Business Plan for Basket of Goodies

This business plan analyzes the market and industry, target market segmentation, marketing strategies, financial plan, and more for Basket of Goodies.

Running head: BUSINESS PLAN
BUSINESS PLAN
Student’s name
University Name
Author note

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Executive summary
Basket of Goodies is a premier gift basket retailer, which focuses on making gourmet gift
baskets that contains high quality ingredients. It also offers its customers to choose the
ingredients by themselves. The retail store targets the individuals and the corporations as their
target customers. It relies on the mouth to mouth referrals to grow the percentage of its sales.
Basket of Goodies makes a steady profit out of the quality gift basket at a reasonable price. The
mission of the company is to create finest high quality gift basket available in the market. The
report analyzes the market and industry. It determines the competitive advantage of the
company, and the sales strategy. It analyzes the target market segmentation of the company and
marketing strategies. It determines the product, price, and place and promotion strategy of Basket
of Goodies. It describes the financial plan of the organization; it includes the equipments
requirement for the business, the loans and fees and allocation of funds in the business. Further,
it analyzes the critical risks faced by the business in the market. Lastly, it recommends the ways
in which the business will be able to successfully execute its plans and implement its strategy
and concludes that the business will be able to attain successful and increase its revenue in the
next financial year.

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Table of Contents
1. Company background..................................................................................................................2
2. Mission........................................................................................................................................2
3. Products offered...........................................................................................................................3
4. Market analysis............................................................................................................................4
4.1 Industry analysis....................................................................................................................4
4.2 Competition...........................................................................................................................4
5. Primary target market..................................................................................................................5
6. Marketing.....................................................................................................................................6
6.1 Products.................................................................................................................................6
6.2 Pricing strategy......................................................................................................................6
6.3 Distribution strategy..............................................................................................................7
6.4. Promotional strategy.............................................................................................................7
7. Financial plan...............................................................................................................................8
8. Critical risks.................................................................................................................................9
9. Recommendations........................................................................................................................9
10. Conclusion...............................................................................................................................10
Appendix........................................................................................................................................15

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1. Company background
Basket of Goodies (BOG) is a retail company that offers premier gift basket to its
potential customers. The company highly concentrates in making gift baskets that contains wide
range of high quality ingredients. The founder of the company is Susan Present; he has managed
a flower shop in Salem for around three years. The company also offers an option of custom
basket which allows the company’s customers to choose the ingredients for the gift basket all by
themselves. Basket of Goodies (BOG) sells its products to the potential customers as well as the
corporations and organizations. The business has been generated by the word of mouth referrals
and with time the company has achieved growth and success with the increase in percentage of
sales. It has been projected that the company will be making a profit by the next month of
approximately $21,000 (Andrews and Shimp 2017). With its operations the company will be
steadily producing profits and generating revenue for the company.
2. Mission
The mission of Basket of Goodies (BOG) is to offer and create the finest quality gift
basket to its customers. The company will be located in Salem, and will be gathering and
collecting the ingredients for the gift baskets locally as a when possible. The Basket of Goodies
(BOG) will be a home based business. The primary gift baskets that are to be offered by Basket
of Goodies (BOG) are fruits basket, chocolates and cookies baskets, smoked fish basked, pasta
dinner basket and picket basket with the combination of crackers, nuts, smoked fish. Basket of
Goodies (BOG) offers customer basket that allows the customers to select the ingredients of the

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gift basket all by themselves and the Basket of Goodies (BOG) will be collecting the basket and
decorating the ingredients of the baskets (Aydinli, Bertini and Lambrecht 2014).
To analyze and compare it with Blueprints business planning pity ltd, it exists to provide
business planning services and education programs and management advices to the small and
medium scale business organization. The mission of the company is to provide honest service to
its clients in the Sydney marketplace (Botha and Robertson 2014). It emphasizes on accuracy,
honestly and maintaining good relation with the clients.
3. Products offered
The products and services offered by Basket of Goodies (BOG) are gourmet, hand
decorated gift baskets. It provides wide variety of gift basket to its customers including smoked
fish basket, fruits and nuts baskets, pasta dinner basket, picnic baskets with exciting ingredients
for its customers, smoked fish gift basket, crackers basket. Basket of Goodies (BOG) also
provides custom basket that allows the customers to select their own choice of ingredients for the
gift basket (Fletcher and Wright 2016). It provides the customers with range of options to select
the ingredients from. The customers choose items from the given categories and Basket of
Goodies (BOG) arranges it for them.
Comparing it will Blueprints business planning pty ltd, it provides business plans to small
and medium sized business organizations, it provides training courses on the business activities
like marketing, human resource, planning and record keeping to the target customers. It focuses
on providing development courses for the new business enterprises. These courses allow the

