Business Portfolio

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Mission Statement

Petite Chic is a boutique deticated to help petite modern women find clothing that fits them perfectly and that

is chic at the same time. We want our customer to feel like they just made a new friend when they come in to our store.

Our number one goal is to make our customer happy for the reason that our customer is the one who is supporting our

business.

Product/Services

There is need for Petite Chic to open. Petite women are 70% of the United States Population.1

That is why we want to create a boutique for this paticular kind of women. Our customer will have a

wide selection of fashionable petite clothes.When our customer comes to Petite Chic their

expierence will be a personable shopping expierence, fit to their needs. If our customer needs a

stylist, our salespeople are capable to style customers appropietly and that compliments their shape.

We want our customer to have a good time, and feel like they are hanging out with one of their

girlfriends. Customers will have salespeople cater to their needs and assist them with any concerns

that they may have. We have a broad selection of fashionable clothes to chose from at moderate

price range. Petite Chic specializes in petite clothing enabling us to cater all the needs of a petite

woman. Accessories and shoes are also sold in the boutique, so our customer can have a complete

outfit in one stop. Free tailioring is provided for clothes that does not fit perfectly to the customer,

when a purchasing more than $50 dollars.

Location & Market

Petite Chic will be located inside the Westside Pavilion Mall in Los Angeles. We chose this

location because of the diversity of ethnicity, has higher income people in the area. Many tourists

pass by there since the Fox Studios, Staple Center, L.A. Convention center and Santa Monica Beach

are all nearby. It is located in the mall so there is plenty of free parking also two buses stop right by

this location, they are Santa Monica Big Blue Bus Line #7 and Metro Bus Line #30.

Opening Date

Petite Chic we will open its doors to everyone on June 25, 2011.

Funding

Funding for the business is going to be provided by 30% Personal funds, 25% Reltaives, and 45%

Bank.

1 Bellapetite.com

2

Success Factors

• The location for Petite Chic is great to open a new business.

This area is well known; therefore, people know exactly where we are located. People are already

going to the mall to do some shopping. The market location makes it convenient for people to go

shopping at Petite Chic because of the free parking.

• Petite women’s clothing is an underserved market.

Petite women are 70% of the U.S. Population. Women 5’9″ or taller are only 3% of the market place

and they are the standard in sizing. Petite female consumers represent 10 billion dollars of retail

buying power in the United States.2 However, very few stores cater to petite women specific needs.

Petite Chic will cater to these women’s needs.

• Higher income consumers are in the area.

People who have higher incomes indicate that they have disposable to spend on entertainment and

clothes. They will have extra money to spend at our store.

• Great customer service

Our company will strive to have the best customer service skills. By having the best customer service

skills, our customers will leave the store happy and keep coming back; also, they will tell others

about our great service creating new customers.

• Knowing our own S.W.O.T. and our competitors

Knowing our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats will give our company an edge and to

help us improve our company. Competitors S.W.O.T will help us identify how and why their

business is successful, as well as knowing their weaknesses and threats will help us make our

business better than our competitors.

2 IBID

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Section Summaries

Company Overview

• Petite Chic will be a solepropitership business; the owner will be the main person in charge of

making important decisions on the business.

• Our company will make its profit through large volume of merchandise and through its

niche market for petite women.

• Petite Chic came up with problems that may arise when operating the business and solutions

on how to solve these problems.

Market Analysis

• Knowing the demographic in the area of location is a key factor in determining if your

business will be successful.

• Using advance market research tools like Prizm NE, VALS, and ZipSkinny to help

determine our demographic and psychographics.

• Comparing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats with competitors and our own

company will help build a successful business by knowing this information. This is also

known as a composite S.W.O.T meaning a condensed and co-related charting of non-

redundant, non-repetitive areas of strategic interest and implication to our new business

venture. The emphasis resides in how Petite Chic compares to its major competitors and

illustrates the strategies to overcome obstacles as well as those to better leverage company

growth. Our top three competitors are Ann Taylor, Banana Republic and Macy’s Petite

Department.

Market Strategy

• Petite Chic caries everything needed to create an entire outfit, so our customer only has to

make one stop for shopping.

• We will use various paid commercials to get to our target market. Petite Chic will first use the

pull strategy. The pull strategy means spending a lot of money on advertising to create a

demand for the products. We will reach our customers in the store by advertising on the

MyFm radio station, Los Angeles Times, flyers and Facebook.

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• Personal Selling and Sales Promotions, our staff is trained to listen effectively to customer’s

interests and needs to help build a long lasting relationship with them and so the customers

can inform others on how well our service is at Petite Chic.

Operations Plan

• The owner will be in charge of the trend analysis. Owner will research what are the latest

trends in fashion by using online websites (WSGN, Pantone and trendsetter.com), Women’s

Wear Daily newspaper, fashion magazines, attending trade shows and fashion shows. Using

all these different sources will help us know what are the latest trends and styles, also what to

buy for our customers.

