women's clothing store business plan

Clothing Store Business Plan

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Clothing Store Business Plan Template

You’ve come to the right place to create your own business plan.

We have helped over 10,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans and many have used them to start or grow their clothing stores.

Sample Business Plan for Clothing Retailers

Below is an example for each of the key elements of a clothing store business plan that you can use to create your own well-crafted business plan:

Executive Summary

Business overview.

Lisa Jade Fine Clothing is a locally established trendy boutique clothing store located in New Haven, Connecticut.

The store is founded by Lisa Powell and Jade Steele, who are recent university graduates with a passion for fashion and all things modern and trendy. They have spent many years cultivating designs and sketches in their dorm room and are ready to branch out to make their dream a reality. They have researched and found a supplier warehouse who can source good quality material and can manufacture their designs at a reasonable cost.

Lisa Jade Fine Clothing will offer modern and trendy designs geared towards young professionals, college students, and middle and high school students. They will also carry a small assortment of children’s clothing for those young professionals who are fashion conscious with their children.

Product Offering

The following are the products to be offered by Lisa Jade Fine Clothing:

• Young women’s clothing sizes 0 – 16
• Young men’s clothing sizes Small – Adult XXLJunior ladies clothing petite sizes Small – XL
• Junior boys clothing Youth Small – Youth XL
• Boys clothing sizes 2T – Youth Small
• Girls clothing sizes 2T – Youth Small
• Small selection of local handmade jewelry
• Socks and hosiery

Customer Focus

The company’s target customer is the fashion-conscious youth of New Haven who are searching for trendy and unique styles. We will target the stylish youth of New Haven to include middle and high school students, college students, and young professionals.

Management Team

Lisa Jade Fine Clothing is owned and primarily operated by Lisa Powell and Jane Steele. Their youth and focus allows them to make their business their sole and primary responsibility. They will be present at the store the six days it will be open and will make all management and financial decisions. They will also employ the help of 4 – 6 additional part-time hourly employees.

Success Factors

Lisa Jade Fine Clothing is primed for success by offering the following competitive advantages:

• Uniquely tailored and modern designs geared towards the fashion-conscious youth.
• A database that will store a customer profile created in the store so that the customers can receive personalized alerts and messages for when their favorite product becomes available in their size.
• The pricing will be affordable yet on par with other competitors to ensure the highest quality and value for what each customer pays.

Financial Highlights

Lisa Jade Fine Clothing is seeking $150,000 in debt financing to open its boutique retail location in New Haven, Connecticut. The funding will be dedicated for leasehold improvements, design, working capital, and opening inventory. The breakout of the funding is below:

• Store design/build: $50,000
• Opening inventory: $75,000
• Working capital: $25,000

The following graph below outlines the pro forma financial projections for Lisa Jade Fine Clothing.

Company Overview

Who is lisa jade fine clothing.

Lisa Jade Fine Clothing is a boutique, budget friendly clothing store catering to young men, women, tweens, and children. For those consumers seeking the latest trendy styles on Instagram, Lisa Jade Fine Clothing will be sure to accommodate the stylish young person looking for the latest in fashion trends. The company’s small location will be easily accessible and convenient for high school students, college students, and young professionals. Pricing will be modest, yet competitive with a department store.

Lisa Jade Fine Clothing History

Lisa Jade Fine Clothing was founded in 202X by Lisa Powell and Jade Steele of New Haven, Connecticut. Best friends for over 20 years, they have always had a passion for fashion and clothing design. When they shared a dorm room in college, Lisa and Jade began crafting their brand, image, and concept for their first clothing store they would be opening. They didn’t want to limit their concept to just young, trendy females. They felt they would be able to provide fashionable choices for young men, tweens, and children.

During their third year of college, Lisa and Jade began spending more time drawing up designs of their clothing concepts in their dorm room and took a sewing class to be able to learn how to actually make the drawings come to life. After graduation from the local university, the two best friends are now focused on putting their hard work and creativity into an actual boutique shop.

Since incorporation, Lisa Jade Fine Clothing has achieved the following milestones:

• Registered and trademarked the Lisa Jade Fine Clothing brand, logo, and limited liability corporation.
• Determined the store’s location and began preliminary talks with the property management company.
• Developed the store’s social media accounts and began the design of their website www.lisajadefineclothing.com.

Lisa Jade Fine Clothing’s Products

We will sell the following products in our store:

• Young men’s clothing sizes Small – Adult XXL
• Junior ladies clothing petite sizes Small – XL

Industry Analysis

Clothing store sales in the United States have risen steadily from $85.4 billion in 1992 to $189.1 billion today.

Over the next five years, clothing store industry revenue is expected to rise. Many companies that were traditionally store-only businesses have responded to external competition by opening online stores that complement their brick-and-mortar establishments and attracting more customers through social media. The rise of mobile technology is expected to sustain this trend in the future.

Furthermore, retailers will focus on creating more of an in-store experience to try and attract customers in store, such as in-store only promotions, pop-up shops and exclusive collaborations with celebrities and social media influencers.

