TrendiLocks

www.TrendiLocks.net



Danielle Cuomo
78 4
th
place
Brooklyn, NY 11231
(646) 773-3978
Danielle.cuomo@limcollege.edu



April 2011
Accessories Council Project















Table Of Contents

Executive Summary 3

Organizational Plan
Company Analysis 4-5
o Mission Statement
o Business Model
o Strategy
o SWOT Analysis
o Short & Long Term Projections
Product Description 6-7
Administrative Plan 8
o Intellectual Property
o Location
o Management Structure
o Distribution Logistics

Marketing Plan 9
Market Analysis
o Customer Analysis
o Competitor Analysis
Marketing Strategy 9-11
o General
o Pricing
o Incentives & Promotions
o Advertising Strategies
o Networking
o Short & Long term Strategies
Customer Service 11-12

Financial Expectations 12-13
Projections Year 1
Projections Year 10




Executive Summary


TrendiLocks plans on taking the Hair Industry by storm providing a service
for women of all ages that offers hair ideas, hairstyles, and top rated products that
are frequently utilized and sought out everyday. TrendiLocks plans on
accomplishing this by offering the necessary services and products not only to hold
the customers interest and obtain their loyalty, but to provide them with the
necessary products that they seek on a daily basis. Our website will offer the newest
and most attempted hairstyles and the top rated products. TrendiLocks will provide
customers with the opportunity to meet, review, and set appointments with aspiring
beauticians. Customers/onlookers will have the ability to blog and comment on the
hairstyles, products, and the featured beauticians.
TrendiLocks.net will be updated monthly with new products, styles, and
beauticians. This will keep the customer interested drawing her back to our main
attraction our website. As we continue to update our website we will build up
clientele, gain popularity, and increase revenue. We plan to increase our social
network connections and our profit. After the first 5 years, TrendiLocks.net plans to
become a vertical retailer displaying the opportunity for customers to shop not only
on our website, but within a catalog, and finally within our proposed flagship store.
By this time, we would have recovered our initial investment and began generating
a profit.
Our Short Term and Long Term Strategies will position our company to be
profitable for the years to come. First, TrendiLocks will develop strong strategic
relationships with manufacturers to ensure availability of products at discounted
prices. Our introduction to the marketplace through advertisements will include
basic business cards, flyers, blogs, FaceBook, Twitter, and Google. After we gain
customer loyalty and commence to generate a profit, TrendiLocks will open a
flagship store within a primary urban metropolitan area where we plan on drawing
the tourism clientele providing the ultimate womans day out . This will further
allow for increase popularity and larger intimate clientele following. Next
TrendiLocks plans to advertise on a more mature level such as in well-subscribed
magazines, buses/trains, bus tops/train stations. As our revenue and profit
continues to increase our advertising strategies, promotions and budget will
continue to increase as well. After some time we plan to expand our company to sell
our desired merchandise across North America, and shortly there after on an
international basis.
Over time, TrendiLocks will expand, while staying true to its mission
statement that is to provide the ultimate customer service. Although TrendiLocks
will have a flagship storefront, a Facebook Page, a Twitter Account, a Catalog, we
will continue to update our website every month and provide our loyal customers
with what they were attracted to in the first place. TrendiLocks will continue to
supply its customers with what they look for most, the products, the ideas, the
styles, and finally the people that do it best.


The Organizational Plan Company Analysis


Mission Statement. To provide a specialized service to a diverse female population
of all ages that will offer hair ideas, hairstyles, and products that are frequently
utilized and sought out everyday.

Business Model. Specialized internet-retailer and limited social network for a niche
market.

SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
Women can easily find fast last minute hairstyles to perform themselves, or
to show a beautician.
Viewers will have the advantage to surf the website at any time through the
channel of online shopping. Online Shopping comes with many advantages
such as broad selection of merchandise along with important product
information. Online shopping is also an advantage because it is available
24/7.
This website will be extremely accessible to the public and could be utilized
by the target demographics of women between ages of 16 and 35.
Very easy to locate and log onto the internet.

