Business Plan
AraBiC
Preschool Books
XXXXXXXXXX, Cardiff, UK
AraBiC Preschool Books
XXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
Table of Contents
1. Executive
summary 3
2. About
AraBiC preschool books 4
2.1. Mission
statement 4
2.2. Vision
Statement 4
2.3. Goals and
objectives 4
2.4. Business
philosophy 4
2.5. The target
niche 4
2.6. The preschool
and picture book market 4
2.7. Long term goals/ time scale 5
3. Products and services 5
3.1. Products for sale 5
3.2. Services and experience 6
4. Marketing
plan 6
4.1. Preschool Books Market Research 6
4.2. Target consumer 7
4.3. Barriers and how to overcome them 7
4.4. Competition 8
5. market strategy 8
5.1. Social Media / WOM Marketing 8
5.2. Crowd funding 8
6. Operational
and Resource Plan 9
6.1. Production 9
6.2. Imago publishing Suppliers 9
6.3. Publishing process and selling 10
6.4. Location 10
6.5. Inventory 11
6.6. Delivery service 11
6.7. Legal and environment 11
7. Management and Organisation 11
7.1. Personal
financial statement 12
8. Financial
plan 12
8.1. Imago
printing and services price list 12
8.2. Start-up expenses and overheads 13
8.3. Breakeven analysis 13
8.4. Profit and loss 14
9. Limitations
and risk Analysis 15
10. Conclusion 15
References 16
Appendices 18
1. Executive
Summary
AraBiC Preschool Books are a collection of high quality, western
designed baby and toddler books. There are currently no books of this range
available in todays UK market. This makes the product sold unique. The target
consumer for this new business are young western mothers who want to teach
their children Arabic as a first or second language. The
Arabic language is harder to read and pronounce, than English, so parents of
bilingual children in the UK find it hard to compete with the fun, attractive
English language found all around them. Studies show that It is much easier for
a child to learn a second language before the age of 7, (Best Start Resource Centre
2014). It is then crucial for parents to introduce Arabic at the earliest
stage, especially before they enter nursery, which the child tends to speak the
English language more.
The purpose of this business idea is to provide a need in todays
growing baby and toddler market, rather than making a high turnover. Profits
made by year one is approximately 12474, year two is 8110 and year three
would be 8058. New books by new authors or illustrators do not make a great
return but do provide potential and opens doors for future projects and expansion.
The business will be 100% funded by crowd funder
(2016) that means the business cannot result in any losses if the books are
paid for before they are even printed. The finance of this business plan is
straight forward and simple due to many costs, have been reduced or eliminated
as the project manager is the designer, publisher and entrepreneur of the
business.
The market strategy will rely heavily on social
media advertising, and target online communities that the target consumer will
use.
The name of the brand is simple, with the A, B
and C in Arabic standing out to emphasise that it is for early learners. But
still kept in the English language as it is targeted to western mothers. The
name will also be the logo of the brand.
2. About AraBiC preschool books
Arabic preschool books, will be in the publishing and retail business,
the company will design and then retail a range of high quality, western
designed, Arabic preschool books to the public online via its own website and eventually
amazon.
2.1. Mission statement: To design and
sell a range of western style, high quality, attractive Arabic preschool books,
for British mothers who wish to teach their children Arabic.
2.2. Vision Statement: To be the first
high quality, modern Arabic preschool designers and retailers, to be sold in
the UK. To continue to make our enthusiastic customers highly satisfied of our
products and buying experience to retain brand loyalty.
2.3. Goals and objectives: To be the
number one Arabic and preschool book publishers in the world. The business will
not be beaten on quality, design and innovation. It will continue to release new
designs and vocabulary ranges for children under the age of three, which will
be current to the market. Our second goal is to create an online community for
mothers to give opinions and experiences on the books, but also to what they would
want to see made next. This will help brand awareness and to improve the
companys future products and services.
