Background to the Business

By Claire Nolan

When we were first set this project to complete I thought and researched into the many business I could have selected to open in my neighbouring area. There were many options I could have chosen for my project, after long consideration I managed to narrow down my final ideas into four businesses in which I could have chosen and were most suitable for my project. My ideas which I thought of were a restaurant which would sell alcoholic beverages, non alcoholic beverages and meals, a clothing store for young adults, a beauty store which would sell cosmetics and other products similar, and finally a stationary store which would sell school equipment, and many other stationary goods. I thought about each option carefully and went through the advantages and disadvantages to each proposal I had to decide from.

To begin with I went through the advantages and disadvantages of opening a restaurant in my neighbouring area, if I were to open a restaurant there would be a great deal of competition in the location of Brighouse as there are several restaurants in Brighouse, one of my competitors if I were to open up a restaurant in Brighouse would be La Romantica, this restaurant is a successful Italian restaurant which has been open for a few years, within this period of time it has built up a good reputation to the people in and around Brighouse. Another competitor is the Brooks restaurant; this is an upper class restaurant which also has a good status like La Romantica. Other restaurants which would not be classed as high competitors unlike the above are The Golden Hind Fish Restaurant, The Auctioneer, Swankies, Bengal Brassiere and Water Front Lodge. The advantages of having a restaurant situated in Brighouse would be that there is a good market demand for restaurants in Brighouse and that would produce the business profit. So I came to the conclusion to decide against the idea of opening a restaurant in Brighouse because of the competition, the competition is too immense for a small restaurant to contend with. Also there are more disadvantages than advantages.

Secondly I could have opened a beauty store in the centre of Brighouse much like the nation-wide store Boots. If I were to open a beauty store in the centre of Brighouse there could be many advantages and disadvantages I would have to consider. The advantages are that I think it would be of use in Brighouse, many people come into Brighouse just to purchase a few items and they would rather not travel further out of their district, for example Halifax or Leeds. The disadvantage is that there already three beauty stores situated in Brighouse, two of which have built up a good reputation and are known throughout the country, these are Boots which must be the head of the beauty and healthcare market in the country, selling a wide assortment of goods from Bath soaps to cosmetics. The other big name in beauty is Super-drug, it is not as big as Boots but it is still considered as a rival company, they also sell similar products to Boots but not as much. The other store which I do not consider a big threat is the Face Factory, it is a small store situated in Brighouse, and this business sells goods like bags and cheap cosmetics. So I finally came to the verdict to decline the idea of opening a beauty store in the centre of Brighouse because there are enough beauty stores in Brighouse and I felt that another beauty store wouldn’t benefit in Brighouse, also it would not earn any profit, therefore the business will be unsuccessful and go eventually go bankrupt.

An additional idea I had was to open a store specialising in stationary and other similar goods. If I were to open up a stationary store in Brighouse the advantages would be that there would not be many competitors to contend with. So my business would maybe be able to dominate this particular market area in Brighouse, therefore resulting in profits for the business. But the disadvantage of opening a stationary store in Brighouse would be that I feel that there isn’t a market for this type of business in Brighouse, people may feel they want to go to the other stationary stores in Brighouse which are Woolworth’s and Fawcett’s. Also there are already some competitors in Brighouse which I mentioned in the sentence above this, Woolworth’s is well known throughout the country and Fawcett’s is a high quality stationary shop selling graphic pens and pencils, also all types of cards for any occasion. Therefore I have to reject my idea of opening a stationary store in Brighouse because I feel there isn’t really a market demand for stationary in Brighouse and therefore the business wouldn’t profit. Also there are already two major stores similar in Brighouse who are quite popular and my business couldn’t compete with them.

