Executive summary (1 page) What is your business idea? .What did you do to test your business idea (e.g., interview, survey, prototype…)? Describe your future milestones with time frame (i.e. actio

Executive summary (1 page) What is your business idea? .What did you do to test your business idea (e.g., interview, survey, prototype…)? Describe your future milestones with time frame (i.e. actio
Business Plan Group 7 Ashna Sharma Simran Basanti Charan Tagger Jordan Trau Saud Chaudhry Aaliyan Abbasi Asper School of Business ENTR 2030: Introduction to Entrepreneurship Dr. Junyon Im December 13th, 2022 Executive Summary What is your business idea? What did you do to test your business idea (e.g., interview, survey, prototype…)? Describe your future milestones with a time frame (i.e. action plans). Final decision: go or no go or need further test. Curly Confidence is a personalized hair service company that is designed to cater to the individual needs of each of our customers. We provide customized hair products based on the customer’s hair type, texture and personal requirements. Our website will feature a pre-designed questionnaire which will give us an insight into the customer’s hair needs and wants. The questionnaire will also include an option to upload images of the customer’s hair texture so that our experts can customize the products accordingly. Our packages will include products from shampoo and conditioner to curl cream and hairspray and the customer will have the option to choose the products they’d like in bundles. We also offer a monthly subscription fee where the customer will pay an amount which will be decided by the surveys we have distributed among people. With the subscription, customized packages will be sent on a routine basis set by the customer and once the customer has used their product, we will send them a refill at a much discounted price. Customers have the option to purchase their custom formula on either a subscription basis or a one-time purchase. Additionally, they can opt for an eco-friendly route and mail back our glass bottles for a refill of their custom formula at a discounted price. Our first step is to create a website and the pre-designed questionnaire. We will then conduct surveys and interviews to gain an understanding of the customer’s needs and wants. We will then develop our products and packages based on the feedback received from our surveys. After that, we will create a marketing strategy to reach our target audience. Finally, we will track our progress and analyze our results to ensure that our products and services are meeting the customer’s needs and expectations. Our goal is to provide quality hair care products at an affordable price that are tailored to the individual needs of each customer. We are confident that our personalized approach to hair care and the convenience of our subscription packages will be attractive to our target market and will be beneficial to our customers. The Problem and Solution Describe the problem/need. A woman’s hair is very much a part of her identity since it is associated with attractiveness, femininity, and personality (Hunt and McHale, 2005). Many curly-haired women have felt pressured to not deviate from the mainstream beauty standards of straight hair that has been instilled into the collective consciousness for many years (Patton, 2006). Moreover, a sizable portion of curly-haired women are people of colour who have historically been underrepresented and discriminated against (Patton, 2006). As a result, they restyle their hair according to the norm through the use of chemical treatments, heat styling, and they use ‘one-fits-all’ hair products (Patton, 2006). Problems associated with the use of such products and treatments include hair breakage, dryness, skin irritation, and frizzy hair (Watson, 2022). In a study performed by Bryant and colleagues on curly-haired women, they discovered that approximately sixty percent of participants experienced hair breakage when using heat styling (2012). The researchers concluded that women who use chemical treatments and heat styling techniques were more likely to experience hair breakage (Bryant et al., 2012). Furthermore, chemical treatments containing formaldehyde have been linked to severe damage to hair cuticles and hair loss (Hatsbach de Paula, 2022). This is an alarming issue as Hunt and McHale claim “about 40% of women with alopecia have had marital problems as a consequence, and about 63% claim to have had career related problems” (2005). These women were also at higher risk of developing mental illnesses such as anxiety disorder, depression, and social phobia (Hunt and McHale, 2005). Following the restyling of curly hair, the use of ‘one-fits-all’ hair shampoos exacerbates hair problems since most contain sulfates (McVean, 2017). The chemical helps create lather which strips away oil and dirt from the hair and scalp, but this can cause scalp irritation and hair dryness (McVean, 2017).Therefore, curly-haired women’s underrepresentation is also reflected in the lack of product variety and they have access to. Explain the importance of the problem/need and also explain why the problem/need persists. Curly hair can be very difficult to style as there is so much variation in curl patterns. Many young women struggle to identify the right products for their hair, as it is overwhelming to find the one product that works, out of the countless products available in the market. A misconception surrounding natural hair is that it can be categorized into one hair type, “When talking about hair that isn’t straight, people and brands tend to lump curly hair into its big category, assuming that all coils, kinks, curls, and waves can have a one-size-fits-all approach” (Smock, 2022). Following this approach majority of hair care companies design products that are targeted toward all different types