Weaknesses:
Company does not have the option of a multi-channel-retailing, in other
words, there is no store front along with an option of a shopping catalog.
Ordered items or products will require shopping but if the customer agrees
to pay for rush delivery they can obtain next day delivery service.
Customer pays for shipping and handling of products opposed to store
bought products.

Opportunities:
Eventually TrendiLocks will expand across North America. As profit
increases, we plan to open a flagship storefront in an urban tourist attraction
area, ideally in Soho NYC. This will allow the customers the opportunity to
view displays of top rated hairstyles, test the top rated products, and to setup
appointments with aspiring hairstylists. We would hold monthly events at
our flagship storefront such as classes to learn how to give the Perfect Blow
Out. We would allow our customers to meet the aspiring beauticians that
are featured on our website.

Threats:
Since TrendiLocks will only start as a website there is a chance that it will not
gain as much popularity as we hope for with the customers that enjoy the
hands-on shopping experience.
The idea and style of this website is very generic and can easily be imitated.

Short & Long Term Projections.
Short Term 2 years.
Build up clientele through an aggressive marketing strategy in order to gain
popularity within the marketplace.
Increase social network resulting in a larger and more intimate client
following.
Increase sales to generate a reliable revenue and profit.
Diversify product offerings, to continue to offer the top rated products plus
newly rated products to our loyal customers.
Increase advertising revenue.

Long term 5 years.
Reassess the strategic business and marketing plan to continue to ensure
economic growth while transitioning in additional new urban areas through
targeted expansion.
Become a vertical retailer; a retailer that displays multi-channel retailing,
offering shopping opportunities such as internet shopping, as well as in-store
shopping and catalog shopping.
o Becoming a vertical retailer is important because while in-store
shopping is still the most popular of the three, it has been reported
that 76% of the people in the United States have home computers,
therefore they are able to shop online, while on the other hand,
46.3 % of people from across the country make a purchase from a
catalog within a year.
Recover initial investment by generating sufficient revenue through
advertising and sales to ultimately leading to generate a steady profit flow.
Expand to other targeted urban areas and markets to enhance the website
brand popularity and loyalty of customers.
Expand internationally to serve the potential customers residing in other
major metropolitan shopping areas within, Europe, Asia, and South America.
















The Organizational Plan Product Description


Women spend an average of one hour and 53 minutes a week washing, blow
drying and styling their hair. That may not sound like a lot, but by the time a woman
reaches age 65, she will have spent more than seven months of her life on her hair.
According to a British survey conducted by Tresemme, the average woman
spends a staggering $50,000 on her hair over her lifetime. Each year, women spend
an average of $160 on shampoos and conditioners, $120 for styling products and
$520 for haircuts. And for those who color their locks, add in another $330 a year.
As a result of the statistics stated above, TrendiLocks has researched the ins
and outs of the beauty products on the market today, finding a top rated and
reasonably priced merchandise assortment.


TrendiLocks.net offers a link that leads to the sites Top Rated Most Sought Out
Products as well as a link that leads to the sites Aspiring Beauticians. Each of these
components contribute to make TrendiLocks all the more different than the existing
hair/beauty product websites on the market right now.

The Top Rated Products section will be updated every month with the
newest competing top rated products, including the retail marketplace
pricing along with the discounted TrendiLocks pricing.

The Aspiring Beauticians section will include picture profiles of the most
highly recommended beauticians along with their background information.
In addition, it will include the calendar availability, which will allow the
customers to setup personal appointments.

Below are tables representing the basic Product Descriptions.























Name Specialty / Rating
Frankie Colorio Coloring / $$
Danielle Cortar Cut & Trim / $$$
Stanley Stiles Curly Hair /$$$$
Marissa Evelyn Short Styles / $
Jessica Longorio Long-Hair Extensions/ $$$$$
Top Rated Products




The Organizational Plan Administrative plan


Intellectual Property.
The TrendiLocks staff will ensure that our brand as depicted in every picture, logo,
and image is properly copyrighted, documented, and approved, price to its use in
any external communications.

