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How to Write a Business Plan For a Retail Store: Complete Guide

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  • August 3, 2022
  • Small Businesses

sample business plan for retail shop

Whether you’re looking to raise funding from private investors or to get a loan from a bank (like a SBA loan) for your retail store, you will need to prepare a solid business plan.

In this article we go through, step-by-step, all the different sections you need in your retail store business plan. Use this template to create a complete, clear and solid business plan that get you funded.

1. Executive Summary

The executive summary of a business plan gives a sneak peek of the information about your business plan to lenders and/or investors.

If the information you provide here is not concise, informative, and scannable, potential lenders and investors will lose interest.

Though the executive summary is the first and the most important section, it should normally be the last section you write because it will have the summary of different sections included in the entire plan.

Why do you need a business plan for a retail store?

The purpose of a business plan is to secure funding through one of the following channels:

  • Obtain bank financing or secure a loan from other lenders (such as a SBA loan )
  • Obtain private investments from investment funds, angel investors, etc.
  • Obtain a public or a private grant

How to write your retail store business plan’s executive summary?

For any retail business, the following information must go into the executive summary:

  • Business overview : include your business name and model (independent retail store or franchise model), the products you intend to sell (and whether you want to expand with additional product offerings), the legal structure of your business, etc.
  • Market analysis : how many retail stores operate in your area and what do they sell? The estimated number of visitors your customers receive per week, target audience demography (the products you sell must fulfill their needs), purchasing power, etc. must also be included
  • People : organizational setup and the management hierarchy along with retail store experience of the key people in the management
  • Financial plan : how much profit and revenue do you expect in the next 5 years? When will you reach the break-even point and start making profits? It is ideal to include a chart depicting your key financials such as revenue, gross profits, and net profit
  • Financial ask : what loan/investment/grant are you seeking? How much do you need? How long will this last?

sample business plan for retail shop

2. Business Overview

The business overview is essentially the company description. The second section of your business plan, it should cover the following for a retail store:

  • The products you will sell in your store
  • The price range of the products
  • The company structure
  • Target audience information

Let’s look at different subsections that you must include:

Give a brief explanation of why you want to open a retail store. It must display two things:

  • Your passion & interest for this type of business
  • Feasibility of the business

There may be other retail stores in your area, but they don’t fulfill certain needs of the potential customers. Your business may fill in that gap. 

For example, there may not be any retail store in your area addressing the needs of cyclists. Even if there are competing retail stores, are they offering everything like electric bikes, mountain bikes, touring bikes, BMX, folding bikes, etc.? Do they offer spare parts and customizations?

b) Business Model

This is where you will explain the following:

  • Is your retail store independent?
  • Are you buying an existing retail store?
  • Are you settling for a franchise store of an established bike brand?

c) Products

Your retail store can sell various products. Lenders or investors must get a clear idea of the products you intend to sell. If you want to focus on one or two specific products, you must clarify that, too.

For instance, if you are opening a retail bicycle or bike store , do you intend to sell only assembled bikes or do you intend to sell spare parts, too? What about toolkits? Do you have plans to sell supporting products for cyclists such as helmets, pants, shorts, gloves, eyewear, etc.?

If you have plans to specialize in something (for example, mountain bikes with shock absorption, gears, disc brakes, etc.), mention that.

sample business plan for retail shop

d) Pricing Strategy

It is important that you add a pricing list here. You don’t need to go into extreme details. Just an average range will be more than enough. 

For instance, mountain bikes can cost anywhere between $400 and $800 . Depending on the components used, the average price can increase or decrease.

A pricing chart for all major products you are offering can help the investors or lenders to tie your pricing strategy with your financial projections.

e) Target Audience

Knowing your customers is very important. That will give you an edge over your competitors. For example, if you are opening a retail bicycle store, you must know whether your potential customers will be enthusiasts, hobbyists, or professionals.

Another important aspect is to understand the type of cyclists you will focus on. The products you sell will depend on that.

Knowing your customers well help in two things:

  • You can better retain your customers
  • Lenders or investors will be more confident about your business strategy

f) Legal Structure

Finally, your business overview section should specify what type of business structure you opt for. Is this a corporation or a partnership (LLC)? Who are the investors? How much equity percentage do they own? Is there a Board of Directors? If so, whom? Do they have experience in the industry?

3. Market Analysis

The market analysis is the next most important aspect of your retail store business plan. You must demonstrate to the potential investors that you know your market. Investors must be confident that the retail store you are trying to open (or you are already operating) makes sense.

For example, if you want to open a retail store specializing in mountain bikes, it’d be better if you’re located in states like Utah, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, North Carolina, Michigan, etc., because these states have ideal mountain bike destinations. Similarly, Texas isn’t really popular for mountain biking.

Again, you will never want to sell high-end bikes in a middle class neighborhood because they will most likely not be able to afford those items.

a) Retail Market Trends

You must also focus on the market size and growth opportunities. For example, if the location of your retail store doesn’t have enough cyclists, your bicycle business will probably not make enough profits. Again, if there are way too many competitors, the growth opportunities may be stifled.

Find market data for your city / area

It is always a good idea to get city-level data to get a clearer picture of the market size in addition to any national-level data you are providing.

Getting city level data might not be an easy task. In fact, you may have to get out and collect the necessary data. You may have to do some math. For example, if there were 30 bicycle retailers in your city in 2019 and the number grew to 33 in 2020, the annual growth rate will be 10%. 

You may want to investigate the factors leading to such growth. For instance, median income may have increased, there may be an influx of population, growing environmental consciousness, increased health awareness, etc., can be some of the factors.

However, you may actually notice a drop. In such a case, you must investigate the reasons. There can be varied factors like drop in income (and hence, sales that led to closure of businesses), decrease in population (may be younger popular moved out of the location), etc.

If there is a drop, you must explain the rationale behind opening a business, the industry of which is showing a gradual decline. It may also happen that the market may rebound back after a temporary decline.

sample business plan for retail shop

b) Competition

Your competitor analysis is very important. Here are a few questions that you must answer:

  • How many retail stores are there?
  • How many of those stores are your direct and indirect competitors?
  • What type of products do your competitors sell?
  • What is the price your competitors are charging for the same or similar product?
  • How many employees do your competitors have on an average?
  • How many customers do they receive per month?

Some of the answers will end in approximation of data. That’s totally fine. For example, you may not be able to get the exact number of customers your competitors receive.

Draw a strong conclusion for your competitive analysis

Your competitive analysis must bring out the reasons why you are trying to open a retail store. For example (related to the retail bicycle store example):

  • There are no specialised mountain bike retailers in the area despite a high percentage of mountain bikers
  • Existing bike retailers offer only bikes and spares. No retailer offers clothing and protective gear

c) Customers

You already spoke about the target audience in the Business Overview section. Here, you must provide hard data that establishes the existence of your potential customers in the area.

This section must answer the following questions (with reference to the bike store example):

  • What is the age group of the cyclists in your area?
  • What percentage of the cyclists are women vs. males?
  • What type of bikes are they mostly interested in?
  • Do the customers also look for related accessories?
  • Do they prefer online shopping or offline shopping?
  • What is the average household income per month (and also their average disposable income)?

Much of this hard data will come from your competitor analysis. Also, the data must support your decision to open a retail store. For example, if people have a tendency to buy online, you may be better off opening an online retail store instead of a physical store.

sample business plan for retail shop

4. Sales & Marketing Strategy

The 4th section of your retail store business plan is where you outline your customer acquisition strategy. Try to answer the following questions:

  • What is your USP?
  • What marketing channels will you use (online or offline)?
  • Do the marketing channels aptly grab the attention of your target audience? For instance, young adults will most likely not pay attention to TV ads. Instead, use social media
  • How do you intend to track the success of your marketing strategy?
  • What is your CAC or customer acquisition cost?
  • What is your marketing budget?
  • What introductory promos and offers do you intend to provide for attracting new customers?

Let’s expand a bit on a few questions below:

a) Marketing channels

A few marketing channels retail stores typically use are:

  • Email marketing
  • SMS marketing
  • Social media
  • Pay-per-click campaigns (e.g. Google Ads, Amazon Ads)
  • Partnerships (e.g. with companies to offer employees coupons, discounts, etc.)

sample business plan for retail shop

b) What is your unique selling proposition?

In other words, how do you differentiate yourself vs. competitors? This is very important as you might need to win customers from competitors.

A few examples of USPs are (with reference to retail bike store example):

  • Price : you may have cheaper prices than competitors
  • Specialization : you may be specializing in some specific product
  • Additional products : you sell additional accessories and safety gear that your competitors don’t
  • Freebies : you may offer freebies like helmets or tail lights

Your USP will definitely depend on the products you are selling.

5. Management & Organizational Structure

You must address two things here:

  • The management team and their experience / track record
  • The organizational structure: what are the different teams and who reports to whom?

a) Management

Your store’s management will vary depending on the business type and size. For instance, if you are opening a franchise store, you may have to give a lot more details compared to an independent store.

You may have co-founders and/or senior managers. You must explain their roles, too. Apart from that, you must also explain their industry experience and why they are suitable for those positions.

b) Organizational structure

Note that even if you have not already hired senior managers and other team members, you must include the details. 

You must define their roles and the hierarchy of reporting. This will demonstrate to the potential lenders and investors the solid management plan you have in place to operate your business efficiently and successfully.

Create and attach an organizational chart for a visual understanding of your store’s staff and their reporting lines.

sample business plan for retail shop

6. Financial Plan

The financial plan is perhaps, with the executive summary, the most important section of any retail store business plan.

Indeed, a solid financial plan tells lenders that your business is viable and can repay the loan you need from them. If you’re looking to raise equity from private investors, a solid financial plan will prove them your retail store is an attractive investment.

There should be 3 sections to your financial plan section:

  • Your historical financials (only if you already operate the business and have financial accounts to show)
  • The startup costs of your project (if you plan to open a new retail store, renovate your store, etc.)
  • The 5-year financial projections

Historical Financials (if any)

In the scenario where you already have some historical financials (a few quarters or a few years), include them. A summary of your financial statements in the form of charts e.g. revenue, gross profit and net profit is enough, save the rest for the appendix.

If you don’t have any, don’t worry, most new businesses don’t have any historical financials and that’s ok. If so, jump to Startup Costs instead.

Startup Costs

Before we expand on 5-year financial projections in the following section, it’s always best practice to start with listing the startup costs of your project. For a retail store, startup costs are all the expenses you incur before you open the space to your customers. These expenses typically are:

  • The lease deposit for the space you rent
  • The design and renovation of the existing facilities
  • The equipment and furniture

The total startup costs depend on a number of factors, such as the size of your store, the quality of the building (whether there is a lot or remodeling to do or not), the quality of the furniture, etc.

Financial Projections

In addition to startup costs, you will now need to build a solid financial model over 5 years.

Your financial projections should be built using a spreadsheet (e.g. Excel or Google Sheets) and presented in the form of tables and charts in your business plan.

As usual, keep it concise here and save details (for example detailed financial statements, financial metrics, key assumptions used for the projections) for the appendix instead.

Your financial projections should answer at least the following questions:

  • How much revenue do you expect to generate over the next 5 years?
  • When do you expect to break even?
  • How much cash will you burn until you get there?
  • What’s the impact of a change in pricing (say 5%) on your margins?
  • What is your average customer acquisition cost?

You should include here your 3 financial statements (income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement). This means you must forecast:

  • The number of customers over time ;
  • Your expected revenue ;
  • Operating costs to run the business ;
  • Any other cash flow items (e.g. capex, debt repayment, etc.).

When projecting your revenue, make sure to sensitize pricing and the number of customers, sales as a small change in these assumptions will have a big impact on your revenues.

sample business plan for retail shop

7. Use of Funds

This is the last section of your retail store business plan. Now that we have explained what your retail store sells and to whom, the industry, management and your marketing strategy, this section must answer the following questions:

  • How much funding do you need?
  • What financial instrument(s) do you need: is this equity or debt, or even a free-money public grant?
  • How long will this funding last?
  • Where else does the money come from? If you apply for a SBA loan for example, where does the other part of the investment come from (your own capital, private investors?)

If you raise debt:

  • What percentage of the total funding the loan represents?
  • What is the corresponding Debt Service Coverage Ratio ?

If you raise equity

  • What percentage ownership are you selling as part of this funding round?
  • What is the corresponding valuation of your business?

Use of Funds

Any business plan should include a clear use of funds section. This is where you explain how the money will be spent.

Will you spend most of the loan / investment in paying your employees’ salaries and the inventory? Or will it cover mostly the cost for the lease deposit and the renovation of the building?

Those are very important questions you should be able to answer in the blink of an eye. Don’t worry, this should come straight from your financial projections. If you’ve built solid projections like in our retail store financial model template , you won’t have any issues answering these questions.

For the use of funds, we recommend using a pie chart like the one we have in our financial model template where we outline the main expenses categories as shown below.

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Retail Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Retail Business Plan

You’ve come to the right place to create your retail business plan.

We have helped over 10,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans and many have used them to start or grow their retail companies.

Retail Business Plan Template & Sample

Below is a retail business plan template to help you create each section of your retail store business plan.

Executive Summary

Business overview.

Artisan Home & Decor is a startup retail shop located in Pasadena, California. The company is founded by Joyce Hernandez, a retailer who has worked as a store manager of a local home decor store for nearly a decade. Joyce has recently graduated from California University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management. Now that she has gained real-world experience managing a store and the education on how to run a retail business, she is inspired to start her own company, Artisan Home & Decor. Joyce is confident that her ability to effectively manage employees, customer relationships, and retail operations will help her establish a profitable retail store. Joyce plans on recruiting a team of highly qualified sales associates, accountants, and buyers to help manage the day to day complexities of retail – marketing, sales, budgeting, sourcing, and purchasing.

Artisan Home & Decor will provide uniquely curated home decor products created by local artisans. The home decor shop will be the ultimate choice for customers in Pasadena who value one-of-a-kind pieces for their homes. Artisan Home & Decor will provide its customers with a refreshingly personalized shopping experience they can’t get anywhere else. The shop’s sales associates will be able to help customers find the perfect pieces to suit their individual preferences and styles.

Product Offering

The following are the products that Artisan Home & Decor will provide:

  • Lamps & Lighting
  • Throw Blankets
  • Photo Frames
  • Cookware Sets
  • Kitchen Gadgets
  • Kitchen and Bathroom Fixtures
  • Waste Baskets
  • Soap Dispensers

Customer Focus

Artisan Home & Decor will target home decor shoppers looking for a personalized experience and unique pieces in Pasadena. The company will target boomer, millennial, and gen z  consumers looking for unique decor for their homes, apartments, or condos. They will also target businesses looking for special pieces to furnish their corporate offices, waiting rooms, and lobbies. No matter the client, Artisan Home & Decor will deliver the best communication, service, and high quality products.

Management Team

Artisan Home & Decor will be owned and operated by Joyce Hernandez, a retailer who has worked as a store manager of a local home decor store for nearly a decade. Joyce has recently graduated from California University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management. Now that she has gained real-world experience managing retail stores and the education on how to run a retail business, she is inspired to start her own company, Artisan Home & Decor.

Joyce Hernandez has recruited her former assistant manager, Melissa Jacobs to come on board to help her manage Artisan Home & Decor. While Joyce will oversee the employees, day-to-day operations, and client relationships, Melissa will be the Inventory Manager. She will be in charge of sourcing, purchasing, and pricing all inventory. Melissa will work directly with suppliers to stock the retail shop with unique artisan pieces.

Melissa is a graduate of the University of California with a Bachelor’s degree in Interior Design. She has been working at a local retail home decor company for over a decade as an assistant manager. Melissa has an eye for design and keen organizational skills that will allow her to effectively manage Artisan Home & Decor’s one-of-a-kind inventory. Her communication skills will enable her to establish and maintain working relationships with artisans and suppliers.

Success Factors

Artisan Home & Decor will be able to achieve success by offering the following competitive advantages:

  • Friendly, knowledgeable, and highly qualified team of sales associates and interior design experts that are able to provide a personalized customer experience and help each client find the right home decor pieces to suit their preferences.
  • Artisan Home & Decor will bring fresh inventory into their retail store on a regular basis so there will always be something new for customers to check out. In addition to in-store sales, the company will sell pieces online through its website.
  • Artisan Home & Decor offers one-of-kind pieces created by local artisans to suit a wide variety of home decor styles and tastes. By purchasing from the shop, customers are supporting these local artisans and getting fresh decor that no one else will have.

Financial Highlights

Artisan Home & Decor is seeking $210,000 in debt financing to launch its retail business. The funding will be dedicated towards securing and building out the retail space and purchasing the initial inventory. Funds will also be dedicated towards three months of overhead costs to include payroll of the staff, rent, and marketing costs for print ads, website and SEO marketing initiatives, and association memberships. The breakout of the funding is below:

  • Retail space build-out: $25,000
  • Retail store shelving, displays, equipment, supplies, and materials: $40,000
  • Three months of overhead expenses (payroll, rent, utilities): $120,000
  • Marketing costs: $15,000
  • Working capital: $10,000

The following graph below outlines the pro forma financial projections for Artisan Home & Decor.

sample business plan for retail shop

Company Overview

Who is artisan home & decor.

Artisan Home & Decor is a newly established retail company in Pasadena, California. The new home decor shop will be the ultimate choice for people looking for uniquely curated one-of-a-kind furniture and other home products crafted by local artisans. Artisan Home & Decor will provide its customers with a refreshingly personalized shopping experience they can’t get anywhere else. The shop’s sales associates and experienced interior designers will be able to help customers find the right pieces to suit their preferences and styles.

Artisan Home & Decor will be able to provide a personalized shopping experience for serving customers in-store and online. The team of professionals and sales associates are highly qualified and experienced in interior design, home decor, and the customer experience. Artisan Home & Decor removes all headaches and issues of the home decor shopper and ensures all issues are taken care off expeditiously while delivering the best customer service.

Artisan Home & Decor History

Artisan Home & Decor is owned and operated by Joyce Hernandez, a retailer who has worked as a store manager of a local home decor store for nearly a decade. Joyce has recently graduated from California University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management. Now that she has gained real-world experience managing retail stores and the education on how to run a retail business, she is ready to start her own company. Joyce is confident that her ability to effectively manage employees, customer relationships, and retail operations will help her establish a profitable retail store. Joyce has begun recruiting a team of highly qualified sales associates, accountants, and buyers to help manage the day to day complexities of retail – marketing, sales, budgeting, sourcing, and purchasing.

