Southern Cross University: Straight Up Posture Corrector Business Plan

This business plan details the Straight Up venture, aiming to introduce a posture corrector product in the Australian market. The plan encompasses an executive summary, introduction, venture description, management style, and marketing strategies. It analyzes competitors like VIBO Care, Upright GO, and Lumo Lift. The report also includes financial projections, risk assessments, and outlines the company's legal structure as a sole trader, with plans to transition to a proprietary limited company. The marketing strategy targets the middle and upper classes in urban areas, utilizing social media to attract customers. Financial analysis includes funding sources, and the plan addresses key risks such as high competition and low awareness. The venture seeks to solve posture-related issues through a lightweight, easy-to-wear product, differentiating itself from traditional solutions like brace belts and exercises.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation
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Executive Summary
The below mentioned paper is a business plan that enlighten the reader about the information
about the introduction of a new brand Straight Up in the market of Australia. The organization is
going to provide posture corrector product in the business environment. The report provides
details about the marketing and management activities of the company also with the analysis of
projections and issues faced by the company along with the solutions as well. The posture
corrector product is highly required by the people in the business environment but they do not
know about the problems connected with their health and measures to solve them effectively.
Therefore, the Straight Up organization would spread awareness about the problems faced by
people in the marketplace and how they can solve effectively. The company would eliminate the
brace belt, exercise etc. measure that do not provide help to the people. Further, the financial
analysis of the organization states the owner of the company would use personal resources in the
organization so as to meet the needs of the capital requirement and at the same time attain
complete control on the functions as well. The organization aims to make it into a separate legal
entity once the company successfully completes five years of profitability. More details about the
report are mentioned below:

Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Description of the Entrepreneurial Venture (PPT)..........................................................................3
Management (style and structure)...................................................................................................4
Marketing.........................................................................................................................................5
Competitor analysis.........................................................................................................................5
Financial Analysis...........................................................................................................................7
Key risks and challenges.................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................10
Appendix........................................................................................................................................12

Introduction
The aim of the paper is to highlight the information about the business plan of an organization
present in the sports industry. The organization Straight Up is focusing to introduce posture
corrector products in the market of Australia. Posture Corrector is a product that helps people to
correct their posture by making them sit up straight. The objective of the report is to explain the
description of the venture Straight Up in the business environment along with the management
style introduced in the business environment. The business style and management process plays
a lead role in succeeding in the international environment. The marketing activities of the
company are defined in the paper along with the elaboration of the competitor’s analysis for the
organization. It should be noted that competition is the biggest aspect that make the
entrepreneurial ventures fall back in the competitive environment. The paper also analyse the
financial projections for the organization so as to take care of the money making activities of the
company.
Description of the Entrepreneurial Venture (PPT)
The objective of the company Straight Up is to introduce such a product in the target market that
helps the people to eliminate the health related issues in the business environment. Most of the
time of the day is spent on phones and computer which directly affect the posture of the people
which leads to create orthopaedic issues for them. Resulting in which, use of this product would
help the organization to permanently eliminate their muscle problems in the business
environment. The use of posture corrector belt would help the people to relieve themselves from
the pain and retain their correct posture. The business objective of Straight Up is to attract a
large market at once and then initiate sales of the products accordingly (Ansoff, et. al., 2018).
This product introduced by the organization would resolve the posture related issues of the
people to maximum extent. Exercise and brace belts are the two solutions given for back pain,
spinal dysfunction or a potbelly shoulder, however both became ineffective due to identified
reasons. Therefore, use of this product would help the people to correct their posture and release
their pain.

