Develop and Implement a Business Plan for Couture Fashion Boutique

This document presents a detailed business plan for Couture Fashion Boutique, a contemporary accessories and women's apparel boutique planned for Robina Town Centre, Queensland, Australia. The plan includes an executive summary outlining the business concept, objectives, and target market. It provides a comprehensive company description, market analysis of the Australian retail and apparel industries, and an overview of the organization and management structure. The plan details the boutique's service and product line, marketing and sales strategies, and funding requests. Financial projections, including break-even analysis, are also included. The business aims to differentiate itself through unique products, excellent service, and a strong brand identity, targeting fashion-conscious individuals. The plan addresses market competition and technological influences, and outlines the operational aspects, including staffing and service offerings like personal styling and online shopping. The ultimate goal is to establish a successful, regional fashion brand.

Running head: DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A BUSINESS PLAN
Develop and implement a business plan
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DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A BUSINESS PLAN
Executive summary:
Couture fashion boutique is a contemporary accessories and women’s apparel boutique that will
be opened in Robina town Centre, Robina in Queensland, Australia. The idea of setting up the
fashion boutique is the growing desire of the women and men regarding apparels. Couture
fashion boutique would provide men and women with the combination of service and products
and would face direct and indirect competition from the existing layers in the industry. The
objective of the business is to provide the customers with unique yet stylish collection of
accessories that would frequently change a friendly and personal service and the attractive prices.
Couture fashion boutique was chosen because it has the implication of a sense of expression and
vitality. The target customer of the business can be easily described with the help of these tow
chosen business ideas. Products of Couture fashion will make their customers seeks accessories
and apparels that are trendy and help them in enjoying fashion so that they can stand out from the
crowd. Furthermore, it is expected by the Couture fashion to break even in the first year of
operations based on the market-based sales forecasting. Although the fashion retail business and
the overall performance of Industry in Australia has shrunk, but recently confidence of the
customers have begun to rise because of change in their behavior and buying pattern. The gap in
the current market ensures will be filled by the store by Couture exhibiting the growth beyond
the third year of operations.

DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A BUSINESS PLAN
Table of Contents
Company description:......................................................................................................................2
Market analysis:...............................................................................................................................2
Organization and management:.......................................................................................................2
Service or product line:....................................................................................................................2
Marketing and sales:........................................................................................................................2
Funding and request:........................................................................................................................2
Financial projection:........................................................................................................................2
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................2

DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A BUSINESS PLAN
Company description:
Couture fashion boutique is a retailer and manufacturer of an upscale line of clothing
that is targeted at the males and females of all ages. In addition to the development to of the
clothing line, Couture would also support the promotion and advertising campaign. The business
intends to create differentiation by exclusiveness, marketing strategies and high awareness of
brands. Couture fashion is involved in the creation of stylish and unique line of clothing to all
the people who care about their presentation in the public and for those who loves to wear and
flaunt. The clothing line is made exclusively for the bold young, fashion forward and old age
people who are not scared to break outside the norm and stand out 1. The key message associated
with the company is upscale, high quality, classy and versatile clothing.
Goals and objective:
The main objective of Couture fashion is to start as an immediate fashion firm and
expand itself in the regional brand after two or three years down the line. There must be a
significant increase in the sales between two to three years for the accomplishment of this goal 2.
To be a profitable organization is the venture goal Couture fashion.
1 Chowdhury, T.A. and Akter, T., 2018. Fashion attributes preferred by young Bangladeshi consumers while buying
casual clothes: A multi-dimensional approach. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International
Journal, 22(4), pp.540-556.
2 Buzzo, A. and Abreu, M.J., 2019. Fast Fashion, Fashion Brands & Sustainable Consumption. In Fast Fashion,
Fashion Brands and Sustainable Consumption (pp. 1-17). Springer, Singapore.

DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A BUSINESS PLAN
Business location:
Couture fashion boutique would be located in Robina, Queensland in Australia and the
management team is positive about starting distribution throughout the rest of Queensland in the
places such as Townsville, Toowoomba, Yeppoon, Emerald and Warwick. The decision of
expanding the business in these areas has been taken based on the notion that the community and
its image and the economic factors.
Market analysis:
Couture fashion will operate in the retail industry and more specifically in the apparel
industry of Women. The fashion brands in Australia are starting to shrink amid fierce
competition from the e commerce retailer’s sites and global retailers and the consumers are
feeling the slowing of the economy of country. Various global brand are making huge inroads
into Australia and it is estimated that there will be an increase in the clothing market to 16.8
million Australian dollars that is an increase by 0.3% on the year, which is lower than the growth
of the gross domestic product of the country3. The increased weighed on the brands is due to the
increasing number of e retailers which rely on the mortar and brick sales. In addition to this, over
the last six months, the local market of Australia has witnessed one single major shift due to
expansion of fashion retails such as Topshop and Zara and the opening of first store of H & M
and followed by the acquisition of the second largest department store chain in the country4. All
these have significantly altered the fashion retail landscape and have intensified the competition
in the industry.
3 Gardetti, M.A. and Torres, A.L., 2017. Sustainability in fashion and textiles: values, design, production and
consumption. Routledge.
4 Crane, D., 2016. The puzzle of the ethical fashion consumer: Implications for the future of the fashion system.
International Journal of Fashion Studies, 3(2), pp.249-265.

DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A BUSINESS PLAN
However, opening of retail fashion business should be explored in Australia because of growing
number of high net worth individuals and sizable middle class, tech savvy consumers who are
buying directly from the manufacturers in US, especially the younger age bracket.
All the business have been affected by the technological advancements and retail is no
exception to this and e commerce retailer can reach larger consumer base while cutting down the
expenses on real estate and saving money. Such macro environmental factors would certainly
influence the business of Couture fashion boutique 5. Firstly, it will be challenging to open a
fashion retail store in uncertain economic and difficult times. However, in this environment, the
certain advantage fact is offering of accessories and apparel by Couture fashion at competitive
fashion.
With regard to technology, it would be required by Couture fashion to make use of some
sort of the customer relationship management to stay up to date and proper profiling of shoppers.
This would cause the total initial investment to increase but it would cause an increase in
efficiencies of business. Couture fashion would be facing indirect competition from Zara,
Boohoo and Uniqlo. Indirect competitors are those offering similar value propositions to the
different segment of customers or they offer the different value proposition by targeting the exact
customer base. On other hand, some of the direct competitors are as they occupy the same
market space and provide the same service on scale and these include Gilt, Hautelook and with
Amazon fashion as influencer. Therefore, Couture fashion would face competition from
innumerable number of retailers, many of them would offer the same products as that of Couture
5 Guercini, S. and Runfola, A., 2015. Internationalization through e-commerce. The case of multibrand luxury
retailers in the fashion industry. In International Marketing in the Fast Changing World (pp. 15-31). Emerald Group
Publishing Limited.

DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A BUSINESS PLAN
fashion, and they might even be offered at lowest price6. Nonetheless, the advantage of Couture
fashion would be that customers would be able to try on the merchandise before making a
decision to purchase.
Organization and management:
The business will be named Couture fashion boutique that would be engaged in the
development of fashionable clothing line and creating a distinction due to its exclusiveness and
marketing strategies. The owner of Couture fashion boutique is a college student graduated
Crew O’ Rourke recently having almost five years of retail experience. She has also held an
internship in retail management, which has helped her in gaining substantial knowledge that is
relevant to the opening of new fashion retail stores 7.
Business will hire one store manager along with one assistant manager as an hourly
manager in the absence or unavailability of Crew O’ Rourke. The exact number of sales
associate will depend upon their availabilities; however, there would be around four sales
associates. Moreover, the scheduling of the sales associate would be flexible as it is likely that
many of the sales associate will be college students. During the business, there will be one
assistant managers and one manager and seasonality of the business would determine the
variation in the personnel coverage. In addition to this, for setting up of the business, there would
be requirement of some initial service, which is outsourced to the consultants, as the employee
6 Craik, J., 2015. Challenges for Australian fashion. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 19(1), pp.56-
68.
7 Kautish, P. and Sharma, R., 2018. Consumer values, fashion consciousness and behavioural intentions in the online
fashion retail sector. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 46(10), pp.894-914.

DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A BUSINESS PLAN
do not have necessary skills for the performance of these tasks8. These services would include
accounting, designing of website, interior design and legal.
Legal- For assisting the legal formation of the business, there would be an attorney and
he would he assisting with all the legal issues arising in the business after the formation of
business is complete.
Accounting- For the preparation of the financial statements and tax, the business will hire
one licensed CPA and the payroll will be processed with the help of CPA firms.
Website designing- The initial website of Couture fashion will feature direction,
locations, fashion related content and brands along with its launching in accordance with the
grand opening of the store.
Interior design- The target customers would be appealed by the designing of the rented
commercial space and the space would be turned into the Couture fashion store by hiring an
interior designer.
The interior design and website designing fee will be for one time and legal fee is
imposed in the first year with the accounting fees on annual basis.
The main objective of Couture Fashion is to expand as a regional brand and start as an
immediate fashion business. It is believed by the Couture that the right people desiring it attract
the loyal customer base and right fashionable clothing line and the success of the business will be
ensured by business philosophy of Couture. The industry of fashion and retail to deliver the
8 Hwangbo, H., Kim, Y.S. and Cha, K.J., 2018. Recommendation system development for fashion retail e-
commerce. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 28, pp.94-101.

DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A BUSINESS PLAN
product with high quality and execution of on time delivery9. Unique line of products will be
offered by Couture fashion that will encourage the special distributors of fashion business. In
addition to this, the strategy of the business is resting on the aggressively marketing and
developing a full range of collections to consumers. The business intends to create a large
consumer demand for the product by having an overwhelming impact on the fashion industry 10.
The owner of business who is also the chief executive officer of Couture fashion boutique
does all the functions within the business and making of decisions. The management philosophy
of the company is based on the responsibility, mutual respect and excellence. The structure and
environment of Couture will be such that it will encourage productivity and respect for
customers and fellow employees. Moreover, the growth of organization is chronicled by the plan
of its personnel to approximately five to six employees. In addition to those indicated during the
starting up of the business, additional people might be required every year based on the growth
of the company in accordance with the business plan.
Service or product line:
Couture fashion will be selling contemporary, apparel and accessories for both men and
women and many of them are sold to some selected markets of apparel. The local talent will be
showcased particularly in the area of jewelries and accessories. In addition to the product
offerings, a variety of services is also offered by the retail business. The online website of
Couture fashion will contain fashion related content and include important store information.
There will be a section of style blog that will be featuring updates on local trend and the way of
9 Ruiz-Real, J., Uribe-Toril, J., Gázquez-Abad, J. and de Pablo Valenciano, J., 2019. Sustainability and Retail:
Analysis of Global Research. Sustainability, 11(1), p.14.
10 Knox, A., 2016. The temporary agency work industry and its regulatory environment: Evidence from Australia. In
Temporary Agency Work and Globalisation (pp. 117-148). Routledge.

DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A BUSINESS PLAN
wearing them and the owner of store will write it 11. In addition to this, customers will also be
provided information on the latest happening deals that is going on at Couture fashion. A section
for online shopping will also be added substantially as soon as the market presence is established
and during the appropriate environmental and financial conditions. Sales associate hired at
Couture fashion will be more of a stylist who would provide personal shopping with such service
heavily concentrating in the target market of females as the young females have the tendency of
shopping in larger groups. For the suggestive selling of the products, the knowledge of fashion
can be regarded as the valuable tool. The value of educating customers about the recent fashion
trends along with the proper purchased style will be fulfilled by Couture services about the
service and product mix. The products and services of Couture will be tailored to meet the wants
and needs of customer all the time12.
Furthermore, it is also planned by the business to employ a graphic designer who will
help in creation of unique designs online free and storing it by assembling the products and
services. The proposed business will include ready to wear collection, producing custom-made
dress, bridal collections and costumes. The clothing item will be expand the types of available
clothing items and options for customization. The additional items to the product line of Couture
fashion will include baseball T-shirts and fashion T-shirts, athletic shorts, high quality
sweatpants and sweatshirts. Furthermore, a comprehensive set of value added services will be
provided by Couture and this will be catered specially to the online shopping customers. The
11 Köksal, D., Strähle, J., Müller, M. and Freise, M., 2017. Social sustainable supply chain management in the textile
and apparel industry—A literature review. Sustainability, 9(1), p.100.
12 Macchion, L., Moretto, A., Caniato, F., Caridi, M., Danese, P., Spina, G. and Vinelli, A., 2017. Improving
innovation performance through environmental practices in the fashion industry: the moderating effect of
internationalisation and the influence of collaboration. Production Planning & Control, 28(3), pp.190-201.

DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A BUSINESS PLAN
company for creating personalized shopping experience by enabling interactive browsing will
deploy latest technologies13.
The unique feature of Couture fashion is providing facility to customers to create their
own design at no extra charge through the website. The business would be distinguishing itself as
a socially conscious company by giving back to community. All the distinctive features will help
the business to provide with the ideal new product model that would help in meeting the four
keys of the business. These include utility, quality and fashion, high-perceived value, cheap chic
still and high brand reputation.
Brand name has become a powerful weapon in the market where consumers are barraged
by the marketing and advertising campaign for delivering onslaught of fashion and lifestyle
messages. This is so because, in the apparel, brand name has become an increasingly significant
factor. Customers are spending their disposable income more cautiously as they have less time to
shop and the shopping experience can be made easy for the customers with the quality image and
established brand names. The name Couture fashion boutique is in itself a competitive advantage
as it allows entry into industry’s different segments. One of the biggest competitive advantages
of Couture is the free shipping provided to customers and the marketing strategy. The company
will develop its presence in the market with marketing strategies such as promotion, celebrities,
advertising and giveaways14. The uniqueness of clothing of Couture fashion lies in the versatility
of each piece as clothing is designed with fashion needs of people in mind. Moreover, various
pieces of the clothing lines are designed to varieties of matched and mixed offerings for single
13 Nickson, D., 2018. The importance of how you look for getting in and getting on in the workplace. In Research
Handbook of Diversity and Careers (pp. 91-103). Edward Elgar Publishing.
14 Tuckey, M.R., Boyd, C.M., Winefield, H.R., Bohm, A., Winefield, A.H., Lindsay, A. and Black, Q., 2017.
Understanding stress in retail work: Considering different types of job demands and diverse applications of job
resources. International Journal of Stress Management, 24(4), p.368.

DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A BUSINESS PLAN
pay. For the style and convenience concept behind the clothing line, people would be more
inclined to buy various pieces.
Marketing and sales:
The development of product lines of Couture fashion is supported by the promotion and
advertising campaigns and the platform of retail business of online and stores is strengthened by
the development of brand awareness. The marketing strategy of the retail business comprise of
products, place, promotion and pricing.
Products- Couture fashion will sell contemporary, ready to wear casual along with
offering variety of services. A selection of brands will be provided by the retail business with the
selection of labels from the western wear to a more sophisticated western style.
Place- The products will be sourced to the retail stores from its manufacturing units and
apparel markets would be chosen for providing a unique product assortment. Retail stores of
Couture fashion will be located in Robina town Centre, Robina in Queensland, Australia.
Pricing- The pricing objectives of Couture fashion is twofold that is value based and cost
and the pricing of the product should be competitive and reasonable. Hence, the objective of the
company would be on maximization of sales by continuously maximizing the return on sales
through volume pricing. The pricing strategy of Couture fashion will be based on cost value.
When the company does the purchase in bulk, there is discount offered on the cost of raw
materials. The pricing technique of Couture comprised of bundling some group of items and odd
pricing that helps in conveying value15. In addition to this, the value proposition of the business
15 Munir, R. and Terry, C., 2018. Accountants and the Ethics of Profit: The Case of the Australian Retail Industry.
Journal of business ethics education, 15, pp.327-348.