Since incorporation, Artisan Home & Decor has achieved the following milestones:

  • Registered Artisan Home & Decor, LLC to transact business in the state of California.
  • Has a contract in place to lease the retail space.
  • Reached out to numerous local artisans to advise them on the upcoming retail shop in order to start getting supplier contracts.
  • Began recruiting a staff of sales associates, interior designers, an accountant/bookkeeper, marketing director, and assistant manager to work at Artisan Home & Decor.

Artisan Home & Decor Services

Industry analysis.

The retail industry in the United States is valued at over $4T currently and is forecasted to reach $4.9T by the end of 2022. This is up from $3.8T in 2019. After a decade of retail decline between 2010 and 2020, the market is rebounding at a surprising rate. There were twice as many store openings as closings in 2021 alone. The number of brick-and-mortar retail establishments is increasing even as ecommerce shopping has grown by 70% in the last three years.

The role of retail stores is evolving and industry operators are discovering in-store experiences are still vital from the customer perspective. Successful brick-and-mortar industry operators are incorporating ecommerce into their business models. Trends include providing ship-from-store and buy online, pickup in store options to give customers more flexibility in the way they can shop. Key success factors include the level of customer satisfaction, product selection, prices, and convenience.

Customer Analysis

Demographic profile of target market.

The precise demographics for Pasadena, California are:

Customer Segmentation

Artisan Home & Decor will primarily target the following customer profiles:

  • Millennial customers looking for one-of-a-kind home decor
  • Boomer customers looking for one-of-a-kind home decor
  • Gen z customers looking for one-of-a-kind home decor
  • Businesses looking for unique decor for their offices, waiting rooms, or lobbies

Competitive Analysis

Direct and indirect competitors.

Artisan Home & Decor will face competition from other retailers with similar business profiles. A description of each competitor company is below.

Pasadena Home Decor

Pasadena Home Decor provides high-end home decor for the conscientious consumer. Located in Pasadena, California, the home decor retailer is able to provide a tailored shopping experience for its customers. The store’s list of products includes tables, chairs, wall hangings, rugs, vases, photo frames, candles, office decor, and paintings by local artists. Pasadena Home Decor sells online and in-store to give customers flexibility.

Pasadena Home Decor’s promise is to deliver high quality pieces that will stand out. Customers who purchase furniture and home decor from Pasadena Home Decor will be delighted with the customer service, cleanliness of the store, and personalized design services the company offers.

Home Shoppe

Home Shoppe is a California-based home decor retail store that provides outstanding pieces for discerning clientele. Home Shoppe stocks unique furniture and other decor items that are 100% hand-crafted. The owners of Home Shoppe are experienced craftsmen themselves, so they know how quality furniture and home decor pieces should be made. Clients can depend on their selection of products for durability, style, and eco-friendly materials. Choose Home Shoppe for your next home decor project and let the sales team take the stress out of the redecorating process by helping you select the best products for your home.

Redecorating For You

Redecorating For You is a trusted Pasadena retail company that provides superior home decor products for shoppers in Pasadena and the surrounding areas. The shop offers an extensive inventory of home decor items in a variety of styles so there is something for every taste. Redecorating For You is able to provide premium pieces that fill every space with elegance and style. The shop also eases the stress of redecorating by providing in-store pickup and delivery options for busy customers.

Competitive Advantage

Artisan Home & Decor will be able to offer the following advantages over their competition:

  • Artisan Home & Decor will bring fresh inventory into the store on a regular basis so there will always be something new for customers to check out. In addition to in-store sales, the company will sell pieces online through its website.
  • Artisan Home & Decor offers one-of-kind pieces created by local artisans to suit a wide variety of home decor styles and tastes.

Marketing Plan

Brand & value proposition.

Artisan Home & Decor will offer the unique value proposition to its clientele:

  • Artisan Home & Decor will make redecorating easy for customers by providing in-store shopping, pickup, delivery, online shopping, ship-from-store, and buy online-pickup in store options.
  • By purchasing from the shop, customers are supporting local artisans and getting fresh decor that no one else will have.

Promotions Strategy

The promotions strategy for Artisan Home & Decor is as follows:

Social Media Marketing

The company will use various social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Snapchat to promote the shop, feature artisans, and show off new pieces. The marketing director will oversee the social media marketing activities to grow the customer base.

Professional Associations and Networking

Artisan Home & Decor will become a member of professional associations such as the National Retail Federation, California Retailers Association, and the Home Furnishings Association. The company will focus its networking efforts on expanding its network of clients, designers, and artisans.

Print Advertising

Artisan Home & Decor will invest in professionally designed print ads to display in programs or flyers at industry networking events, in home decor publications, and direct mailers.

Website/SEO Marketing

Artisan Home & Decor’s marketing director will be responsible for creating and maintaining the company website. The website will be well organized, informative, and list all of the products currently available for purchase online.

The marketing director will also manage Artisan Home & Decor’s website presence with SEO marketing tactics so that any time someone types in the Google or Bing search engine “Pasadena home decor retailer” or “home decor store near me”, Artisan Home & Decor will be listed at the top of the search results.

The pricing of Artisan Home & Decor will be premium and on par with competitors so customers feel they receive value when purchasing the one-of-a-kind products.

Operations Plan

The following will be the operations plan for Artisan Home & Decor.

Operation Functions:

  • Joyce Hernandez will be the Owner and Manager of the store. She will oversee all staff and manage day-to-day operations. Joyce has spent the past year recruiting the following staff:
  • Melissa Jacobs – Inventory Manager who will be responsible for sourcing, purchasing, pricing, and maintaining the inventory.
  • Robert Brown – Staff Accountant/bookkeeper who will provide all store accounting, tax payments, and monthly financial reporting.
  • Bill Johnson – Marketing Director who will provide all marketing and sales activities for Artisan Home & Decor including maintaining the website, social media, print advertising, and promotions.
  • Julia Smith – Lead Sales Associate & Designer who will manage all sales associates and provide design services for customers.

Milestones:

Artisan Home & Decor will have the following milestones complete in the next six months.

9/1/2022 – Finalize contract to lease the retail space.

9/15/2022 – Finalize personnel and staff employment contracts for the management team.

10/1/2022 – Finalize contracts for suppliers.

10/15/2022 – Begin networking at industry events and implement the marketing plan.

10/22/2022 – Begin moving into the Artisan Home & Decor shop.

11/1/2022 – Artisan Home & Decor opens for business.

Artisan Home & Decor will be owned and operated by Joyce Hernandez, a retailer who has worked as a store manager of a local home decor store for nearly a decade. Joyce has recently graduated from California University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management. Now that she has gained real-world experience managing a store and the education on how to run a retail business, she is inspired to start her own company, Artisan Home & Decor.

Melissa is a graduate of the University of California with a Bachelor’s degree in Interior Design. She has been working at a local retail home decor company for over a decade as an assistant manager. Melissa has an eye for design and keen organizational skills that will allow her to effectively manage Artisan Home & Decor’s one-of-a-kind inventory. Her communication skills will enable her to establish and maintain working relationships with suppliers.

Financial Plan

Key revenue & costs.

The revenue drivers for Artisan Home & Decor are the retail fees they will charge to the customers in exchange for their products. The shop will charge a healthy margin to make sure artisans are paid well for their products while ensuring a solid profit for the business.

The cost drivers will be the overhead costs required in order to staff a retail store. The expenses will be the payroll cost, rent, utilities, store supplies, and marketing materials.

Funding Requirements and Use of Funds

  • Store shelving, displays, equipment, supplies, and materials: $40,000

Key Assumptions

The following outlines the key assumptions required in order to achieve the revenue and cost numbers in the financials and in order to pay off the startup business loan.

  • Average number of items sold per month: 300
  • Average sales per month: $90,000
  • Retail space lease per year: $100,000

Financial Projections

Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, retail business plan template faqs, what is a retail business plan.

A retail business plan is a plan to start and/or grow your retail business. Among other things, it outlines your business concept, identifies your target market, presents your marketing plan and details your financial projections.

You can  easily complete your retail business plan using our Retail Business Plan Template here .

What are the Main Types of Retail Businesses?

There are a number of different kinds of retail businesses, some examples include: Specialty Store, Off-Priced/Used Goods Store, Department Store, Convenience Store, Drug Store/Pharmacy, Discount Store, Hypermarket, and E-commerce.

How Do You Get Funding for Your Retail Business Plan?

Retail businesses are often funded through small business loans. Personal savings, credit card financing and angel investors are also popular forms of funding.

A solid retail business plan with comprehensive financial statements will help show investors your are well-prepared to start your own business.  A retail business plan template will help you quickly and easily get started.

What are the Steps To Start a Retail Business?

Starting a retail business can be an exciting endeavor. Having a clear roadmap of the steps to start a business will help you stay focused on your goals and get started faster.

1. Develop A Retail Business Plan - The first step in starting a business is to create a detailed retail store business plan that outlines all aspects of the venture. This should include supporting market research, your potential market size and target customers, the services or products you will offer, marketing strategy, your competitive advantages and detailed financial projections.

2. Choose Your Legal Structure - It's important to select an appropriate legal entity for your retail business. This could be a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Each type has its own benefits and drawbacks so it’s important to do research and choose wisely so that your retail business is in compliance with local laws.

3. Register Your Retail Business - Once you have chosen a legal structure, the next step is to register your retail business with the government or state where you’re operating from. This includes obtaining licenses and permits as required by federal, state, and local laws. 

4. Identify Financing Options - It’s likely that you’ll need some capital to start your retail business, so take some time to identify what financing options are available such as bank loans, investor funding, grants, or crowdfunding platforms. 

5. Choose a Location - Whether you plan on operating out of a physical location or not, you should always have an idea of where you’ll be based should it become necessary in the future as well as what kind of space would be suitable for your operations. 

6. Hire Employees - There are several ways to find qualified employees including job boards like LinkedIn or Indeed as well as hiring agencies if needed – depending on what type of employees you need it might also be more effective to reach out directly through networking events. 

7. Acquire Necessary Retail Equipment & Supplies - In order to start your retail business, you'll need to purchase all of the necessary equipment and supplies to run a successful operation. 

8. Market & Promote Your Business - Once you have all the necessary pieces in place, it’s time to start promoting and marketing your retail business. This includes creating a website, utilizing social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, and having an effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. You should also consider traditional marketing techniques such as radio or print advertising.

Where Can I Get a Retail Business Plan PDF?

You can download our free retail business plan template PDF here . This is a sample retail business plan template you can use in PDF format.

Other Helpful Business Plan Templates

Ecommerce Business Plan Template Clothing Store Business Plan Template Beauty Supply Store Business Plan Template T-Shirt Business Plan Template

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Retail Business Plan

A retail business plan is a document that gives you and your potential investors a roadmap on how your new retail business intends to get started and deliver its business goals over its initial few years (usually 5 years).

It is usually broken down into sections about the company, the industry it operates in, the competition it will face and a plan that covers marketing, financials and operations over the first few years in business.

Also check out this one-page Business Model Canvas for a retail business .

Retail Business Plan Template

You can download this free retail business plan template from the link below. You will be able to edit the word file and export it into PDF format afterwards.

In the coming sections, we will explain the different components that go into the retail business plan, which you can then apply to your own plan when completing the template.

Retail Business Plan Template

Check out more free downloads .

Executive Summary

We recommend writing the executive summary at the end of the process, after you have filled out all the other sections in the retail business plan template.

In the executive summary you will cover the following points briefly:

  • Types of products sold at the store
  • Customers served by the store
  • Company mission & vision
  • Market share to be captured

You will also mention the total amount you will need to start this business, backed by the financial plan you prepared as part of this business plan.

The total amount that you want to borrow or have invested in your business will be the sum of pre-opening costs (initial inventory, equipment, rent,..) and the maximum negative cash flow as per your cash flow plan.

If you are writing this retail business plan for a financial institution to get a loan, mention how you expect to repay the loan, and you should have already included the loan installments in your financial plan.

If you are writing this plan for investors, mention how much equity they will receive in return for this investment and the expected return on investment, and expected cash distributions (dividends) based on your financial plan.

For example

An investment of 100,000$ in the business will result in the investor receiving 20% equity. We plan to distribute 50% of the profits every year, and based on our financial projections this will be a xx,xxx$ in the first year, xx,xxx$ in the second year, and xx,xxx$ in the third year,..etc.

Company Overview

Here you will write about your business and give a brief overview about the type of store you will be starting.

You can cover the following points:

  • Store category (e.g. beauty store, toy store)
  • Store location and brief description of the area
  • Product categories carried
  • Company legal structure

Industry Overview

Write an overview about the industry (retail/ecommerce) as a whole and the most recent trends specific to this industry.

Cover areas such as:

  • Total retail sales
  • Contribution of your retail category to the total sales (size of the market)
  • Online vs. Brick & Mortar trends
  • Recent industry trends and shifts in terms of products you are selling

You can find the most recent insights about retail in our Retail Statistics page.

Read Also: What is Retail ?

Target Market

Write about your target customers that you know will be interested in your products. Mention demographic and psychographic details in this section. This will help afterwards in drafting your marketing plan.

You can cover the following details:

  • Age bracket
  • Income level
  • Educational level
  • The specific needs that your products will fill for them

sample business plan for retail shop

FOUNDATIONS OF MARKETING

  • Learn the fundamentals of marketing
  • See how they apply to buying, merchandising & pricing
  • Real-life case studies and examples

Competition

List the current competition in the market that are serving your target customers. Mention your top 3 competitors in your area.

You can also include indirect competition, such as online stores or marketplace sellers, if you think this might affect your business.

Cover information about:

  • No. of stores
  • Size of stores
  • Product categories they sell
  • Pricing level
  • Sales per day estimates
  • Strengths & Weaknesses

You can also create a summary table like the one below

Competitive Advantage

What will make customers leave the competition and come to you? Use the weaknesses areas that you mentioned about the competition in the previous section, and mention how you will improve on them.

This could be by:

  • Superior quality
  • Better prices
  • Convenience
  • More variety
  • Better shopping experience

Marketing Plan

Describe your marketing strategy for your store and which channels you are going to use.

Cover the following areas:

  • Brand Positioning
  • Branding Strategy (Persona, tone, language,..)
  • Product Strategy (Key products and product features that will attract your customers)
  • Pricing Strategy
  • Promotional Strategy
  • Marketing Channels

Operations Plan

Write how you will operate your store and include details about your manpower plan.

This will include the management that you will hire for the store, visual merchandisers, sales staff and cashiers.

Cover the following:

  • Management structure (store manager, supervisor,..)
  • Staff plan (3 sales associates, 2 cashiers, etc.)
  • Brief role descriptions
  • Compensation structure

Read Also: Retail Scheduling

sample business plan for retail shop

RETAIL OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

  • Managing Store Operations
  • Areas of Responsibility
  • Assessing & Managing Performance

Financial plan

List estimates for the capital you will need to start and financial projections for the following years.

Capital Needed

Start with how much capital you will need to start the business

This will include:

  • Initial rent
  • Initial product order (Inventory)
  • Initial staff salary
  • Store fixtures
  • Store equipment

Read Also: How Much Capital You Will Need For a New Retail Store?

Financial Projections

Include a 5-year financial projection for the business based on your forecasted sales and costs.

P&L Management Excel

  • Monthly income statement (P&L) for the first year
  • Yearly income statement for the following 4 years
  • Monthly cash flow projection for the first year

Learn how to create a sales budget for a new store, and 3 years financial projections in our Retail Budgeting Course

sample business plan for retail shop

RETAIL BUDGETING & PLANNING

  • The step by step retail budgeting process
  • Set monthly targets adjusted to seasonality
  • Templates download & practice exercise

Break Even Point

Include a snapshot of the 5-year P&L plan here and mention the SPD (sales per day) you need to breakeven, based on your P&L numbers.

We have created a sample table with retail data in the business plan template, and you can fill it with your own numbers.

Key Assumptions

Mention the assumptions you used for creating your financial projections.

For example , you assumed that sales per day for the first year will be 1000$ and then will grow by 20% in the second year, 15% in the third year and 10% in the fourth year, etc.

Retail Business Plan Tips

Sales projections.

We recommend being very realistic about your initial sales per day projections, as your entire financial plan will be directly affected by it.

When you then forecast your growth for the coming years, you should also be realistic about how much you will grow year-on-year.

From our experience, retail stores typically see higher growth after the first year and then this starts to level off from the third year onwards.

Having said that, there might be other growth drivers that can affect your business and accelerate your growth in the following years. This could be for example that your new store is in an area that is still under development and will be fully developed by the third year.

What we want to say is, do your due diligence thoroughly and based on that set realistic expectations.

Inventory Projections

The biggest asset you will hold and the biggest part of the investment/loan you will need to start your retail business will go for inventory.

So it is important to calculate your inventory needs correctly.

This will be based on your sales forecasts and the inventory turnover rate you expect or the forward stock cover you intend to maintain.

For example, if your inventory turnover target is 2, this means you maintain a 6 months cover. If your inventory turnover is 3, you maintain 4 months stock cover,..and so on.

We recommend checking out the benchmarks we have listed for different retail categories for inventory turnover and reading our complete Open to Buy guide to get started with calculating exactly how much inventory you will need.

Good luck in your new venture!

THE PROFESSIONAL RETAIL ACADEMY (PRA) ™

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  • In-depth retail management courses
  • Learn the best practices of the industry
  • Download ready-to-use professional templates
  • Get certificates of completion for each course
  • One membership = Access to all courses

More Resources

Thank you for reading this article on Retail Business Plan. We recommend the below free resources as well:

  • Retail Management
  • Starting a Retail Business
  • Buying a Retail Business

Join the academy and get all access to all our resources, which will help you manage your retail business more efficiently.

CONNECT THE DOTS

Learn how to manage a retail business end-to-end.

We’ve put together a curriculum, specifically designed for retail owners or retail professionals who want to advance into senior management roles.

Learn how to connect the dots of the business and take the basic knowledge to the next level of application . 