• To certify merchandise is intact at Petite Chic we will have MSI Inventory Services come to

our location twice a year. This will insure inventory correctly accounted for, monitor

shrinkage and control inventory.

Financial Plan

$(2,000)

$-‐

$2,000

$4,000

$6,000

$8,000

$10,000

$12,000

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

CASH FLOW

Ending Cash

Beginning Cash

Petite Chic

5

Appendices

$-‐

$10,000

$20,000

$30,000

$40,000

$50,000

$60,000

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

TOTAL SALES Petite Chic

3%

70%

27%

Women in America Women 5'9 and over Women under 5'4 Women 5'5 to 5'9

6

Store Front

Waiting Room Area

Petite

Chic

7

Price Range

8

Owner & Organization

Pettie Chic is a boutique devoted to help petite modern women find clothing that fits them

perfectly and that is chic at the same time. Petite women are 70% of the United States

Population.3That is why we want to create a store for this paticular kind of women. Our customer

will have a wide selection of fashionable petite clothes. When our customer comes to Petite Chic,

their expierence will be a personable shopping expierence, fit to their needs. If our customer needs a

stylist, our salespeople are trained to be capable to style our customer appropietly and that flatters

their shape. We want our customer to have a good time, and feel like they are hanging out with one

of their girlfriends. Customers will have salespeople cater to their needs and assist them with any

concerns they may have. We have a broad selection of fashionable clothes to chose from at

moderate price range. Petite Chic only specializes in petite clothing enabling us to cater all the needs

of a petite woman. Accessories and shoes are also sold in the boutique, so our customer can have a

complete outfit in one stop. Free tailioring is provided for clothes that not fit perfectly to the

customer, when a purchasing more than $50 dollars. Petite Chic is located inside the WestPavillion

Mall in Los Angles, California.

Legal Form/Ownership

Petite Chic will be managed as solepropitership. This is the best way to manage Petite Chic this

will make it more flexible, easy to respond in important decisions for the business and with the help

of the lending services would help Petite Chic.

3 Bellapetite.com

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10

Overall Strategy

12 Months Prior to Opening

Task Jun 11

Jul 11

Aug 11

Sept 11

Oct 11

Nov 11

Dec111

Jan 12

Feb 12

Mar 12

Apr 12

May 12

June 12

Secure location

Attain Permits and Licenses

Make sure building is up to code

Meet with fashion designer

Meet with Vendors

Meet with Interior Designer

Start working on the interior

Start contacting advertisers

Have vendors send merchandise

Set up POS systems and inventory control

Hire Employees

Book Dj

Build stage for fashion show

Hire employees

Last Minute items for grand opening

Grand Opening

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Company Objectives

Short Term Objecitves ( one year from opening)

• Create an aging list of customers who come in to make sure they keep coming in.

o Obtain customers information.

o Send customers out special deals when they have not been shopping at the store.

• Host fun events to obtain and maintain customers

o Have a booth at Santa Monica on the 4th of July with fun games and prizes.

o Host an Invite Only Sale.

o Creating fun sweapstakes when customers purchase a certain amount of

merchandise.

• Managing Employees and making sure they are meeting the stores standards.

o Have an employee evaluation every six months to make sure they are doing their job

corectly and are putting customers needs first.

o If employees are not doing their job corectly retrain them to make sure they are

working correctly.

• Create a website

o Meet with a web consultant to have a website created.

o Customers who are not living in the area will also be able to shop thru the website.

Long Term Objectives (3-5 years out)

• Management Staff

o Hire a full time manager and assistant manager to help out with managing the

business.

o Hire enough staff to be able to attend all customers properly.

• Attain a large customer base

o We will attain a large customer base by advertising through social media networks

ads on newspapers and other medias.

o As well as word of mouth from other customers.

• Pay off all loans

o Have bank loans and all other large loans paid off.

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o Send out large payments to companies we owe money to.

• Open another location

o After all loans are paid off from the first Petite Chic we will open another location.

Company Resources

Management

Petite Chic will be owned as a sole propitership, all the major decisions having to do with the

boutique will be made by the owner. After the first year we will be able to hire a full time manager

and assistant manager to help out with the store. The owner will still be in charge of operations,

promotions and advertising.

Finacial

The money to open up Petite Chic will come from:

• 30% Personal funds

• 25% Reltaives

• 45% Bank

Market Scope

Petite Chic is located inside the WestPavillion Mall in Los Angeles. Many of the surrounding

zip codes had the same target audience as the location of Petite Chic. The zip codes that were

researched were 90025, 90405, 90066, 90034,900212 and 90024. These zip codes had the same

Prizm NE demographic and market segment profiles, which are American Dreams, Bohemian Mix

and Young Digerati. There will be further more discussion of what each one of these profiles mean

later in the business plan. The target audiences are all well educated people, diverse in cultures, like

new and trendy products and live in hip areas.