My final suggestion for opening a business in Brighouse was a retail fashion outlet which would sell fashion clothing for young adults in the Brighouse area. I sorted out the advantages to the disadvantages of opening a fashion store in Brighouse. I think an advantage would be that it would benefit the Brighouse community and Brighouse immensely because there is currently only one fashion store for young adults, also it would be good to have a bit of variety and competition between the two stores. Also I think there is a market demand in Brighouse because I have heard people say there are no decent fashion stores in Brighouse. Also it would attract more people to Brighouse and it would benefit more businesses than just my own. I suppose a disadvantage would be that I have a major competitor which is topshop, which is a well known and very fashionable and popular site among young adults and teenagers. So after reviewing each option I had to choose from I have finally come to the conclusion of choosing to do a fashion retail outlet in the centre of Brighouse. I selected this option because I felt it was most suitable for the project and Brighouse, my only competitor is topshop, there are others such as MacKay’s but that store is for younger and older generations and my store doesn’t sell clothing for those groups of people. I feel as though the business would make a reasonable profit so it wouldn’t go bankrupt also that the people of Brighouse would benefit and it would be a success.

Now that I have decided the type of business it will be, I will have to decide on a name for the business, here are a few of the names I first thought of when choosing a name, Allure, Chic, and élan. I looked up the word style in a thesaurus and I came across these words, I selected these because they are short, simple and unusual from English words even though most of them are from the English language. To me they do not illustrate tasteless clothing which is tawdry; it gives the customer a notion of style and quality. Also I wanted words which combined what the shop was about. When I looked up the word élan in the dictionary it had put down, “vigour and enthusiasm, often combined with self-confidence and style” This is on the whole what my shop is about summed up into one word. But the word élan didn’t particularly appeal to me, and as I am a young adult, and that is the market my business is aiming at I feel it wouldn’t draw the customers into my store. But I am only one young adult and others may feel differently. When I looked up the word Chic for its meaning it had down, “fashionable style or elegance” This also tells you what my store is about in one simple word which is easy to remember, also I think it would appeal to young adults, but I am aiming my store at fifteen to twenty four year olds, and I feel this name maybe for younger teenagers, of ages maybe 13 and below. The last name I thought of was Allure, this word means, “an attractive or tempting quality possessed by somebody or something, often a glamorous quality” This also tells you what the store is about in one simple easy to remember word, without having a long name. I think this name radiates class and quality in the clothing that I am going to be selling. However it may not appeal to younger teenagers, on the other hand I am not selling my clothing range to young teenagers but to more mature young adults and adults from an age range of fifteen to the twenties.

This is a preview of the whole essay

So after I thought about each option I had to decide on from I came to the conclusion of picking the name Allure, simply because it was a different name from any other names, so this would stand out to the market it was being aimed at, it also represents class and style and not cheap clothing, this also would attract customers to my business. The given name I choose is also short and simple which would help the customers remember the name. The definition of “allure” is really what my store is about, glam, style and class. So generally this name was the best to pick from all-round. I have decided against the others because I feel that they wouldn’t grab the markets attention and not help bring profit into my business, also they are not suitable for the type of retail outlet I shall be opening for this project they don’t give the ambience of a modern stylish clothing store for young adults, but the word élan gives the character of a store for the older generation and the word chic gives you the impression of a store for much of the younger generation and not what I am aiming it at

My business Allure will be selling a variety of products ranging from clothes, jewellery, hair accessories and many other fashion items for young female adults. This all will be of high quality and reasonable prices for the customers. Also all of my products will have to be eye-catching to the customer so maybe they will be attracted to buy the product which will be on offer to them, maybe think of a whole new idea to selling and presenting the products so the customer will buy the products on display. The packaging on the products will have to appeal to the customer as well. However clothing doesn’t really need much packaging to present them. All they need really is a hanger and a rail to place them on. That idea is rather boring so I need to create an interesting way of presenting the products on offer which I will discuss in my marketing strategy. My packaging shall be simple as I don’t think bright colours will attract the market I am aiming it at, young adults, as topshop doesn’t have bright colours in their packaging but just their logo and the product. Also other big names like river island don’t have bright packing for their products. I am selling clothing and fashion and many other similar products because in Brighouse there is only one store which caters for young adults, some of the items in topshop may not appeal to some young adults so I want to create a different type of shop from topshop but have more or less the same ideas. I will sell simple clothing unlike topshop for example they are selling at the moment gypsy type clothing with lace. Where as my store will be totally different to that idea. But if I did sell similar clothing to topshop I might make more profit by going with the fashion trends, although I may make less profit by copying a well known store. By doing this it means that my business will be able to attract a wider range of customers and therefore will result in a bigger profit for the company.