Starting a Business | Templates

4 Free Retail & Online Store Business Plans

Published December 13, 2019

Published Dec 13, 2019

Blake Stockton

WRITTEN BY: Blake Stockton

This article is part of a larger series on Starting a Business .

A retail business plan can help entrepreneurs analyze their business concept and explain why it will be successful. Many banks and investors like to see companies’ strategic plans before agreeing to provide funding. All business plans for retail and online stores should showcase their products and services, financial projections, and marketing strategies.

Before starting your retail or online store, it’s important to register it as a legal entity with the state in which it’s doing business. A legal business entity would protect the business owner’s personal finances if a lawsuit were to ever occur against the business. Rocket Lawyer is an online legal service that assists small business owners with the paperwork needed for legal entity registration. Register your business with Rocket Lawyer for $99 plus state fees.

Visit Rocket Lawyer

Retail Business Plan Templates

We’ve included four retail business plan templates below and separated them into different types, including one for retail product-based storefronts, retail service-based storefronts, retail companies with a storefront and an online store, and retailers that run their business completely online. To understand each section of the business plan template better, we recommend you read our step-by-step business plan guide . All of the templates below include the necessary sections to obtaining funding from a bank or investor.

We’ve included template copies that are in both Microsoft Word and Google Docs. To save the Word document, click on your desired template’s link below. Once it downloads, click “File” within the document, then “Save As” to save the template to your computer.

To save the Google Doc, click your desired template’s link below. Copy all of the words in the document, open a new Google Doc on your account, and paste in the template. The new template will automatically save to your Google Doc account.

Product-based Retail Storefront

Product Based Retail Storefront

Word / Google Doc

Retailers with Storefront And Online Business

Retailers with Storefront and Online Business

Service-based Retail Storefront

Service-Based Retail Storefront

Online Only Retail Store

Online Only Retail Store

How Retail Business Plan Templates Work

These retail and online business plan templates walk you through how to create a plan for your business. They all come with questions in each section and subsection to spark creative thinking and provide direction.

It’s important to note that some businesses will have information that fits into all of the template categories. For example, a bakery can sell products in person and online in addition to providing a service with educational classes to aspiring chefs. If your business happens to have diverse revenue sources like this, choose the template that applies to how the majority of your revenue is earned. For example, if the online store will only earn 1% of overall sales, you should choose the storefront-based business plan template.

Product-based Retail Storefront Template

This template is for a retail business with a storefront that primarily sells products rather than services to customers. Typically, these types of businesses have a local marketing focus. Additionally, inventory and sales staff are important topics to discuss in the business plan. Examples that fall into this business category include clothing boutiques, food businesses, and jewelry companies―essentially, any store that buys and resells items in small quantities, not in bulk like wholesalers.

Download the product retail storefront business plan in Google Doc or Microsoft Word format. PDF isn’t available, because the Table of Contents’ page titles and numbers won’t update after you add new information to the template.

Service-based Retail Storefront Business Plan Template

The service-based retail storefront template is right for anyone who primarily provides a service to its customers. This type of business has a local marketing focus. Additionally, hiring and managing quality staff are discussed in this business plan. Examples of service-based retail storefronts include massage therapist companies, nail salons, product repair, shops, and rental-based businesses.

Download the service-based retail storefront business plan in Google Doc or Microsoft Word . PDF isn’t available because the Table of Contents’ page titles and numbers won’t update when you add new information to the template.

Business Plan for Brick-and-Mortar Retailers With Online Stores

This template is for any retail business that has a storefront and is selling a product online as well. The business plan discusses ecommerce and online marketing strategy in depth. Examples of brick-and-mortar retailers with online stores include memorabilia or comic book stores in addition to shops that sell clothing, outdoor goods, and spices.

Download the retail storefront and online business plan template in Google Doc or Microsoft Word . A PDF version isn’t available, because the page titles and numbers within the Table of Contents won’t update when you add new information to the template.

Online Retailer Business Template

The online store business plan template is for retailers that primarily sell products online. The template emphasizes ecommerce, online marketing, and shipping. It’s best for niche businesses that cannot fund a storefront, such as stores that sell artisan soaps or custom items. Dropshipping businesses will also find the template useful.

Download the online retail business plan in Google Doc or Microsoft Word . A PDF version isn’t available because the Table of Content page titles and numbers won’t update when you add new information to the template.

What All Retail Business Plans Should Include

If you’ve looked at the above templates, you may have noticed that several sections are similar on all four business plans. That’s because no matter your type of business, when writing your business plan , bankers are looking for certain sections, including the Executive Summary, Company Summary, Market & Industry Analysis, Marketing Strategy, Financial Projections, and Appendix.

Executive Summary

This section is an overview of the business plan and is typically one to two pages in length. We recommend completing the executive summary last so that you know which sections are most important to emphasize and expand upon.

It’s important to make the executive summary as persuasive and compelling as possible. Interested investors often request the executive summary first to determine if they should spend time reading the rest of the plan.

Company Summary

The company summary highlights the company’s successes if already in business or why it will be a success if you have a new business. In this section, include information about what you need to purchase to start your business and how much it will cost. Additionally, briefly discuss the company’s ownership structure and its competitive advantage, which is the one big feature that gives your business an edge over competitors.

Market & Industry Analysis

In the market and industry analysis section, make your case as to why your business will be a success. Market analysis is a deep dive into research that you can use to show that there are sufficient customers who need your business. You should research the need in your local area, especially if you’re not operating online, to help prove your business can be successful. Use software like ReferenceUSA to research for free at thousands of local libraries across the United States.

For industry analysis, you need to show evidence that the industry in which you’re starting a business is growing, not shrinking. You can use a paid service like IBIS World to pull industry data. IBIS World’s industry experts update industry forecasts and data around every four months.

The marketing section is where you outline the marketing strategy for your business. The information in this section will vary depending on the type of business you own. For example, some businesses may want to showcase the quality of their interior buildout while others expand into their online marketing strategy. You may even want to discuss the high-quality materials you’ll be creating to promote the business.

Regardless of the marketing strategies you mention, we recommend including as many visual examples as possible. You may want to include one or two visual marketing materials in this section. If you have more materials to showcase or large graphics―a menu or interior rendering―place them in the Appendix ( discussed below ).

Financial Projections

The financial projections are the most important part of any business plan. Unfortunately, they are also the most difficult for business owners to create. In the financial projection section, you should predict how much revenue and expenses will flow through the business during its first three years in operation.

Calculating financial projections can be time-consuming, especially if you have a physical location because you have to research specific costs such as construction, inventory, and utilities. Software can also be a big expense. For instance, payroll tools like Gusto , accounting software like Intuit QuickBooks , cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) systems like Vend , and so on.

Additionally, it can be difficult to predict how much each product or service line will sell month-by-month over the first three years in business. Use software like Biz Miner to obtain yearly startup financials for your industry.

To organize your financial projections, you can use a free Excel workbook from the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE). In the workbook, you’ll find tabs for financial statements that need to be completed, such as the Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Profit and Loss Statement.

The appendix is optional but recommended for a business plan. This is where you will put supporting documentation for your business. Include items like marketing materials, licenses, permits, leases, purchase agreements, and illustrations.

When to Use a Template Alternative

An alternative to the more traditional retail business plan templates above is a more modern business plan called the Business Model Canvas (BMC) . The BMC is a visual business plan that can be used in a team-building exercise and completed by upper management. Additionally, you should note that if you’re pressed for time, you can complete the BMC in under an hour. The downside of the BMC is that most banks and investors won’t accept it as a business plan.

Many business owners find that creating a business plan is a daunting task. Staring at a blank screen can be intimidating. If you need an alternative to using the templates above, consider using a business plan software to walk you step-by-step through the planning process. LivePlan is an affordable and easy-to-use business plan software that provides more than 500 business plan examples from which to learn. Get started with LivePlan for only $11.66 per month.

Visit LivePlan

Bottom Line

Every retail business owner needs to go through the exercise of creating a business plan. The process helps the owner understand the strengths and potential weaknesses of their business. Use our business plan templates along with the SCORE financial projections workbook to obtain necessary funding for your retail business. You may find yourself struggling with portions of the financial projections. If so, contact an accountant for assistance or use a business plan software.

If you’re on a tight budget and need legal advice about your business, you can contact an online legal service. Rocket Lawyer provides affordable expert legal advice to business owners. Get started with a 30-minute consultation from a Rocket Lawyer attorney for $59.99.

About the Author

Blake Stockton

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Blake Stockton

Blake Stockton is a staff writer at Fit Small Business focusing on how to start brick-and-mortar and online businesses. He is a frequent guest lecturer at several undergraduate business and MBA classes at University of North Florida . Prior to joining Fit Small Business, Blake consulted with over 700 small biz owners and assisted with starting and growing their businesses.

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ProfitableVenture

Retail Store Business Plan [Sample Template]

By: Author Tony Martins Ajaero

Home » Business Plans » Wholesale & Retail

Are you about starting a retail business? If YES, here’s a complete sample online retail store business plan template & feasibility report to help you get started.

Okay, so we have considered all the requirements for starting a retail store. We also took it further by analyzing and drafting a sample retail store marketing plan template backed up by actionable guerrilla marketing ideas for retail stores. So let’s proceed to the business planning section.

There are times when one might not be disposed to buy stuff in bulk. This might be due to financial constraint or other contingencies. This is one of the reasons why retail outlets are scattered all over the world. They know the importance of reaching all and sundry, and that is why they want to provide services that can reach all classes of people.

Those who are already in the trade know the huge profit levels which they attain always. If you have decided to start a retail business, then good news is that you are in a profitable trade, as nearly all the type of goods that are being dealt in is such that is important to all

A Sample Retail Store Business Plan Template

1. industry overview.

When we talk about retailing, we talk about a business that deals in loads of consumer goods; which can be categorized into three major areas. These categories are: general merchandise, apparel, and furniture. In other words, retailers are engaged in the selling of finished goods; they get the goods from the manufacturers and they sell to the end users (consumers).

Retail goods can also be categorized into durable goods and non – durable goods. Durable goods are goods such electronics, computers and accessories, furniture, and other large appliances et al and non – durable goods are good such as food, toiletries, drinks, beauty products, jewelry, clothing and shoes et al.

The retail industry is a major sector of the economy of the united states which generates a whooping sum of well over trillion annually from more than a million retail outlets scattered all around the United States of America.

The industry is responsible for the employment of well over 15 million people which is about 12% of the workforce of the U.S. eMarketer.com published that in 2014 alone, the retailing industry on a global scale generated a revenue of well over $22 trillion; it goes to show that the industry is indeed a very large industry.

It is a fact that an estimated two-thirds of the United States’ gross domestic product (GDP) comes from retail consumption. This is why the United States of America’s economy is measured with the yardstick of how well the retailing business is fairing in the U.S.

In essence, when there is an unstable economy, purchasing power drops and it impacts the retailing industry negatively which may result in the closure of some retail stores.

In recent time, the retail landscape has seen tremendous changes in the last 20 years; it has grown from the usual mom and pop outlets to a more organized and far reaching venture. The introduction of franchise and online store makes it easier for a retailer to reach out to a larger market far beyond the areas where his physical store is located.

It is interesting to note that more retail shops; especially lager retail outlets have started to include self-serve checkout lanes in their stores. It creates shorter lines that appeal to consumers; the average customer would not want to stay longer on queue.

Over and above, the retail industry is a profitable industry and it is open to any aspiring entrepreneur to come in and establish his or her business; you can chose to start on a small scale in a street corner like the average mom and pop business or you can chose to start on a large scale with several outlets in key cities.

2. Executive Summary

People’s Choice Retail Shop is a retail shop that will be located in one of the busiest streets in Columbus, Ohio. We have been able to lease a facility that is big enough to fit into the design of the retail shop that we intend launching and the facility is located in a corner piece directly opposite the largest residential estate in Columbus, Ohio.

Our retail shop will retail a wide range of durable goods and non – durable goods at affordable prices from different brands. We retail goods such as groceries, clothes, sports equipment, beauty products, jewelry, baby stuffs, children’s toys, home furnishings and home appliances et al.

We are aware that there are several large and small retail outlets all around Columbus, which is why we spent time and resources to conduct our feasibility studies and market survey, so as to offer much more than our competitors will be offering.

We have sell service options for our customers, and our outlet is well secured with the various payment options. Much more than selling the goods and products of top brands in the manufacturing industry, our customer care is second to none in the whole of Columbus, Ohio.

We know that our customers are the reason why we are in business, and that is why we will go the extra mile to get them satisfied when they visit our retail shop and also to become our loyal customers and ambassadors.

People’s Choice Retail Shop will ensure that all our customers are given first class treatment whenever they visit our shop. We have a CRM software that will enable us manage a one on one relationship with our customers, no matter how large the numbers of our customers base.

We will ensure that we get our customers involved in the selection of brands that will be on our racks and also when make some business decisions.

We are aware of the trend in the retail industry and we are not only going to operate a system where our customers would have to come to our shop to make purchase or whatever they want but we will also operate an online store and our customers can order goods online and they will get it delivered to their houses or any location they want us to deliver the goods to within Ohio.

People’s Choice Retail Shop is a family business that is owned by Bob Wesley and Family. Although the business is launching out with just one outlet in Columbus, Ohio, but there is a plan to open other outlets all around Ohio.

3. Our Products and Services

People’s Choice Retail Shop is in the retailing industry and we will ensure we go all the way to make available a wide range of goods and products from top manufacturing brands in the United States and other countries of the world.

We will have available in our store a wide range of durable goods and non – durable goods at affordable prices. We retail goods such as groceries, clothes, sports equipment, beauty products, jewelry, children’s toys, baby stuffs, home furnishings and home appliances et al.

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

  • Our vision is to establish a one stop retail shop in Columbus, Ohio and in other cities in Ohio.
  • Our mission is to establish a retail business that will make available a wide range of goods and products from top manufacturing brands at affordable prices to the residence of Columbus, Ohio and other cities in Ohio.

Our Business Structure

People’s Choice Retail Shop do not intend to start a retail business like the usual mom and pop business around the street corner; our intention of starting a retail business is to build a standard retail outlet in Columbus, Ohio. Although our retail business might not be as big as Wal-Mart or Marcy, but will ensure that we put the right structure in place that will support the kind of growth that we have in mind while setting up the business.

We will ensure that we hire people that are qualified, honest, customer centric and are ready to work to help us build a prosperous business that will benefit all the stakeholders (the owners, workforce, and customers).

As a matter of fact, profit-sharing arrangement will be made available to all our management staff and it will be based on their performance for a period of three years or more. In view of that, we have decided to hire qualified and competent hands to occupy the following positions;

  • Chief Executive Officer (Owner)
  • Store Manager

Merchandize Manager

Sales and Marketing Manager

Information Technologist

  • Accountants / Cashiers

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

Chief Executive Officer – CEO:

  • Responsible for providing direction for the business
  • Creates, communicates, and implements the organization’s vision, mission, and overall direction – i.e. leading the development and implementation of the overall organization’s strategy.
  • Responsible for fixing prices and signing business deals
  • Responsible for recruitment
  • Responsible for payment of salaries
  • Responsible for signing checks and documents on behalf of the company
  • Evaluates the success of the organization

Store Manager:

  • Responsible for managing the daily activities in the restaurant
  • Ensures that the store facility is in tip top shape and conducive enough to welcome customers
  • Interfaces with third – party providers (vendors)
  • Controls the sales floor inventory
  • Ensures that goods and products are properly arranged
  • Supervises the entire sales staff and workforce
  • Any other duty as assigned by the CEO
  • Manages vendor relations, market visits, and the ongoing education and development of the organizations’ buying teams
  • Helps to ensure consistent quality of goods and products on our rack
  • Responsible for the purchase of goods and products for the organizations
  • Responsible for planning sales, monitoring inventory, selecting the merchandise, and writing and pricing orders to vendors
  • Ensures that the organization operates within stipulated budget.
  • Manages external research and coordinate all the internal sources of information to retain the organizations’ best customers and attract new ones
  • Models demographic information and analyze the volumes of transactional data generated by customer purchases
  • Manages the organization website
  • Handles ecommerce aspect of the business
  • Responsible for installing and maintenance of computer software and hardware for the organization
  • Manage logistics and supply chain software, Web servers, e-commerce software and POS (point of sale) systems
  • Manages the organization’s CCTV
  • Handles any other technological and IT related duties.

Accountant / Cashier:

  • Receives payments on behalf of the organization
  • Issues receipt to customers
  • Prepares financial report at the end of every working week
  • Handles all financial transaction on behalf of the company
  • Interfaces with our bankers
  • Responsible for payment of tax, levies and utility bills
  • Any other duty as assigned by the CEO / store manager
  • Responsible for cleaning the store facility at all times
  • Ensures that toiletries and supplies don’t run out of stock
  • Cleans both the interior and exterior of the store facility
  • Any other duty as assigned by the restaurant manager,

6. SWOT Analysis

Our intention of starting just one outlet of our retail store in Columbus, Ohio is to test run the business for a period of 2 to 5 years to know if we will invest more money, expand the business and then open other outlets all over Ohio. We are quite aware that there are several retail stores all over Columbus and even in the same location where we intend locating ours, which is why we are following the due process of establishing a business.

We know that if a proper SWOT analysis is conducted for our business, we will be able to position our business to maximize our strength, leverage on the opportunities that will be available to us, mitigate our risks and be well equipped to confront our threats.

People’s Choice Retail Store employed the services of an expert HR and Business Analyst with bias in retailing to help us conduct a thorough SWOT analysis and to help us create a Business model that will help us achieve our business goals and objectives. This is the summary of the SWOT analysis that was conducted for People’s Choice Retail Store;

Our location, the business model we will be operating on (physical store and online store), varieties of payment options, wide range of products and our excellent customer service culture will definitely count as a strong strength for People’s Choice Retail Store.

A major weakness that may count against us is the fact that we are a new retail outlet and we don’t have the financial capacity to compete with multi – billion dollars retail outlets like Wal-Mart and co when it comes to retailing at a rock bottom prices for all their goods.

  • Opportunities:

The fact that we are going to be operating our retail store in one of the busiest streets in Columbus, Ohio, provides us with unlimited opportunities to sell our goods to a large number of people.