Pettie Chic is a boutique deticated to help petite modern women find clothing that fits them

perfectly and that is chic at the same time. An underservered market, about 70% of the United States

Population is petite.4 That is why we want to create a store for this paticular kind of women Our

customer will have a wide selection of fashionable petite clothes. Petite Chic will also be a one stop

so customers can obtain all the accessories needed to complet an outfit.

4 Bellapetite.com

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Basic Orientation

Volume and Market are how Petite Chic is going to make its profit. Due to the fact that most

of the clothes sold in the boutique are of reasonable price people are going to buy more meaning

more volume. Petite Chic is for the underserved market of petite women this is why market is another

important factor in creating a profit for our business.

Problems Expected

• Traffic Hours

Our customers might have trouble getting to the mall because of the traffic. They will probably

avoid the mall during these times.

• We will have difficulties in providing wide variety of petite clothes from vendors.

This is an underserved market. There is not a wide selection of vendors, which cater to petite

women. We will also have our own line to help with this problem.

• The mall is crowded area.

People might not want to go shopping at the mall because of all the people there, so they might

avoid large populated areas.

• Economy is still having difficulties coming out of the recession.

People are still scared to spend their money because of the economy; they may not want to do much

shopping if they still are worried about money.

• Creating foot traffic in the store might be difficult at first.

It might take time for people to know that we are open and where we are located.

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Market Analysis

Customer Profile

Demographics

Through much research of the demographics around Los Angeles area, we found the perfect

area to open Petite Chic. Our store going to be located is in the Los Angeles area code of 90064

population of 24, 487, the entire Los Angeles area population is 17,900,000 people. The primary

customers for Petite Chic are professional petite Hispanic or Asian women with a household income

of $35,000 to $150,000. Descriptions of the demographic for Petite Chic are listed below:

• Sales Director ( ages 20-50)

• Household Income( $35,000-150,000)

• Married, no children

• Hispanic/Asian

• Bachelors degree

• Rents a home in upscale Los Angeles

According to the information found in zipskinny.com and zillow.com, our demographic will

consist of women who are married but have no children and who are well educated with a bachelor’s

degree or higher. Although most of our customer base will come from this demographic, it will not

be limited to just his type.

Relationship Status

http://www.zillow.com/local-info/CA-Los-Angeles-people/r_12447/

The majority of the population in this area is married as shown on the graph above provided by Zillow. This indicates us that our customer base will be married.

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Age Distribution


The graph above shows us the different ages of the area we have selected. 58% of the total demographic are found to be in their twenties up to the fifties. This is our primary demographic age profile.

Homes with Kids


The graph above shows the percentages of the homes with children or without, more than half of the population in our area is without children. We discovered that most of Petite Chic’s population will be without children, but not limited to just this type of demographic.

58%

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http://www.city-data.com/city/Los-Angeles-California.html

The graph above shows the different races in the city of our location. About half of the city’s population is of Hispanic decent. This indicates us that our customer base will be of Hispanic descent.

http://zipskinny.com/index.php?zip=90064&pagetype=main

3.80% 5.40%

12.60% 20.90%

6.70% 27.90%

22.60% 90.80%

50.60%

EducaSonal Achievement: (among people 25 years or older)

Less than 9th grade: 9th-‐12th grade (nongrad):

High school graduate: Some college:

Associate degree: Bachelors degree:

Graduate/Professional: High school or higher: Bachelors or higher:

Educa6on

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The chart above shows us the different education levels of the population for our business location.

Petite Chic’s customer base has at least completed their bachelors because according to the graph

provided by zillow indicates us that the population of our location has higher level of education than

a high school diploma.

http://realestate.yahoo.com/California/Los_Angeles

The graph above shows us how many people in the area of our location rent or own a home. More

than half of the population rents a home in this area. This data shows us that most of our customers

will rent their home.

Psychographics

The woman who shops at Petite Chic is social butterfly, who loves to go dancing with her

girlfriends but also likes to cook delicious food for her husband. She also has many different hobbies

and activities like; enjoys shopping, especially clothes that make her feel confident and professional

for her job or other occasions. She always has a problem with sizing, at department stores the pants,

jackets, etc. are always too long for her small stature. Therefore, she has to go to a tailor and have

her clothes altered. She wishes there was a store that had fashionable clothes for a petite woman.

The stores she has found for petite women do not have a wide selection or they are for more mature

women. Her free time activities are listed below:

• Reads InStyle, Glamour, People, The New Yorker, and LA Times.

• Watches Bravo TV shows addicted to Real Housewives and Top Chef. Enjoys

Lifetime channel, records Project Runway. When she has time, she watches Oprah

and Dr. Oz. Watches TV six hours a week.

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• Listens to the radio while driving to work or when she is taking a shower, listens to

MYFM 104.3.

• Hobbies like making crafts for the house, goes shopping at the Westside Pavilion

Mall with her girlfriends, goes to the spa once a month, takes Zumba classes, finds

new healthy ways to cook food, also enjoys to read a good inspirational book or a

Nicholas Spark book.

• She attends her Christian church every Sunday with her family.

