Training methods and labour finance will also need to be investigated. I must ensure I have enough money to fund the appropriate labour costs and to pay for suitable and efficient training to ensure I have the best possible workforce. Training will install knowledge, change attitudes and increase skills.
Once I have completed all the necessary procedures to gather my information I can draw up and conclude my findings with tallies, charts, spreadsheets and databases so I an able to see what important trends are formed. Once this is complete I can add my conclusions to my findings. I can then make recommendations from what I have found in my investigations as to the best possible business to set up.
Customers: The customers of the Abbey centre are vital in this investigation as it is their
wants and needs that I aim to satisfy. The customers are able to tell me what
they think of existing businesses, which they prefer, which they don’t and what
kind of business they would most like to see. It is important to value the
customer’s opinions so this is a necessary piece of field research. I will go to
the Abbey centre and distribute 20 questionnaires randomly, so I can find out
information from the customers.
L.E.D.U: LEDU is the leading agency for local economic development in Northern
Ireland. It helps businesses that normally employ fewer than 50 people in
the manufacturing and trade services sectors. It is a small business agency for
Northern Ireland set up in 1971 to encourage small businesses to grow and
become more competitive and so will strengthen the local community. It will
provide me with all the necessary information when setting up my business. It
will help me with questions such as:
*How do I go about measuring the demand for my product or
service?
*How will I put together a business plan, source finance or obtain the
skills required to run a business successfully.
There are many organisations in Northern Ireland who can give advice, training
and funding to help entrepreneurs to understand and meet the challenges of
starting a business.
Bank: A bank is an organisation that receives deposits from the public and uses it to
finance business activity. When setting up a business the bank is needed as a
source of capital in the terms of usually a loan wither it is short term or long
term. Like L.E.D.U the bank can also guide me when setting up a business.
Using the bank of Ireland as an example they can provide as range of services
to meet the needs to start up a business that include:
*Current account and savings products designed to meet specific
banking needs.
*A choice of overdraft and invoice finance lines
*Asset finance and loans under the small firms loan guarantee scheme
*International trade finance
Competition: When setting up a business I must consider the competition I will be faced
with. It may be the case were the business I decide to start up sells a similar
product/products to that of existing competitors around me so I need to
consider how I will make my own shop more appealing to the customers.
Competitors can help me with information about the Abbey centre itself and
its facilities such as security and most popular areas or businesses, which is
useful if I am to set up a business at the Abbey centre. They also might be
useful as they may have previously conducted surveys in the past so they
may have useful information to aid me in my investigation.
Manager: The manager of the Abbey centre can provide me with information on the
day to day running of the centre. By interviewing Mr Steel, the manager, he
can inform me on things such as:
*Renting and leasing
*Security offered
*Most popular days and busiest times
*Market budgets, advertising and promotions throughout the year
*Competition from other shopping centres
*Customer stats
*Anchor tenants currently at the centre
*Refurbishments and development proposals
*Maintenance staff
*Previously failed, and currently successful businesses at the centre
*Any other important information.
The manager is a vital key in this investigation as he holds the most
information about the Abbey centre.
Questionnaires: To find out information from the customers I will go to the Abbey centre
and distribute 20 questionnaires using random sampling. The advantage
of using a questionnaire is that it is detailed and qualitative information
on the customers opinions. It is a form of a primary source research
which means it is up to date and is brand new information. The
questionnaire will ask things such as:
*Are you male or female?
*What age are you?
*What is your favourite/least favourite shop?
*What shops would you most like to see at the Abbey centre?
Internet: The Internet is one of the latest forms of communication technology.
L.E.D.U has its own website under and is just as useful
as visiting the L.E.D.U office. It has all the necessary links to setting up a
small business, business plans and business finance etc… and I can print
out any information that might be useful.
Bank: I can go to the bank and organise an interview with the manager. By doing
this I can go through all the options that I need to take into account when
i am setting up my business. To set up my business I will need a starting
capital first of all which means I can go to the bank for a loan. The bank
can offer me a wide range of accounting and finance:
*A bank overdraft= an agreement with a bank that allows a customer
to draw out more money than is in their account, up to a limit. This
however is only means of getting over a short term cash flow
problem and not effective for starting up a business.
*A short term loan= money borrowed for up to one year used to
finance a firm’s working capital such as sale of goods, factoring
etc… For starting up a business a loan over a longer period of time
would be needed rather than a short-term loan most likely.
*A long term loan=money borrowed over periods of 5 years, usually
for setting up business or a mortgage
The bank services will charge interest on all money borrowed from them
but the money borrowed can be re-paid over a period of time. The bank
also offers leaflets and information on setting up a business, how to go
about it, and now there is also Internet banking, accounts and finance.
Map: The map of the Abbey centre is useful as it clearly shows the location of
other competitors and the main anchor tenants. It also shows exits and
entrances to and from the centre. Shops that are currently open to leasing
are shown so I can see were my choices of location lie and what.
competing shops may be around my business.
Interview: An interview with the manager is used, as it is a face-to-face way of
communicating. It can give qualitative and detailed information and is
usually the most informative way of obtaining information as any
additional questions or inquiries can be answered. It is also a prime
example of field research which is important as it involves the
collection of original data and is specific to the research I am doing.