of natural hair. The lack of knowledge and understanding that individuals have unique hair type and curls pattern leaves customers (young girls) in an overwhelming situation of not understanding what work best for them. Identifying the right routine can be a daunting task as it is important to choose products that nurture and strengthen your curls (Claudine, 2022). This process requires a lot of trial and error which is not only expensive but can take a lot of time and effort. A certain product might give tremendous results for one person but might be miserable for others. Many women have stated that finding the right products is the most difficult part of styling natural curls. In an article written by Claudine, she states that “One of the things I really struggled with when I started doing the Curly Girl Method was figuring out what products my hair liked.” (Claudine, 2022). Young women lack knowledge in identifying the right products for themselves, therefore require external support to find the right products for them. Describe your solution and explain how it works for your customers (e.g., interview, survey, prototype, pictures…). Our solution consists of three major steps. It begins with having our customer take our pre designed questionnaires which consists of some general question such as hair type, thickness and density etc. The questionnaire will allow them to analyze their hair and identify some of the key characteristics that makes it unique. At the end of the questionnaire, customers are required to upload a picture of their natural hair without any product or styling for us better understand any loose end ends that might be lingering from the survey answers. Next, we will be analyzing the data and put it into different categories such as needs and wants. The needs component will focus primarily on what the ultimate goal of our service will be. For example, after studying a particular customer’s hair it is evident that it needs to be treated for heat damage. Therefore, our products will have a greater focus on correcting heat damage. The wants component can range from what the customer is looking for such as a full routine or certain product only, to the type of scent they want in their product. This data will be further analyzed by our experts and implemented in producing customized products for our customers. Lastly, we will take all our customized products to prepare a package along with a step-by-step guide for our customers. Each product will be numbered based on when it should be used. For example, shampoo would be step one and serum step 6. The numbering on these products will align with our step-by-step guide to provide clear instructions on how to use each product with different techniques. Customers and Market Size Describe your target customers (their characteristics; demographic information, psychographic information, lifestyle…). According to the data collected from our questionnaires…..The buyer profile of our target customers are curly haired Canadian women between the ages of 16 and 35 years old because people of this age range are more likely to be familiar with online purchases and navigating the web, and they are likely to lead fast paced lives that prioritizes convenience. Also, this age range is targeted because we believe it contains both: younger women who have not yet found a combination of hair products and styling techniques agreeable with their hair type, and experienced women who have grown frustrated after years of trying to find a solution. As previously stated, a sizable portion of curly haired women are people of colour who have historically been under-represented (Patton, 2006). How big is your market? Estimate TAM, SAM, & SOM. The market for our product is a niche market as At Curly Confidence, the buyer profile of our target customers are curly haired Canadian women between the age of 16 and 35 years old. We are targeting a very small number of women who are aged between 16-35 and who have curly hair. The TAM (Total available market) is the total market demand for a product or service. For Curly Confidence, they are all women who have curly hair all around the world. An article by BONATIQ tells us that “Over 60% of the world’s population has curly hair” ( BONATIQ, 2017). Curly confidence will be able to cater to all of the women in the world who have curly hair as it is a personalized hair service company that produces customized products based on the needs of our customers. The SAM (Serviceable Available Market) is the segment of the TAM targeted by your products and services which is within your geographical reach. For Curly Confidence, the SAM is the Canadian women who have curly hair because curly confidence offers customizable products according to the hair texture of their customers which are targeted towards Canadian women. We can target Canadian women of all ages with curly hair as they are well within our reach. An article by the Northsore news states that up to 15 percent of Canadian women have reportedly said that they have curly hair (Northshore News, 2013). Our service (company?) can target these 15 percent of Canadian women as they have curly hair. Curly confidence will be easily accessible to them as it is a local brand and Canadian women will have access to it as it is in their geographical reach. Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM) is the portion of SAM that you can capture. For Curly Confidence, The SOM is the canadian women who have curly hair who are aged between 16-35. That is because we can capture this portion of customers as it contains both: younger women who have not yet found a combination of hair products and styling techniques agreeable with their hair type, and experienced women who have grown frustrated after years of trying to find a solution. Curly confidence will be the answer to the younger women who have not yet found a combination of hair products and who have not yet found the right styling techniques for their hair as Curly confidence will allow the younger women to fill out a questionnaire which will give the experts a better understanding of their hair. It will also be the answer for the older women who have become frustrated by trying other products various times. Curly Competitor Analysis and Differentiation Identify competitors (at least three competitors) and explain how your solution is different. Curly Confidence faces a few competitors in the custom hair care industry. Firstly, Function of Beauty is a company founded in 2015 (Function of Beauty, 2022). It asks customers to fill out a questionnaire to identify their main hair goals. It also gives customers the opportunity to select the scent and color of their shampoo and conditioner. Once all the selections are made by the customer, Function of Beauty creates a custom shampoo and conditioner based off the customer’s answers. Function of Beauty, though it claims to be custom isn’t fully. The company uses a “base” version of shampoo and conditioner that is then mixed with pre-made “booster shots” (Function of Beauty, 2022). For example, if a customer selects damage repair as one of their main hair goals, a pre-made damage repair “booster shot” is added to the base. Customers can purchase Function of Beauty shampoo and conditioner as a subscription or a one time purchase. It is priced at $54.91 CAD for a one time purchase of two 8oz bottles of shampoo and conditioner. Prose is a newer custom hair care brand that also asks customers to fill out a questionnaire. The questionnaire is very detailed and slightly lengthy. It takes into account many factors such as scalp health, hair treatments, oil production and even where the customer lives and how the weather affects their hair health. Once the customer has filled out the questionnaire, Prose informs the customer of which areas need the most help (damage, dryness, excess oil production etc.) and of what ingredients will be added to their formula to target their main issues. The majority of ingredients used by Prose are natural ingredients such as fermented rice water, bamboo charcoal, apple cider vinegar and kombucha. Customers can buy products one time or on a subscription basis. For a one time purchase, two 8.5 fl oz bottles of shampoo and conditioner are priced at $74CAD (Prose, 2022). Our third competitor is Strands. Strands asks that customers use their test kit to provide a scalp sample and a hair sample. Customers can run the provided test card along the part of their hair and trim off a piece of their hair to have sent back to the company. Strands then analyzes both samples to formulate a custom shampoo and conditioner. They may either subscribe or purchase the shampoo and conditioner one time. A one-time purchase of two 8oz bottles is $68 CAD (Strands, 2022). Demonstrate why your solution is better than those of competitors. Given the three previously mentioned competitors, it’s important that Curly Confidence distinguishes it’s competitive advantage. One area the other three companies are lacking in is the price point. In a survey our group conducted (which accrued 108 responses), we found that one of the main concerns from potential customers about a product like this is that because it’s custom it could potentially be very expensive. We also asked what price they would be willing to pay for a one time purchase of a single product. Respondents responded with prices ranging from $10 to $60, bringing us to an average of $26.56 per product for a one time purchase. With this in mind, we’ve decided to keep our prices lower in comparison to our competitors to accommodate our customer segment of younger women (who may not be fully financially stable yet) and the responses from our potential customers via the survey. In addition to the price point, Curly Confidence plans on using human emotion to its advantage. Entrepreneurship: The Practice and Mindset by Neck et al. (2021) states that, “if companies can identify the most powerful emotional motivators for their customers, they are likely to have a competitive advantage” (p.425 – 426). It also mentions that customers who feel emotionally connected to a company are 52% more valuable to the company than customers who aren’t (Neck et al., 2021, p.425). A high impact motivator mentioned is “feeling secure” and Curly Confidence plans to evoke this feeling in its customer by providing effective hair care to help women embrace their natural hair texture and therefore, their natural self. Lastly, the concept of a blue ocean versus a red ocean in marketing depicts the idea that a companies who enter a market with many cutthroat competitors enter a red bloody ocean and companies who differentiate themselves enough to enter a new and unexplored market, enter a blue ocean (Kim & Mauborgne, 2016). A great example of a company who remains in the blue ocean for decades is Nintendo. Nintendo’s main competitors in the red ocean would’ve been Xbox and Playstation, however the style of video games has differentiated itself far enough from them, to be in a different “ocean” or market entirely. Revenue Models Describe and justify your revenue models. The subscription revenue model for Curly Confidence involves our target market choosing the vast number of bundles available that are different prices. Some with fewer items have a lower cost while others with a full set of hair products are set at a higher price. For instance, our basic bundle which is just a shampoo and conditioner is $24.99 per month while our luxe bundles are just $50 per month each, which contains an assortment of numerous products. When shopping on the website, our customers will have the chance to either buy a bundle as a one-time purchase, for a three-month subscription or for six months. If a subscription is