• Enjoys all types of movies from The Notebook to 300. Goes at least once a month

to see the latest movie in theaters or just rents a movie from Redbox at least once a

week.

• Loves to check out the latest restaurants in L.A. like the Spark Wood fire Grill on

West Pico Blvd. She hits the latest clubs, La Deux, LAX; Club 740, Ivars and Level 3

are some of the clubs that she goes to a few times a month.

“Day in the life”

She hits the alarm at seven in the morning, gets up to get ready for her busy day. She goes

into the kitchen to make her Quaker instant oatmeal with a banana and a glass of Tropicana orange

juice. She eats while reading the daily Los Angeles Times to see what is going on in the city, as well

to check the weather and her horoscope. When she is done with eating and reading the newspaper,

she takes a shower. While in the shower uses Burts Bee all natural products, for her hair and skin.

Gets out of the shower and puts on Burts Bee lotion on face and body. Then she proceeds to dry

her hair using her Chi ceramic hair dryer and straightening her with her Chi straightner, using natural

oils in her to help her get that silky smooth look. After she finishes doing her hair, she does her

make up only using Tarte all natural make up. Finishes doing her makeup and then she heads to her

walk-in closet to figure out what she will wear to work. She picks out a pair of Ann Taylor trousers

that are long on her so she has to wear high heels so they do not drag, and picks a cute BCBG top

to go with her trousers. Gets her things, heads to her Toyota Prius, and goes to her sales director job

in downtown Los Angeles. During the drive to work, she listens to MyFm because they play all her

favorite music from when she was younger to today’s music. Arriving to work, she heads to her own

office and starts her working day. For lunch, she has brought her own chicken salad with a Fuji

apple, light and fit yogurt and her smart water, and then heads back to work. When she gets off at

five she, gets in her Prius and heads to Bally’s to work out and to go to her Zumba class. After her

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workout session, she heads back home to make dinner for her and her husband. She decides to

make smoked salmon with asparagus and two glasses of Zafara Sauvignon Blanc (one of those

glasses is for her husband), all items she bought at Trader Joes. After dinner, she sees what is on her

favorite channel Bravo to see if they have the latest episode of Real Housewives, she watches TV for

an hour. Then goes on her Iphone to check her e-mails, replies to the important e-mails. She later

heads to wash her face with her Burts Bee facial cleanser, brushes her teeth, and heads to bed. In

bed, she reads her InStyle magazine and when tired enough her and her husband call it a night.

Prizm NE are various demographic traits, lifestyle preferences and consumer behaviors of

people that live in our area of business. This market segmentation helps us understand in further

details of who our demographic is and what they like, to help reach this audience. Listed below are

the description of the three market segments that fit Petite Chic’s profile the best and why they make

a great consumer to our business.

Bohemian Mix

Upper-Mid, Middle Age Family Mix

A collection of mobile urbanites, Bohemian Mix represents the nation's most liberal

lifestyles. Its residents are an ethnically diverse, progressive mix of young singles, couples, and

families ranging from students to professionals. In their funky rowhouses and apartments,

Bohemian Mixers are the early adopters who are quick to check out the latest movie, nightclub,

laptop, and microbrew.

The Bohemian Mix makes a great client for Petite Chic because they are young and laid back

people who are open to go to new places. This also means they have a disposable income to spend

on clothes and entertainment.5

American Dreams

Upper-Mid, Middle Age Family Mix

American Dreams is a living example of how ethnically diverse the nation has become just

under half the residents are Hispanic, Asian, or African-American. In these multilingual

neighborhoods--one in ten speaks a language other than English--middle-aged immigrants and their

children live in upper-middle-class comfort.6

5 www.claritas.com

6 IBID

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American Dreams Make a great client for Petite Chic because Hispanics and Asians tend to be

shorter, which is great business for my store since it is a petite clothing store for women. They are

also upper middle class people, which mean they have a disposable income for clothes and other

items they want to spend their extra money.

Young Digerati

Upscale, Younger Family Mix

Young Digerati are tech-savvy and live in fashionable neighborhoods on the urban fringe.

Affluent, highly educated, and ethnically mixed, Young Digerati communities are typically filled with

trendy apartments, condos, fitness clubs, clothing boutiques, casual restaurants, and all types of bars-

-from juice to coffee to microbrew.7

Young Digerati make a perfect client for Petite Chic since they are in to fashion and care

about their appearance. They also are ethnically diverse so there is going to be petite women in the

group. These people also are well educated and affluent so they have a disposable income to spend

on other items.

VALS, means values, attitude and lifestyles. This is a psychographic segmentation to better

comprehend the motivations of consumer behavior. The VALS segmentation also coincides with

Maslow’s teaching of Hierarchy of Needs. Below are three different segments of VALS that relate to

who our customer is and what motivates them to buy.