Nikki Goodall Business GCSE Studies Coursework
To investigate the possibility of setting up a business in my local shopping centre
Introduction
The Abbey centre opened in 1978, when phase one of the centre was completed. Since then, the Abbey centre has been continually growing from the starting unit number of 37 to a current 80 unit stores. Phase one was built in November 1978, phase two built in May 1981, phase three built in 1994, its current phase four built in November 2000 and proposals for further phases to be added. The Abbey centre sits on a 10-acre area of land, an overall of 300,000 square feet and a retail area of 234,670 square feet, also a car park covering 120,000 car parking spaces and nine service yards for vehicles to deliver goods to. In 1992 the Abbey centre was purchased for £18.5 million by its current landlord, Abbey centre limited, and it is to date worth £62 million. The centre’s managing agents, Lambert Smith and Hampton, have four other shopping centres under their control, Forestside, Northcott, The Flagship Centre and Foyleside in Derry. The Abbey centre was the third shopping centre ever to open in Northern Ireland, the first one to open was in 1966, Springhill in Bangor though few economists they can go on. Industry feels it has reached its saturation in shopping centres. For the Abbey centre retail is still running strong.
From the report I made from my questionnaire results I found that the majority percentage of favourite shops were clothes shops and also the majority percentage of shops most wanted to see at the centre were clothes shops. For these reasons I decided to carry out my database searches on clothes stores at the Abbey centre as there is a clear demand for clothes retailing and it is a clear favourite with the customers.
My first search was on all clothes stores at the Abbey centre. 26% of the Abbey centres shops consisted of clothes stores. Showing that it is a profitable business type to set up and is clearly successful at the centre.
My second search shows all small sized clothes shops at the centre. 4 shops out of the 17 clothes shops were small sized.
My third search shows all medium sized clothes shops at the centre. 9 out of the 17 clothes shops were medium sized. This is the most popular size and has some of the most popular stores viewed by customers.
My fourth search shows all-large sized clothes shops. Like the small sized clothes shops there are only 4 out of the 17 clothes shops that are large. One of these stores being one of the main anchor tenants.
My next two searches showed female and male clothes shops. 8 out of the 17 clothes shops are female; only 1 shop was male and the rest unisex. The fact that only one clothes shop is for men shows that there is a severe lack of male clothing stores.
From the interview with the manager, questionnaire results, general conclusions and database conclusions I have decided I would recommend to open a clothes store, as there is a high demand and popularity for this type of business.
From the start of my investigation I obtained information from the Abbey centre manager that two of the shops that generated the most sales per annum were clothes shops: showing that the clothing retail industry is clearly a profitable business. From the report I found out that the majority of the customers are below 30yrs old, so I aim to target my business at this market segment. The most popular shop is D2, which is a shop catering for both male and female tastes but it is more male orientated. Other research I carried out showed there is only one male clothes shop so for this reason I feel there is a lack of male clothes shops and the clothes shop I recommend to set up should cater widely for men. The questionnaires showed French Connection was in the running for the most wanted shop at the Abbey centre. French Connection sells for both male and female though is more male orientated, which is that kind of shop I want as it will decrease the lack of male clothes shops yet also satisfy the female demand for clothes shops. French Connection also suits the fashion for those below 30 yrs old. From the database searches I found that medium sized clothes stores are the most popular. I feel I want to avoid setting up a small sized clothes shop as I will not benefit from economies of scale as shown in the spreadsheet conclusions and I also feel that small sized shops do not attract many customers as they appear crowded and having little variation in the clothing. I also want to avoid setting up a large sized clothes store as I am only setting up in business and will need money for resources in my business and so a large shop would drastically effect capital and increase risk. For these reasons I recommend a medium sized clothes store. From the map showing zones in the Abbey centre I recommend setting up my business in zone 4, away from competition of the other popular male clothes stores such as D2, Burtons and Jeanster.
Final Recommendations:
*French Connection, medium sized store, zone 4.
I obtained additional information on the bank and LEDU from the Internet.
Bank of Ireland:
To set up my business I will need a starting capital first of all, which means I can go to the bank for a loan. The bank can offer me a wide range of accounting and finance. The bank of Ireland offers a range of services to meet the needs of start up businesses and to help those businesses grow. These include current account and saving schemes. Overdrafts, asset finance, loans under the small firms loan guarantee scheme, all of which are needed and are useful in setting up a business.
LEDU:
LEDU is the leading agency for local economic development in Northern Ireland. It helps businesses that normally employ fewer than 50 people in the manufacturing and trade services sectors. It is a small business agency for Northern Ireland set up in 1971 to encourage small businesses to grow and become more competitive and so will strengthen the local community. It will provide me with all the necessary information when setting up my business. Its assistance includes:
*Business advice and counselling.
*Business start training.
*Financial training.
The programme meets many needs in the starting up a business process and provides everything initially needed to start up.
Bibliography:
I used the follow sources of information for my investigation:
*School notes: referring to handouts on questionnaires and how LEDU and the bank are useful sources.
*Interviewing the manager of the Abbey centre.
*Textbooks (AS Level Business studies).
*Business studies teacher: Mr N. Irwin.
*Maps of the Abbey centre.
*Customers of the Abbey centre.
*The bank and LEDU website giving advice on loans and business start up.
French connection: I feel it is necessary to mention that there is only one current French connection store opened in Belfast, situated in Cornmarket, and as I found in my questionnaire, it is viewed as a popular shop and I feel it would be welcomed by the Abbey centre customers.