chosen, customers can send packages directly to their preferred location on a routine basis most comfortable for them. Incentives such as free shipping, and a 15% discount will be included for the first month when joining the six-month plan. As our subscription only goes up to six months, some consumers will choose not to renew the plan. However, customers who previously bought a subscription but did not renew can still be known to spend more than those who had not (Iyengar et al., 2020). Using this revenue model will be effective in increasing our revenue as it will cause our target market to buy our products more regularly due to the vast amount we provide (Iyengar et al., 2020). The razor-and-razor-blade revenue model, a version of the unit sales revenue model, is emphasized with our refill feature. To reduce the amount of glass containers we are using, our refill option gives customers the ability to send their empty containers back to us where we will have a set price lower than the original cost. The shipping fee for refills will be free and the set price will be $35. This is to encourage more refills and the ordering of luxe bundles as it would be a better deal for the consumer. Although using the razor-and-razor-blade revenue model will gain lower profits from customers requesting refills, our packaging costs will be reduced from the number of containers needed meaning we would still earn revenue from this sustainable feature. 2) Describe and justify your pricing To follow customer-led pricing, we used surveys to determine what our target market was willing to pay for our service. From the $10-$60 range we received from our survey, we set a lower price to ensure a fair pricing strategy. The average price was $24.99 for a subscription of a set of shampoo and conditioner. Having a price suggested from the survey that our target market favours, grants immediate value for them, which essentially encourages the customers to buy into our service rather than our competitors. This price also generates revenue for our company as well keeping it fair for both the customers and our service (Neck et al., 2021, p. 225). We are following a competitor-led pricing strategy due to other companies having a comparable service like ours (Neck et al., 2021, p. 224). We charged $24.99, which is less than half the price of our competitors, from $50 to $70, allowing us the opportunity to attract more customers. We also are unique in that we provide sustainable and affordable options for our customers. Basic Financials Fill out the template on the next page and include in your plan. Revenue Stream Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Revenue Stream 1 Revenue Stream 2 Revenue Stream 3 Total Revenue Expense Table Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Total Revenue Direct Costs SG&A Expenses EBITDA -production, employee salaries, transportation Appendix *Appendix: Interview/survey questions & methods, photos of prototypes References Bryant, Porter, C., & Yang, G. (2012). Curly hair: measured differences and contributions to breakage: Breakage of Curly Hair. International Journal of Dermatology, 51, 8–11. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-4632.2012.05555.x Custom Shampoo & Conditioner. Strands Hair Care. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2022, from https://strandshaircare.com/ Claudine. (2022, April 15). How to find the right curly hair products for you. curly girl life. Retrieved December 1, 2022, from https://curlygirllife.com/how-to-find-the-right-curly-hair-products-for-you/ Function of Beauty. Function of beauty. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2022, from https://www.functionofbeauty.com/about-us Fresh & Personalized Hair Care. Prose. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2022, from https://prose.com/ Hatsbach de Paula, J. N., Basílio, F. M. A., & Mulinari-Brenner, F. A. (2022). Effects of chemical straighteners on the hair shaft and scalp. Anais brasileiros de dermatologia, 97(2), 193–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.abd.2021.02.010 Hunt, N., & McHale, S. (2005). The psychological impact of alopecia. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 331(7522), 951–953. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.331.7522.951 Iyengar, R., Park, Y.-H., & Yu, Q. (2020). The impact of subscription programs on customer purchases. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3529681 McVean, A. (2017, June 27). Sulfates in Shampoo. McGill Office for Science and Society. Retrieved December 10, 2022, from https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/did-you-know-general-science/sulfates-shampoo Neck, H. M., Neck, C. P., & Murray, E. L. (2021). Entrepreneurship: The practice and mindset. SAGE Publications Ltd. Patton, T. O. (2006). Hey girl, am I more than my hair?: African American women and their struggles with beauty, body image, and hair. NWSA Journal, 18(2), 24–51. https://doi.org/10.2979/nws.2006.18.2.24 Red Ocean Strategy vs Blue Ocean Strategy. Blue Ocean Strategy. (2022, December 9). Retrieved December 10, 2022, from https://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/tools/red-ocean-vs-blue-ocean-strategy/#:~:text=Cutthroat%20competition%20turns%20the%20ocean,of%20opportunity%20and%20profitable%20growth. Kim, W. C., & Mauborgne, R. (2016). Blue Ocean Strategy: How to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant. Harvard Bus Review Press. Smock, J. (2022, September 14). How to figure out your curl type, plus the best products to use. Real Simple. Retrieved December 1, 2022, from https://www.realsimple.com/beauty-fashion/hair/hair-care/curl-types Watson, K. (2022, June 2). Permanent Hair Straightening: Types and Side Effects. Healthline. Retrieved December 1, 2022, from https://www.healthline.com/health/beauty-skin-care/permanent-hair-straightening#side-effects