2.4. Business philosophy: Our range of
Arabic preschool books will only have the Arabic language and to not be
translated in English, the books are intended for babies and toddlers to
familiarise themselves and help learn and practise the Arabic tongue, in a fun
and creative way. It is also important that our business to keep a high
positive reputation, to retain brand loyalty and help word of mouth marketing.
2.5. The target niche are mothers who
live in the UK, who want to teach their children Arabic as a first, second or
third language. This will then expand by the 4th year to all mothers
who can access our worldwide shipping.
2.6. The preschool and picture book market has increased by 6% in 2015, (Bookseller 2016). This shows that this
sector is becoming more popular and that there is a demand. Books are also
encouraged by mothers, governments or health visitors that they should be
introduced to children from a very young age. Arabic preschool books, wants to
enter this market that would be supported for the same reasons but to also
satisfy a need for baby and toddler Arabic books in the UK market. Arabic
preschool books will be the first British company to design and sell high
quality preschool books. The books will come in a range of sizes, and martials,
so that babies and toddlers can learn in a fun and safe environment.
2.7. Long term goals/ time scale
|
Time Scale
|
Goals
|
|
1st year
|
Reach
breakeven and sell 50% of stock
|
|
2nd year
|
Create a
healthy brand online community, sell 75% of stock
|
|
3rd year
|
Sell the
remaining stock
|
|
4th year
|
Evaluate.
Restock from suppliers, add 2 new collections. Provide world-wide shipping
and sell on amazon
|
|
5th year
|
Add another 2 collections
|
|
6th year
|
Start up a
small office and additional employee. Enter the Arab market
|
3. Products and Services
3.1. Products for sale
All books will be available to purchase on the AraBiC preschool book
online store only, for the first three years. The website will provide details
of how the products are of high quality and suitable for the target consumer. Books
will be of high quality for them to be passed down from sibling to sibling,
this helps justify the high price and makes them a good investment.
Prices shown in this section match the current high quality English
books in the UK market plus 20%
COLLECTION 1: Two cloth books. The categories
are animals, food and garden, these books are soft and safe for babies to chew,
or for your baby and toddler to sleep with as they are light and have no hard
edges. The books will be sold separately at a retail price of 12
Images
shown above are from the Jellycat baby cloth books, (Jellycat, 2016)
COLLECTION 2: picture
board books, these will have 400gsm thick paper and
will use white card for a high quality finish, that shows off the vibrant
colours. An alphabet, colours, numbers and animals boxset, total of 4 books. At
a retail price of 24
images shown above
are from the ladybird first learners collection, (Waterstones, 2016)
3.2. Services and experience
The website will have a modern vibrant theme to match the books for
sale. The website will be easy to use. There will be a blog page for registered
members to give feedback and to suggest any ideas on how they teach their
children Arabic, or how the books are used. This will create an online
community, with consumer engagement that will create brand loyalty but also
help with social media marketing, (Keller 2014) (Brodie
et al, 2013). There will be Offers on free deliveries on Eid. To help
promote book sales. Customer service is very important, quick delivery, quick
response to enquiries and problems are also important to the consumer
experience.
4. Marketing plan
4.1. Preschool Books Market Research
In 2015 the preschool and picture book market grew by 6% to 72
million. (Bookseller 2015)
According to Nielsons book research 2016, the overall value of
childrens book market in the UK has reached its highest of 309 million in
2015. The most promising sectors showing significant growth were the childrens
fiction, picture books and novelty and activity books.
It was found that schools were effective and widely used to promote
books whereas, Word of mouth marketing and book retailers were used less by the
parents. Arabic books will be targeted to preschool children and to a niche
market of parents, therefore the most sensible option to promote the books
would be via social media, word of mouth and the online store. To support this,
in Nielsons book research report states that in 2015 social media has become
more popular for promoting books to parents via parenting websites.
Penguin Random house, is the dominant publisher in the UK market. In
2015 it has printed just under a quarter of the total print sales in the
Market, and has grown by 9%. The second largest publishers are Hachette UK,
that also includes Hachette Childrens Group, (Mintel 2016).
