GrocOnline: Business Plan for Launching Online Grocery in UAE

This business plan outlines GrocOnline's strategy to establish an online grocery retail business in the UAE. The plan covers various aspects, including an executive summary, company description, mission, objectives, and problem statement. It analyzes the industry profile, competitive landscape, and GrocOnline's strengths, core competencies, and legal structure. The plan details products and services, a comprehensive marketing strategy, operational plan, and financial projections, including sales forecasts, profit and loss statements, and break-even analysis. Furthermore, the plan addresses management and human resource plans, startup expenses, and a feasibility study, providing a detailed roadmap for the venture's launch and growth in the competitive UAE market.

Running head : BUSINESS PLAN
BUSINESS PLAN
GrocOnline
UAE
Number: 76470

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary..........................................................................................................................4
General Company Description..........................................................................................................5
Brief about the venture- GrocOnline.............................................................................................5
Mission, Vision and Company Objectives....................................................................................5
Objectives......................................................................................................................................6
Problem statement identified.........................................................................................................7
Business and Industry Profile........................................................................................................7
Strategy..........................................................................................................................................9
Legal............................................................................................................................................10
Products and Services......................................................................................................................12
Marketing Plan................................................................................................................................14
Target Market..............................................................................................................................14
Positioning...................................................................................................................................14
Strategies.....................................................................................................................................15
The Marketing Mix.....................................................................................................................15
Marketing Research.....................................................................................................................16
Economics...................................................................................................................................17
Competition.................................................................................................................................18
Competitive Advantage...............................................................................................................19

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Niche...........................................................................................................................................19
Operational Plan..............................................................................................................................20
The business model.....................................................................................................................20
Categories of Business................................................................................................................20
Business Process..........................................................................................................................20
The selling process......................................................................................................................21
The Revenue Model....................................................................................................................21
Operations Model........................................................................................................................21
Time slots for delivery................................................................................................................21
Inventory Management................................................................................................................22
Transportation Costs....................................................................................................................22
Management and Human Resource Plan.........................................................................................22
Recruitment and schedule...........................................................................................................23
Performance Reviews and Rewards............................................................................................23
Management and Organization.......................................................................................................23
Organizational Structure..............................................................................................................23
Professional and Advisory Support.............................................................................................23
Legal Aspects..................................................................................................................................24
Technological..................................................................................................................................24
Startup Expenses and Capitalization...............................................................................................25

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Assumptions:...............................................................................................................................25
Financial Plan..................................................................................................................................29
Sales Forecast..............................................................................................................................29
Proforma Profit and Loss............................................................................................................30
Break even Analysis....................................................................................................................30
Feasibility study..............................................................................................................................31
References.......................................................................................................................................32
Bibliography....................................................................................................................................35
Appendices......................................................................................................................................36

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Executive Summary
GrocOnline`s main focus is on the online grocery retail domain. The main idea behind the given
business is to provide convenience and satisfaction to the consumers who do not get time to shop
for their groceries. Through this online application the customers tend to get connected to the
retailers. The app is a user friendly one which provides ease of shopping to the consumers at
their doorsteps. The business model also involves home delivery to the consumers. The main
vision of the business is to become the number one destination for grocery shopping in UAE
region. The GrocOnline application and website will revolutionalize the traditional method of
shopping and allow 24 hour purchases. The given report highlights the various aspects of the
business plan. The startup fund required is $822477/-.

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General Company Description
Brief about the venture- GrocOnline
GrocOnline is grocery retail business which is based on an online platform. The
supermarkets have become a very common business in UAE; however there is an increase in the
expat population of UAE which has lead to this idea. These expats do not get any time to visit
these supermarkets in order to purchase their daily items. The business plan aims to cater to the
needs of this specific group of busy customers by providing them a one stop solution for all the
grocery related problems. The idea is an online application which will be available for both
Android as well as iOS users who will be able to download the application and avail the benefit
(Al-Nawayseh, 2013). The online application will be open at all hours in a day and through this
the customers will be able to shop at the convenience of their homes and at their suitable time.
The given application will be available in all the regions of the United Arab Emirates. The
customers will also be given an option of smart buy whereby after they shop for one time they
will be given suggestions for their requirement next time. This way the consumers will be saving
a lot of time. The business aims to solve the grocery issues of the customer and make them
purchase in just a given span of 8 minutes using customer preference and filter options. The
business wants to test its operations in UAE and later on expand to other parts of the world.
Apart from the application, the GrocOnline will also be available as a website which can be
accessed from web browsers. Refer to Appendix 3.
Mission, Vision and Company Objectives

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Vision
GrocOnline is a web and mobile based start up with a limited resource requirement and
the company is working with the following vision in mind:
 To make the GrocOnline application and website a household name in UAE.
 To become the most used application and website (Anantadjaya, 2013).
 To solve the problems of the consumers who are unable to shop in departmental stores
and supermarkets.
Mission
The primary vision of GrocOnline is to provide an application to the users in order to solve their
shopping needs and help them to shop for their supplies. For those who will not be able to
access the portal using their applications in the phone, the company aims to reach them through
online websites (Arnold, 2013). The customers will be able to avail home delivery through this.
Hence, consumer convenience and top quality solutions can be described as the main mission of
GrocOnline.
It aims to satisfy those consumers who do not find the traditional method of shopping
interesting.
Objectives
The main objectives of GrocOnline are:
 To serve the consumers at all hours of the day
 To build an empire with stable networks
 To provide the valued products to the consumer for money