We have been able to conduct thorough feasibility studies and market survey and we know what our potential clients will be looking for when they visit our retail outlets; we are well positioned to take on the opportunities that will come our way.

Just like any other business, one of the major threats that we are likely going to face is economic downturn. It is a fact that economic downturn affects purchasing power. Another threat that may likely confront us is the arrival of a new retail outlet in same location where ours is located.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

  • Market Trends

Retailing business has been in existence for as long as humans started trading goods, but one thing is certain, the retailing industry is still evolving. The introduction of technology and subsequently online retail store has indeed helped in reshaping the industry.

It is now a common phenomenon for retail outlets to leverage on technology to effectively predict consumer demand patterns and to strategically position their shop to meet their needs; in essence, the use of technology help retailers to maximize supply chain efficiencies. No doubt data collected from customers goes a long way to help retail shops serve them better.

Another common trend in the retailing industry is the pricing system. Aside from having varieties of products in a store, one of the easiest ways for retail stores to sell the goods on their racks as fast as they can and keep re – stocking is to ensure that the prices of their goods are a bit lower than what is obtainable elsewhere.

For example; it is common to see items with prices in this format; $3.99, $99 and $199 et al as against $4, $100 and $200. Retailers also engage in massive clearance sales and discount sales to attract customers. It is a strategy that helps them welcome new customers and also reinforce the loyalty of old customers.

8. Our Target Market

Perhaps the retailing industry has the widest range of customers; everybody on planet earth has one or more things that they would need in a retail shop. It is difficult to find people around who don’t patronize retail shops.

In view of that, we have positioned our retail store to service the residence of Columbus, Ohio and every other location our retail stores will be located all over Ohio. We have conducted our market research and we have ideas of what our target market would be expecting from us. We are in business to retail a wide range of products to the following groups of people;

  • Corporate Executives
  • Business People
  • About to wed couples
  • Expectant Mothers
  • Sports Men and Women

Our Competitive Advantage

People’s Choice Retail Store is launching a standard retail shop that will indeed become the preferred choice of residence of Columbus, Ohio. Our retail store is located in a corner piece property on a busy road directly opposite one of the largest residential estates in Columbus, Ohio. We have enough parking space that can accommodate well over 100 cars per time.

One thing is certain; we will ensure that we have a wide range of products available in our store at all times. It will be difficult for customers to visit our store and not see the product that they are looking for. One of our business goal is to make People’s Choice Retail Store a one stop shop.

Our excellent customer service culture, online store, various payment options and highly secured facility will serve as a competitive advantage for us.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

  • Sources of Income

People’s Choice Retail Shop is in business to retail a wide range of products to the residence of Columbus, Ohio. In essence, our source of income will be the retailing of a wide range of durable goods and non – durable goods at affordable prices.

We will retail goods such as groceries, clothes, sports equipment, beauty products, jewelry, children’s toys, baby stuff, home furnishings and home appliances et al.

10. Sales Forecast

It is important to state that our sales forecast is based on the data gathered during our feasibility studies, market survey and also some of the assumptions readily available on the field. One thing is common with retailing business, the larger a retail store the larger the numbers of customers that will patronize them.

Although we may not be as large as Wal-Mart, but we will ensure that within our capacity we make available a wide range of goods from different manufacturing brands in our retail outlet. Below are the sales projections that we were able to come up with for the first three years of operations;

  • First Year-: $200,000
  • Second Year-: $450,000
  • Third Year-: $700,000

N.B : This projection is done based on what is obtainable in the industry and with the assumption that there won’t be any major economic meltdown and natural disasters within the period stated above. Please note that the above projection might be lower and at the same time it might be higher.

  • Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

Before choosing a location for People’s Choice Retail Store, we conducted a thorough market survey and feasibility studies in order for us to be able to be able to penetrate the available market and become the preferred choice for residence of Columbus, Ohio.

We have a detailed information and data that we were able to utilize to structure our business to attract the numbers of customers we want to attract per time.

We hired experts who have good understanding of the retail industry to help us develop marketing strategies that will help us achieve our business goal of winning a larger percentage of the available market in Columbus, Ohio.

In order to continue to be in business and grow, we must continue to sell the products that are available in our store which is why we will go all out to empower or sales and marketing team to deliver. In summary, People’s Choice Retail Store will adopt the following sales and marketing approach to win customers over;

  • Introduce our business by sending introductory letters to residence, business owners and organizations
  • Promptness in bidding for contracts
  • Advertise our business in community based newspapers, local TV and radio stations
  • List our business on yellow pages ads
  • Leverage on the internet to promote our business
  • Direct marketing
  • Word of mouth marketing (referrals)

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

Despite the fact that our retail store is well located, we will still go ahead to intensify publicity for the business. We are going to explore all available means to promote our retail store. People’s Choice Retail Store has a long term plan of opening outlets in various locations all around Ohio which is why we will deliberately build our brand to be well accepted in Columbus before venturing out.

As a matter of fact, our publicity and advertising strategy is not solely for winning customers over but to effectively communicate our brand. Here are the platforms we intend leveraging on to promote and advertise People’s Choice Retail Store;

  • Place adverts on both print (community based newspapers and magazines) and electronic media platforms
  • Sponsor relevant community programs
  • Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like; Instagram, Facebook , twitter, et al to promote our brand
  • Install our Bill Boards on strategic locations all around Columbus, Ohio
  • Engage in road show from time to time
  • Distribute our fliers and handbills in target areas
  • Position our Flexi Banners at strategic positions in the location where our retail store is located.

12. Our Pricing Strategy

Pricing is one of the key factors that give leverage to retail stores, it is normal for consumers to go to places (retail outlets) where they can goods at cheaper price which is why big player in the retail industry like Wal-Mart will attract loads of consumers. Products in their store are tagged with the cheapest price you can get anywhere in the United States.

We know we don’t have the capacity to compete with Wal-Mart or any other big retail store, but we will ensure that the prices of all the products that are available in our store are competitive with what is obtainable amongst retail stores within our level.

  • Payment Options

Our payment policy is all inclusive because we are quite aware that different people prefer different payment options as it suits them. Here are the payment options that will be available in every of our outlets;

  • Payment by cash
  • Payment via Point of Sale (POS) Machine
  • Payment via online bank transfer (online payment portal)
  • Payment via Mobile money

In view of the above, we have chosen banking platforms that will help us achieve our payment plans without any itches.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

This is the key areas where we will spend our start – up capital;

  • The Total Fee for Registering the Business in Ohio – $750.
  • Legal expenses for obtaining licenses and permits as well as the accounting services (software, P.O.S machines and other software) – $1,300.
  • Marketing promotion expenses for the grand opening of People’s Choice Retail Store in the amount of $3,500 and as well as flyer printing (2,000 flyers at $0.04 per copy) for the total amount of $3,580.
  • Cost for hiring Consultant – $2,500 .
  • Insurance (general liability, workers’ compensation and property casualty) coverage at a total premium – $2,400.
  • Cost for payment of rent for 12 month at $1.76 per square feet in the total amount of $105,600.
  • Cost for Shop remodeling (construction of racks and shelves) – $20,000.
  • Other start-up expenses including stationery ($500) and phone and utility deposits ($2,500).
  • Operational cost for the first 3 months (salaries of employees, payments of bills et al) – $60,000
  • The cost for Start-up inventory (stocking with a wide range of products) – $100,000
  • Storage hardware (bins, rack, shelves, food case) – $3,720
  • Cost for serving area equipment (plates, glasses, flatware) – $3,000
  • Cost for store equipment (cash register, security, ventilation, signage) – $13,750
  • Cost of purchase and installation of CCTVs: $10,000
  • The cost for the purchase of furniture and gadgets (Computers, Printers, Telephone, TVs, Sound System, tables and chairs et al): $4,000 .
  • The cost of Launching a Website: $600
  • The cost for our opening party: $7,000
  • Miscellaneous: $10,000

We would need an estimate of $500,000 to successfully set up our retail store in Columbus, Ohio. Please note that this amount includes the salaries of all the staff for the first month of operation.

Generating Funding / Startup Capital for People’s Choice Retail Store

People’s Choice Retail Store is a private business that is solely owned and financed by Bob Wesley and family. They do not intend to welcome any external business partner which is why he has decided to restrict the sourcing of the start – up capital to 3 major sources. These are the areas we intend generating our start – up capital;

  • Generate part of the start – up capital from personal savings
  • Source for soft loans from family members and friends
  • Apply for loan from my Bank

N.B: We have been able to generate about $200,000 ( Personal savings $150,000 and soft loan from family members $50,000 ) and we are at the final stages of obtaining a loan facility of $300,000 from our bank. All the papers and document have been signed and submitted, the loan has been approved and any moment from now our account will be credited with the amount.

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

The future of a business lies in the numbers of loyal customers that they have the capacity and competence of the employees, their investment strategy and the business structure. If any of these factors is missing from a business (company), then it won’t be too long before the business close shop.

People’s Choice Retail Store will ensure that all the factors listed above are reinforced on a regular basis and also we will engage in continuous capacity building of our workforce. As a matter of fact, profit-sharing arrangement will be made available to all our management staff and it will be based on their performance for a period of three years or more.

We will make sure that the right foundation, structures and processes are put in place to ensure that staff welfare is well taken of. Our company’s corporate culture is designed to drive our business to greater heights and training and retraining of our workforce is at the top burner.

Check List / Milestone

  • Business Name Availability Check:>Completed
  • Business Registration: Completed
  • Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts: Completed
  • Securing Point of Sales (POS) Machines: Completed
  • Opening Mobile Money Accounts: Completed
  • Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
  • Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
  • Application for business license and permit: Completed
  • Purchase of Insurance for the Business: Completed
  • Leasing of facility and remodeling the shop: In Progress
  • Conducting Feasibility Studies: Completed
  • Generating capital from family members: Completed
  • Applications for Loan from the bank: In Progress
  • writing of business plan: Completed
  • Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
  • Drafting of Contract Documents and other relevant Legal Documents: In Progress
  • Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
  • Graphic Designs and Printing of Packaging Marketing / Promotional Materials: In Progress
  • Recruitment of employees: In Progress
  • Purchase of the Needed furniture, racks, shelves, computers, electronic appliances, office appliances and CCTV: In progress
  • Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
  • Creating Awareness for the business both online and around the community: In Progress
  • Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement (License): Secured
  • Opening party / launching party planning: In Progress
  • Compilation of our list of products that will be available in our store: Completed
  • Establishing business relationship with vendors – suppliers of all our needed raw materials: In Progress

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Retail Store Business Plan Example

JUN.30, 2013

retail store business plans

Retail businesses come with enormous potential and tremendous risk.  How do you dramatically tip the odds in favor of your business’s initial and continued success?  You do so with a comprehensive retail store business plan . Retail stores rise like weeds and fall much more easily.  Part of the reason is the unforgiving environment, but the lack of a clear and comprehensive company strategy is perhaps even more to blame.  Without this policy, how will you know how to keep your company from failing due to a challenging economy, inappropriate pricing, theft, unforeseen loss of inventory, disruptions in supply chains, or changing consumer tastes? All these factors can sink a retail store overnight if they are not anticipated and scheduled for long before they happen.  A complete company strategy will address these issues as well as expected profits, inventory management, advertising strategies, and environmental sustainability measures.  In short, it will plot out the necessary steps to success.

Our approach to Retail Business Strategy

Properly targeted industry research done for your company strategy will help you to know what to sell to draw customers in and to keep them coming back, how to build and maintain inventory, and how to price items appropriately for maximum profit.  At the same time, you will need to know how to hire, train, and effectively utilize staff to make them assets instead of liabilities and to motivate them for best results.  Plus, you must be aware of market conditions and know how to respond to them should you need to slash expenses during rough times or capitalize on trendy opportunities. Success in the world of retail is never an accident.  You can work steadily toward it with one of our unique retail store business plans .

Please complete the contact form for more information today.  There is a lot to consider when opening any business, and we can help to make sure that you don’t miss a thing.  We give you the right kind of help so that your business can thrive even when others do not. Before cutting the red ribbon to inaugurate the small size retailing shop in your vicinity, certainly, have a fast look at nook and corners of the retail company. The bright and dynamic conception on retailing trading must be helpful to a newcomer to start a local departmental store to sell goods/services.

retail store business plan sample

Retail Store Business Plans

Well retailing company is operated through multiple channels. That means, it is a complete cycle to take the products to end customers who will buy the products from vendors of the retail stores. You should understand this marketing method to sell products at smart prices. It must be a smooth transaction between vendors and customers. To brief up, a vendor or retailing outlet needs to communicate with wholesalers and manufactures so far as the transaction is concerned.

However, a vendor is not bound to communicate with the manufacturer or company. A vendor is found doing deals with the wholesalers who buy products from the companies or manufacturers for sale. The difference between a wholesaler and retailer lies in the product distribution process. A wholesaler sells products in bulk whereas retailers are seen selling products to individual customers. Therefore, customers have to find the best vendors to buy products at good prices. In this supply chain, the manufacturer has no direct communication with customers. Wholesaler is the buyer to purchase products from the start-up manufacturer and later wholesalers try to sell these products to retailer in bundles. Customers are end users to have products in small quantity.

Vendors have the stock of new products in large quantities to distribute. Vendors are generally seen selling products at prices pre-designed by manufacturers including VAT/service taxes. Well, when you have a start-up company strategy, you should not overlook the trend in this lucrative e-commerce advertising. Start-up retail stores must have custom products at discounts and customers are happy to buy products without trouble.

Launch a Custom Trade store- Overview Study

The Retail company is of many types and one should be very meticulous to tailor the best retail business policy for fast investment. To be frank, a trade shop or departmental storefront promotes new branded products manufactured by companies. In the retailing shop, new showpieces are on display. This exhibition is really fantastic when people visit the shop to track the line of innovative/attractive products for sale.

Moreover prices of these products are good as vendors have to lure customers by declaring amazing discount or promotional codes to enhance the cost efficiency. Sample products are on sale at comparatively reducing rates. Prices of saleable goods must not be cumbersome and uneasy for customers to buy products.

So discount outlets must have better solutions for tempting customers to buy products at discounts. However, it must be remembered that wholesalers sell goods at comparatively low margin. Wholesalers earn money on bulk goods. So prices of these products in cluster are low. On the other hand, retailers buy these products and then resell to customers. A vendor has to bear handful of expenses ranging from product selling, transaction processing charge, products relocation and the entire paperwork cost. He has to pay movers and packers. He has to put existing employees on attractive payrolls. For this reason, certainly, vendors have to set a new price tag which must include VAT and incidental charges to have good profits in the long run.

Therefore, retail stores increase the product prices to ensure the good returns. A start-up retail store business plans template must have a strong platform for product promotion. It needs a collection to preserve whatever is meant for being sold to customers. So, to open a small or medium size discount units one should establish a small infrastructure, storing unit, billing system, electric, furniture pieces, and talented employees to manage the retailing business.

retail store business plan sample

Important Facts to Remember

A trade store keeps different types of products to sell directly in the market. Well, you must collect a sample checklist to see what sort of product is in the storage unit of a local outlet. Soft products like clothes and durable/non-durable products are also in the list made by the vendor.

  • Durable and non durable goods
  • Artifacts like crafts, musical instruments
  • Footwear products

Amazon, Wal-Mart and Flipkart are such big start-up vendors to spoon feed over million customers. At these trade units, obviously products of different companies are sold at interesting prices. So, you must decide how to start a new general store for having many profits.

Various Types of Retailers

  • Local departmental storefront
  • Special exhibitions
  • Online retailing centers

Initially, vendors must not go beyond the limit. They should understand the basic format of advertising and then they will have to transform their ideas into reality. Maybe, people are not interested to buy such cheap products which are available in plenty in the dime stores. Therefore, meticulous market analysis and research are needed to learn how to invest in the local market without facing sudden financial crunch. In the beginning, be a regular online visitor to check multiple sites to track the way of all local discounts stores run smoothly. Fluctuation, temporary recession and sudden financial downtime are hurdles to occlude the fast growth or expansion of the regional market. Well, why do you want to invest in trading industry?

UK Start-Up Visa Business Plan

Basically, retail industry is the platform for better business branding and product promotion. In a multi-functional general/dime store, there are various types of saleable commodities like foods, tangible and movable products for being sold. People have interest to go through reviews, short product descriptions and features of products stored for sale. Retail stores are run by competent entrepreneurs who have better ideas to sells products in the market.

Certainly, physical entity of start-up trade stores is an excellent thing. A customer has no problem to place orders visiting the store located in his vicinity. However, the advent of e-commerce product sale option must be an innovation to boost up modern generation to buy products from virtual shopping carts being boxed up inside the rooms. So, you won’t ignore the miniature virtual world in which everything seems to look much fairer in glossiness. Then again you must have motivational spirit and much more energy to innovate the basic business expansion project. Think how to proceed? For better promotion, new strategies are needed. So, the best business consultation service providers must be contacted for table work.

retail store business plan template

They have model formats for inaugurating small size storefronts. For instance, retail store business plan must include a compact budget, a perfect product checklist, a track record to preset the prices, a digital pdf file to have a product promotion policy, thesis, term papers and screenshots of modernized e-commerce plaza with excellent décor. Innovation is not temporary. Nor is it stagnant. Kindly don’t stop innovating your thoughts/ strategies. Borrow knowledge from eminent persons and think tanks who will upgrade your views. A compact online demo and training program with sample retail store business plan must be a booster to energize you to have new ideas/ retail business plan template to launch store front for business branding.

Truth is always bright. Never succumb to hypocrisy. You must reconstruct your ideas and thoughts through innovation. Local physical trade stores are obviously much more known to people in that home town. People living in the town are eager to visit such a smart warehouse to have the best product for sale. Certainly, everyone likes to buy products from a reliable storefront. However, online storefronts in this booming organization are more visible in global market. It is not an old structure but much more dynamic platform to enable customers to buy products any time without geographical barrier. The portal mobile start-up retailing marketing system is certainly a revolution in the global arena.

Bring a Change through Innovation to Open Departmental Storefront

Don’t be pessimist. You are not much familiar with the global e-commerce tool. It is not a problem as many newcomers are seen hovering on Google with well prepared retailing business expansion projects/strategies with models free to inspire people to do trials. So again you need a quick switchover. Conventional legacies, traditional new business expansion guidelines, norms, policies and basic business promoting programs must be remodeled. Retailing business ethics should be constructive. Optimize your views/ strategy to make yourself more energetic, bold and innovative. Technology is exclusively for mankind.