Choosing the where the location of my store is going to be situated was rather a difficult task. The place I wanted to locate my business will have to be near communication links so my store will be easy to reach from the bus station or other communication links. Also my store will have to be away from major competitors, otherwise my business may not be a success because the competitors will take most of the customers away from my business, resulting in less profit. In the centre of Brighouse there could be a number of various places I could have located my business, but the most popular area for commercial shopping is commercial street, so I decided to situate my business in the centre of commercial street because it is a popular area for shopping, also it is ideally situated very closely to the bus station, I have located near the bus station because it is very easy for passengers to get off the bus and travel to my store, also it is easy to for people who do not travel by car to get to my store with ease, (please refer to my map included to see the exact position of my store and to see how far the bus station is from my store) I have marked on my map the bus station and various other important features. Here is a key to the map I have provided:

A New Restaurant

I would go about telling the people of Brighouse about the new restaurant by using a wide range of interesting advertising methods. I would use methods which are interesting and which would reach the majority of the people in Brighouse (eg: Newspapers) also grab the public’ attention. Also before I would start advertising I would do a survey in Brighouse about the types of media they like mostly and use. Eg: What time they listen to the radio, and what newspapers they buy on a regular basis. Also I would put a special offer when you visit the restaurant to attract customers to the restaurant. The type of advertising I would use would include:

Local Newspapers
Local Radio Stations
Various Posters and Flyers
Bill boards

Marketing Strategy

In this part of the project I am going to briefly explain and apply the four P’s to my business. The four P’s as I explained earlier in the project consist of Price, Promotion, Place and product. Companies can manipulate the four P’s to their advantage in order to win over any opposition they may have. I will have to get all four areas of this correct in order to complete my marketing strategy and for my marketing strategy to be a success. Otherwise I may not attract customers to my store. The four P’s are a essential in marketing, and the key to make a success of your business.

Product

My business is a fashion retail outlet, so I shall be selling clothing and accessories, for young adults, from the age range of sixteen year olds to adults maybe in their early twenties or even above. I am naming my store Allure because it means style and confidence, the word contains what my store is about in one simple memorable word. Which the customers will be able to remember the name, also it relates to the products as they are stylish. I will be selling all of the latest trends but in simple versions and not clothing people wouldn’t wear, for example topshop are selling at the moment gypsy lace clothing, but my store will sell simple clothing at cheap prices for the convenience for customers. I shall not overcharge my customers otherwise I may not attract any customers to my business, and drive my customers to my rivals. The quality of my products will be of the highest, but also at inexpensive prices, these prices are very different to my competitors, as my competitors prices are more expensive than how my prices shall be. For example topshops prices for a pair of jeans are around twenty five pounds to thirty pounds where as my jeans in my store will be sold for twenty pounds or maybe less, here is a table of prices for jeans in different stores I went around the various fashion stores and found out the prices of jeans in each store and presented them in a table to compare them to my prices in my business.

As you can see from the table situated above my prices for my products are much cheaper than the big retail outlets. Therefore this should attract more customers to my store.