4.2. Target consumer
The target niche for these books are for Young Arabic or Muslim Mothers.
The UK Muslim community in the UK have a 20.5 billion spending power, with the
UK being one of the worlds most diverse Muslim communities. UK has a
population of 2.78 million Muslims, which is the UKs second largest faith group,
(the Muslim pound report, 2013). 50% of the Muslims in the UK are under the age
of 24, and 335,000 are under the age of 15, and over 1.2 million of Muslims are
born in the UK, (MCB 2015). There is no clear data of what the population of
the target consumer is. However, using the data above, we can assume the target
consumer will be an approximately a population of 400,000.
4.3. Barriers and how to overcome them
High capital and production cost which could then effect the retail
price of the product. Producing a larger number of books could help reduce the
selling price. Using a publisher in china would cost less as labour and
manufacturing is cheaper there. However, it will be hard to trust an online
publisher in china. The quality of the prints might not be as promised. The
supplier used has a UK office, but the printing factory is in china. This makes
contact and printing easier and cheaper.
The UK leaving the EU can affect the buyers spending power if other
household prices increases or work income decreases, (HM Treasury 2016). Delivering
to the EU by the 4th year plan could be effected by new trading laws and
regulations.
4.4. Competition
Currently there no books of this characteristics in the UK market.
Indirect competition would be Arabic apps and television where parents might feel
that is sufficient enough, for children to learn Arabic.
5. Market Strategy
The Arabic preschool books will be the only western style and
quality baby and toddler books in the world. This makes them desirable and
creates a demand in the market by the target consumer. This then gives
opportunity for business to expand to the rest of the world, continuing to
target western mothers who want to teach their children Arabic as a first or
second language. Finally, it can enter the Arabic market by targeting schools
and the whole Arabian and Muslim countries. This business plan will only
concentrate on the start-up and the UK market. The business is a blue ocean
strategy which means there does not need to be a compromise on price, as long
they are priced on value for the consumer, then they will sell well.
5.1. Social Media / WOM Marketing
Previously stated, studies show that UK parents are influenced by
social media for children books. From looking at websites like parenthood
Muslim style and in the play room, and also vlogs on YouTube, it can be
assumed that western Muslim mothers look at these for peer reviews and
communicating. Arabic preschool books will promote on the same influential
websites and request vloggers to trial the books. Famous young, Arabic and British
Muslim mothers like Dina Tokio who has over a million followers on Instagram
has previously vlogged her favourite baby products.
5.2. Crowd funding
The funds will be raised through the crowd funder website. Crowd
funding is a way to raise funds and awareness for this business, (crowd funder,
2016). As previously stated in this report, the books are unique and satisfies
a need for high quality western design Arabic preschool books in the market.
The benefit of crowd funding is that you can see if there is an interest in the
books before the books are made. In return customers who sponsor the project
will be the first to receive the books. Using crowd funding allows the printing
costs to reach its break-even point before it even starts to sell the books, as
the books have been paid for before it has been printed. It is also highly
effective way to raise awareness for the books before they have been printed.
According to crowd funder (2016) the average pledge is 50, and the
average conversion rate for someone to pledge is 5%. This means the project
will need an average of 386 people to donate and 7,720 people to view the page,
out of the 400,000 target consumers, to reach the target fund. As this is a
high pledge compared to the retail price of the books, books will be given to
the funder depending if they have covered the price for a whole book.
6. Operational and Resource Plan
6.1. Production
The books will first be designed by the project manager to achieve a
high quality, western design book. Once all books are designed, each book will
be given a barcode and ISBN. The books will be designed on the Serif Software,
which is a free western styled design software to download online, (serif,
2016).
The designs will then be sent to Imago printers in a pdf format, who
will publish the books on different materials and sizes with different packages
for box sets. These materials will be chosen by the project manager previously to
ensure the correct high quality of materials have been used for each book.