Conventional scenario of retailing market must be changed. Optimize a nice looking site which must be the vehicle for promoting what you sell. This glossy e-commerce site for retailing business expansion must be compatible with i-devices/smart phones /tablets/iphones/android supported devices. Online retailing business promotion must not be expensive. It is more powerful, extensive and flexible for customers to keep in touch with an awe-inspiring portal to explore. The business management courses in the particular field also put emphasis on the virtual tle marketing.

On a single go, you have million customers who use just mouse clicks to visit your sites to check the demos/products promoting shows. Upload more glossy pictures, videos, logos, festoons, graphic pictures and informative blogs to remodel the thoughts of customers. At an instant mouse click, a new website with a glossy inventory is visible. Retail store online is so impressive that even oldies can’t overlook your dynamic portal. Be more strategic plan for marketing . Video parlors, you tubes and online streaming are some of the latest examples to speed up the product promotion. Videos showcase demos free. Your marketing strategies proposers and executives will be busy of doing live demos to train customers. This online product premier show is certainly magnificent.

Your site is more beautiful with majestic elegance. Trade shops have high compatible inventory with a gallery. Maybe you have more futuristic product branding policies, projects and models to present. Obviously, your open source product promoting platform will disclose what you think. Customers will go through your futuristic retail store business plan to reshape e-commerce portal. The marketing strategies must not be outdated and dull. It is one of the most important things to take care of.

How to Become a Legitimate Retailer? A Short Preview

It is a dream to see. It is your ambition to nourish that you will be a magnet in the retailing business portal. Trading industry is overcoming hurdles to become one of the biggest places for financers to invest money. Global scenario is also fast changing. America, Russia, China, the UK and France are putting much focus on the trading industry. So, you must have dazzling strategies, retail store business plan and retailing business promotion projects to implement. To become a successful retailer, one should be a hard worker. Secondly, his ideas to promote retail plan business must be reinforced with a compact ground work. A retailer must be devoted to his regular tasks. He should be a good disciplined guy with marvelous retail store business plan to finance the retailing business.

To become a competent retailer, you should abide by law. First of all, locate a specific place for investment. Your money is not easy to arrange. You must value your assets. So, before buying land to establish a retail store, evaluate various aspects of retailing business/industry. You need to finalize the deals successfully. None can avoid the local administration. He is legally compelled to get a license to start business in this industry. Then, he must have an authorized license to operate a departmental store. In addition, to form the management, you must have proper papers with registration certificates.

One of the most important things to mobilize the retailing business legally is to collect EIN or Employer Identification Number which resembles social security number. You must be responsible to pay taxes to run the departmental store. Retailing business rules and regulations are also changeable. So, legal support from experienced attorneys must prevent the harassment. Basic rules are same and flexible too.

However, when you start dealing with international business clients, it will be a different texture to face. Therefore, you must be eager to talk to experienced lawyers for assistance to prepare the papers to legalize the business running in a far better way. In this connection, start-up business analyzers and experts must guide you to overcome darkness to have success within short span of time. Take fruitful training as well as guidance from professional writers to learn how to write a retail business plan. At the same time, free retailing business models and retail business plan sample remove many drawbacks to enable entrepreneurs to have new projects to design for the mobilization of the retailing business/industry. A top notch start-up retail store business plan is necessary for a guy to review for tracking loopholes in the existing retailing business.

retail store business plan template pdf

Choose Cross Channel Retailing Business – Essential Facts

If you are not a newcomer in the trading industry, you must have good communication with customers. Well, certainly you have basic marketing strategies, product selling platform and bunch of projects to do proper implementation. So, you must add more flavor and spices to make your retailing experiences more awesome. Right now, global trading industry is based on omni-channel/multiple channels. Boundaries of conventional retail store business plans  are expanding overtaking all obstacles. The smart digital technology is perfectly blended with physical structures of storefronts to give an omni-channel merchandise preview.

This slideshow is really unforgettable due to the variation in hues. Local people are limited in number. They are not interested to buy products visiting plazas at midnight. In that case, the flexibility in e-global marketing platform is undoubtedly innovative. Any time, anyone is able to hit online shops to check products before making purchases. They have mobile phones with instant order processing option. They get instant messages from retailers to buy newly launched tangible products at superb eye-catching prices. An online trade shop is not closed on weekends. It is open round the clock. It is a typical buying option.

Over there, none is present to welcome you. Buyers are found creating accounts for free registration. They need to place multiple orders as per their requirements. Automatic transaction form is generated with a fast transaction option. If the products are in stock for your home town, you have the permission to buy products. The smooth transaction is one of the best features of the online retailing units. Paperless deals, fast shipment, quick processing and instant confirmation are all unbelievable.

Rough marketing seems to have a bouncing switchover to become one of the magnificent platforms for trading. Simultaneously, the method of product advertisement, selling and invoice processing must have new format to help customers to buy products in care free mind. They are getting easy product buying technology with a smart device to close the business deals on the virtual portal. To be frank, brick and mortal trade unit is now also decorated nicely with an eye-catching virtual product purchase tool. In this section, customers need a better organization or retail business consortium which will share interests to provide the best services to consumers. Online retail business organizations are certainly integrated through internet.

Create Customer Friendly Ambience to Expand the Business

The organizational support and good leadership quality must gear up the business/industry expansion process. Your employees should be much more industrious with excellent entrepreneurial skill to handle customers of different natures. Initially, it seems to be difficult for a newbie to tackle rough customers who are stubborn and not modest. These customers raise odd questions and issues to put the retailers in embarrassing situation. Therefore, you must have good marketing management and online support team to train employees how to deal with online customers. Your employees should not be weak and ill-tempered.

Though technology is advanced, people need to be accustomed to such smart environment. The technological progress is really excellent with lot of opportunities for customers to utilize in the real life. Well, as a good entrepreneur, you must not close your eyes. You should be magnificently smart, cunning and meticulous to observe the changes in the existing marketing system. The retailing business ambience needs to be understood. It is the most important factor for you before going for fast investment in retailing business Customers need affordable service. They don’t understand the intricate product purchasing platform.

These customers are not comfortable to place orders through a mini shopping cart. In that case, choose proper customers who are computer literate with expertise in opening e-commerce mobile sites for fast shopping. This paperless transaction should be done fast. Customers need to complete the registration to buy products. They must check updates and then select the specific products to buy instantly. Naturally, your e-commerce industry specific websites must be operated by customers. Find the customers who are not incapable of operating internet based marketing platforms.

Tradition and innovation are different aspects. Consumers must be trained how to operate the fast innovative shopping portals on internet. To be a forerunner, you must have sets of advanced tele-marketing tools and strategies to enhance the trouble free compact deals. You are a good rival with lot of changes in the products selling format. Industry for retailing business is surely upgraded due to the technological innovation. Moreover, people are becoming much literate to do more experiments. Their self-pace studies are optimized through technology. So, this revolution must be valued to open new horizons in the virtual marketing and product promotion industry.

Introduction of Virtual Storefronts for Customers

General stores are visible widely. These virtual shopping centers are rimmed in glossy psychedelic light. New things are added to the shopping carts. Customers are able to download the sample models with strategy and images of products for offline exhibition. Gorgeous videos, mock strategy, slide shows, demos, and online previews are ads-on features to renovate the conventional buying style. Well, don’t discard social media portal.

Gradually and steadily, social media portal is becoming more intimate to entice trillion young hearts. What a nice platform for dating, entertainment, gossip and live chatting options! Social media portal is free for everyone. To pull up or accelerate the scores, buy online customers’ likes to enhance the smooth exposure of your retailing business. These instant ‘likes’ messages attract others to visit the sites you sponsor. Retailing business industry undergoes such an inspirational innovation.

Watch your rivals to compete. Try to discover where they are going right and wrong. Similarly, you must do patchwork to reinforce the retailing business removing cluster of problems. Retailing business is not expensive if you change your conventional business set-up into the virtual trading center. This easy transformation from the traditional business into the upgraded trade stores must be a turning point. At present, cross channel retailing business exposure is highly appreciable. Customers have both options of buying different products/services from physical units as well as the online storefronts. The physical e-commerce trading structures are equipped with instant e-billing, e-shopping and product shipment options.

So, this criss-cross business dealing is much profitable. Customers enjoy shopping by visiting the specific retail stores. Secondly, if required they are also very much enthusiastic to purchase products from internet. Therefore, you must design your retail store in much innovative way. Frankly speaking, when you launch an online retail store business plan , definitely data security must be a good priority. Customers have to provide their bank details, and street address including contact details to complete the registration. Now, if your e-shopping sites are not developed with strong anti-hacking tools, it is the threat to innocent customers.

Many incidents of online theft, pilferage, and wrongdoings are taking place to discourage online customers to continue purchasing products from e-commerce centers. So, hire professional website designers, coders, programmers, software developers and SEO experts to make the compatible websites more customers friendly. A perfect start-up sample retail business plan assists an entrepreneur to estimate the gross expenses to run a new trade storefront. It is a model performance metrics worksheet or parameter to evaluate your entrepreneurial expertise, leadership quality and overall competence to handle the trade stores even in dried period. During recession, the cost of shipment, products packing for delivery, and other expenses must be higher. This recession or financial downtime is harmful to entrepreneurs. So in the demo marketing plan/retail business policies, you will have to do lot of experiments, trials and graphs to minimize the hazards to operate such a big organization under the umbrella of security.

Write a good retailing business plan. Jot down a number of unavoidable factors. Write short reviews with constructive conclusion. You must not give up your innovative business expansion ideas. Truly speaking, a novice entrepreneur can’t brief up all his requirements to enhance the inauguration of the organization. He has much confusion how to manage complicated issues boldly. Professional retail experts are experts to compose the complete dissertation paper and sample retail store business plan template/strategy. They analyze meticulously. Their observational skill, and innovation in writing the whole retail store business plan can’t be devalued.

These professional content writers first collect information from clients to write totally organized content maintaining full fledged quality. They are experienced writers with extremely excellent content evaluation skill to type the content. So when you contact these competent writers, they must discuss extensively. They will simplify your retail business planning. So, it is a quick guide to enable you to put everything in order to compose an effective retail store plan.

Innovation and Modernization Upgrade the Structures for Product Selling

Retailing business booms fast through the phase of modernization. It gallops with more quick investments of financers to energize this industry. Conventional product selling/ management system has been innovated with the introduction of sophisticated technology. It has been detected that in past, this domestic trading industry had little scope to thrive because of strict laws, geographic obstructions and lack of advanced infrastructures to take the products/services to remote areas.

retail store business plan template

People had to walk on foot to visit local outlets for buying products. They had not any smart tool to have updates before completing their outdoor sopping. In addition, natural calamity, rain, fire and big carnivals are also obstructive to make them unable to buy products from stores which are closed. Legal formalities were also complicated. They had to pay vendors in cash. They had to wait for manual order processing. The shipment process was not easy and it was also expensive. Especially, rural belts and remote far flung areas were neglected by retailers. To be frank, modern retailing outlets are equipped with advanced shopping tools. These outlets are air conditioned with good air vents to enhance the product freshness. Foods are stored in eco-friendly storage rooms.

The saleable products in retailing outlets /industry are not damaged. Well, to modernize your old and conventional retail outlets, you should go for complete modification. Customers must not be endangered. They are buyers who finance your retailing company. They are resources to provide financial assistance to make you much stronger to run the retailing outlets. So, you can’t deny their demand. They should be properly entertained. These customers have to be given all amenities in relation to the merchandise. So, be liberal, proactive and much more innovative to expand the start-up organization smoothly.

In your new trade stores, products must be properly visible. So you should optimize the infrastructural facility by installing glass insulated furniture pieces to showcase the line of products on display. At the same time, start-up retailing shops must be illuminated in bright light. Customers must not have discomfiture to buy products at the stores. Now, there are other aspects to take care of. For example, your modern retailer shops must have automatic billing system, and top security tools. To stop theft and pilferage, you must spend dollars to install smart cam, and powerful automatic alarming systems to ensure the security.

Your products must not be stolen. Nor are customers found in Catch 22 situation when they buy expensive products from your stores. Certainly, you can’t stop experiment. You must have a machine to track progress in the retailing company. You must compare and contrast depending on template models, theories as well as the extrapolated facts. In ultra-modern merchandise companies and stores, you will see logistics departments. Evaluate the activities of logistic offices of these stores. A complete logistic department with organized retail store business plans  sample retail is open to manage product packing, invoice processing and billing methods. It helps a customer to complete the start-up merchandise and necessary transactions brilliantly. Money is also saved to have the fast support from such corporate logistics department. So, ask your expert proposer to draw a graph with a small budget to open an adjacent logistic department.

Change the environment of the logistics department by installing mainframe computers, internet and sophisticated tools to complete regular deals/tasks meticulously. Employees must know the computer and they are available online to assist customer on demand. Your merchandise office must be newly decorated and well polished. Visitors must not be disheartened when they are interested to meet top brass. In a new digital ambience, all official assignments must be managed through internet. In previous decades, single miniature stores or retailing shops were built for customer care.

Customers bought available products from these mini stores. However, these products were not in good stock. People had to visit a number of stores to purchase different types of saleable commodities at cost effective prices. This was the severe drawback. Customers had no alternative to buy products if they didn’t get that product during emergency. Now, this untold misery and inconvenience of customers have been reduced by taking quick initiatives. To upgrade your old discounts store, you should opt for more subsidiaries to keep products in huge quantity.

To make your retailing shop more popular, you need to extend the single storage room into a large departmental storefront. This shopping mall must have series of spacious product storing rooms for preserving wide range of collected products. Variance in these multi-channel selling shops is brilliant to attract customers to check the list before buying any product. However, in that case, entrepreneurs have to arrange more fund to refinance the company expansion scheme. It must be a big issue and people have to find the best ways to get fund. Commercial money lenders, banks and even government are desirous of assisting entrepreneurs to become self-employed. Unemployed youths need hard cash to start small company.

So, you must have such an effective start-up company refinancing project to collect proceeds from various financial organizations. Apply for secured or unsecured loans to run the organization. You must pledge property or assets to have such company expansion loans. Trade stores with smart competitive online retail store business plans should be eco-friendly. Therefore, expenses will be higher if you install HVAC systems, smart cams, better food protection tools, modern furniture pieces and security devices to enhance the compact device protection. Secondly, prices of these fresh products must be affordable.

Online free retailing business templates/ retail store business plans must be downloaded for meticulous research. You must have better retailing business projects/retail policy to mobilize the start-up business on reliable foundation. Truly speaking through a compact integrated retailing portal, it is much easy to reach trillion customers. However, if your services are not qualitative even after the effective modernization, it is ultimately debacle with zero improvement.

So, you should have better sample business plan for retail store how to strengthen up the multi channel storefronts to have large volume of profits in the long run. Useful guidance from professional retailers and expert strategy analyzers to evaluate small retail store business plans must make your dream project/ retail store policies productive eventually. Sample retail business templates, free tips, retail store business plan, advices and informative blogs are surely tools for you to navigate extensively to find the best option to operate a lucrative retail company plaza dynamically.

Finally, you should not be a grandiose narcissist with stubbornness to discard everything which is modern. Instead, you must accept advanced and upgraded tools, methods and compact theories to renew the whole product selling process without decelerating structural growth of your own outlets for retailing.

Download Retail Store Business Plan Sample in pdf

OGS capital writers specialize in business plan themes such as corner store business plan , funeral home business plan , bra business plan , jewellery business plan , business plan for a grocery store , souvenir shop business plan and many others.

OGSCapital’s team has assisted thousands of entrepreneurs with top-rate business plan development, consultancy and analysis. They’ve helped thousands of SME owners secure more than $1.5 billion in funding, and they can do the same for you.

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How to Make an Ecommerce Business Plan for Your Startup

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Darren DeMatas

January 30, 2024

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In addition to receiving commissions generated through affiliate marketing, we are able to fund our independent research and reviews at no extra cost to our readers. Learn more.

So you’ve decided that you want to quit your day job and start your very own ecommerce empire. That’s great!

But before you become the next Jeff Bezos  (and definitely before you quit your job!), it’s worth spending some time thinking about a business plan. In this article, we’ll dive into the key elements of an ecommerce business plan, which is very different than writing traditional business plans.

Ecommerce Business Plan 2020

Why You Should Create a Business Plan

We know that starting an ecommerce business is exciting, and it can be tempting to jump right in without constructing a business plan. READ: PLEASE DON’T DO THIS.

If you haven’t put your ideas, questions and concerns on paper, then you haven’t given your business model enough thought .

Taking the time to write a business plan might seem like a lot of work, but it can save you a lot of time and money in the long run by better preparing you for potential challenges and opportunities that you’ll face as a first-time entrepreneur. Think of it as a roadmap for your new business venture.

It’s exciting to start your own ecommerce business. However, you want to be well prepared and not jump into anything without having a solid, foolproof ecommerce business plan in place.

After all, you wouldn’t jump out of a plane without a parachute, so why start a business without a safety device in place? That safety device is your business plan.

Quote 5 Jeff Bezos Retail Is Details

The business plan is the brainstorming process that ensures your concept and goals are realistic.

This is more than just mental notes. True business plans take your ideas , questions, and concerns and put those in writing.

As you start creating your business plan, you’ll soon understand that it’s more than a single piece of paper with handwritten details on it. It’s a clearly constructed format of how your business will be created, how it will operate, and what you hope the future holds in terms of a successful ecommerce business.

When you write your business plan, be sure to have a target audience in mind. Are you going to look for investors or put a Kickstarter campaign into motion and use this as your descriptive platform? If so, make sure that your business plan contains everything the audience would want to know about your business (and more!). Many traditional funding solutions require a business plan in order to give you capital. However, there are alternative solutions, such as  Payability  that specialize in ecommerce and don’t require credit checks, a business plan, or any complicated paperwork. They can also get you approved in as little as 24 hours.