The product is lightweight to carry and instantly stretches the shoulders to the back after wearing
it which rectifies the posture of the people and gives comfort to their back as well. This product
is easy to wear and does not require to carry it all day long. The product is available in different
shapes and sizes that also resolves the breathing problem of people. This product can be worn by
people belonging to different age and gender. The company Straight Up focuses on increasing
the market of posture corrector belt and attain their loyalty in the business environment. The
company focuses to attract the customers by using social media strategies. They have also
focused on investing in the patent and IPR as well. The budgeting and advertisement strategies
are at major focus of the organization because they would help in eliminating competition. Social
media is objectified as the major tool to attract customers in the target market (Burns, and
Dewhurst 2016).
Management (style and structure)
Legal Structure
Before inaugurating the business, it is important for the organization to identify the legal
structure of the organization so as to ascertain the type of the business that they will continue.
Therefore, the company Straight Up chose to start business as a sole trader company. This legal
structure provided freedom to the organization at several instances (Rothaermel 2017). Major
factors that were considered while choosing the business structure were:
 Personal liability
 Sharing of power and ownership
 Capital requirement
 Tax effectiveness
The company chose sole trade business structure among all other structures because they needed
complete decision making power in the functions of the company. The entrepreneur had
adequate capital that can be used in the business. Due to which, this structure looked best for the
initiation of Straight Up company. Further, it can be said that once the business takes off after
initial years of success, then the business would convert itself into proprietary limited company.

This activity would help the organization to attain more resources for the business and present
the organization as a separate legal entity as well (Uhl, and Gollenia 2016).
Operations and Planning
The organization and its functions would be governed by the founder of the organization. The
owner would be the leading authority for the organization and the rest of the employees would
work under their guidance only. Initially the company would work with a team of around 45
employees with them (Hammer 2015). The company would follow linear organization structure
so as to provide right type of authority and responsibility to the people in the business
environment. For the first two years of the business, the organization would focus on reaching
equilibrium and attaining satisfaction of the customers. After capturing the brand for the first two
years, the company would focus on increasing the level of profits for the next three years so that
they can expand the business and convert it into a separate entity (Austin, and Pinkleton 2015).
Marketing
Based on the presentation, it should be noted that the company would target people on the basis
of their demographic, psychographic and geographic features. The company would majorly
target people who belong to middle and upper class in the Australian environment. As the
problem of wrong posture majorly arises to people who are exposed to continuous sitting and
desk work for long hours, therefore, the business would target people who are working and are
majorly sitting on computers and laptops (Brinckmann, and Kim 2015). The company would
target both men and women in the market who are middle and old aged. The people who earn
income of $ 79000 dollars globally would be able to afford this product in the environment. The
company would serve its product initially in the urban and metropolis market of Australia.
Further, the company should effectively make use of social media marketing techniques in the
business environment so as to attract more and more customers. The company should make use
of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. tools to attract the customers and offer them products in the
market (Hatten 2015).

Competitor analysis
Businesses operating in global Posture Correctors Market are focusing on new product launches
to gain competitive advantage. They are using their different posture correctors’ products to re-
educate and reorient customer musculature so as to maintain their position upright. Considering
porter five forces framework, the competitive rivalry in the market is high and intense where
some of the major competitors of Straight Up can be determined as VIBO Care, Upright GO and
Lumo Lift who dominate the venture business directly or indirectly (marketwatch.com, 2019).
These companies have segmented the market by application including male, female and
Children. Furthermore, they are also using digital technologies where the customer can connect
the product to the app and then it offers a training driver, real-time advice and statistics to
progressively develop their posture, back health as well as sense of confidence (Chen, 2019). In
addition, threats of new entrants can be considered is medium as companies like Garmin, Fitbit
and Xiaomi are coming up with innovative wearable devices that notify users at different time
slots about the appropriate posture position.
To draw the attention of the customers, these companies are using unique marketing campaigns
to make their customer aware about its in-depth benefits like “scientists verify that sitting or
standing in an upright locus expresses our mind we are feeling healthy, preventing cortisol
discharge and refining reminiscence function”. At present, UpRight is the leading posture
product making company in Australia and according to owler.com, its estimated annual revenue
stands out to $4.4 Million (owler.com, 2020). The company does not just sell a product, they sell
a lifestyle enhancement and accordingly positioned to be a leading wellness brand for past
several years. At the same time, the next leading brand is Lumo Bodytech and its projected
revenue stands out to $4.1 M (owler.com, 2020a). One of its most used product is Lumo Lift
offering a primary benefit of visualization. Both these companies are also targeting non-gender
specific customers aged 30-45 concerned about their lifestyle behaviours with a particular
interest in posture correction. In terms of psychographic profile, consumers in the target
marketplace are innovators looking to try up and coming wearable technology products.
In order to position up the venture i.e. Straight Up directly against the competitor, segmentation
can be done in the market by Type of product such as posture shirts, posture braces, posture bras
and straps and others. In relation to indirect competition, interactive marketing can be done at