As consumers experience better financial conditions that favor non essential purchases, revenue growth is expected to continue. When household disposable income is high, consumers have more power to purchase discretionary items, such as clothes. Per capita disposable income is expected to increase over the next five years, paving the way for favorable operating conditions and increased revenues.

Customer Analysis

Demographic profile of target market.

Lisa Jade Fine Clothing will target the young consumers of New Haven, Connecticut. The store will be geared towards individuals in middle school, high school, college, and young professionals. Those young professionals who have children will also be able to shop in the store as it will carry young childrens’ clothing.

The boutique store will be located in a retail shopping center in New Haven, Connecticut where there are other boutique shops and trendy restaurants and coffee shops. The retail center is a hub for all shoppers and is a popular destination for young people to relax, socialize, and shop.

The precise demographics for New Haven, CT are:

Customer Segmentation

Lisa Jade Fine Clothing will primarily target the following customer profiles:

• High school and middle school age consumers looking for the trendiest in latest fashion.
• College age consumers that are looking for trendy clothing at an affordable price.
• Young professionals in search of trendy clothing at an affordable price for themselves and their children.

While Lisa and Jade recognize that middle and high school students do not have their own income, they reside with their parents who likely buy them clothing or give them allowance.

Competitive Analysis

Direct and indirect competitors.

H&M is known for providing the latest in fashion at an affordable price globally. Founded in Stockholm, Sweden in 1947, H&M continues to dominate the affordable fashion industry in global markets. As of November 2019, H&M operates in 74 countries with over 5,000 stores. H&M’s suppliers are able to source the material at competitive costs allowing them to offer their clothing for a fraction of other retail outlets. While H&M dominates in price and fashion, they tend to suffer and receive criticism for the quality of the fabric and stitching. With their strengths in technology, personnel, and global sourcing, H&M is able to revamp their inventory bi-monthly and offer the sophisticated technology component of an app and website for marketing.

Abercrombie & Fitch

Abercrombie & Fitch is an American apparel company targeted towards young men, women, and kids. Founded in 1892 by David Abercrombie and Ezra Fitch, the store has been a staple among young American teens for over a century. Their clothing line is exclusively casual with a large selection of jeans, sweaters, shirts, and shorts. A&F is geared towards the all-American youthful image of modern day. A subsidiary is another popular retailer, Hollister, who sells budget friendly styles of what you would find at an Abercrombie & Fitch store. Because of their strong national presence, A&F offers a professionally designed website, email list, app, and social media accounts that allow them to stay relevant with the trendy young population.

Sons of Yale

Sons of Yale is a local boutique shop located in New Haven, Connecticut catering towards the preppy youth of the local town. Founded by Yale grads in 2002, Sons of Yale is a 1,400 square feet boutique retail shop offering trendy styles for teens, college students, and young professionals indicative of Northeastern U.S. preppy style. Their prices are on the high end and the owners believe that adds to the customer desire. In New Haven, wearing a Sons of Yale item is an indication that you are part of the upscale and luxury community. Their marketing approach is simple, they rely heavily on their Instagram and Facebook business accounts and have a simple website that only includes location, contact information, hours of operation, and numerous professional photographs. A consumer is unable to purchase any items from their website.

Competitive Advantage

Lisa Jade Fine Clothing will be able to offer the following advantages over their competition:

• Lisa Jade will pride itself in using high quality material at affordable prices. They have been able to negotiate with U.S. based suppliers that are able to manufacture their design concepts at an affordable price.
• Lisa Jade will offer several technology advantages, such as a customer profile assessment kept in a database so that their loyal customers will be notified the minute one of their favorite items is available in their size. Lisa and Jade believe that by offering this level of customer service, they will be able to retain and recruit a steady customer base.
• Unique and modern designs crafted from the minds of Lisa and Jade. Most apparel sold in the store will be from the notebook of Lisa and Jade. They will carry very few items that can be purchased from other warehouses. By offering fresh and unique designs that are on the cutting edge of trendy, young people will be flocking to obtain a piece of clothing that can’t be found on 1,000’s of other people around the country.

Marketing Plan

Brand & value proposition.

Lisa Jade Fine Clothing will offer the unique value proposition to its clientele:

• Unique and modern designs only found at Lisa Jade Fine Clothing boutique.
• Customer profile and individualized messaging and communication to its clients.
• Trendy clothing offered at an affordable price to the young people of New Haven, CT.

Promotions Strategy

The promotions strategy for Lisa Jade Fine Clothing are as follows:

Social Media

Lisa and Jade have become social media experts throughout college and will manage their social media business accounts themselves. They have become adept at creating inviting posts and will post their merchandise regularly. They have also already encompassed an Instagram following of over 13,000 followers just by posting teasers and ‘Coming Soon’ posts.

Brand Ambassadors

Lisa Jade Fine Clothing will partner with young people in the area who have a social media following of more than 1,000. As brand ambassadors, Lisa and Jade will provide these young people a few items of merchandise to wear. They’ll then post themselves wearing these items and tag the Lisa and Jade Fine Clothing account so that they gain exposure through all of their followers. These young people get paid a small amount just by posting a few images of them wearing their clothing. While the brand ambassadors will be paid, they will not be part of the company payroll.