Strivers

“Strivers are trendy and fun loving. Because they are motivated by achievement, Strivers are

concerned about the opinions and approval of others. Money defines success for Strivers, who do

not have enough of it to meet their desires. They favor stylish products that emulate the purchases

of people with greater material wealth. Many Strivers see themselves as having a job rather than a

career, and a lack of skills and focus often prevents them from moving ahead.

Strivers are active consumers because shopping is both a social activity and an opportunity

to demonstrate to peers their ability to buy. As consumers, they are as impulsive as their financial

circumstance will allow.”8

Strivers make great client for Petite Chic because they are impulsive consumers, are interested

in stylish products and they like to appear as if they have a lot of money. These types of people are

not hard to persuade when trying to make a sale with them.

7 IBID 8 www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals

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Experiencers

“Experiencers are motivated by self-expression. Young, enthusiastic, and impulsive

consumers, Experiencers quickly become enthusiastic about new possibilities but are equally quick

to cool. They seek variety and excitement, savoring the new, the offbeat, and the risky. Their energy

finds an outlet in exercise, sports, outdoor recreation, and social activities.

Experiencers are avid consumers and spend a comparatively high proportion of their income

on fashion, entertainment, and socializing. Their purchases reflect the emphasis that they place on

looking good and having "cool" stuff.”9

Expierencers are a perfect client to Petite Chic. They like to spend most of their money on

fashion, entertainment and socializing, which is great for me since I have clothing boutique. They

are also easy to persuade in buying things as long that makes them look good or have cool things.

Achievers

“Motivated by the desire for achievement, Achievers have goal-oriented lifestyles and a deep

commitment to career and family. Their social lives reflect this focus and are structured around

family, their place of worship, and work. Achievers live conventional lives, are politically

conservative, and respect authority and the status quo. They value consensus, predictability, and

stability over risk, intimacy, and self-discovery.

With many wants and needs, Achievers are active in the consumer marketplace. Image is

important to Achievers; they favor established, prestige products and services that demonstrate

success to their peers. Because of their busy lives, they are often interested in a variety of time-saving

devices.”10

Achievers are great clients for Petite Chic. They like to spend money on their image and things

that save them time. Which is great for my boutique because they will spend money on clothes to

make their image look better also it will save them time shopping at my clothing boutique because

they do not have to go to a tailor and have their clothes altered to fit their petite frame.

9 IBID 10 IBID

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http://mrburnce.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/maslows-hierarchy.gif

Petite Chic’s customer is motivated

to buy by her need of self-esteem

as described by the Maslow’s

Hierarchy of Needs. When she has

clothes that make her look good

and feel good. Then she has more

confidence, making her want to

buy more clothes that have that

effect on her. People also will have

more respect towards her if she

looks put together. She is

motivated by the sense of

belonging with other women by

having the latest fashion in clothes.

Feeling secure and safe in the

clothes she wears also motivates

our customer. This creates self-

confidence for our customer

because she feels comfortable in

the clothes she wears.

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Market Analysis

Target Market

Market Location

We chose this area to open up Petite Chic because of the diversity of ethnicity, has higher

income people in the area. Many tourists pass by there since the Fox Studios, Staple Center, L.A.

Convention center and Santa Monica Beach are all nearby. It is located in the mall so there is plenty

of free parking and two buses that stop right by, they are Santa Monica Big Blue Bus Line #7 and

Metro Bus Line #30.

www.googleearth.com

10800 West Pico Blvd #312

Los Angeles, CA 90064-2187

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Market History

Los Angeles is full of history and diverse cultures. It goes back to 1769, when Spanish

settlers first arrived. When they arrived, the Northern Uto-Aztecs already populated it. They did not

establish permanent colonial settlement until September 4, 1781, they named it El Pueblo de

Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles di Poriuncula. Named after a shrine of the Virgin Mary Santa Maria

delgi Angeli from Italy. The city was built by the governor Felipe Neve and his volunteers. The

volunteers came from Mexico; they received money and tools to create the city and their homes. El

Pueblo de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles di Poriuncula was created to give the feeling of how

Spanish life was. After the Mexican American War in 1847, the Treaty of Cahuenga made Los

Angles part of American territory.11 A year Later the gold strike hit in Los Angles and most of

California creating new residents. In 1890, oil was discovered in Los Angeles; by the 1900’s

agriculture was an important role to Los Angeles economy.12 During the 1930’s film producers came

here to make movies because the weather was better to film in, they were making 750 movies a year.

The invention of television created the rate of films to slow down but later on Los Angles caught up

by having TV production studios.13 To this day, many aspiring actors come to Los Angles hoping to

make their dreams come true. The different cultures that come to this city to create a better life for

themselves. Makes Los Angeles a city with diversity and rich of history. The historical city also

obtains many tourists that want to come and see the entertainment and historical sites Los Angeles

has to offer. Los Angeles makes a good city to start a business because of the history and attractions

that draw people to come visit here.