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customers to make use of the skills and potential of the business organization in different aspects
of the organization (Lee and Tsai 2013).
4. Market analysis
4.1 Industry analysis
The demand for purchasing gift baskets is highly seasonal in nature. The demand for gift
basket is highly in demand especially during special occasions and wide variety of holidays. The
Basket of Goodies (BOG) has some competitive advantage which is mainly based on two factors
that is low overhead and reasonable price, quality products and services. It targets the individuals
and corporate clients. The customers and individuals can place their orders with the help of
phone, or website (Liu and Xu 2017). To compare it with Blueprints business planning pty ltd, it
targets the small business managers and the support agencies. It has been researched that the
business is currently having unmet demands for the services that they plan to offer to its clients.
The company has definite demand for generic management consultant services, however, the
company is ill defines and unregulated (Mattila 2015).
4.2 Competition
Basket of Goodies (BOG) faces different forms of competition in the market; there are
similar gift basket type retail stores in the market of Salem. The competitors of Basket of
Goodies (BOG) offers wide range of gift baskets. There are other competent nut/fruit companies
that focuses on nuts and fruits baskets, there are bath product gift basket companies that focuses
on bath products, there are other candy gift baskets, florists and regional gift baskets companies
in the market that sells the gift baskets appeals to the customers who consider purchasing gift

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baskets on occasions (McKeever 2016). The gift baskets offered by the competitors are highly
similar to the gift basket offered by Basket of Goodies (BOG). As compared to Blueprints
business planning pty ltd, the competitors of the company includes the professional advisers in
the markets, the accountants, lawyers, insurance broker, book keeper and other business
management advisers in the market. It faces stiff competition from professional advisers
(McKenzie 2015).
5. Primary target market
Basket of Goodies (BOG) has targeted two main distinct groups of customers including
individuals and corporate customers:
a) Individuals: it targets the individuals who seek products for gifting purposes to their friends,
family members, colleague and other. The gift basket offered by Basket of Goodies (BOG) is a
gesture of goodwill. The (BOG) do not particularly have a specific type of gift basket, but offers
wide variety of ingredients in the gift basket with custom selection of the individuals (Peng and
Liang 2013).
b) Corporate: the corporate customers are customers who generally considering purchasing food
basket for the office colleagues. They purchase the gift baskets as a sign of appreciation for the
special events. The corporate target market are broken down to further segments including
banks, health care, employment gifts, apartments, real estate and special events and promotion
purposes (Scarborough 2016).
As compared to Blueprints Business Planning Pty Ltd, it targets the metropolitan area of
Central Sydney. It targets the new business owners who require management guidance and the

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people who are interested to increase their knowledge. It targets the small owners of business
with income of approximately $20,000 (Sinha 2013).
6. Marketing
6.1 Products
Basket of Goodies (BOG) offers gourmet, hand decorated and assembled gift baskets.
The premier gift baskets offered by the company likes the smoked fish and fried fish basket, fruit
and dried nuts basket, pasta dinner basket and picnic baskets. The picnic baskets include the
ingredients like caviar, nuts and crackers, fruits and nuts, and chocolate or candy items as well.
Further, the company also offers custom baskets that allow the customers to select items of their
own choices and allows them to pick the items by themselves from the list provided by Basket of
Goodies (BOG) and it will assemble and decorate the gift basket items for the customers (Vogel
2014). Moreover, the customer is provided with list of options that are grouped into various
categories of items. The customer of Basket of Goodies (BOG) is able to choose two items from
the different categories and the gift basket is made for them. The company highly mentions the
premium gift baskets that are offered by the company. To add to the various ranges of products,
the company also offers special products along with the premier baskets which are often given at
special discounts on special seasons and occasions (Wakefield and Barnes 2016).
6.2 Pricing strategy
The pricing strategy of Basket of Goodies (BOG) is one of their competitive advantages.
It is based on two factors that are it offers the gifts baskets and premier gift baskets at a very
reasonable price and low overhead. Since it is a home based business, the Basket of Goodies
(BOG) products are particularly low. It offers high quality products and services at a reasonable
price. The products are offers at low price as the overhead cost ids low, it avoids large expenses

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as it is homes based (Wang 2019). It uses just-in-time inventory and assembling system. This
lowers the shipping cost and carrying cost of inventory. The business concentrates on customer
satisfaction with low cost and high quality products. This is considered as a wise business
decision. The business uses fine quality gift baskets to increase customer loyalty and customer
satisfaction (Weinstein and Cahill 2014). The pricing is quoted according to the ingredients
chosen by the customers.
The pricing strategy of Blueprints Business Planning Pty Ltd includes $ 120 for
management consultants and training courses. It charges $ 2000 and other specific costs for
making the business plans for the company (Peng and Liang 2013). It payment is charged within
10 working days.
6.3 Distribution strategy
Basket of Goodies (BOG) takes customer orders on their one website, by telephone, or
from the office of the customers. The products are directly distributed to the customer on the
given address. It is a home based business therefore; Basket of Goodies (BOG) provides the
product information on their websites along with the business information. The website of the
business is very useful for the targeted groups, individuals and the corporate customers.
Whereas, the distribution strategy of Blueprints Business Planning Pty Ltd, is that it deals with
the clients directly as it is also a home based business. There is no as such particular structure of
distribution for both the companies (Vogel 2014).
6.4. Promotional strategy
Basket of Goodies (BOG) advertises it products on their own websites, gives brochures
and social media networking to increase the awareness of the products and services and raises
awareness and generate sales for the business. The business prioritizes the customer satisfaction