Location.
Since TrendiLocks is a home-based business, we as a company, will not incur any
fixed costs such as rent, utilities, or any added tax costs. These costs will need to be
factored and accounted into the business plan when the flagship store is opened.
(Refer LongTerm Strategy)

Product /
Description
Estimated Price TrendiLocks Price
1. Curling Iron
Hot tools Pink Titanium Curling
Iron
$40.99-$45.99est $40.99
2. Flat Iron
Sedu Pro Ionic Ceramic
Tourmaline Flatiron
$98.99est $79.99
3. Blow Dyer
Sedu Revolution Pro Tourmaline
Ionic 4000i Hair Dyer
$159.99est $124.99
4. Hair Spray
Aussie Instant Freeze Hair Spray
7oz.
$4.49est $33.00
5. Shampoo & Conditioner
Garnier Fructis 13 oz. $4.00est $3.99
6. Home Hair Dye
Garnier Nutrisse $13.99est $8.99
7. HairDo Extensions
Jessica Simpson Hairpieces
$99.99est $78.95
8. Clairol Natural Instincts $9.49est $7.29
9. LOreal Paris Feria $9.59est $7.39
10. Hot Rollers
Hot Tools Nano Ceramic
$49.99est $35.99
Management Structure.
TrendiLocks is being established by two partners. Each individual will handle
various aspects of the business with each partner investing $62,5k each to
start up the firm. Ranking at a total $125k.
o Partner #1 will be responsible for all product research, supplier
pricing negotiation, and advertising revenue.
o Partner #2 will be responsible for the day-to-day operational business
activities and logistics. All product sales and shipping transactions will
be handled by Partner #2.
o A private web design consultant will be retained to develop the
website and maintain it on a monthly basis. This individual will be
paid on an hourly basis until it becomes necessary to hire a
WebMaster full-time. Estimated salary $100/hr. 8 hours/month.
$9600/year.

Distribution Logistics.
Manufacturers Whole Sale TrendiLocks

We as a retailer will purchase in quantity to stick inventory for immediate
client fulfillment. We will provide shoppers the choice to buy 1 or many of a
certain item by creating value. Therefore we will buy in bulk to create value,
for the customer while reducing our unit pricing.
Products will be bought wholesale and placed in inventory within a storage
area until ordered, packaged and shipped to the customer.








Marketing Plan Market Analysis


Customer Analysis
The Number of Customers has been projected to increase significantly over
time as the website gains popularity through aggressive marketing strategy
along with targeted client focused advertisements.
The Target Market for this product will be women ages 16-35.
Value Drivers
o This site can be used for quick and effortless shopping.
o It can be searched for perfect products for any type of hair opposed to
the most popular trial & error method.
o The products are sold at a lower price than those in a beauty supply,
hair salon, or drugstore.
o To view nearby hairstylists resumes and appointment availability
before attempting to make a personal appointment.
o Used as entertainment, to blog providing comments about products,
ideas, styles, and featured beauticians.
Decision Process is identical to the buying process when a customers
decision is based on patronage and loyalty to a retailer.
Concentration of customer base for particular products.
o Each of the offered products have been researched in depth and rated
the best of their category.
o Offered products are diverse to account for all mainstream styles.

Competitor Analysis
Market Position
o Hair/Hair Accessories/ Hair Products Industry.
o Social Network/Entertainment/Blogging Website.
For this particular site the competitors are RedKen.com, Folica.com,
Joico.com, Elle.com Hair Style Section, Essentials Retail Store, RickysNYC
Retail Store/Website.

Marketing Strategy
In order to effectively promote and market a product such as a website, the
advertising and marketing strategy must be well thought out and thoroughly
planned.
Utilization of popular online communications through links to offer an
opportunity to reach a greater target population in a specific time frame.
Pricing
o The products being sold must be bought wholesale in order to sell to
the customers at a discount price while still intending to generate the
projected revenue along with a reasonable profit.