6.2. Imago publishing Suppliers
The suppliers used are called Imago. They are a 35-year-old printing
company based in china and Europe. They are highly experienced and professional
and can print the board books, cloth books and provide packaging for the
boxsets all in the same factory. They will be the only suppliers for the first
2 collections. The books will be printed and delivered from china as It is
cheaper to order the books from the china factory rather than from their EU
factory. The publishers are trustworthy with many high profile clients
including the Twilight Saga, (Imago 2016).
6.3. Publishing process and
selling
Once the order is confirmed, an
order confirmation must be signed by the client (AraBiC Preschool books). This
will include a detailed specification and the pricing that has been agreed upon.
Imago will supply a full schedule based on when the client can supply their pdf
files. Once pdf files are received the client will be sent plotter proofs for
checking and approval. Once these are approved no changes can be made to the
files. Imago will then start to print and bind the books and once completed, the
client will be sent 3 advance copies free of charge from the bulk. These are
sent for approval before packing and shipping, (Imago 2016).
The books will then be stored in the project managers
home as not much space is needed; an integrated garage could store the boxes of
books. The project manager will be in charge of online sales, packaging and
customer service. The website will be designed at set up.
The project manager will need to ensure all orders placed on the day
will be dispatched the second day. The orders will be sealed in letter bags
ready for the delivery service by DPD to collect. DPD has been known for its
latest innovation of creating an app for customers and drivers to contact each
other so that deliveries are never missed, (Mintel,
2016).
As the books offer high quality customer service, online queries
will be answered on the same working day. The business can be run by one individual
as it is an online business, that answers queries by mail not phone. Business
hours will be from 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday.
6.4. Location:
The book storage/office will be located in Cardiff, in the managers
home address. This will be cheap, as no rent, or utility bills will need to be
paid by the business. and more convenient for the project manager. Books need
to be stored in a cool dry place. A garage will allow access for large book
deliveries from the supplier to be loaded into, but also can be accessed from
inside the house for the project manager to check and package stock. One
computer is needed to keep track of orders, delivery and customer enquiries. The
location can be accessed by lorries and DPDs delivery service.
6.5. Inventory:
Books will be stored in an empty clean garage. This does not add any
storage costs to the financial plan. Inventory will be packaged carefully so
that no accidents like moulding or floods can happen. Once the books reach to
the last 50 of each collection another order will be made by the publishing
company. It takes approximately 3 months to order from china. If items are out
of stock, and the suppliers have still not delivered the inventory than books
will be available to pre order, with a given approximate delivery date.
6.6. Delivery service Customers will pay
for delivery, that means delivery costs are not included in the financial plan.
Delivery will be provided by DPD.
6.7. Legal and environment:
There are no safety regulations for board books, however cloth books
do. Imago publishers can certify the cloth books by carrying out safety
assessments for the products.
Imago runs their factory ethically and uses sustainable resources.
Imago is a partner of PREMLIS (publishers resolution of ethical international
manufacturing standards), and are FSC certified which means the Arabic books can
have the FSC logo printed on. (Imago 2016)
There are no VAT charges to import books into the UK. Customs
clearance fees are 45, (Imago 2016). The Business must have an EORI number
before items can be shipped into the UK, this is available to get from the HM
and revenue customs website.
7. Management
and Organisation
The business will be managed by the owner of the business. Once the
design and publication stage is completed, the business will only need one
employee to manage the website, email customer queries and delivery. The
delivery will be outsourced by DPD deliveries.
The project manager has a design undergraduate degree, and a MBA
Marketing degree. With previous design and marketing experience. She is an
Arabic Muslim mother of one boy and one girl, both under the age of two. This
makes the project manager very suitable for the job role, as she can both
design and market the books. She also has previous customer service experience,
by phone and face to face. That will allow her to answer online customer
queries with confidence. Therefore the project manager can relate to the target
consumer as she has the same background and characteristics as many of them. A
resume of the employee will be available in the appendices A
7.1. Personal financial statement
Fully dependant by a family member therefore there are no financial
commitments by the project manager.