11 Steen, Francis F., ed. "A short history of los angeles." 12 www.losangeles.com 13 www.city-data.com

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Climate

Los Angeles has great weather and it rarely rains. Since Los Angeles is mostly a sunny and

warm city, we will have more spring and summer attire than winter. We will sell lighter clothing and

jackets because it does not get very cold in this city.

http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/losangeles/l/bl_la_temp.htm

Month Precipitation Maximum Minimum Sun shine

in cm F C F C % January 3.06 7.8 67 19 49 9 72 February 3.27 8.3 68 20 50 10 69

March 2.52 6.4 69 21 51 11 72 April 1.16 2.9 71 22 54 12 73 May 0.25 0.6 73 23 57 14 75 June 0.08 0.2 77 25 60 16 80 July 0.01 0.0 82 28 63 17 96

August 0.07 0.2 84 29 64 18 96 September 0.28 0.7 82 28 63 17 89

October 0.38 1.0 78 26 59 15 82 November 1.38 3.5 73 23 54 12 80 December 2.35 6.0 68 20 50 10 74

Geography

Region: West

Division: Pacific

State: California

CSA Name: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA

CBSA Type: Metropolitan

CBSA Name: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana CA

County: Los Angeles

City: Los Angeles

Longitude: -118.4

Latitude: 34.0

Elevation: 159 feet above sea level14

14 Infoplease.com

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Infoplease.com

Market Scope

Petite Chic is located inside the WestPavillion Mall in Los Angeles. Many of the surrounding

zip codes had the same target audience as the location of Petite Chic. The zip codes that were

researched were 90025, 90405, 90066, 90034,900212 and 90024. These zip codes had the same

Prizm NE demographic and market segment profiles, which are American Dreams, Bohemian Mix

and Young Digerati. Which we have previously discussed what each one of these profiles mean. The

target audiences are all well educated people, diverse in cultures, like new and trendy products and

live in hip areas.

Market size and growth rate

The graph below shows how Los Angeles growth rate has changed over the years. In 2008,

Los Angeles had a very high growth rate and in 2010, the growth rate seemed to lower. The graph

indicates a curve throughout the years.

The charts below explain why Los Angeles is a great to open a small business because it has a better growth rate for a small business than other cities.

27

Population in July 2008: 3,833,995. Population change since 2000: +3.8percentage

www.city-data.com

Business Climate City stats Average for all large metro areas

Employer establishments with 1-49 employees (2007)

325,132 78,289

Small business growth rate (2004-2007) 6% 5.3%

DEMAND City stats Average for all large metro areas

Per-capita income (2007) $42,278 $41,342

Per-capita income growth (2002-2007) 30% 25.0%

GDP (in millions) (2006) $680,230 $164,601

GDP growth (2001-2006) 34% 32%

http://money.cnn.com/smallbusiness/best_places_launch/2009/snapshot/199.html

Attractive Features of this market • Market location is great.

The market location makes it convenient for people to go shopping at Petite Chic because of free

parking; also the area of our store is well known.

• The climate is mostly sunny.

Los Angeles great weather creates a good atmosphere to go out and shop.

• Petite women’s clothing is an underserved market.

0

2

4

2000 2004 2008 2010

Los Angeles Popula6on Growth

Series 1

28

There is not a particular store, which caters to petite modern women. Petite women need to buy

clothes to, so there needs to be a store that caters to their specific needs. Petite Chic will cater to these

women’s needs.

• Los Angeles has a lot of history.

The history of Los Angeles creates tourist that come and visit the great city, this means there will be

tourist in our area who will also want to do some shopping.

• Higher income consumers are in the area.

People who have higher incomes indicate that they have disposable to spend on entertainment and

clothes. They will have extra money to spend at our store.

Difficulties and Problems in this Market

• Traffic Hours

Our customers might have trouble getting to the mall because of the traffic. They will probably

avoid the mall during these times.

• We will have difficulties in providing wide variety of petite clothes from vendors.

This is an underserved market. There is not a wide selection of vendors, which cater to petite

women. We will also have our own line to help with this problem.

• The mall is crowded area.

People might not want to go shopping at the mall because of all the people there, so they might

avoid large populated areas.

• Economy is still having difficulties coming out of the recession.

People are still scared to spend their money because of the economy; they may not want to do much

shopping if they still are worried about money.

29

• Creating foot traffic in the store might be difficult at first.

It might take time for people to know that we are open and where we are located.

Existing Demand for this Product

• Not a large choice of stores and clothes meeting the needs of petite women.

• Petite Chic can help create more foot traffic for accessories and shoe stores.

• There is a need for Petite clothing in this area since there is a large population of Asian and

Hispanics, which tend to be petite in these cultures.