Lisa Jade Fine Clothing will be located in an upscale and trendy location in New Haven, Connecticut that garners a lot of retail traffic. The area is known as a popular hangout and shopping destination for consumers of all ages. Their small storefront location will be eye catching and will be positioned between other popular retail shops and the trendiest restaurants.

The pricing of Lisa Jade Fine Clothing will be moderate and on par with competitors so customers feel they receive value when purchasing their items.

Operations Plan

Lisa Jade Fine Clothing will have a relatively simple operations plan.

Operation Functions:

• Lisa and Jade will primarily manage and operate the store themselves. They realize the commitment it will take to ramp up and stabilize their business and are willing to work the 6 days a week the boutique will be open.
• 4 – 6 part time hourly employees to assist with stocking, inventory, merchandise display, and customer service.

Milestones:

Lisa and Jade will have the following milestones complete in the next six months.

• 2/1/202X – Finalize lease agreement for storefront boutique location
• 2/15/202X – Begin build out of leased space
• 4/1/202X – Final walk through and approval of retail space
• 4/15/202X – First shipment of inventory arrives
• 4/16/202X – Stocking and display of merchandise in anticipation of the Grand Opening
• 4/23/202X – Grand Opening of Lisa Jade Fine Clothing

Lisa Jade Fine Clothing will be owned and operated by its founders, Lisa Powell and Jade Steele.

Senior Management

Best friends for over 20 years, Lisa and Jade have always had a passion for fashion and clothing design. When they shared a dorm room in college, Lisa and Jade began crafting their brand, image, and concept for their first clothing store they would be opening. They didn’t want to limit their concept to just young, trendy females. They felt they would be able to provide fashionable choices for young men, tweens, and children.

Aside from themselves, Lisa and Jade will employ the help of 4 – 6 additional part-time employees, and numerous brand ambassadors to assist with growing their brand.

Financial Plan

Key revenue & costs.

The revenue drivers for Lisa Jade Fine Clothing will be the merchandise they carry and sell at their boutique store. They will carry clothing for young women, young men, tweens, and children. They will also carry accessories for young ladies such as purses, wallets, sunglasses, and socks and hose.

The cost drivers will be the cost of procuring their clothing from a local factory that will source the fabric and manufacture the clothing. The net cost will be 20% from what they will price these clothing items. Other cost drivers are the cost to procure accessories and select clothing from other warehouses and overhead expenses such as rent, utilities, and payroll costs.

Funding Requirements and Use of Funds

Key assumptions.

The following outlines the key assumptions required in order to achieve the revenue and cost numbers in the financials and in order to pay off the startup business loan.

• Number of Customers Per Day: 30
• Average Item Cost: $20.50
• Average Ticket per Customer: $47.50
• Annual Lease: $30,000

Financial Projections

Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, free clothing store business plan template pdf.

You can download our free clothing store business plan template PDF here . This is a sample clothing store business plan template you can use in PDF format. You can easily complete your plan using our Clothing Store Business Plan Template here .  

Clothing Boutique Business Plan FAQs

What is a clothing store business plan.

A business plan is a plan to start and/or grow your clothing store. Among other things, it outlines your business concept, identifies your target customers, presents your marketing plan and details your financial projections.

What Are the Main Types of Clothing Stores?

Clothing stores are categorized by the kind of clothing that they sell. Those that sell expensive brands are considered high-end or designer clothing stores. Stores that offer trendy or popular styles, that are similar to premium brands, but lower in quality are called fast fashion brands. The most common type of clothing stores are those that specialize in a specific kind of clothing like athletic apparel, lingerie, children’s clothing and plus size clothing.

What are the Steps To Start a Clothing Store Business?

Starting a clothing store business can be an exciting endeavor. Having a clear roadmap of the steps to start a business will help you stay focused on your goals and get started faster.

Develop A Clothing Store Business Plan – The first step in starting a business is to create a detailed clothing store business plan that outlines all aspects of the venture. This should include potential market size and target customers, the services or products you will offer, pricing and marketing strategies and a detailed financial forecast.  

Choose Your Legal Structure – It’s important to select an appropriate legal entity for your clothing store business. This could be a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Each type has its own benefits and drawbacks so it’s important to do research and choose wisely so that your clothing store business is in compliance with local laws.

Register Your Clothing Store Business – Once you have chosen a legal structure, the next step is to register your clothing store business with the government or state where you’re operating from. This includes obtaining licenses and permits as required by federal, state, and local laws. 

Identify Financing Options – It’s likely that you’ll need some capital to start your clothing store business, so take some time to identify what financing options are available such as bank loans, investor funding, grants, or crowdfunding platforms. 

Choose a Location – Whether you plan on operating out of a physical location or not, you should always have an idea of where you’ll be based should it become necessary in the future as well as what kind of space would be suitable for your operations. 

Hire Employees – There are several ways to find qualified employees including job boards like LinkedIn or Indeed as well as hiring agencies if needed – depending on what type of employees you need it might also be more effective to reach out directly through networking events. 