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and highly believes in reputation of the business and its activities. The messages of the business
products are communicated to the customers through various methods and tailored to the target
market. The business communicates that it offers high quality gift baskets and gourmet. The
website of the business takes orders and provides information on the company’s website
primarily marketing to the individuals and corporate customers (Vogel 2014). As compared to
the Blueprints Business Planning Pty Ltd, promotes its services with the use of business cards
and other letterheads, direct mails, telephoning contacts, using testimonials, enhancing public
relations.
7. Financial plan
The Basket of Goodies (BOG) is taking a loan of $100,000 to further invest in its
business in addition to its existing funds. As per the financial plan of the next year the Basket of
Goodies (BOG) needs to sell approximately $4,000 baskets per month to reach its targeted sales.
The average estimated costs of Basket of Goodies (BOG) are approximately $ 3,000. The cash
sales of the company are estimate to be around $ 40,000 is the first year of the business
(Wakefield and Barnes 2016). By investing in the business, it plans to offer wider range of
products for its customers and increase the cash sales of the company along with customer
satisfaction and attaining loyal customers. Comparing to the financial plan of Blueprints
Business Planning Pty Ltd, the business has no provision has been made. The depreciation has
been calculated using the straight line method. The sales of Blueprints Business Planning Pty
Ltd, is assumed to be 60%. The capital of the business is to be contributed by the directors of the
company (Wang 2019).

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8. Critical risks
The overhead expenses of Basket of Goodies (BOG) are particularly low and the
ingredients of the gift basket are high. However, the market place of gift basket retailers are
crowded in the market and the range of products offered by the company are very limited as
compared to its competitors in the market. Therefore, the competitive edge of the company is
low and it needs to work on it. The target market is also limited. Therefore, the profitability of
the business is also low. The business relies primarily on work of mouth referrals of the customer
(Fletcher and Wright 2016). This is however, not efficient strategy of the business. It offers low
priced gift baskets at a high quality to gain customer satisfaction and loyal customers. However,
this strategy is not efficient and will not be successful in the long run. Since there are many
substitute products in the market, the customers can easily switch the products offered by Basket
of Goodies (BOG) with its competitors. As compared to the risks faced by Blueprints Business
Planning Pty Ltd, the business also faces liability issues and it also runs the risks of excessive
workload (Botha and Robertson 2014).
9. Recommendations
The Basket of Goodies (BOG) is most likely to face critical risks in its business
operations. Therefore, to counter the threats and risks of the business, it needs to enhance the
operations and activities of the business to attain long term profitability of the business. It has
been analyzed that the range of products offered by the business is very limited, therefore to
remain competitive in the market; it needs to increase the range of products and offer unique
service to the customers, so that they don’t switch the products offered by the business with its
substitute products (McKeever 2016). The business needs to create value for the products and
services offered by the company and attain loyal customers in the business. It has also been

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analyzed that the business products offered have seasonal demands, therefore, it needs to focus
highly on implement product range that can be demanded by the individuals and the corporate
customers at all the seasons, further, the business can also provide additional offers and benefits
during special occasions to initiate sales and increase the demands of the products and services
offered by the company (Liu and Xu 2017). Moreover, it is also recommended that the company
must widen its target market segmentation.
10. Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that Basket of Goodies (BOG) is a wide scope of business
expansion and will be successful in the long run given that the company efficiently handles the
resources and efficiently invests the financial resources of the business to widen the scope of
profitability of the business. The report has identified the products and services that are offered
by the Basket of Goodies (BOG) and provides description of the products and services offered. It
analyzes the market in which the business operates and executes its business operations. It has
provided the industry analyzes and the extent of competition that is faced by the company as
compared to Blueprints Business Planning Pty Ltd. It has determined the primary target market
of the business that is the individuals and the corporate customers. It has analyzed the product,
pricing, distribution and promotional strategies of the company as compared to Blueprints
Business Planning Pty Ltd. It has determined the financial plan of the business including the
ways in which the business will be allocating the loaned funds in its business activities. Further,
it has analyzed the critical risks that can be faced by the business considered the limited range of
products and the limited target market segmentation. The report has recommended that the
business must increase the range the products offered considering the increasing number of
competitors in the markets and the number of substitute products present in the market.

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References
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Botha, M. and Robertson, C.L., 2014. Potential entrepreneurs' assessment of opportunities
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Vogel, H.L., 2014. Entertainment industry economics: A guide for financial analysis. Cambridge
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Appendix
Figure 1: Initial costs of Basket of Goodies (BOG)
Figure 2: Target Market Segmentation of Basket of Goodies (BOG)

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Figure 3: Sales forecasts of Basket of Goodies (BOG)
Figure 4: Images of products offered by Basket of Goodies (BOG)

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Figure 5: Website promotion of Basket of Goodies (BOG)