30

Market Analysis

The Competition

Primary Competitors

There are quite a few competitors around Petite Chic, since it is located inside a mall; we found these

three clothing stores to be our biggest competitions:

Name Ann Taylor Banana Republic Macy’s Address

10800 W Pico Blvd # 312 Los Angeles, CA 90064-2187



Brief Description

-Ann Taylor provides clothing for a more sophisticated women than we do

-Retail store that specializes in women’s clothes

-Has small selection for the petite women

-Retail store that has both men and women’s clothing

- Carries a petite clothing line

-They great window displays

-Comfortable environment

-Department store that has a variety of products and clothes

-Macy’s carries designer brands

-Customers can do all their shopping at one stop

What do they sell? -Sophisticated modern women’s clothing

-Shoes

-Accessories

-Jewelry

-Offer credit card

-Men’s clothes

-Women’s clothing

-Shoes

-Hand bags

-Jewelry

-Accessories

-Offer a credit card

-Beds and accessories

-Furniture

-Children’s clothing

-Jewelry

-Men’s Clothing & accessories

-Women’s Clothing& accessories

-Cosmetics

Why they are our competition?

-They carry petite women’s clothes.

-Same target market

-Well known store

-Loyal customers

-Has quality clothes

-They also have a petite line.

-Same target market

-Worldwide known

-Loyal customers

- They have the latest fashion

-Has a petite department in their store

-Same target market

-Worldwide known

-Loyal customers

- Has other departments

31

Indirect Competition The Landmark Theater is indirect competition because consumers might spend their money

at the movie than buy a new pair of pants. The theater is located right by the Westside Pavilion Mall.

If our consumer is with their significant other, they would rather spend their money in something

both can enjoy so they will choose going to the Landmark Theater over buying a pair of jeans at our

store.

32

Composite S.W.O.T.

Petite Chic has provided a condensed and co-related charting of non-redundant, non-

repetitive areas of strategic interest and implication to our new business venture. The emphasis

resides in how Petite Chic compares to its major competitors and illustrates the strategies to overcome

obstacles as well as those to better leverage company growth. Our top three competitors are Ann

Taylor, Banana Republic and Macy’s Petite Department.

Strengths Competitors:

• Well known

• “Green” store

• Knowledgeable staff

• Great location

• Is socially responsible in their community

Petite Chic:

• Focus is only on petite women

• Friendly and helpful staff

• Alterations available in store

• Great location

Weaknesses Competitors:

• Not specifically a petite women’s clothing

store

• Too many departments in store

• Poor customer service

• Does not have a wide range of petite clothes

to pick from

Petite Chic:

• Does not have an established clientele

• Not well known

• Caters to only one demographic

Opportunities

Competitors:

• Large Network

• Better visual merchandise can attract new

customers

• Website

Petite Chic:

• Building customer relationships

• Website

• Expanding to more locations

Threats Competitors:

• Economy, people are still scared to spend a lot

of money.

• Other Competition

• Online shopping

Petite Chic:

• Economy, people are still scared to spend a lot

of money.

• Other completion

• Online shopping

• Creating a name for ourselves

33

Marketing Environment

Economic and Political Issues

Many factors will help our business be a successful business. The U.S. has passed a bill that

will help small business succeed. This a great advantage to help create more jobs and help the U.S.

economy. California is also showing growth in the economy through their entertainment,

international trade and tourism. Los Angeles County reported an increase in personal income and

The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce is pursuing legislation to help pass bills that will help the

state’s economy and job creations. Further description of these issues will be described below in the

different sub sections.

National- “A House panel on Wednesday approved $14 billion legislation containing a number of measures providing tax relief to small businesses and extending a bond program to help local governments fund public works projects. The Ways & Means Committee voted to report the bill, which includes a number of measures aimed at helping small business owners. These include an increase in relief from capital gains tax, and a hike in a deduction for start-up expenditures. The legislation would also extend so-called "Build America Bonds," a popular program used by local and state governments to access capital markets to fund local projects. The bonds were initially introduced in last year's stimulus plan to enable local governments to continue being able to raise money despite the seized-up credit markets. In the Senate, lawmakers are also focused on bringing forward a plan aimed at helping small businesses recover from the economic downturn. A resurgence in the small business community is seen as essential by lawmakers because of the proportion of jobs that are created by smaller firms.”

The house approving $14 billion is going to help all small business tremendously. They also

are helping small businesses succeed the current economy by helping with increasing capital gains

tax and increase for deduction for start-up expenditures. This will also help create more jobs for

people. Petite Chic will greatly benefit from the approved bill, since we are all a small business. It will

help our business succeed and grow.

State- “California is headed for a gradual economic recovery in 2010 and 2011according to a forecast released today. Unemployment will remain elevated, but the entertainment, international trade and tourism sectors will push growth regionally, according to the report from the Kyser Center for Economic Research at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.” 15

The gradual economic growth is good news to our business, the growth means that by the

time our business gets up and running we will be in better time economically. This will create greater

chances for us to have successful business. 15 www.latimes.com

34

County-“Personal income, which declined 1.5% in L.A. County last year, is projected to increase 1.8% in 2010 and 3.8% in 2011. That should help the recovery of the retail sector. “16

Increase of personal income will create more disposable income for our customers thus

making our customers want to spend more at our store.