Acquire Necessary Clothing Store Equipment & Supplies – In order to start your clothing store business, you’ll need to purchase all of the necessary equipment and supplies to run a successful operation. 

Market & Promote Your Business – Once you have all the necessary pieces in place, it’s time to start promoting and marketing your clothing store business. This includes creating a website, utilizing social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, and having an effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. You should also consider traditional marketing techniques such as radio or print advertising. 

Learn more about how to start a successful clothing store business:

How to Start a Clothing Store Business

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Clothing Store / Boutique Business Plan [Sample Template]

By: Author Tony Martins Ajaero

Home » Business ideas » Fashion Industry » Boutique (Clothing Store)

Are you about starting a clothing store ? If YES, here is a complete sample online clothing store business plan template & feasibility study you can use for FREE.

There is hardly any human who doesn’t wear clothes. This is because of the need to cover up nakedness. This can also be the reason why so many clothes manufacturers have sprung up in the last centuries; this is so that they are able to meet the teeming population of people who wear clothes.

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Various clothing designs have evolved over the years too. Therefore, the clothes move from the manufacturers to the consumers.

In between there are [people who are mainly the ones who go between the manufacturers and the consumers. This is one of the reasons why a business such as a clothing store or a boutique as some folks would want to call it, are in existence.

A Sample Clothing Store Business Plan Template

1. industry overview.

One of the reasons why clothing store (boutique) business will continue to thrive is the fact that people can’t do without putting on clothes. People that patronize clothing stores cut across the rich and the poor, the highly place in the society and the lowly placed; everybody need clothes to cover their nakedness.

The clothing store (boutique) industry comprises of small retail stores that sells a limited range of clothing and accessories.

The industry is defined as single-establishment stores only. Clothing stores (boutiques) can be strictly designer based (i.e. only one designer’s collection is sold there), or they may sell a mix of designers’ labels (brands) that are specifically catered to the local market.

Players in the Clothing store (Boutiques) industry are defined as having only one location and typically focus on providing high-end or niche products to consumers. Changing fashion trends and of course consumer well-being is essential to industry growth because products are generally more expensive and rely on consumer discretionary incomes.

As a result, the start of the recession and its lasting effects on the US economy hurt industry performance. Per capita disposable income fell as many individuals lost their jobs; accordingly, consumer confidence plummeted and consumers cut spending, causing the industry to contract in 2009.

The clothing store (boutique) Industry revenue has since recovered; however, the industry is facing more stringent competition than ever before because of a rising number of imports and consumers’ shift to online shopping et al. The clothing store (boutique) industry is indeed a very large industry and pretty much thriving in all the parts of the world.

Statistics has it that in the united states of America alone, there are about 31,615 legally registered clothing stores (boutiques) responsible for employing about 65,810 employees and the industry rakes in a whooping sum of $28bn annually. It is important to state that, there is no company with a dominant market share in this industry.

The industry is projected to grow at 3.1 percent annual growth rate. Over the years, clothing stores (boutiques) have experienced tremendous growth in all cities in the United States of America and in most parts of the world. In response to the ever growing demand for clothes and other fashion accessories, clothing store owners have opened additional stores thereby creating chains of stores across different cities.

They are always ready to expanded into new markets and of course adapt to the ever changing trend in fashion and increase sales.

Over and above, the clothing store (boutique) industry is a profitable industry and it is open for any aspiring entrepreneur to come in and establish his or her business; you can chose to start on a small scale in a street corner like the average mom and pop business or you can chose to start on a large scale with several outlets (chains of stores) in key cities.

2. Executive Summary

Mary & Mack Clothing Store™ is a neighborhood clothing store that will be located in a centralized area between a residential neighborhood and a busy business district in downtown Inglewood – Los Angeles, California. We conducted our feasibility studies and market survey and we came to the conclusion that Inglewood – Los Angeles is the right location for us to launch our clothing store (boutique).

We are in the clothing store (boutique) business to make profits at the same to give our customers value for their money and time whenever they patronize us. We want to give people who patronize our clothing store (boutique) the opportunity to choose from a wide range of both locally and foreign clothing designer labels (brands) at highly affordable prices.

We are aware that there are several small clothing stores and chains of clothing stores all around Los Angeles, which is why we spent time and resources to conduct our feasibility studies and market survey so as to enable us locate the business in an area that will support the growth of the business and also for us to be able offer much more than our competitors will be offering.

We ensured that our facility is easy to locate and our outlet is well secured and equipped with the various payment options available in the U.S. Beyond retailing quality and affordable clothes and fashion accessories in our clothing store, will ensure that our customer care is second to none in the whole of Los Angeles – California.

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

Mary & Mack Clothing Store™ will ensure that all our customers are given first class treatment whenever they visit our store. We have a CRM software that will enable us manage a one on one relationship with our customers no matter how large the numbers of our customer base may grow to.

We will ensure that we get our customers involved in the selection of brands that will be on our racks and also when making some business decisions that will directly or indirectly affect them.