When your business plan is completed, you should have achieved the following goals:

  • Knowledge:  A greater sense of knowledge of the business aspects.
  • Resources:  The resources you’re going to need to make your business successful, such as partners, money, employees, etc.
  • Road Map: Have clear set goals to take you from the very beginning of your business and onward.
  • Viability: In other words, is your business possible? Will you have enough profit margins to keep the doors open long-term?

Now that you know why you should create a business plan, it’s time to move on to how you can create your business plan and get started putting your ecommerce business into motion.

How to Start an Ecommerce Business Plan

At the very beginning of the planning stages, it’s a good idea to develop a framework for your business model. This business model will continue to evolve as you create each section of your ecommerce business plan, so don’t strive for a perfect completed plan on the first try. You will be making tweaks to the plan of certain steps along the way.

There are many ways to sell products online and different business models  to pursue. Research and learn from successful ecommerce business examples in the market. The exact business model you follow will be one that makes the most sense with your resources, skills, and interests.

In order to create the best online business plan with your product in mind, you need to figure out the following things:

What are you selling?

The first step to creating an online business is to learn the absolute basics of what you can sell.

  • Physical products: Clothing , shoes, home goods
  • Digital products: Software as a Service products, ecourses, ebooks
  • Services: Consulting services, home cleaning

Who are you selling to?

  • Business-to-Business (B2B): You are selling to organizations, corporations, and non-profits rather than individual customers
  • Business to Consumer (B2C): This means you are selling to individual consumers rather than businesses
  • Marketplace: You are acting as a middleman by bringing businesses and (B2B or B2C) customers to one website.

How are you sourcing your product?

  • Manufacture in-house: You make your product or service in-house
  • Third-party manufacturer: You outsource the manufacturing of your product or service to a third-party manufacturer
  • Dropship: You partner with a dropship manufacturer. Basically, this means that they make your product, package it and ship it directly to your customer while your company handles the entire customer relationship.
  • Wholesale : You buy goods or services from other companies in bulk and re-sell those products on your online store

Additional References

  • Entrepreneurship: Business & Marketing Plans
  • Small Business and Entrepreneurship
  • Entrepreneurship Resources
  • Business Plan Resources

Executive Summary

Ecommerce Business Plan Template Executive Summary

The executive summary will be written according to your goals, and it’s recommended that this is done at the very end of your business plan completion. This will ensure that you include all of the important factors about your business and present your ideas in a concise and complete way.

Some of the features you’ll include in the executive summary include information showing that you’ve done your research, you have concrete sales forecasts, and the main details about your brand.

Business Model

When you’re figuring out your business model, you have to consider four different areas:

  • Monetization strategy
  • Product/industry
  • Target market
  • Sales channel

Monetization Strategy

The monetization strategy delves into the methods you are going to use to sell your products.

This strategy will look at different product monetization methods, including white label, private label , affiliate marketing, wholesale, dropshipping, and even selling ads.

Product/Industry

The product industry section is where you summarize your main niche.

For example, “Vegan Skincare Products.”

Target Market

In the target market section, you will write a sentence or so on who your target market, or ideal customer, is in the community.

If you’re selling vegan skincare products, your target customers might be women who embrace the vegan lifestyle and use natural skincare products in their daily beauty regimen.

Sales Channel

The sales channel refers to where you’re going to sell your products.

For example, you might be selling your products on your own website, and this should be entered in this section.

Business Overview

Ecommerce Business Plan Template Company Overview

This next section covers your company overview.

This section of your business plan will cover various features of your company, including the following:

  • Company type
  • Domain name
  • Value proposition
  • Brand traits

The brand name section lists your business name or brand name.

This is an extremely important aspect of your business plan as it’s what will set the tone for everything that follows.

Pick a brand name that’s simple yet unique and is something that can be used in a wordplay manner, if desired, but not pun-worthy.

Company Type

The company is how your business operates. For example, you might label your business as an LLC, S-corporation, sole proprietor, or some other type of business organization.

The best way to determine how you should categorize your company is to speak to your accountant. There are various tax and legal aspects to forming your business in a certain way.

Speak with the professionals in the company and corporation formation field to determine how to label your company and which company type best benefits your business in a variety of ways.

Domain Name

This section is where you list your domain name.

Choose a domain name that is memorable and embraces the overall traits and features of your business.

And, when choosing a domain name, be sure to think of SEO aspects when doing so. You’ll find out just how much all of these things tie together and ensure a frequently-visited website is the end result.

Keep in mind that with ecommerce, the domain name is just as important as the brand name. Maybe even more so!

Value Proposition

A value proposition is a short, crisp statement that will gauge how clear your idea is. Write this section as if you had one minute to explain your business to a potential investor or customer and then practice it over and over again.

The value proposition can be used on your ecommerce store as your company description.

Here’s a good example: Say you’re looking to start a hiking company called Atlas Hiking Co. which sells premium performance hiking shirts. A possible company description could be the following:

Atlas Hiking Co. is a lifestyle hiking company that produces high-performance hiking shirts for outdoor lovers. Our proprietary SPF40 fabric is one of the lightest fabrics on the market, providing mountain lovers with maximum comfort, both from a breathability and sun-protection standpoint. Our product is made in the U.S.A. and a portion of our profits are donated to preserve national parks around the country.

Pay special attention to all the sensory words !

The mission statement in your business plan is the “why” of it all.

For example, why you started the business, why you are selling the products you are selling, etc., can all be added to this section of your business plan.

You can make this portion as simple or detailed as you like. Just make sure to properly and clearly explain your business mission.

The vision part of the business plan is your “how” in the grand scheme of things. It is the dream you have for your company and the path you’re going to take to realize that dream.

When you write the vision portion of the business plan, think long-term. What are you hoping to achieve, not just in the near future but for the long haul of the life of your business?

Look into the future and plan out where you see your business in 5, 10, even 20 years from now.

This will help you construct the rest of your business plan if you know where you want your business to head, now and in the future.

Brand Traits

The brand traits section is a short section in your company overview.

Basically, in the brand traits section you’re going to want to list three to five words that describe your brand.

Think of your brand personality and describe it using a few separate powerful words.

The personnel section lists all individuals, including yourself, who will be involved in the daily operations of your business. You can create a separate section for a full operations plan or add that later.

Some business owners choose to handle all duties on their own or with a partner, while others will hire individuals to fill the following roles:

  • CEO (usually the business owner)
  • Management team
  • Customer service/logistics
  • PR/Social media specialist
  • SEO manager
  • Advertising manager

Competitive Market Analysis

Competitive Market Analysis

Here’s a fact you can bank on: there has never been a successful e-commerce entrepreneur that didn’t understand his/her target market cold.

That’s why this section is one of the most important in the entire business plan. It will force you to understand the industry in which you operate, the overall industry analysis and outlook, the existing competition, and your target customer demographic.

Market Segment

The market segment portion of the business plan will help you to put your ideas down on paper, make them more focused, and get your team together.

This area will include your niche selection, target market, and competitive analysis.

Niche Selection

The niche section  provides an overview of your niche, why you selected it, whether there’s a micro niche included, and the type of niche you’ve chosen.

The purpose of this section is to crystalize the ideas that you have and make sure they are understandable and viable.

The target market section covers an overview of your target market plus describes your market segments.

Ask yourself who your  target customer  is (population size, age, geography, education, ethnicity, income level) and consider whether consumers are comfortable with buying your product category online.

When listing the target market information, make sure to mention your target audience size as this is important for ensuring that your audience will be adequately covered.

Facebook Audience Size

Competitive Analysis

With the competitive analysis portion of your market analysis, you want to list your market leader and direct and indirect competitors.

After you mention who these entities are, you need to list the characteristics of each one, such as domain name, business model, monthly traffic, and pricing range.

However, before you even get started in writing this section, you need to spend several hours researching your target market.

Here are some of the most efficient ways to research a particular market:

Industry reports

Google is your best friend. Look for any recent industry reports on your market of choice. This will give you a good sense of how much growth the industry is experiencing, why this growth is happening, and what are the largest customer segments. In our example of Atlas Hiking Co., we should research the outdoor apparel market.

Outdoor apparel kids hiking hiking gear Google search Trends worldwide 2004-present

Let’s say that through our research of the outdoor apparel industry, we discovered that there was a huge boom in youth hiking apparel. Perhaps parents were increasingly concerned about their kids’ exposure to UV rays while hiking, so they began to spend more money on their kids. We could use this valuable information to guide our business strategy.

There’s only so much you can read online. Go to a nearby store that sells similar products to yours and interview the store representative. The store rep has interacted with hundreds of interested customers, which can lead to thousands of valuable insights! It’s amazing how these insights can translate into a meaningful business opportunity.

Here’s an example:

If I were going into Billy’s Outdoor Store to research the outdoor apparel market, I would probably ask Billy the following:

  • What are your best-selling products?
  • What are your worst-selling products?
  • Find products similar to yours and ask the representative his/her favorite features on products similar to yours.
  • How much are customers generally willing to spend on these types of products?
  • Do customers make repeat orders of any of these products?
  • Do you get a lot of customers that are looking to buy last-minute hiking gear before they go on a hike?

Competition

Create an Excel spreadsheet of all of your competitors. In your spreadsheet, you should have the following columns:

  • Competitor Name
  • Price point
  • Product Description
  • Key Features (e.g., fabric, waterproof, slim fit, etc.)

What is the competition missing? Is there a gap in the offering? Where you can add some additional value?

After conducting the competitor analysis, Atlas Hiking Co. might find that the competition’s hiking shirts offer very few features at a low price point, but no one offers a luxury hiking shirt with additional features at a higher price point.

This is just an example of the types of insights one can gain from market research which can drastically alter your business model.

Keyword Research

By using Google’s keyword planner  and trends pages, you can get a good sense of how in demand your product is and whether it’s trending upward or downward. Google is great for a general idea, just don’t bank on it.

Some other keyword tools you can use for keyword research include Ahrefs, JungleScout, and Viral Launch. Check out this list  for more ideas.

Trade shows

Are there nearby trade shows that you can go to? Again, creating connections with other people in your industry is a surefire shortcut to countless hours of reading on the internet. Trade shows are also a great opportunity to talk to competitors, meet manufacturers, and better understand where things are heading in your industry.

Once you finish researching the relevant industry, you should summarize your findings by answering the following questions:

General Industry

  • How big is the overall industry?
  • How big is the specific sub-industry in which you intend to operate?
  • Where has most of the historic growth in the market come from?
  • Why is this the right time to enter this market?
  • What are the sub-segments that are poised for future growth (e.g., youth apparel)?
  • How crowded is the product category with competition?
  • How is your competition distributing its product (online, retail, wholesale, etc.)?
  • What’s missing from the competition’s product offering?

Products and Offers

Ecommerce Business Plan Template Products and Offers

So we know we want to sell hiking shirts, but how do you research specific products?

But for some of us, we’re not quite sure what we should sell. To succeed in online retail, you need a product that is trending upwards in a growing niche.

Different types of products

Some of the different types of products include the following:

  • Convenience products: Frequent purchase products, little effort on buying
  • Shopping products: Less frequently purchased in between purchases, little more effort and planning, shop around
  • Specialty products: Strong brand preference and loyalty, will buy no matter what the price

The various types of niches include the following:

  • Hobby niches
  • Lifestyle niches
  • Problem niches
  • Weird/embarrassing niches

Existing products

Come up with detailed specifications for each product or service you intend to sell. If it’s a hiking shirt we’re selling, we would want to have:

  • Detailed sketches of the shirt
  • Fabric weight, materials, type
  • Key features (e.g., pre-shrunk, water-proof, SPF 40)

Future product pipeline

What are other products that you have in the pipeline? Perhaps once you’ve successfully sold hiking shirts, you’re able to leverage your manufacturing relationships to provide hiking socks and shorts. Include that information in this section.

The products and services section will cover the various selling categories of items.

These product offerings will include the following:

  • Core product

Each product group will have its own purpose in your sales catalog. For example, tripwire is the product that brings customers to your ecommerce store or online marketplaces  while the core product is your main seller.

Knowing what products you’ll include within each section allows you to have a firm grasp on what your main product will be and how the other types of products will work alongside your main product.

This section will also cover the search volume and Amazon pricing range.

You’ll need to calculate your true costs. You have to make sure you don’t overestimate your margins.

To tabulate your total true costs, you need to write down the costs in the following areas:

  • Target price
  • Supplier cost of the product
  • Total cost per unit
  • Net profit per unit
  • Profit margin per unit

Once you complete the pricing portion, you’ll have everything on one sheet and readily accessible whenever you need it.

Marketing Plan and Operations

Ecommerce Business Plan Template Marketing

So, now you’ve concluded that you have a great business idea, and it’s in a growing market. That’s fantastic – but how are you going to drive traffic to your ecommerce website and get customers to buy it ? And how much can you afford to spend on your product?

Marketing  is everything. It’s important that your marketing efforts match your business model.

If you have a website and no marketing, your site won’t have any visitors. With no visitors, you will make no sales. Then how do you grow and sell your ecommerce business (if that’s your long-term goal)? Even with the best possible products, nobody will buy them if they aren’t directed to them in some way.

In order to come up with a marketing strategy, you need to first know your customer inside out. You should be able to answer such questions as:

  • How old is your customer?
  • Where does your customer live?
  • What is the population of your customer base?
  • What is their education level?
  • What is their income level?
  • What are your customer’s pain points?

With so many channels to reach your customer, which one is best for you?

Once we know pretty much everything there is to know about our target customer, we can shift focus to our marketing strategy. You want to choose marketing strategies that equal positive conversion rates. What channels should you use to grab the attention of your customer demographic? Some of the key marketing channels include:

Paid Marketing

  • Pay-per-click – this online marketing typically involves using Google Shopping campaigns  and managing a product data feed.
  • Affiliate sales networks – Allowing other blogs and websites to sell your product for a cut of the revenue. List the different affiliate sale networks that you plan to promote through.
  • Facebook ads ⎯ Ads posted on Facebook to draw in buyers through social media means.
  • Influencer marketing ⎯ Hiring industry influencers to get the word out about your product through their social media platforms and contacts.

Organic Marketing

  • Social media (Facebook, Instagram , Pinterest, etc.): What is your strategy for social media, and where will you dedicate your attention?
  • Search Engine Optimization : Create and promote awesome content so people find your product organically through search.
  • Content marketing: Figure out how you’ll use content marketing in your business. Consider various article topics that will persuade your target audience to buy your products.
  • Blogger networks: could be organic or paid through affiliate sale programs.
  • Key bloggers: Develop a list of the key bloggers in your product category. For Atlas Hiking Co., this might be an influencer that blogs about the best hiking trails in America.

Finding the optimal mix of these advertising tools depends 100% on your customer segment as well as your product type. For example, a SaaS product targeting millennials will require an entirely different marketing strategy than an e-commerce physical product targeting baby boomers. Perhaps that should be a post on its own for another day!

How much should you spend to acquire a customer?

In order to understand this, we need first to discuss a concept known as customer lifetime value or LTV. In essence, this is a formula that helps you better understand how much an average customer will spend over time.

Here’s  a good read on how to calculate LTV.

It’s important to remember that for new businesses, you don’t have a lot of data on customer purchase habits so it’s a good idea to be more conservative with your assumptions in calculating LTV.

Let’s say, for Atlas Hiking Co., I determine that the average LTV per customer is $300. This means that over time, the average customer will spend $300. Let’s say, on average, if I receive $300 in revenue, $100 of that will translate to gross profit before I factor in my marketing costs (basically, I’m just subtracting the cost of making the shirts).

Knowing that my gross profit is $100 per shirt is a critical piece of information because it tells me that I can spend up to $100 in marketing to acquire a customer and still be profitable!

Some of the marketing options include social media marketing and content marketing.

Think about your business model and then line up your marketing budget. Your marketing budget may include the following items:

  • Sales/branded content
  • SEO/blog content
  • Facebook/Instagram ads
  • Influencer marketing
  • Marketing tools
  • Niche advertising

Choosing The Right Technology

With so much technology and SaaS products out there, it’s important to understand the various moving parts and diagram how they all integrate with one another.

Some of the different elements include:

  • Shopping Cart Platforms  – e.g., Shopify , BigCommerce , WooCommerce , or any open-source platform
  • Hosting – Nexcess , BigScoots , Kinsta , WPX
  • Payment Processo r – e.g., Stripe, Paypal
  • Fulfillment Center – e.g., Amazon, ShipBob
  • Apps – e.g., Zipify, BuildWooFunnels, Gelato
  • Accounting & Taxes  – e.g., Quicken, Xero
  • Marketing Automation – e.g., Klaviyo , Mailchimp
  • Marketing Tools – e.g.  Buzzstream, Ahrefs
  • Customer Loyalty Programs  – e.g., Antavo, Smile

Come up with a detailed list of the different products and services you need to run your business as well as the monthly and per-transaction cost of each of them. This will be important in understanding the impact of these services on your margins.

Matching your business model to your technology is essential, too. Certain website platforms are better suited for specific sales models.

Email marketing is another type of technology that should be carefully considered and matched up correctly with your business model.

Keep in mind that it takes, on average, 6-7 interactions with a brand before someone makes a purchase, so you need to keep using technology to get them back to your website.

As you explore the technology options and find out ways to draw potential customers in and keep them happy while they’re there, here are some key points to keep in mind:

  • What you say about yourself and your products with your website content
  • How you respond to questions on live chat and email support
  • How to make use of chatbots
  • How you connect on social media
  • The information you send through email marketing
  • What bloggers and influencers say about your brand
  • How existing customers review your company
  • How you advertise
  • How you establish loyalty beyond sales

After you figure out your technology methods, you have to come up with a technology budget.

The business plan must also include the operations side of things. Determine who will be your manufacturer, secondary manufacturer, and shipping and fulfillment  provider.

When looking at supply chain costs and options, ShipBob  is an ecommerce fulfillment provider you can consider.

Financial Plan

Ecommerce Business Plan Template - Financial Plan

When figuring out your financial plan, evaluating and pinpointing your startup costs  is essential.

The focus of the financial plan is how long it will take for you to make your money back. You also need to figure out if you need a business loan .

Traffic and conversion rates will help you determine how long it will be until you start making money back.

You’ll also want to use an income statement to detail financial information.