Some of my products will be probably be affected by the product life cycle, but some also will not be affected by this change, examples of products which could be affected by the product life cycle are products which people do not need to live on, such as new toys, children soon get tired of toys easily. One of this is the tamagotchi, it has been through the product life cycle, it sold rapidly on its release, then the effect wore away and sustained a slow level of sales till dropping rapidly. The products which won’t go through the product life cycle, are convenience products like food and health products. As we need these to live on and couldn’t do without them. The products I will be selling are clothes, there is a constant need for clothes, however even though there is a need for clothes they still can go through the product life cycle, clothes go through fashion/trend periods, every season there’s a different type of fashion to come out and people (especially teenagers) want to get in on the latest fashions. This is why I think that my products will be affected by the product life cycle, because of the ever-changing fashions and trends in today’s society.

Legal Constraints

The government imposes laws for consumer protection. They insure that all consumers are protected from dangers and they have the rights that they are entitled. Some of these include the health, safety, and security of the consumer. These legislations affect all businesses that advertise their products. Any firms advertising will have to meet the high standards of Service and the products they sell. Here are some legal issues that may affect my business.

Trade Descriptions act (1963/1968/1972)

This act makes it an illegal offense if a retailer doesn’t state an accurate description of a product or service they are selling to the consumer, in all aspects of advertisements. The trade descriptions act gave information that must be provided on a product or service. For example: if a retailer advertises an offer for buy two of the same product and get one free, but when the consumer actually gets to the store and the offer is only buy one get one free, this would be breaking the trade descriptions act. Even though it may seem rather a small offense it still is breaking the law, by breaking this law the customer could take the firm to court and sue them for breaking the trade descriptions act.

Supply of Goods and Services Act (1982)

This is also known by a more recent act: Sale and Supply of Goods Act (1994). This act makes sure that the goods and services sold to the customer must meet the required specifications. Firstly the product sold should fit the purpose for which they were made and sold, for example if a retailer sold a keyboard and you couldn’t press the buttons to type with, the product hasn’t met the specification that it was sold for. Secondly it must be good enough to sell to the customer or of “Merchantable Quality’’ a product shouldn’t be broken when it is meant to be new.

Consumer Credit Act (1974)

This act covers and protects most people buying goods and services on credit. An example of this would be hire purchase. The customer has a right to be given a copy of the credit agreement, also the full information of the credit sale on the receipt. Also the credit agreement and the annual percentage rate of interest (APR), the price of the item and the total credit price owed. If the customer wants to change their mind they have 14 days maximum to change the agreement (by doing this it avoids the customer being pressurized by “salesman” to sign agreements).

Advertising Standards Agency

The advertising standards agency is one of the organizations, which controls advertising and promotions in the UK. The advertising standards agency is also known as the ASA for short. The ASA is a voluntary group to monitor the advertising and promotion in the UK. The company makes sure that all advertisers follow the “British codes of advertising sales and promotion practice”. The ASA has a certain set of their own rules in which all adverts and promotions must conform to. The rules are that all adverts and promotions must be legal (e.g.: not to advertise the selling alcohol to people under 18yrs of age), decent (e.g.: not using nudity in adverts), honest (Not describing the product or lying about the product), and truthful (to make false claims what the product actually does), also they must not cause offence to anyone, (EG: they must not be prejudice against people). Adverts, which have broken some of these rules, will be referred to the ASA. The media do not have control on what content they include in the adverts therefore the ASA has the control to ensure that the advertisers follow the code of the ASA otherwise the ASA have the power to remove your advert if it is unsuitable. An example of a bad advert would be if a newspaper posted an advert in their paper saying, “All Afghanistan people must leave the country because they are apart of bin ladens group”. If this actually happened the ASA would remove the advertisements, as it would cause offense to some people.

Some of these laws I mentioned above could affect my business and many others, which I will have to take into account while planning my marketing strategy.

Sales of goods act

This act will affect my business the most, this act makes sure that when a retailer sells something it must match the description of the product I am selling, also that it is fit for the purpose it was made for. I will have the make sure that I properly state the products description (EG If I had a product up for sale that was some shoes, but it was in-fact actually a piece of clothing) that would be stating the description wrongly and a customer could take my company to court for stating the product wrongly. Also I could make sure that I wouldn’t be breaking the rules by not displaying a sign saying no refunds, as this would also get me into trouble. Finally I would have to make sure the products were in working order, so they don’t fall apart as soon as they are used.

