work regulations and keep all payroll records.
Projected Financial Planning
Profit and Loss Account (Costs and Revenue)
A profit and loss account is a form of financial statement. It differs from a balance sheet as it shows how much a business owns, owes and is owed and shows the amount of money that is earned and spent during a particular period.
I have produced a profit and loss account for annual tax purposes, this is not required usually from a sole trader but it is vital for me to keep a profit and loss account so that I can track my annual business activities and accurately monitor growth.
The account shows that by the end of the year I would have made a loss of £826 however I hope to increase sales as time goes by to prevent this on next years profit and loss account.
Balance Sheet (Assets, liabilities and capital)
The balance sheet shows that over the course of the year, my financial costs balance.
My business is worth £675.64 this includes £502.08 worth of equipment and £173.56 in the bank.
Cash Flow Forecast:The cash flow forecast that has been produced on Microsoft Excel covers financial predictions over the period of 12months of the money coming in and out of the business.
The source of income into the business each month comes from the amount of sales made. I achieve to sell the minimum of 30 smoothies a day this is 15 at break and 15 at lunch which is a sale about every 2minutes which is realistic.
In the cash flow there is no need to state money used from a bank loan due to the fact I will not need to use one however in the future I may so I’m leaving the option open.
I will inject £1000 Capital into the business at the start to support the day to day running of the business before profits are being made.
Total outflows of money -
Purchases
Each month I will have to buy in bulk the smoothies from Costco and based upon the amount of operating days and making sales of 30 smoothies a day the total money for purchases is formed.
Equipment
I will only have to buy the equipment once and this is at the beginning of the launch of the business - £502.03, no further costs of equipment will be needed to payout in the course of the year unless equipment breaks or is needed to be replaced because of damage. This cost will be spread over the year for each month resulting in each month’s equipment allowance of £41.84.
Rent
The rent is a fixed cost that myself and the school has established and this includes any water supplies I may need and the electricity I will use. This cost is £25 a term, therefore a production of 3 term pays are required however I will split this across the year therefore each months rent is £6.25.
Insurance
After purchasing an insurance quote from the cost to insure the business is £10.93 a month.
Electricity
There will be no cost for electricity as this is included in the price of the rent from the Emmbrook School.
General
I have produced an allowance a month for extra needs for telephone calls and petrol, the drive to Costco to purchase the smoothies is about 4miles from the business location therefore costing no more than £5 a visit and this is required 4 times a month for most months and an allowance for phone calls of £5 a month will be included therefore a total of £55 for general expenditure will be given.
Wages
The cost of the wage a month will be £160 a month, the employee will be myself for the mean time, for a month I will issue myself £160 this is averagely £13 a day.
Marketing
The cost of marketing a month will be £50, this allows me to erect posters around the school and send leaflets home through class registers.
Therefore with these costs calculated and taken into consideration: the cash flow will produce a cash flow for the month, an opening and closing balance for each month.
Below shows an example of the Cash Flow for my business -
Break-even Analysis (Costs and revenue)
A break Even analysis deals with what if affairs? It is the point at which sales revenue are equal to running costs. It shows how much the level of revenue changes when considering fixed and variable costs and the amount of customers purchase smoothies.
This Break Even graph was produced on Microsoft Excel and shows that fixed costs each month will be £464.02. The chart forecasts the business to break even at a specific point when the business has made sales of 860 this could be achieved over a number of months. I achieve to sell 30 smoothies a day and with sales of this it would take 601 sales.
Usage of ICT The use of ICT is a major impact into running my business, without the usage of ICT running the business would make it a lot harder for me and increase the expenditure out of the business.
I have a computer at home and will be using that in the necessary ways. I will be using the following programmes to save time and to make my business more efficient:
Microsoft Word
Using Word allows myself to produce any typed documents needed.
If required I may need to write letters to the Emmbrook school regarding for example occurring problems.
Letters to suppliers maybe typed to look more professional and neater with the company logo attached because of problems.
In the future if I employ staff I can write bulletins to them, informing them on the process of the business.
Microsoft Excel
Using Excel allows myself to monitor and produce finance reports, I have already used excel to show my cash flow, break even, profit and loss and the balance sheet and using Excel I can edit figures when they change when they need to be updated and modified.