8. Financial plan
Many websites like Waterstones have articles to demonstrate how to
self-publish, this means the project manager does not have an agent who takes
any percentage of profits or upfront fees. This business will be self-published
by the project manager, below are the start up expenses to self-publish.
The table below shows 2 prices for printing per book, prices differ
due to the quantity of the order number. the smaller quantity of books will be
ordered as the price per book is not that much different. But to also see if
the business is successful.
8.1. Imago printing and services price list
|
Book type
|
Total quantity of the first order
|
Printing fee per book
|
|
Board books
|
1000
|
6.76*
|
|
|
2000
|
5.68*
|
|
Cloth books
|
2000
|
4.40*
|
|
|
4000
|
3.03*
|
*Prices include product testing and delivery, (this was discussed by
Smith, 2016).
8.2. Start-up expenses and overheads
|
Start-up expenses
|
Costs in GPD
|
|
Total Printing fee
|
6760*
8800*
|
|
Laptop
|
749
|
|
Barcode ISBN
|
149 (this price allows up to 10 ISBN)
|
|
Website design
|
1000 (Web Design 2007)
|
|
Customs clearance
|
45
|
|
Contingencies 10%
|
1750.30**
|
|
total
|
19,253.30
|
*prices include product testing and delivery
** this figure will include unforeseen expenses and free books
vloggers to trial
|
Overheads
|
Year 1
|
Year 2
|
Year 3
|
Total
|
|
Insurance
|
52
|
52
|
52
|
156
|
|
Total expenses for 3 years
|
19,409.30
|
8.3. Break-even analysis
803 of collection 1 and 402 of collection 2 will need to be sold to
reach break-even, that is still less than half of the stock, that means to
reach year ones goal in section 2.7. there will be a profit of (2364 + 2352)
4716
year 1
Total revenue = total costs
24,000 = 19253.30
year 2
Total revenue = total costs
12,000 = 0
year 3
Total revenue = total costs
12,000=0
8.4. Profit and loss
|
Year 1
|
(GPD)
|
|
Sales revenue
|
24000
|
|
Less costs of sales
|
7780*
|
|
Gross profit
|
16220
|
|
Less other expenses (see start-up expenses)
|
3745.30
|
|
Net profit
|
12474.70
|
*prices include product testing and delivery
|
Year 2
|
(GPD)
|
|
Sales revenue
|
12000
|
|
Less costs of sales
|
3890*
|
|
Gross profit
|
8110
|
|
Less other expenses
|
52
|
|
Net profit
|
8058
|
*prices include product testing and delivery
|
Year 3
|
(GPD)
|
|
Sales revenue
|
12000
|
|
Less costs of sales
|
3890*
|
|
Gross profit
|
8110
|
|
Less other expenses
|
52
|
|
Net profit
|
8058
|
*prices include product testing and delivery
9. Limitations and risk Analysis
While AraBiC books are unique and concentrates on retaining its
customers, the time scale of goals is fairly long which could mean the business
is threatened of other new Arabic preschool books entering the same market. If
the business does not keep up its high services and bring in new trending
products into the market. AraBiC preschool books will always be seen as the
original western Arabic preschool book brand.
As a new business and only relying on funds from the consumers, the
project was restricted in size and quantity. That means printing costs would be
higher per book. The retail price must reflect the cost of printing the book, to
reach break-even point and reach a fair profit.
10. Conclusion
This simple and safe business plan will bring something new to the
baby market, it will be a start to creating an Arabic school brand that can
bring out new collections every few years to keep up with the preschool books
market trends.
The crowd funding plan will create a buzz for the business before it
enters the market. Keeping start-up costs low allows for more profit to be
made. With the potential of the near future of delivering worldwide will allow
the business to expand into its own office with much larger inventory.
It is currently in a non-competitive market which gives the business
the upper hand, but by following the unique characteristics in this plan can
help it to still be the leading brand.
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+1 213 5100402
+61 489 995404
+44 203 7692978
4.6
4.72
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