Mary & Mack Clothing Store™ is owned by Mrs. Marry Hennessey – Crowder and family. She has successfully managed several retailing business both in Los Angeles and New York prior to opening her own clothing store. She will run the business alongside her immediate family members. Mrs. Mary Hennessey – Crowder has a Degree in Business Administration from University of California.

3. Our Products and Services

Mary & Mack Clothing Store™ is going to operate a standard and registered neighborhood clothing store that will retail a wide range of clothes and fashion accessories from both local manufacturers and international manufacturers just like any other registered and standard clothing stores in the United States and in any part of the world.

These are some of the products that we will retail in our clothing store (boutique);

• Women’s clothing
• Men’s clothing
• Children’s clothing
• Newborn clothing
• Maternity Clothing
• Footwear (Shoes, Canvas, Sandals and Slippers et al)
• Other fashion accessories (belt, handbags, sun shades, caps, hats and wristwatches et al)

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

• Our vision is to establish a one stop clothing store (boutique) in Los Angeles – California and in other cities in the United States of America.
• Our mission is to establish a clothing store business that will make available a wide range of clothes and fashion accessories from top brands at affordable prices to the residence of Los Angeles – California and other cities in the United States of America where we intend opening our outlets and selling our franchise.

Our Business Structure

Mary & Mack Clothing Store™ do not intend to start a clothing store business like the usual street corner clothing store (boutique) business; our intention of starting a clothing store business is to build a standard clothing store (boutique) that will be a one – stop shop for both old and young people, rich and poor people and male and female et al which is why we will ensure that we put the right structure in place that will support the kind of growth that we have in mind while setting up the business.

We will ensure that we only hire people that are qualified, honest, customer centric and are ready to work to help us build a prosperous business that will benefit all the stake holders (the owners, workforce, and customers).

As a matter of fact, profit-sharing arrangement will be made available to all our management staff and it will be based on their performance for a period of five years or more especially when we start selling our franchise or running chains of clothing stores.

In view of that, we have decided to hire qualified and competent hands to occupy the following positions;

• Chief Executive Officer (Owner)
• Store Manager

Merchandize Manager

Sales and Marketing Manager

Information Technologist

• Accountants/Cashiers

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

Chief Executive Officer – CEO (Owner):

• Increases management’s effectiveness by recruiting, selecting, orienting, training, coaching, counseling, and disciplining managers; communicating values, strategies, and objectives; assigning accountabilities; planning, monitoring, and appraising job results; developing incentives; developing a climate for offering information and opinions; providing educational opportunities.
• Creating, communicating, and implementing the organization’s vision, mission, and overall direction – i.e. leading the development and implementation of the overall organization’s strategy.
• Responsible for fixing prices and signing business deals
• Responsible for providing direction for the business
• Responsible for signing checks and documents on behalf of the company
• Evaluates the success of the organization

Store Manager:

• Responsible for managing the daily activities in the store
• Ensure that the store facility is in tip top shape and conducive enough to welcome customers
• Maintains office supplies by checking stocks; placing and expediting orders; evaluating new products.
• Ensures operation of equipment by completing preventive maintenance requirements; calling for repairs.
• Updates job knowledge by participating in educational opportunities; reading professional publications; maintaining personal networks; participating in professional organizations.
• Enhances department and organization reputation by accepting ownership for accomplishing new and different requests; exploring opportunities to add value to job accomplishments.
• Defining job positions for recruitment and managing interviewing process
• Carrying out staff induction for new team members
• Responsible for training, evaluation and assessment of employees
• Interfaces with third – party providers (vendors)
• Control the sales floor inventory
• Ensure that clothes and fashion accessories are properly arranged
• Supervise the entire sales staff and workforce
• Handles any other duty as assigned by the CEO
• Manage vendor relations, market visits, and the ongoing education and development of the organizations’ buying teams
• Help to ensure consistent fashion trend and quality of clothes and fashion accessories on our rack
• Responsible for the purchase of clothes and other fashion accessories for the organizations
• Responsible for planning sales, monitoring inventory, selecting the merchandise, and writing and pricing orders to vendors
• Ensures that the organization operates within stipulated budget.
• Manage external research and coordinate all the internal sources of information to retain the organizations’ best customers and attract new ones
• Model demographic information and analyze the volumes of transactional data generated by customer purchases
• Identifies, prioritizes, and reaches out to new partners, and business opportunities et al
• Responsible for supervising implementation, advocate for the customer’s needs, and communicate with clients
• Develops, executes and evaluates new plans for expanding increase sales
• Document all customer contact and information
• Represents the company in strategic meetings
• Helps to increase sales and growth for the company
• Manages the organization website
• Handles e-commerce aspect of the business
• Responsible for installing and maintenance of computer software and hardware for the organization
• Manages logistics and supply chain software, Web servers, e-commerce software and POS (point of sale) systems
• Manages the organization’s CCTV
• Handles any other technological and IT related duties.