Incentives & Promotions
o Advertising Strategies. TrendiLocks will be advertised in all the related
media channels aspects in order to effectively market our product
publically.
During the start of our marketing program we plan to feature
our products on many social blogs and networking websites.
TrendiLocks will be promoted on the very popular social
network page FaceBook, starting at $297.00/month. This is
one of our most important advertising strategies because
Facebook contains more than 500 million active users, who
average spending 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook.
This is an easy and effective way to get our name and logo
recognized.
In addition, TrendiLocks will be accessed by the public through
Google, for $59.00/month which averages site viewership of
5.4 billion people per day.
Customers will begin to see the TrendiLocks.net name or logo
on numerous blogs, as well as FaceBook advertisements and
Facebook Pages/Posts. Advertisements will prosper and be
easily recognized through deliveries with specific TrendiLocks
packaging including easily recognized TrendiLocks stickers.
Once we commence generating revenue, we plan to increase
our advertising budget by $44,000/month(trains), and
$5000/month(buses) in major urban areas.
Networking
o TrendiLocks will network with other Social Network websites such as
FaceBook.com, Twitter.com, Myspace.com, as well as many of the
popular Hair Industry websites such as Folica.com, RedKen.com. We
plan on networking with many of the Fashion Industry websites such
as Style.com and Elle.com. The purpose of networking with all of these
websites is to create relationships with each of them to hopefully
expand our client list, advertising revenue and exercise the networks
to generate a continuous client pipeline to us.

Short and Long Term Strategies
Short Term Strategies
Develop aggressive marketing strategy linking the growth of online
networking to the growth of our firm.
Initiate and develop strong relationships with the manufacturers within our
supply chain to ensure availability to the designed products at a discounted
price.
To advertise through Facebook, Blogs, Google, Beauty Salons, along with the
usual advertisement strategies such as business cards, flyers, and
recognizable packaging.


Long Term Strategies
Develop a brand through an aggressive marketing plan and customer loyalty
to initiate the opening of storefront locations in tourist-visited areas.
Develop a plan to open strategically located distribution facilities to ship
products across North America.
To advertise in a top rated magazine. Cosmopolitan for an example costs
$125,000 for an inside-cover advertisement.

Customer Service
The customer service offered by our company will be guaranteed
delivery that is both fast and efficient. We will provide our customers
with the products they wish to receive in a timely manner. Our
customers will be updated with the newest top rated products as well
as the newest in-style & in-season hair ideas.
Customers will be able to email the company with any questions
and/or concerns, through our Contact Us link on our website.
Pictures and styles will be updated monthly. Customers will have the
opportunity to request the search for a certain product and/or
hairstyle that is not shown on the website, TrendiLocks will work to
its highest potential to serve the customers needs.
While customers are able to blog onto the website each and every
minute of the day, we as a company will respond back in a timely
manner to all inquiries and customer correspondence and blog our
own posts when necessary.























Financial Expectations


Initial Investment
$125,000 - $62,500 each partner.

Year 1 Projected Sales
$150,000 which will increase exponentially every year as our client base
grows.
Projected profit margin 20% meaning, we will keep $0.20 of every sales
dollar.
Partner #1 will work to increase the advertising revenue by 15% each year
the business is running.
By Year 4, the initial investment is paid back and our company will start
operating at a profit.

Expenses
Personal Salaries
Each Partner will start out making $45,000 by year 5 we plan to increase our
salaries with a raise to $80,000.
Webmaster maintenance
Projected cost is $9,600 per year. That is based on an 8-hour shift per month
at $100 per hour.
Office Supplies
Projected cost of $3,000 per year, and as our company grows the costs will
increase 5% per year.
Advertisement Costs
Will start at $4,200 during Year 1, increasing 10% each year the business is
operating.

Shown below is a graph revealing TrendiLocks Financial Projections starting in
Year 1, 2011 till Year 10, 2021.









Works Cited


Cryst . (July 2009) Askville/Amazon.
http://askville.amazon.com/people-united-states-
computer/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=9690308

Beaudry . Laura M. (May 1
st
1999) The Consumer Catalog Shopping
Survey
http://multichannelmerchant.com/webchannel/marketing/marke
ting_consumer_catalog_shopping/

Dunham . Deborah . (March 29
th
2010) The Price Of Pretty/Stylelist
http://www.stylelist.com/2010/03/29/the-price-of-pretty-
women-spend-50-000-on-hair-over-lifetime/