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 To provide the consumers with all around good experience
 To grow their geographical operations in a span of five years
 To earn relevant amount of revenue.
Problem statement identified
The grocery market is consumer oriented and highly competitive. The presence of
various global brands like Tesco, Wal-Mart, Woolworths and similar businesses have made
the .store business extremely conservative and the sales are not increasing at a good rate.
However, this is the one side of the story, the other side states that the although there are various
businesses present, the consumer is not getting satisfied and the expats specially are facing huge
problems with respect to the hours of the store opening and are unable to take out time for their
shopping needs (Armstrong et al., 2015). Hence, the GrocOnline has aimed at providing
offerings to the consumers in order to delight them. As the consumer life has become faster
paced, even the various families are finding it extremely difficult to take out time for shopping.
Hence, to solve the given problem, the business has come up with the plan to bring the grocery
store at the doorsteps of the consumers. They can easily use the application to fulfill their needs
and get free delivery. Through the business idea the company aims to solve the growing
problem of the people and cater to their needs.
Business and Industry Profile
In the past decade, there have been various changes as to how the consumers eat and shop
for their supplies in the crowded grocery market. There exist various disruptors in terms of the
online competitors. This is because there has been a sufficient rise in the discount givers and

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changing consumer perceptions. The cross border forays have now been looking out for new
ideas and markets to shale the grocery sectors (Baden-Fuller & Haefliger, 2013). The food sales
have increased around $4 trillion annually and are expected to grow at a rate of 6.1 % in 2020
which will be supported by an increase in the population and rising incomes. However, unlike
other industries, the major players of the given industries are the local players.
The new trend in the grocery industry is the online market place. With the advent of
technology, more businesses have been looking out for online give always in order to ensure that
they are able to capture a wider business target. Various grocery and departmental stores like
Tesco, Woolworths, and Wal-Mart have also availed to the online platform. Sensing the growth
in the given industry, online players like Amazon and Alibaba have also opted for a grocery
platform.
Talking about GrocOnline, the business aims to cater to the needs of the consumers in the
region of United Arab Emirate. GrocOnline believes that there exists, a gap in the consumer
needs. It wants to identify these needs and see to that the organization is able to fill in their gaps
with their services.
To do this, it decided to step into the grocery sector but in a different manner. Instead of
opening a proper departmental store like Tesco and Wal-Mart the business has aimed to cater to
the needs of the niche market of customers and serve them online. The customers will be able to
access the company`s product via the online application and make payments accordingly by
paying cash on delivery or through online wallets or credit cards and debit cards (Beardwell &
Thompson, 2014).

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Hence, the decision of the company to enter the industry is fairly calculated one and it
has aimed to become a part of growing industry.
Strategy
Strengths and core competencies
The most important company strengths have been given as follows:
 The Range of Products offered- GrocOnline will be offering a wide variety of products
to the consumer which will range about to around 18000 products. The online grocer will
also be providing the company with an exotic range of vegetables, fruits which will not
be available at the local stores. This capability of the business will help the firm in
gaining competitive advantage in the given business sector.
 Discounts- As the operational costs of the business are extremely low, the business will
be offering huge discounts in order to attract the given consumer base. Only when the
firm will be offering the company with a huge amount of discounts, it will be able to
attract the consumers (Best, 2013). When the consumers will witness that the discounts
being offered by the company is much more than the discounts being offered by the
supermarkets, they will want to buy products from the online store.
 Target market- GrocOnline has made an extremely smart decision and has targeted the
working professionals of UAE along with the families who find online shopping
convenient due to the available time constraint. The expats and other working
professionals want to avail the services of Groc Online because they do not have time to
go and visit the various stores to fulfill their requirements. The working professionals

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have extensive knowledge about the technology and can easily handle the online
applications easily.
 Convenience- The convenience that they provide to the different consumers and deliver
the products at their doorsteps is hugely preferred by the consumers. They believe that
through this they will get the products in a few minutes and will not have to pay for the
conveyance to the malls also.
 Quality- Various quality checks take place in the given industry and GrocOnline sees to
it that the company does not deliver stale products or even the ones with extremely poor
quality.
 Employees- The business aims to employee a group of 20 employees in its operations.
This number will be quite beneficial for the firm in delivering the given products and also
help them to manage other aspects of the operations.
As the company is locally based, it understands the different components of the UAE
Geography better and then it is easy for the firm to understand local needs which the other
multinational brands will not be able to cater to (Boons & Lüdeke-Freund, 2013).
Legal
The business is the idea of Mr. ABC who aims to run the business on the principles of
sole proprietorship. The sole proprietor will be personally responsible for all the business debts.
The only disadvantage of the given scenario is that the obligations will be required to be paid by
the proprietor who will then go bankrupt if the business idea fails.

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The primary reason why the company has adopted this manner of legal structure is
because it aims to keep the benefits and profits of the given business idea to itself and use the
idea to become extremely successful (Jiang, Yang & Jun, 2013).
The business will be registered under the business directories of the UAE legislative
requirements. The firm will be headquartering in Abu Dhabi with other business offices in the
other regions. Apart from that the company will also own 4 main warehouses from where the
given delivery will take place.