Accountant/Cashier

• Responsible for preparing financial reports, budgets, and financial statements for the organization
• Provides managements with financial analyses, development budgets, and accounting reports; analyzes financial feasibility for the most complex proposed projects; conducts market research to forecast trends and business conditions.
• Responsible for financial forecasting and risks analysis.
• Performs cash management, general ledger accounting, and financial reporting
• Responsible for developing and managing financial systems and policies
• Responsible for administering payrolls
• Ensures compliance with taxation legislation
• Handles all financial transactions for the organization
• Serves as internal auditor for the organization

Client Service Executive

• Ensures that all contacts with customer (e-mail, walk-In center, SMS or phone) provides the client with a personalized customer service experience of the highest level
• Through interaction with customers on the phone, uses every opportunity to build client’s interest in the company’s products and services
• Manages administrative duties assigned by the store manager in an effective and timely manner
• Consistently stays abreast of any new information on Mary & Mack Clothing Store™ products, promotional campaigns etc. to ensure accurate and helpful information is supplied to our customers when they make enquiries
• Responsible for cleaning the store facility at all times
• Ensures that toiletries and supplies don’t run out of stock
• Cleans both the interior and exterior of the store facility
• Handles any other duty as assigned by the restaurant manager.

6. SWOT Analysis

Our intention of starting just one outlet of our clothing store in Inglewood, Los Angeles – California is to test run the business for a period of 2 to 4 years to know if we will invest more money, expand the business and then open other chains of clothing stores all over California and perhaps also sell franchise through the United States of America and Canada.

We are quite aware that there are several clothing stores all over Los Angeles and even in the same location where we intend locating ours, which is why we are following the due process of establishing a business.

We know that if a proper SWOT analysis is conducted for our business, we will be able to position our business to maximize our strength, leverage on the opportunities that will be available to us, mitigate our risks and be welled equipped to confront our threats.

Mary & Mack Clothing Store™ employed the services of an expert HR and Business Analyst with bias in retailing to help us conduct a thorough SWOT analysis and to help us create a Business model that will help us achieve our business goals and objectives.

This is the summary of the SWOT analysis that was conducted for Mary & Mack Clothing Store™;

Our location, the business model we will be operating on ( one stop physical store and online store ), varieties of payment options, wide range of clothes and other fashion accessories from local and international manufacturing brand, opening 24 hours a day and 7 days a week and our excellent customer service culture will definitely count as a strong strength for Mary & Mack Clothing Store™.

One major weakness that may count against us is the fact that we are a new clothing store in Inglewood – Los Angeles and we don’t have the financial capacity to engage in the kind of publicity that we intend giving the business.

• Opportunities:

The fact that we are going to operate our clothing store in one of the busiest district in Los Angeles – California provides us with unlimited opportunities to sell our items to a large number of people.

We have been able to conduct a thorough feasibility studies and market survey and we know what our potential customers/residence within the location where our clothing store will be located will be looking for when they visit our clothing store. We are well positioned to take on the opportunities that will come our way.

We are quite aware that just like any other business, one of the major threats that we are likely going to face is economic downturn. It is a fact that economic downturn affects purchasing and spending power. Another threat that may likely confront us is the arrival of a new clothing store in same location where ours is located.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

• Market Trends

One major trend over the years in the clothing store (boutique) industry is that, clothing stores (boutiques) have experienced tremendous growth in all cities in the United States of America and in most parts of the world. In response to the ever growing demand for clothes and other fashion accessories, clothing store owners have opened additional stores thereby creating chains of stores across different cities.

As a matter of fact, it is common to find clothing stores located alongside a busy road, in a busy community, in an urban area, or near a railway or railroad station or other transport hub. In some countries like the United States, united kingdom and France et al, clothing stores are known to be opened 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

If you keep tabs on the clothing store business and retailing business generally, you would have noticed that It is now a common phenomenon for retail outlets to leverage on technology to effectively predict consumer demand patterns and to strategically position their store to meet their needs; in essence, the use of technology help retailers to maximize supply chain efficiencies.

No doubt data collected from customers goes a long way to help retail stores serve them better. Another common trend in the retailing industry of which clothing store falls under is the pricing system.

Aside from having varieties and quality of the items in a convenience store, one of the easiest ways for players in this line of business to sell the items on their racks as fast as they can and keep re – stocking is to ensure that the prices of their items are a bit lower than what is obtainable in elsewhere. For example, it is common to see items with prices in this format; $3.99, $99 and $199 et al as against $4.00, $100 and $200.

8. Our Target Market

When it comes to selling items that are found in clothing stores, there is indeed a wide range of available customers. In essence, our target market can’t be restricted to just a group of people, but all those who resides in the locations where we intend opening our clothing store.

One thing is certain; we will ensure that we only retail quality and affordable clothes and other fashion accessories in our clothing store. In view of that, we have positioned our clothing store to service the residence of Los Angeles – California and every other location where our clothing stores will be located all over the United States of America and Canada.

We have conducted our market research and we have ideas of what our target market would be expecting from us. We are in business to retail our clothes and fashion accessories to the following groups of people;

• Male and Female
• Toddles and Newborn Babies
• Bachelors and Spinsters
• Corporate Executives
• Business People
• About to wed couples
• Expectant Mothers (Maternity Gowns)
• Sports Men and Women
• Celebrities

Our Competitive Advantage

Mary & Mack Clothing Store™ is launching a standard and registered clothing store that will indeed become the preferred choice of residence of Inglewood, Los Angeles – California and in every other locations where our chains of clothing stores will be opened.