This section is used for financial projections, such as forecasting sales, expenses, and net income of the business. Ideally, you’ll want to create a monthly Excel balance sheet showing the following:

  • Projected revenue:  First, come up with your projected number of units sold and then come up with your projected revenue (Projected Revenue = # of Units Sold * Average Sales Price).
  • Fixed expenses:   these are expenses that are fixed no matter how much you sell. Typically, these relate to monthly SaaS subscriptions, employee salaries, or rent.
  • Variable expenses  – these expenses change in direct proportion to how much you sell. Common examples include the cost of goods sold and credit card payment processing fees.

This helps business owners better understand what they need to achieve to hit their profit goals. In reality, projections are usually always off the mark, but it’s good to give yourself some measurable goals to strive for.

This section should aim to answer the following questions about your product offering:

  • How much product do you need to sell per year to meet your income goals for the business?
  • What are the margins on your product? If you sell one hiking shirt for $50, how much do you make after paying your supplier, employees, and marketing costs?
  • What is the lifetime value of a customer?
  • How much can you spend to acquire customers? If you conservatively project that the average customer will spend $300 over time on your shirts, then you can afford to spend an amount less than $300 to acquire that customer using the paid marketing channels described previously.
  • Do you have any big capital expenditures early on that would require you to need to bring in investors?
  • Can you improve gross margins by making bigger orders from your suppliers?

There are various acquisition channels that will help your traffic to convert including:

Your revenue plan will contain a 12-month revenue forecast plan to help you map out each month of earnings.

There are different business earning models you can go through to determine how much you can make with your business.

You want to calculate how much traffic costs. This all depends on the methods you use to gain traffic to your site.

As you determine what your profit might be with your ecommerce business  or ecommerce businesses, there are certain math formulas to use:

  • The profit equation
  • Break-even analysis
  • Units needed to achieve the profit target

You should also consider how you will use fintech companies in your ecommerce business.

What are the key elements of an ecommerce business plan?

The main components of an eCommerce business plan include the executive summary, company description, market analysis, organization and management structure, product line or service, marketing and sales strategy, financial projections, and funding request, if applicable.

How do I create a budget for my ecommerce business?

Start by estimating your initial startup costs and ongoing expenses. Consider costs like website development, inventory, marketing, shipping, taxes, and any necessary licenses or permits. It’s also important to factor in a contingency plan for unexpected costs.

How do I find the right product to sell?

Research is fundamental. Look at market trends, customer needs, and competitor products. Use tools like Google Trends or social media platforms to understand what customers are currently interested in. Always consider your passion and knowledge about the product too, as this can drive your business forward.

How can I differentiate my product from competitors?

Differentiation can come from unique product features, superior customer service, better pricing, or a compelling brand story. Understand what your competitors offer and how you can do it differently or better.

Wrapping Up Your Business Plan

Careful planning is crucial to get your e-commerce business from the planning phase to the launch phase and to ensure its successful future.

Going through the exercise of writing a business plan will cement your own understanding of your business and your market. It will also position you to take advantage of lucrative opportunities while mitigating harmful threats to your business down the line.

Your turn! Have you written a business plan for your online store? Do you have anything to add? Tell us about it in the comments below!

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Home » Sample Business Plans » Wholesale & Retail

How to Write a Rice Retail Store Business Plan [Sample Template]

Are you about starting a rice retail store? If YES, here is a complete sample rice retail store business plan template & feasibility report you can use for FREE . Okay, so we have considered all the requirements for starting a rice retail store. We also took it further by analyzing and drafting a sample rice retail store marketing plan template backed up by actionable guerrilla marketing ideas for rice retail stores. So let’s proceed to the business planning section.

Why Start a Rice Retail Store?

There are businesses that someone with little schooling and no serious business background and training can start. One of such businesses is to open a rice retailing store. The major things you need to have in place to make success from this type of business is a good location, easy access to wholesale supply of quality rice and good customer service and accountability skills.

The truth is that if your rice shop is located in an area with good human and vehicular traffic, and you have quality and well – packaged rice in different sizes from different brands, you may not have to struggle to get people to visit your shop and make purchase.

So, if you have decided to open a rice retail store in your neighborhood, then you should ensure that you carry out feasibility studies and also market survey. This will enable you properly locate the business and then hit the ground running. Below is a sample rice retail store business plan template that can help you to successfully write your own with little or no hassle.

A Sample Rice Retail Store Business Plan Template

1. industry overview.

As the name of the business implies, rice retailing stores basically retail processed and bagged rice. Rice retail stores primarily purchase rice from wholesalers and retail them directly to end consumers – customers.

The Rice Retail Stores industry, just like most businesses in the retailing industry, depends on strong consumer spending to spur the demand for industry products. Over the last half a decade, the economy has begun recovering from recessionary declines with both the Consumer Confidence Index and disposable income increasing.

Going forward, as the economy of the united states continues to recover and consumers are expected to loosen their discretionary budgets, the industry is anticipated to experience growth.

The Rice Retail Stores industry is indeed a major sector of the economy of the United States of America and they generate several billion dollars annually from loads of rice retail stores scattered all around the United States of America.

The industry is responsible for the employment of well thousands of people. It is important to state that there is no rice retail store in the United States of America that has a lion share of the available market. New entrant into the industry can favorably compete for the available market.

It is a fact that an estimated two-thirds of the United States’ gross domestic product (GDP) comes from the general retail industry of which the rice retail stores industry also contributes.  This is why the United States of America’s economy is measured with the yardstick of how well the retailing business is fairing in the U.S.

In essence, when there is an unstable economy, purchasing power drops and it impacts the retailing / rice retailing stores industry negatively which may result in the closure of some rice retail stores.

Over and above, the rice retail store industry is a profitable industry and it is open for any aspiring entrepreneur to come in and establish his or her business; you can choose to start on a small scale in a street corner or you can choose to start on a large scale with several outlets in key cities through the United States of America and Canada.

2. Executive Summary

Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC is a standard and registered rice retail store business that will be located in one of the busiest streets in Charleston – West Virginia. We have been able to lease a facility that is big enough to fit into the design of the kind of standard rice retail store that we intend launching and the facility is located in a corner piece property directly opposite the largest residential estate in Charleston – West Virginia.

Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC will retail short-grain rice, medium-grain rice and long-grain rice (both in organic and non – organic form) et al from different brands from the United States and abroad. We are set to services a wide range of clientele in and around Charleston – West Virginia.

We are aware that there are several large and small chains of rice retail store outlets all around Charleston – West Virginia, which is why we spent time and resources to conduct a thorough feasibility studies and market survey so as to be well positioned to favorably compete with all our competitors. We have an online – service option for our customers, and our outlet is well secured with various payments of options.

Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC will ensure that all our customers are given first class treatment whenever they visit our rice retail store. We have a CRM software that will enable us manage a one on one relationship with our customers no matter how large the numbers of our customers’ base may grow to.

We will ensure that we get our customers involved in the selection of brands that will be on available in our store and also when making some business decisions.

Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC will at all times demonstrate her commitment to sustainability, both individually and as a firm, by actively participating in our communities and integrating sustainable business practices wherever possible.

We will ensure that we hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards by meeting our customers’ needs precisely and completely whenever they patronize our products. We will cultivate a working environment that provides a human, sustainable approach to earning a living, and living in our world, for our partners, employees and for our customers.

Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC is a family business that is owned by Mercy Lurton and her immediate family members. Mercy Lurton has a B.Sc. in Business Administration, with well over 5 years of experience in the retailing stores industry, working for some of the leading brand in the United States. Although the business is launching out with just one outlet in Charleston – West Virginia, but there is a plan to open other outlets all around major cities in the United States and Canada.

3. Our Products and Services

Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC is in the rice retail stores industry to service a wide range of clients and of course to make profits, which is why we will ensure we go all the way to make available a wide range of well packaged rice from top rice production brands in the United States and other countries of the world.

We will ensure that we do all that is permitted by the law of the United States to achieve our aim and ambition of starting the business. Our product offerings are listed below;

  • Retailing short-grain rice, medium-grain rice and long-grain rice (both in organic and non – organic form) from different rice production brands

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

  • Our vision is to become one of the leading brands in the rice retail stores industry in West Virginia and to establish a one stop rice retail store in Charleston – West Virginia and in other key cities in the United States of America and Canada.
  • Our mission is to establish a world – class rice retail store business that will make available a wide range of well – bagged rice from top rice production brands at affordable prices to the residence of Charleston – West Virginia and other key cities in the United States of America and Canada where we intend opening of chains of rice retail stores and franchise.

Our Business Structure

Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC do not intend to start a rice retail store business like the usual mom and pop business around the street corner; our intention of starting a rice retail store business is to build a standard and one stop rice retail store outlet in Charleston – West Virginia.

We will ensure that we hire people that are qualified, honest, customer centric and are ready to work to help us build a prosperous business that will benefit all the stake holders (the owners, workforce, and customers). As a matter of fact, profit-sharing arrangement will be made available to all our senior management staff and it will be based on their performance for a period of ten years or more.

In view of that, we have decided to hire qualified and competent hands to occupy the following positions;

  • Chief Executive Officer (Owner)
  • Store Manager
  • Human Resources and Admin Manager

Merchandize Manager

Sales and Marketing Manager

Information Technologist

  • Accountants / Cashiers
  • Sales Agents / Customer Services Executive

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

Chief Executive Officer – CEO:

  • Increases management’s effectiveness by recruiting, selecting, orienting, training, coaching, counseling, and disciplining managers; communicating values, strategies, and objectives; assigning accountabilities; planning, monitoring, and appraising job results; developing incentives; developing a climate for offering information and opinions; providing educational opportunities.
  • Creates, communicates, and implements the organization’s vision, mission, and overall direction – i.e. leading the development and implementation of the overall organization’s strategy.
  • Responsible for fixing prices and signing business deals
  • Responsible for providing direction for the business
  • Responsible for signing checks and documents on behalf of the company
  • Evaluates the success of the organization
  • Reports to the board

Admin and HR Manager

  • Responsible for overseeing the smooth running of HR and administrative tasks for the organization
  • Maintains office supplies by checking stocks; placing and expediting orders; evaluating new products.
  • Ensures operation of equipment by completing preventive maintenance requirements; calling for repairs.
  • Updates job knowledge by participating in educational opportunities; reading professional publications; maintaining personal networks; participating in professional organizations.
  • Enhances department and organization reputation by accepting ownership for accomplishing new and different requests; exploring opportunities to add value to job accomplishments.
  • Defines job positions for recruitment and managing interviewing process
  • Carries out staff induction for new team members
  • Responsible for training, evaluation and assessment of employees
  • Responsible for arranging travel, meetings and appointments
  • Oversees the smooth running of the daily office activities.

Store Manager:

  • Responsible for managing the daily activities in the store
  • Ensures that proper records of bags of rice are kept and warehouse does not run out of products
  • Ensures that the store facility is in tip top shape and goods are properly arranged and easy to locate
  • Interfaces with third – party suppliers (vendors)
  • Controls rice distribution and supply inventory
  • Supervises the workforce in the rice sales floor.
  • Manages vendor relations, market visits, and the ongoing education and development of the organizations’ buying teams
  • Helps to ensure consistent quality of well processed rice from different manufacturers are purchased and retailed in good price that will ensure we make good profit
  • Responsible for planning sales, monitoring inventory, selecting the merchandise, and writing and pricing orders to vendors
  • Ensures that the organization operates within stipulated budget.
  • Manages external research and coordinate all the internal sources of information to retain the organizations’ best customers and attract new ones
  • Models demographic information and analyze the volumes of transactional data generated by customer purchases
  • Identifies, prioritizes, and reaches out to new partners, and business opportunities et al
  • Identifies development opportunities; follows up on development leads and contacts; participates in the structuring and financing of projects; assures the completion of development projects.
  • Responsible for supervising implementation, advocate for the customer’s needs, and communicate with clients
  • Develops, executes and evaluates new plans for expanding increase sales
  • Documents all customer contact and information
  • Represent the company in strategic meetings
  • Helps to increase sales and growth for the company
  • Manages the organization website
  • Handles ecommerce aspect of the business
  • Responsible for installing and maintenance of computer software and hardware for the organization
  • Manages logistics and supply chain software, Web servers, e-commerce software and POS (point of sale) systems
  • Manages the organization’s CCTV
  • Handles any other technological and IT related duties.

Accountant / Cashier:

  • Responsible for preparing financial reports, budgets, and financial statements for the organization
  • Provides managements with financial analyses, development budgets, and accounting reports; analyzes financial feasibility for the most complex proposed projects; conducts market research to forecast trends and business conditions.
  • Responsible for financial forecasting and risks analysis.
  • Performs cash management, general ledger accounting, and financial reporting
  • Responsible for developing and managing financial systems and policies
  • Responsible for administering payrolls
  • Ensuring compliance with taxation legislation
  • Handles all financial transactions for the organization
  • Serves as internal auditor for the organization

Client Service Executive

  • Ensures that all contacts with customers (e-mail, walk-In center, SMS or phone) provides the client with a personalized customer service experience of the highest level
  • Through interaction with customers on the phone, uses every opportunity to build client’s interest in the company’s products and services
  • Manages administrative duties assigned by the human resources and admin manager in an effective and timely manner
  • Consistently stays abreast of any new information on the organizations’ products, promotional campaigns etc. to ensure accurate and helpful information is supplied to customers when they make enquiries (answer customer queries regarding the store and the merchandise)
  • Finds out the customer’s needs, recommend, select and help locate the right merchandise, describe a product’s features and benefits.
  • makes suggestions and encourage purchase of products
  • Provides information about merchandise and delivery options
  • Bags or packages purchases made
  • Responsible for cleaning all the store facility at all times
  • Ensures that toiletries and supplies don’t run out of stock
  • Cleans both the interior and exterior of the store facility
  • Handles any other duty as assigned by the store manager.

6. SWOT Analysis

Our intention to start just one outlet of our rice retail store in Charleston – West Virginia is to test run the business for a period of 2 to 5 years to know if we will invest more money, expand the business and then open other rice retail outlets all over major towns in West Virginia and key cities in the United States and Canada.

We are quite aware that there are several rice retail stores all over Charleston and even in the same location where we intend locating ours, which is why we are following the due process of establishing a business.

We know that if a proper SWOT analysis is conducted for our business, we will be able to position our business to maximize our strength, leverage on the opportunities that will be available to us, mitigate our risks and be welled equipped to confront our threats.

Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC employed the services of an expert HR and Business Analyst with bias in retailing to help us conduct a thorough SWOT analysis and to help us create a Business model that will help us achieve our business goals and objectives. This is the summary of the SWOT analysis that was conducted for Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC;

Our location, the business model we will be operating on (physical store and online store), varieties of payment options, wide range of well processed and well – bagged rice from different rice production companies from within the United States and other parts of the world and our excellent customer service culture will definitely count as a strong strength for Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC.

So also our management team members are people who have what it takes to grow a business from start – up to profitability with a record time.

A major weakness that may count against us is the fact that we are a new rice retail outlet and we don’t have the financial capacity to engage in the kind of publicity that we intend giving the business.

  • Opportunities:

The fact that we are going to be operating our rice retail store in one of the busiest streets in Charleston – West Virginia provides us with unlimited opportunities to sell our rice to a large number of individuals and businesses (hotels and restaurants).

We have been able to conduct thorough feasibility studies and market survey and we know what our potential customers will be looking for when they visit our rice store outlets; we are well positioned to take on the opportunities that will come our way.

Just like any other business, one of the major threats that we are likely going to face is economic downturn. It is a fact that economic downturn affects purchasing / spending power. Another threat that may likely confront us is the arrival of a new rice retail outlet in same location where ours is located. So also, unfavorable government policies may also pose a threat for businesses such as ours.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

  • Market Trends

If you are conversant with the Rice Retail Stores Industry, you will quite agree that the changes in disposable income, consumer sentiment, and ever changing eating habits are major growth drivers for sales in this industry.

No doubt, a massive rise in consumer confidence has also contributed in helping the industry experience remarkable growth, but uneven performance in these drivers has led to slightly constrained revenue growth for the Rice Retail Stores industry. So also, the rising demand for organic rice, as a result of increasing disposable income and consumer sentiment, will result in revenue growth.

Rice retail store business has been in existence for as long as human started trading goods, but one thing is certain, the rice retail store industry is still evolving. The introduction of technology and subsequently homed delivery options, online grocery cum rice retail store has indeed helped in reshaping the industry.

It is now a common phenomenon for rice retail stores and grocery outlets to leverage on technology to effectively predict consumer demand patterns and to strategically position their store to meet their needs; in essence, the use of technology helps retailers to maximize supply chain efficiencies. No doubt data collected from customers goes a long way to help rice retail stores and grocery stores serve them better.

8. Our Target Market

Possibly it will be safe to submit that the rice retail stores industry has the widest range of customers; almost everybody on planet earth consume rice; rice is indeed one of the most popular staple food in the world.

In view of that, we have positioned our rice retail store to service the residence of Charleston – West Virginia and every other location where franchise cum outlets of our rice retail stores will be located all over key cities in the United States of America and Canada.

We have conducted our market research and feasibility studies and we have ideas of what our target market would be expecting from us. We are in business to retail well processed and bagged rice from different rice production brands to the following groups of people and corporate organizations;

  • Restaurants

Our competitive advantage

A close study of the rice retail stores industry reveals that the market has become much more intensely competitive over the last decade. As a matter of fact, you have to be highly creative, customer centric and proactive if you must survive in this industry. We are aware of the stiffer competition and we are well prepared to compete favorably with other leading rice retail stores in Charleston – West Virginia and throughout the United States and Canada.

Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC is launching a standard one stop rice retail store that will indeed become the preferred choice of residence of Charleston – West Virginia and every other location where our outlets will be opened.

Our rice retail store is located in a corner piece property on a busy road directly opposite one of the largest residential estates in Charleston – West Virginia. We have enough parking spaces that can accommodate well over 10 cars per time.

One thing is certain; we will ensure that we have a wide range of well – processed and well bagged rice from leading rice production companies available in our store at all times. It will be difficult for customers to visit our rice store and not see the type of rice they are looking for.

One of our business goals is to make Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC a one stop rice shop for both household and businesses (hotels and restaurants et al) our excellent customer service culture, online store, various payment options and highly secured facility will serve as a competitive advantage for us.