Consumer protection act

The consumer protection act would affect my business. This act makes sure that all retailers make sure that prices are not displayed in a misleading way to the customer. Sale prices, which have been reduced, must have been at a higher price for at least 28 days before the sale, this stops shop owners from misleading customers and artificially raising the price of a product for a day then reducing it to make it look like it is a real cheap price. They also must show VAT and any other extra taxes or charges. I could avoid this by putting in my store and on advertisements the actual price as the extra VAT or any other charges on the price tag.

Trade Descriptions act

This at makes sure that retailers make sure they describe the product they are selling correctly. I can make sure that I do this by actually making sure the product is correctly described and not lying in the advertisement. So I won’t get into trouble and people are not liable to sue my company.

Strategy and Socio-economic impact

For this section I will need to look at how my marketing strategy will affect the local community in two ways, these ways are the social impact on the community for example employment, if the community are informed, taxes and other various reasons. The other way that the public might be affected is the economic impact on the surrounding community, this would be for example like the environment, lets say that if you used 500 flyers and gave them to people this would create waste which would cause pollution in the community also you need to have paper to make flyers, and you need trees to make paper so trees will be cut down. So each marketing strategy I’ve done will have a social and economic affect on the local community. The socio-economic impact can be easily explained in a simple diagram

My Strategy

Social Impact Economic Impact

I have used many methods of advertisements in my marketing strategy, each one will have a social and economic impact on the community, and I will explain what I think the social and economical impacts will be on the local community of Brighouse and the surrounding area.

One of the methods of advertising I intended to have a newspaper advertisement in the Brighouse Echo, there are many social and economic impacts that I could list here, firstly the social impact, with newspaper there would be waste not unless people recycle their newspapers but the majority of people aren’t recycle friendly and would throw away their newspapers in the bin which would be dumped in a tip and be left, therefore this would create more pollution which isn’t a good impact on the community, people do not want to live in a unclean town. As this would cause pollution and people do not want to live in a community, which is polluted so this would also cause an eyesore to the community also this would not attract new people to the community so there would be eventually a slow decline in the population of the community as people would not want to live in Brighouse. However having pollution is also a positive thing, because it creates employment for people to clean up the waste, also it will create jobs in the newspaper office because I have to pay for the advert which goes towards the newspapers, also this would result in income for other businesses. Also by having an advert in the local newspaper people will be informed of my new business therefore creating profit for me and creating jobs in my store. Another benefit to the local community would be a wider choice to the community, at the moment in Brighouse there is only one fashion store which is topshop which is a major name in the UK, so by having another fashion store in the centre of Brighouse would bring a bit of competition to the area also the community would have more choice to select from. One of the other social impacts would be that the community would be informed of my new business. There is not only social impacts on the community but there is economic impacts too, which is more relevant to the financial side, unlike the social impact, the examples for economic impact are (Creating jobs, taxes etc.) The first economic impact would be obviously taxes, the taxes on the advertisement go towards to the government and the local council (Calderdale Council) also the newspaper have to pay the taxes on the paper and various other stationary they use, this will go to the government to be spent on the MP’s wages, health service, police and sometimes other countries. The Calderdale council will receive income from you having to pay for the council tax. Also by placing my business advertisement in the Brighouse echo I will be creating income for many businesses, for example I will be creating income for the Brighouse echo as I will be placing my advert in their newspaper which I have to pay for, then by me placing an advert in their newspaper they will have to buy the equipment to print my advert, for example ink for the printer, paper to print it on, a printer, a computer, wages for the staff, software and hardware, the newspaper will buy these from company’s selling these products therefore they will make a profit, the company’s who sell this will also have to buy the stock in and the company which they buy the stock from will also make a profit by my business putting an advertisement in a newspaper, the list could go on and on, another impact for this subject would be that maybe by having my store in the centre of Brighouse It would attract more people to Brighouse, therefore resulting in people who might spend money in other stores as well as my own maybe.. Another impact would be, that jobs would be created by having an advert in the Brighouse Echo, as people would have to print the paper, type it up and many various other jobs as well.