Our clothing store is located in a corner piece property on a busy road directly opposite one of the largest residential estates in Los Angeles and few meters away from a busy business district. We have enough parking space that can accommodate well over 25 cars per time.

One thing is certain; we will ensure that we have a wide range of quality and affordable clothes and fashion accessories from top fashion labels available in our store at all times. It will be difficult for customers to visit our store and not see the cloth or fashion items that they are looking for. One of our business goals is to make Mary & Mack Clothing Store™ a one stop fashion shop.

Our excellent, highly experienced and qualified management team, customer service culture, online store, various payment options and highly secured facility with enough packing space will also serve as a competitive advantage for us.

Lastly, all our employees will be well taken care of, and their welfare package will be among the best within our category (startups clothing stores in the United States) in the industry. It will enable them to be more than willing to build the business with us and help deliver our set goals and achieve all our business aims and objectives.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

• Sources of Income

Mary & Mack Clothing Store™ is established with the aim of maximizing profits in the clothing store (boutique) industry and we are going to go all the way to ensure that we do all it takes to sell a wide range of clothes and fashion accessories from a wide range of fashion labels to a wide range of customers.

Mary & Mack Clothing Store™ will generate income by retailing the following items;

10. Sales Forecast

It is important to state that our sales forecast is based on the data gathered during our feasibility studies, market survey and also some of the assumptions readily available on the field.

One thing is common with clothing store business, the larger a clothing store (including varieties of quality clothes and fashion accessories at affordable prices), the larger the numbers of customers that will patronize them. Although we may not be as large as the biggest clothing stores or retailers in the United States.

But we will ensure that within our capacity we make available a wide range of clothes and fashion accessories et al from different brands both local and foreign manufacturers in our store. Below are the sales projections that we were able to come up with for the first three years of operations;

• First Year-: $75,000
• Second Year-: $250,000
• Third Year-: $700,000

N.B : This projection is done based on what is obtainable in the industry and with the assumption that there won’t be any major economic meltdown and the arrival of a competitor in same location as ours within the period stated above. Please note that the above projection might be lower and at the same time it might be higher.

• Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

Before choosing a location for Mary & Mack Clothing Store™, we conduct a thorough market survey and feasibility studies in order for us to be able to be able to penetrate the available market and become the preferred choice for residence of Los Angeles – California and in every other cities where our chains of clothing stores will be opened.

We have detailed information and data that we were able to utilize to structure our business to attract the numbers of customers we want to attract per time.

We hired experts who have good understanding of the clothing store / retailing industry to help us develop marketing strategies that will help us achieve our business goal of winning a larger percentage of the available market in Los Angeles – California.

In other to continue to be in business and grow, we must continue to sell the products that are available in our store which is why we will go all out to empower or sales and marketing team to deliver. In summary, Mary & Mack Clothing Store™ will adopt the following sales and marketing approach to win customers over;

• Introduce our clothing store (boutique) by sending introductory letters to residence, business owners and organizations in and around Los Angeles – California
• Open our clothing store with an open house party for people in the community
• Advertise our business in community based newspapers, local TV and radio stations
• List our business on yellow pages ads (local directories)
• Leverage on the internet to promote our business
• Engage in direct marketing
• Encourage word of mouth marketing (referrals) from satisfied and loyal customers

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

Despite the fact that our clothing store is well located, we will still go ahead to intensify publicity for the business. We are going to explore all available means to promote our clothing store.

Mary & Mack Clothing Store™ has a long term plan of opening chains of clothing stores in various locations all around the United States of America and Canada which is why we will deliberately build our brand to be well accepted in Los Angeles – California before venturing out.

As a matter of fact, our publicity and advertising strategy is not solely for winning customers over but to effectively communicate our brand to the public. Here are the platforms we intend leveraging on to promote and advertise Mary & Mack Clothing Store™;

• Place adverts on both print (community based newspapers and magazines) and electronic media platforms
• Sponsor relevant community programs
• Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like; Instagram, Facebook , twitter, et al to promote our brand
• Install our Bill Boards on strategic locations all around Los Angeles – California
• Engage in road show from time to time in and around the location of clothing store
• Distribute our fliers and handbills in target areas in the community where our clothing store is located
• Position our Flexi Banners at strategic positions in the location where our clothing store is located.
• Advertise our clothing store in our official website and employ strategies that will help us pull traffic to the site.
• Ensure that all our staff members wear our branded shirts and all our vehicles and trucks are well branded with our company logo et al.

12. Our Pricing Strategy

Pricing is one of the key factors that gives leverage to clothing stores and retailing business generally, it is normal for consumers to go to places (clothing stores) where they can get good quality clothes and fashion accessories at cheaper price which is why big players in the clothing store / retail industry like attract loads of consumers.

We know we don’t have the capacity to compete with other bigger clothing stores and retailer, but we will ensure that the prices of all the items that are available in our clothing store are competitive with what is obtainable amongst clothing stores (boutiques) within our level and in our location.