Lastly, our employees will be well taken care of, and their welfare package will be amongst the best within our category (startups rice retail stores) in the industry meaning that they will be more than willing to build the business with us and help deliver our set goals and achieve all our aims and objectives. We will also give good working conditions and commissions to freelance sales agents that we will recruit from time to time.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

  • Sources of Income

Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC is in business to retail a wide range of well – processed and well – bagged rice from different rice production brands to the residence of Charleston – West Virginia. We are in the rice retail stores industry to

10. Sales Forecast

One thing is certain when it comes to rice retail stores, if your store is well stocked with well processed and well bagged rice from different rice production brands and centrally positioned, you will always attract customers cum sales and that will sure translate to increase in revenue generation for the business.

We are well positioned to take on the available market in Charleston – West Virginia and we are quite optimistic that we will meet our set target of generating enough income / profits from the first six month of operations and grow the business and our clientele base.

We have been able to critically examine the rice retail stores industry and we have analyzed our chances in the industry and we have been able to come up with the following sales forecast. The sales projections are based on information gathered on the field and some assumptions that are peculiar to startups in Charleston – West Virginia.

Below is the sales projection for Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC it is based on the location of our business and other factors as it relates to rice retail stores start – ups in the United States;

  • First Fiscal Year-: $120,000
  • Second Fiscal Year-: $450,000
  • Third Fiscal Year-: $750,000

N.B : This projection is done based on what is obtainable in the industry and with the assumption that there won’t be any major economic meltdown and there won’t be any major competitor retailing same shoe brands and customer care services as we do within same location. Please note that the above projection might be lower and at the same time it might be higher.

  • Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

Before choosing a location for Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC, we conduct a thorough market survey and feasibility studies in order for us to be able to be able to penetrate the available market and become the preferred choice for residence of Charleston – West Virginia. We have detailed information and data that we were able to utilize to structure our business to attract the numbers of customers we want to attract per time.

  • Open our rice store in a grand style with a party for all
  • Introduce our rice store by sending introductory letters alongside our brochure to hotels, restaurants, households and key stake holders in Charleston – West Virginia
  • Ensure that we have a wide range of rice from different brands at all times.
  • Make use of attractive hand bills to create awareness and also to give direction to our rice store
  • Position our signage / flexi banners at strategic places around Charleston – West Virginia
  • Position our greeters to welcome and direct potential customers
  • Create a loyalty plan that will enable us reward our regular customers
  • Engage on road shows within our neighborhood to create awareness for our rice store.
  • List our business and products on yellow pages’ ads (local directories)
  • Leverage on the internet to promote our business
  • Engage in direct marketing and sales
  • Encourage the use of Word of mouth marketing (referrals)

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

Despite the fact that our rice store is well located, we will still go ahead to intensify publicity for the business. We are going to explore all available means to promote our rice store.

Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC has a long term plan of opening outlets in various locations all around West Virginia and key cities in the United States and Canada which is why we will deliberately build our brand to be well accepted in Charleston before venturing out.

As a matter of fact, our publicity and advertising strategy is not solely for winning customers over but to effectively communicate our brand. Here are the platforms we intend leveraging on to promote and advertise Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC;

  • Place adverts on community based newspapers, radio stations and TV stations.
  • Encourage the use of word of mouth publicity from our loyal customers
  • Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like; YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Badoo, Google+ and other platforms to promote our business.
  • Ensure that our we position our banners and billboards in strategic positions all around Charleston – West Virginia
  • Distribute our fliers and handbills in target areas in and around our neighborhood
  • Contact corporate hotels, restaurants, households, landlord associations and schools by calling them up and informing them of Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC and the products we sell
  • Advertise our rice store business in our official website and employ strategies that will help us pull traffic to the site
  • Brand all our official cars and trucks and ensure that all our staff members and management staff wears our branded shirt or cap at regular intervals.

12. Our Pricing Strategy

Aside from quality, pricing is one of the key factors that give leverage to rice stores, it is normal for consumers to go to places (rice retail outlets) where they can get well – processed and well – bagged rice at cheaper price.

We know we don’t have the capacity to compete with other bigger and well – established rice retail store, but we will ensure that the prices of all the brands of rice that are available in our rice store are competitive with what is obtainable amongst rice retail stores within our level and in our location.

  • Payment Options

The payment policy adopted by Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC is all inclusive because we are quite aware that different customers prefer different payment options as it suits them but at the same time, we will ensure that we abide by the financial rules and regulation of the United States of America.

Here are the payment options that Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC will make available to her clients;

  • Payment via bank transfer
  • Payment with cash
  • Payment via credit cards / Point of Sale Machines (POS Machines)
  • Payment via online bank transfer
  • Payment via check
  • Payment via mobile money transfer
  • Payment via bank draft

In view of the above, we have chosen banking platforms that will enable our client make payment for farm produces purchase without any stress on their part. Our bank account numbers will be made available on our website and promotional materials to clients who may want to deposit cash or make online transfer for our rice.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

In setting up any business, the amount or cost will depend on the approach and scale you want to undertake. If you intend to go big by renting / leasing a big facility, then you would need a good amount of capital as you would need to ensure that your employees are well taken care of, and that your facility is conducive enough for workers to be creative and productive.

This means that the start-up can either be low or high depending on your goals, vision and aspirations for your business. The tools and equipment that will be used are nearly the same cost everywhere, and any difference in prices would be minimal and can be overlooked.

As for the detailed cost analysis for starting a rice retail store business; it might differ in other countries due to the value of their money. These are the key areas where we will spend our start – up capital;

  • The Total Fee for Registering the Business in the Unites States of America – $750.
  • Legal expenses for obtaining licenses and permits as well as the accounting services (software, P.O.S machines and other software) – $3,300.
  • Marketing promotion expenses for the grand opening of Mercy Lufton Rice Store®, LLC in the amount of $3,500 and as well as flyer printing (2,000 flyers at $0.04 per copy) for the total amount of $3,580.
  • The cost for hiring Business Consultant – $2,500.
  • The cost for insurance (general liability, workers’ compensation and property casualty) coverage at a total premium – $2,400.
  • The cost for the payment of rent for 12 months at $1.76 per square feet in the total amount of $105,600.
  • The cost for store remodeling (construction of racks and shelves) – $20,000.
  • Other start-up expenses including stationery ( $500 ) and phone and utility deposits ( $2,500 ).
  • Operational cost for the first 3 months (salaries of employees, payments of bills et al) – $60,000
  • The cost for Start-up inventory (stocking with a wide range of well – processed and well – bagged rice from different rice production brands) – $50,000
  • The cost for counter area equipment – $9,500
  • The cost for store equipment (cash register, security, ventilation, signage) – $13,750
  • The cost of purchase and installation of CCTVs: $10,000
  • The cost for the purchase of office furniture and gadgets (Computers, Printers, Telephone, TVs, Sound System, tables and chairs et al): $4,000.
  • The cost of launching a Website: $600
  • The cost for our opening party: $7,000
  • Miscellaneous: $10,000

We would need an estimate of $250,000 to successfully set up our rice retail store in Charleston – West Virginia. Please note that this amount includes the salaries of all the staff for the first month of operation.

Generating Funds / Startup Capital for Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC

Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC is a private registered business that is solely owned and financed by Mercy Lurton and her immediate family members. They do not intend to welcome any external business partner which is why he has decided to restrict the sourcing of the start – up capital to 3 major sources.

These are the areas we intend generating our start – up capital;

  • Generate part of the start – up capital from personal savings
  • Source for soft loans from family members and friends
  • Apply for loan from my Bank

N.B: We have been able to generate about $50,000 ( Personal savings $40,000 and soft loan from family members $10,000 ) and we are at the final stages of obtaining a loan facility of $200,000 from our bank. All the papers and document have been signed and submitted, the loan has been approved and any moment from now our account will be credited with the amount.

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

The future of a business lies in the numbers of loyal customers that they have the capacity and competence of the employees, their investment strategy and the business structure. If all of these factors are missing from a business (company), then it won’t be too long before the business close shop.

One of our major goals of starting Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC is to build a business that will survive off its own cash flow without the need for injecting finance from external sources once the business is officially running.

We know that one of the ways of gaining approval and winning customers over is to retail our wide range of well – processed and well – packaged rice from different rice production brands a little bit cheaper than what is obtainable in the market and we are well prepared to survive on lower profit margin for a while.

Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC will make sure that the right foundation, structures and processes are put in place to ensure that our staff welfare are well taken of. Our company’s corporate culture is designed to drive our business to greater heights and training and re – training of our workforce is at the top burner.

As a matter of fact, profit-sharing arrangement will be made available to all our management staff and it will be based on their performance for a period of six years or more. We know that if that is put in place, we will be able to successfully hire and retain the best hands we can get in the industry; they will be more committed to help us build the business of our dreams.

Check List / Milestone

  • Business Name Availability Check: Completed
  • Business Registration: Completed
  • Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts: Completed
  • Securing Point of Sales (POS) Machines: Completed
  • Opening Mobile Money Accounts: Completed
  • Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
  • Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
  • Application for business license and permit: Completed
  • Purchase of Insurance for the Business: Completed
  • Leasing of facility and remodeling the store: In Progress
  • Conducting Feasibility Studies: Completed
  • Generating capital from family members: Completed
  • Applications for Loan from the bank: In Progress
  • Writing of Business Plan: Completed
  • Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
  • Drafting of Contract Documents and other relevant Legal Documents: In Progress
  • Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
  • Graphic Designs and Printing of Packaging Marketing / Promotional Materials: In Progress
  • Recruitment of employees: In Progress
  • Purchase of the Needed furniture, racks, shelves, computers, electronic appliances, office appliances and CCTV: In progress
  • Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
  • Creating Awareness for the business both online and around the community: In Progress
  • Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement (License): Secured
  • Opening party / launching party planning: In Progress
  • Compilation of our list of rice brand that will be available in our store: Completed
  • Establishing business relationship with wholesale rice suppliers: In Progress

More on Wholesale & Retail

How to Write an Ice Cream Shop Business Plan + Free Sample Plan PDF

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Elon Glucklich

6 min. read

Updated February 16, 2024

Download: Free one-page ice cream shop sample business plan

With the global ice cream market projected to grow by over 40% by the end of the decade, now is a great time for entrepreneurial dessert enthusiasts to enter the ice cream business.

But running any kind of business requires careful planning. You’ll need to consider your location and the preferences of customers in your area, and understand what direct and indirect competitors are offering.

Are you writing a business plan for your ice cream shop because you’re seeking a loan? Or, is your primary concern building a clear roadmap for growth? Either way, remember that no two ice cream shops are exactly alike. Your business model will be different if you’re making your own ice cream or selling scoops from big manufacturers. So take the time to do some market research and create your own financial forecasts to give you a blueprint for sustained growth. That’s the benefit a business plan provides.

  • What should you include in an ice cream shop business plan?

Your ice cream shop business plan doesn’t need to be hundreds of pages — keep it as short and concise as you can. You’ll probably want to include each of these sections:

  • Executive summary
  • Company overview
  • Market analysis
  • Marketing and sales strategy 
  • Operations Plan
  • Financial plan

One of the things that makes an ice cream shop business plan different from some food and beverage business plans is that your business might be more affected by seasonal downturns. 

You also have to account for consumers’ growing preference for dairy-free alternatives. If you’re trying to reach a health-conscious market, make sure to keep an eye on market trends, and include your ideas for offering dairy alternatives on your menu.

Here’s an example of an ice cream shop business plan outline.

A sample outline of an ice cream shop business plan.

  • The 7 elements of an effective ice cream shop business plan

1. Executive Summary

The executive summary gives a broad overview of your plan. It should outline your goals for the shop, whether it’s to enter a new market, separate yourself from competitors with innovative ice cream flavors, or expand your customer base.

The executive summary should clearly articulate the ice cream shop’s mission. Maybe it’s to deliver locally sourced and organic ingredients. Or it could be to establish a new community gathering space for families. Whatever it is, you should carve out some space in the 1-2 page executive summary section so that readers understand the “why” of your business right away.

Lay out what the keys to success are for your ice cream shop. It could be finding a location with high visibility and foot traffic, a team that delivers exceptional customer service, a unique product line, or a combination of these factors.

2. Company description

The Company Description section should give readers deeper insight into the operations and structure of your ice cream shop. It expands on the brief overview provided in the executive summary, offering more information about your ice cream shop’s unique value proposition. 

If you have an existing business, briefly share its history, highlighting any milestones you’ve achieved, like reaching certain sales goals or employee counts.

If you’re a new business, start by discussing the rationale behind your business name and location. Then, go into more detail about your concept. Describe if you’re focusing on traditional flavors, gourmet or artisan options, or a niche market like vegan or dairy-free alternatives. Detail offerings like coffee or baked goods and snacks that might support your main product line.

It’s also important to detail the ownership and legal structure of your business, like if you’re a sole proprietorship, a limited liability company, partnership, or more formal corporate structure.

Finally, you can go into more detail about the goals for your business that you touched on in your executive summary. These could be sales targets, expansion plans — whatever you hope to achieve. Explain how you plan to measure success toward your goals, and your projected timeframe for meeting them.

3. Market analysis

Separating yourself from competitors requires a strong understanding of your business opportunity. The market analysis section is where you document the size of your market and your competitors.

This is where you hone in on the demographics and preferences of your target market, as well as trends in the ice cream industry that could impact your sales. Whether you plan to target health-conscious college students, families with young children, or another segment, explain in your plan why this focus is justified, and back it up with research.

You’ll also need to research your target market’s other dessert options, whether it’s direct competitors like other ice cream shops, or indirect competitors like grocery stores.  

4. Marketing and sales strategy

The marketing and sales strategy takes the research from your market analysis, and turns it into an actionable plan to get more customers in the door.

Advertising online or in local publications can help spread awareness of your business. Participating in community events is another way to connect with potential customers. Digitally savvy business owners also leverage their website and social media accounts as low-cost ways to reach customers wherever they are.

You should also consider if discounts or special offers for repeat customers will encourage enough loyalty to justify the lower sales price. Just make sure that these initiatives are tailored to your target market. Effective marketing is about utilizing tactics that work, and scrapping ones that don’t provide any return. So be sure to establish key performance indicators to track the effectiveness of your marketing strategy.

5. Operations plan

The operations section details how you’ll run your business efficiently from day to day. All of the logistics you’ll need to manage to avoid wasteful spending — production processes, supplier relationships, staffing, inventory and technology — are documented here.

Outline how you plan to source ingredients and materials you’ll be ordering regularly, and identify your key suppliers. You should also give details about the building size and layout of your business, and any renovations required if you’re starting out or expanding.

List your staffing needs, including key roles and responsibilities. If you’re writing your business plan for a bank loan or investment, be sure to include your plan for managing inventory and reducing waste, since they’ll be especially concerned about if you’ll use their funds wisely.

6. Financial plan

Your financial plan should include financial projections for your business, including your sales , expenses , and profitability . Include a cash flow statement , income statement , and balance sheet .

Also, outline your pricing strategy and compare your prices to competitors. Examine your wage costs and consider how they will affect your profitability.

As you compare your financial projections to your actual results over time, you’ll see where you need to make strategic adjustments to reach your goal, or if you need to revise your target. 

7. Appendix

The appendix is where you add any additional documents that support your business plan. This could include market research and survey data, lease agreements, employee contracts, or licensing and permit documents.

An appendix isn’t always necessary, but it can provide valuable context and proof to support your business plan’s content.

  • Download your free ice cream shop one page sample business plan

Download this ice cream shop sample business plan for free right now, or visit Bplans’ gallery of more than 550 sample business plans if you’re looking for more options.

There are plenty of reasons ice cream shop owners can benefit from writing a business plan —you’ll need one if you’re seeking a loan or investment.

Even if you’re not seeking funding, the process of thinking through every aspect of your business will help you make sure you’re not overlooking anything critical as you grow.

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See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan

Content Author: Elon Glucklich

Elon is a marketing specialist at Palo Alto Software, working with consultants, accountants, business instructors and others who use LivePlan at scale. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism and an MBA from the University of Oregon.

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COMMENTS

  1. How to Write a Great Retail Business Plan for Your Store

    Get the tools -/^ Provide a company description Your company description is one of the most important aspects of your retail business plan. This section should reflect how you want people to envision your business. It should include the logo, concept, ownership and business structure, design, and layout. Think of a retail shop that you enjoy.

  2. Retail Business Plan Template & Guide [Updated 2024]

    Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers.

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  4. Retail Business Plan Template & Sample (2024)

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    Retail Business Plan Template You can download this free retail business plan template from the link below. You will be able to edit the word file and export it into PDF format afterwards.

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  14. PDF Retail Store Business Plan Example

    18 Appendix 25 Retail Store Every day you get our best. Business Plan [YEAR] John Doe 10200 Bolsa Ave, Westminster, CA, 92683 (650) 359-3153 [email protected] https://upmetrics.co Table of Contents Easy to use Business Plan Software

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    We will be getting $120,000 broken down as follows: Ted Brinkman $60,000. Jim Spencer $40,000. Other $20,000. See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan. Create Your Plan.

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    Evaluate the activities of logistic offices of these stores. A complete logistic department with organized retail store business plans sample retail is open to manage product packing, invoice processing and billing methods. It helps a customer to complete the start-up merchandise and necessary transactions brilliantly.

  19. How to Write a Great Retail Business Plan for Your Store

    Provide a company description. Your company description is one of the most important aspects of your retail business plan. This section should reflect how you want people to envision your business. It should include the logo, concept, ownership and business structure, design, and layout. Think of a retail shop that you enjoy.

  20. Clothing & Accessories Retail Business Plan Examples

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  23. Rice Retail Store Business Plan [Sample Template for 2022]

    Below is the sales projection for Mercy Lurton Rice Store®, LLC it is based on the location of our business and other factors as it relates to rice retail stores start - ups in the United States; First Fiscal Year-: $120,000. Second Fiscal Year-: $450,000. Third Fiscal Year-: $750,000.

  24. Free Ice Cream Shop Sample Business Plan PDF + How to Write

    Download your free ice cream shop one page sample business plan. Download this ice cream shop sample business plan for free right now, or visit Bplans' gallery of more than 550 sample business plans if you're looking for more options. There are plenty of reasons ice cream shop owners can benefit from writing a business plan—you'll need ...