I also intended to place a radio advert on a particular radio station. There could be many impacts social and economic also for this type of media. Firstly I shall start with the social impacts that the radio advert will have on the community, of course all noise would create noise pollution, I know many people who would rather have not to listen to the radio jingles on the radio, however people will still be informed about my new business which is a good factor. Some of the economic impacts would be that there are increased job opportunities in the community, such as the people who broadcast the radio, if there are more people working at the radio station they will need more cleaners, canteen people and a lot more jobs, however news jobs will inform people about my business and they might spend more so I will get taxed on my profits from my business, this tax could be used on public services which is a good factor for the community of Calderdale.

Another part of my marketing strategy was to put leaflets around the town of Brighouse, by doing this action it would obviously cause pollution in the local community, which people do not like to look at, so this would be an eyesore, however it would create jobs for cleaners but their wages would come from Calderdale council, therefore coming out of our taxes. Also this would inform people about my business so I will hopefully make a profit. Some economic effects that leaflets would have on the community would that jobs are created, as people will have to print the leaflets and design them, so they will benefit by receiving a wage. I think that there are more advantages to disadvantages when producing leaflets, but it would add to the worlds ever growing problem of pollution, and if every business did this it would add to a tremendous amount.

There are also social and economic effects, which my shop will have on the community, so my marketing strategy and my shop will have an even greater impact on the community. I have already mentioned quite of a few of the effects in detail above, by having my store in Brighouse it will create more competition in Brighouse because there is already a fashion store in Brighouse, also if my business attracts a lot of trade there will be an increase in traffic congestion in Brighouse, which if more cars are there will create more pollution to the area, however I will still create a profit, even before I open m store I will still have to employ interior designers, builders and other firms, all these firms will gain a profit too. By taking over the amusements which is the shop I am taking over the people who worked in there will loose their jobs, however my business will create more jobs so there isn’t really a gain or a loss in that area. There could be many costs also which the community will have to face, there will be more air or noise pollution by my radio adverts or just by the general pedestrian traffic in Brighouse as it will attract more people to the town. Also other businesses, which are situated near my store, may gain more customers, as some people who buy from my store might buy from their store as well. However my store may put other local businesses if my business proves to be rather popular, which would create unemployment in the area, so people wouldn’t have an income and may not visit my store.

My store and marketing campaign will not only affect the local community but also the national community. It may not affect it as much but there a lot of local businesses and everything they do will affect the national community so if you merge them all together then it will have a big impact on the community of the U.K. One of those impacts will be that there will be increased employment opportunities which is a positive factor for the country and if there was a low employment that would be a negative factor, and isn’t good for Britain’s status. Another impact my business will have on the national community would be that the new jobs created will mean less people on the income support and job seekers allowance from the government, which will mean that the government will have more money to spend in the budget on public services such as the NHS, schools and the police force. Also for my business I will have to pay taxes on my profits will again go to government services and the improvement of public sectors in the UK. Also other people will be paying taxes on my products, which will be used by the government to be used on public services in the UK. But my business could create inflation in the country, which is a negative issue, this could be due to an increase of demand in products, so prices would rise and less people would spend their money on them as their prices would be too high. Another bad issue could be that the government might have to spend money on improving the environment due to the damaged which might be caused by my retail outlet, some of these damages which my business could do are pollution such as waste pollution which would be my leaflets which people could have dumped in the street therefore the council will have to get more cleaners, also noise pollution by the heavy pedestrian congestion which might occur.