• Payment Options

At Mary & Mack Clothing Store™, our payment policy is all inclusive because we are quite aware that different people prefer different payment options as it suits them. Here are the payment options that will be available in every of our outlets;

• Payment by via bank transfer
• Payment via online bank transfer
• Payment via check
• Payment via bank draft
• Payment via mobile money
• Payment with cash

In view of the above, we have chosen banking platforms that will help us achieve our payment plans without any itches.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

• The Total Fee for Registering the Business in California – $750.
• Legal expenses for obtaining licenses and permits as well as the accounting services ( software, P.O.S machines and other software ) – $1,300.
• Marketing promotion expenses for the grand opening of Mary & Mack Clothing Store™ in the amount of $3,500 and as well as flyer printing ( 2,000 flyers at $0.04 per copy ) for the total amount of – $3,580.
• Cost for hiring Business Consultant – $2,500.
• Insurance (general liability, workers’ compensation and property casualty) coverage at a total premium – $2,400.
• Cost for payment of rent for 12 month at $1.76 per square feet in the total amount of $105,600.
• Cost for Shop remodeling ( construction of racks and shelves ) – $20,000.
• Other start-up expenses including stationery ( $500 ) and phone and utility deposits – $2,500.
• Operational cost for the first 3 months (salaries of employees, payments of bills et al) – $60,000
• The cost for Start-up inventory (stocking with a wide range of both locally and imported quality clothes and fashion accessories from different manufacturing brands) – $70,000
• Cost for store equipment (cash register, security, ventilation, signage) – $13,750
• Cost of purchase and installation of CCTVs – $5,000
• The cost for the purchase of furniture and gadgets ( Computers, Printers, Telephone, TVs, Sound System, tables and chairs et al ) – $4,000.
• The cost of Launching a Website – $600
• The cost for our opening party – $7,000
• Miscellaneous – $10,000

We would need an estimate of $250,000 to successfully set up a standard and well stocked clothing store in Los Angeles – California. Please note that this amount includes the salaries of all the staff for the first month of operation.

Generating Funding/Startup Capital for Mary & Mack Clothing Store™

Mary & Mack Clothing Store™, is a family business that is solely owned and financed by Mrs. Marry Hennessey – Crowder and family. They do not intend to welcome any external business partner, which is why he has decided to restrict the sourcing of the start – up capital to 3 major sources.

These are the areas we intend generating our start – up capital;

• Generate part of the start – up capital from personal savings
• Source for soft loans from family members and friends
• Apply for loan from my Bank

N.B: We have been able to generate about $100,000 (Personal savings $75,000 and soft loan from family members $25,000) and we are at the final stages of obtaining a loan facility of $150,000 from our bank. All the papers and document have been signed and submitted, the loan has been approved and any moment from now our account will be credited with the amount.

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

The future of a business lies in the numbers of loyal customers that they have the capacity and competence of the employees, their investment strategy and the business structure. If all of these factors are missing from a business (company), then it won’t be too long before the business close shop.

One of our major goals of starting Mary & Mack Clothing Store™ is to build a business that will survive off its own cash flow without the need for injecting finance from external sources once the business is officially running.

We know that one of the ways of gaining approval and winning customers over is to retail our clothes and other fashion accessories a little bit cheaper than what is obtainable in the market and we are well prepared to survive on lower profit margin for a while.

Mary & Mack Clothing Store™ will make sure that the right foundation, structures and processes are put in place to ensure that our staff welfare are well taken of. Our company’s corporate culture is designed to drive our business to greater heights and training and re – training of our workforce is at the top burner of our business strategy.

As a matter of fact, profit-sharing arrangement will be made available to all our management staff and it will be based on their performance for a period of three years or more as determined by the board of the organization. We know that if that is put in place, we will be able to successfully hire and retain the best hands we can get in the industry; they will be more committed to help us build the business of our dreams.

Check List/Milestone

• Business Name Availability Check: Completed
• Business Registration: Completed
• Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts: Completed
• Securing Point of Sales (POS) Machines: Completed
• Opening Mobile Money Accounts: Completed
• Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
• Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
• Application for business license and permit: Completed
• Purchase of Insurance for the Business: Completed
• Leasing of facility and remodeling the shop: In Progress
• Conducting Feasibility Studies: Completed
• Generating capital from family members: Completed
• Applications for Loan from the bank: In Progress
• Writing of Business Plan: Completed
• Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
• Drafting of Contract Documents and other relevant Legal Documents: In Progress
• Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
• Graphic Designs and Printing of Packaging Marketing / Promotional Materials: In Progress
• Recruitment of employees: In Progress
• Purchase of the Needed furniture, racks, shelves, computers, electronic appliances, office appliances and CCTV: In progress
• Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
• Creating Awareness for the business both online and around the community: In Progress
• Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement (License): Secured
• Opening party / launching party planning: In Progress
• Compilation of our list of designers’ labels and fashion accessories that will be available in our clothing store: Completed
• Establishing business relationship with vendors – wholesale suppliers of various brands of clothes and other fashion accessories that we intend retailing: In Progres.