various athletic events with having a physical product so that to explain the benefits of different
products presented under Straight Up. Furthermore, the company can target customers having
online presence through innovative advertising such as – “great new ways to improve your
posture” in 2020. In addition, Straight Up can exploit social media outlets to raise brand
awareness of customers like via interactive Facebook advertisement that enables the customer to
adjust an animation posture through snapping to vibrate Straight Up. Ultimately, with these
positioning strategies will gain the responsiveness and interest of potential consumers.
Financial Analysis
Being a sole trader organization, Straight Up would seek funds for the organization in the below
mentioned ways:
Owner’s Capital: $ 10,000
Friend’s Loan: $ ,000
Loan from Financial Institutions: $ 7,000
$43,922.00 $44,287.00 $44,652.00
Income
Total Sales 11,500.00$ 14,700.00$ 18,625.00$
Less Total Disc/Comm 125.00$ 937.50$ 1,171.88$
Total Net Income 11,375.00$ 13,762.50$ 17,453.13$
Less Total Cost of Gooods Sold 2,500.00$ 3,750.00$ 4,687.50$
Gross Profit 8,875.00$ 10,012.50$ 12,765.63$
Expenses
General & Administrative 1,125.00$ 1,540.00$ 1,990.00$
Marketing & Promotional 1,750.00$ 1,925.00$ 2,117.50$
Operating Expenses 710.00$ 1,110.00$ 1,635.00$
Motor Vehicle Expenses 500.00$ 1,408.00$ 2,012.00$
Website Expenses 100.00$ 250.00$ 330.00$
Total Employment Expenses 2,797.00$ 3,746.25$ 4,807.81$
Occupancy Costs 525.00$ 685.00$ 966.25$
Other Expenses 1,900.00$ 3,000.00$ 3,700.00$
6,907.00$ 9,006.25$ 11,516.56$
Monthly Net Profit / (Loss) 1,968.00$ 1,006.25$ 1,249.06$
1,968.00$ 2,974.25$ 4,223.31$
Month
Total Year to Date Net Profit /
(Loss)
Total Expenses

The financial projections of the company explain that the organization would start earning
project from the initial year itself. Also, it should be noted that the projections of the company
would help them to attain optimum revenue for the business environment. Financial analysis of
the company explains that the company is consistently making efforts to grow in the business
environment of Australia. The company is using major chunk of capital from the funds of the
owner, while other share of the capital is attained from friend and financial institution.
Key risks and challenges
High Degree of Competition: there is high degree of competition in which the company Straight
Up is aiming to enter, resulting in which they would face high degree of competition as mention
above. There are already few companies present in the market that have flourished their brand
image in the market of Australia (David, and David 2019).
Low Awareness: there is presence of low awareness of posture corrector product in the market,
resulting in which people might not getting attracted with the marketing techniques of the
organization. The people suffering with such problem do not even know that they have this
problem and ignore it for a long period of time, resulting in which their pain increases.
Not income-friendly: the product offered by the organization are not income friendly, therefore,
a large chunk of the target market would not be able to purchase the products in the environment
(Sadgrove 2016).
In order to give solution to above mentioned challenges, it should be noted the company should
initially aware the market about the posture related issues and then promote the brand. The
company should also provide discounts and offers to the people so that they can afford it. Lastly,
the organization should focus on word of mouth advertising in the business environment in order
to eliminate competition.
Conclusion
Thus, concluding the above mentioned facts, it should be noted that company Straight Up is
going to produce and sell its products initially in the market Australia. The above mentioned
report highlighted the information about the product, legal structure of the organization and its

marketing activities as well. The company would face several problems in the market that would
be resolved with the use of adequate marketing activities and by spreading awareness in the
market. Lastly, it should be noted that the projections would help the sole trader organization to
soon convert themselves in proprietary organization.

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