Checking stock will be much easier to do using excel as I will be able to monitor what is going in and what is going out of the business using the financial sheets I have produced. Furthermore I will know where all my documents are as they are all stored together with backup methods meaning storing copies elsewhere.
Using excel will allow me to calculate the amount of capital I have flowing in and out the business each month meaning I can forecast money allowances for each month as they approach, so I can prepare myself.
Formulas are used on excel to complete calculations easier.
A record of quality keeping can be stored on excel, I can record when something is not satisfactory and with the gathered information, I could create a report graph with it or transform the figures into percentages.
Microsoft Publisher
Using Microsoft Publisher allows me to create and produce advertisements for the business. I will only have to pay for ink cartridges and paper therefore not having to pay and employ professionals to create advertisements for the business.
Using publisher on a computer means I can change, update and modify existing posters or leaflets advertising scrumptious smoothies in minutes, the process is very quick compared to arranging time for an external company to re produce posters or leaflets.
The business will require a price list of the smoothies to be made; I can easily produce this on publisher and can change it in the future if prices were to alter. The advantage I have with using publisher is that it allows me to set a formal layout and this could be kept the same every time to make it more professional or select a colour scheme relating to the colour scheme of the business logo.
Microsoft PowerPoint
Having Microsoft PowerPoint will benefit the business and can be useful when in the future if I have to prepare a presentation to a bank manager, the council or the public I could use PowerPoint. Using PowerPoint allows me to produce print outs of slides instead of lots of different handouts which may be a waste of paper and time consuming. When presenting the business, all the required information about the business would be saved on the same computer and therefore can access different documents and transfer them to PowerPoint.
When employing staff in the future if the business requires extra workers, I can use a presentation to train them by explaining the business to them and the health and safety regulations. Also in the future if I had to congregate a staff meeting I could present the relevant information to a presentation on PowerPoint.
Microsoft Access
I may require searches of queries and a production of reports to be produced to explain to myself information about sales and stock levels. Reports could be produced at the end of terms, months or years to inform myself upon the sales of the business. Specific queries can be searched for relevant questions like… how many smoothies have been sold in the summer term. Forms can be created which is an easier and user-friendlier way of entering data into the database.
Excel however is similar to access and can still be classified as a database application however excel is used more for calculations.
Microsoft Outlook
If I need to be contacted, I can use outlook as an email account, this will allow the business to contact other and others to contact myself as well as store events of the calendar such events like school holidays when the business will be out of action.
Internet
The use of the Internet will be a part of the business; I will be able to use online banking facilities therefore reduce time spent banking in stores. If in the future I set up a section of Emmbrook schools website dedicated to scrumptious smoothies allowing the business to be advertised 24hours a day and allows parents to be informed of the business as well as the prices of smoothies and what the business has to offer.
I can use the Internet to order stock and to research into the best competitors prices of purchasing the smoothies to sell on.
Evaluation to using ICT in the business
Overall using ICT in the business is going to benefit the running and efficiency of the business. It will reduce costs of using external companies like accountants and advertising companies. All relevant information about the company and history of scrumptious smoothies will be on files saved to the computer so easy accessible. Any document has the potential to look professional and neat.
However there are certain restrictions to using computers as losing files when computers crash or viruses or hackers into bank accounts, this can be limited by the use of backup systems being saved regularly or example at the end of every day or month or when any modifications are made. Firewalls or anti virus software applied to the Internet and the computer and banking safety present e.g. keeping passwords secret.
Future Development
In the future as stated before I hope to expand the business into 3 other schools, the Holt, Forest and St Crispin’s, these are the other main secondary schools operating in the Wokingham area. I achieve to operate in 1 new school every year.
With the chance for expanding I could increase my profits drastically; I have prepared this chart to show what the potential profits could be from the impact of expanding to other schools.
This forecasts that by the end of the 4th year of running the business and operating in 4 schools and basing sales upon the predicted sales in the cash forecast for the 1st year the business could potentially earn profits of £2702.56.
I have to account for staff in each school and this graph includes wages for employees I would need to employ with the fact of myself working at the Emmbrook School and paying the employees the same amount of wage as I get now.
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