City- “LOS ANGELES, CA – Yesterday, as people throughout California continued to struggle to find work, two bills went before State legislative committees that would have created jobs and helped California’s economy get back on course. However, instead of focusing on job creation and the economy, California legislators failed to take any action. “At a time when the unemployment rate is more than 12 percent, the L.A. Area Chamber urges these committees to do what is right and prioritize legislation that will help put Californians back to work,” said L.A. Area Chamber President & CEO Gary Toebben. Yesterday, the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee heard but failed to act on SBx6 4 by Senator Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield) and Senator Ron Calderon (D-Montebello), legislation that would extend and expand the hugely successfully homebuyer tax credit for Californians by $200 million. This measure has bipartisan co-authors, support from industry and labor, and would create much needed construction jobs and get people buying homes and investing in California communities again. In addition, the Senate Environmental Quality Committee heard but failed to act on SBx8 42 by Senator Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) and Senator Dave Cogdill (R-Modesto), which would have created jobs in the hard hit construction industry by protecting a select number of construction projects from frivolous lawsuits brought under the California Environmental Quality Act, without sacrificing environmental protections”17

The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce is pursuing legislation to help the California’s

economy passing bills that help create jobs and help the state’s economy grow. If these bills are

passed, they will help business and help people find jobs. It will also create a confidence in our

state’s economy, making residents feel confident in spending money. Petite Chic will benefit with this

bill because if people feel confident in spending money, they will want to come into our store and

shop.

16 (IBID) 17 Lachamber.com

35

Business Cycle

Currently, the business cycle is still in the late recession period and is going on to the Trough

that is not quite to the early expansion but it is getting closer to it than before according to

Marketwatch.18

Layoffs/unemployment

There have been 153,127 mass layoffs last month that is the lowest level it has been since

July of 2008.19

The unemployment rate has gone from 10% to 9.7% this month.20 The unemployment rate

is slowly going down.

18 Marketwtach.com 19 Bls.gov 20 (IBID)

36

Top 20 Local Employers

Company Employees

1. Walt Disney 144,000

2. Northrop

Grumman

123,600

3. Occidental

Petroleum

10,400

4. DIRECTV

Group

19,600

5. Health Net 9,600

6. Edison

International

18,300

7. Jacobs

Engineering

Group

38,900

8. Reliance Steel

& Aluminum

10,200

9. Dole Food 75,800

10. Avery Dennison 35,700

11. Mattel 29,000

12. AECOM

Technology

43,200

13. CB Richard

Ellis Group

30,000

14. Live Nation

Entertainment

4,700

15. Unified Grocers 3,400

16. Molina

Healthcare

2,500

17. KB Home 1,600

18. Activision

Blizzard

7,000

19. Mercury

General

5,000

20. Guess 10,800

37

Legal/Regulatory/Tax/Licensing Issues

In order to have our business open we must first comply with legal, regulatory, tax and

licensing issues.

Legal Issues

State-

• Select a Name and Legal Structure

• Register for DBA(Doing Business As)

• Trademark and copyright name of business

• File business with the Secretary of California State’s office

• Obtain your Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN)

• Open the Company Bank Account

• Lease Retail Space

• Obtain Licenses and Permits

• Obtain insurance needed for business

• Establish proper accounting procedures

• Setting up contracts

o Commercial Contracts- The laws of commercial contracts originate from many sources,

but the most important law concerning commercial contracts is the Uniform

Commercial Code. It is a comprehensive commercial law adopted by every state,

covering the sale and purchase of goods. It does not apply to services.

o Employment Contracts- Employment contracts are governed by labor laws. An entire

chapter of the legal profession specializes in this very complex and constantly

changing arena

o Real Estate Transactions- Real estate transactions involve the lease or purchase of land

or property for your business premises. Contact a reputable real estate person, or ask

advice from a bank or title company.

Liability A business has three types of liabilities: product liability, legal liability, and

employment liability.

• Product Liability- Product Liability is a business' responsibility to ensure that the product it

sells is safe for the public to use. It also covers warranties a business offers for its products.

38

o Legal Liability- Legal liabilities are the obligations a business owes to the government,

such as abiding by the business law, the contract law, the tax law, the permit and

licensing requirements. Legal liability also includes the protection against deceptive

trade practices listed under the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

o Employment Liability- Employment liability is tied closely to employment contracts

and labor laws. There is an entire body of law which regulates the number of hours

worked, minimum wage, health benefits, discrimination, undocumented alien

workers, termination of employment, retirement benefits, vacation, insurance, union

contracts, etc.

• Injury and Illness Prevention Program California's worker safety law requires businesses with 10

or more employees to have a written comprehensive safety program that identifies work

place hazards. Employers also must have a safety-training program, a way for workers to

identify hazards with no fear of reprisal and a person responsible to implement the plan.

Employers with fewer than 10 workers must comply with the law, but do not need all of the

regulations in writing. Penalties for violators range from fines, to closing down operations,

to jail time.

• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) This comprehensive legislation provides civil rights

protection in employment, transportation, public accommodations, and more to individuals

with disabilities. Employers must comply with several provisions under this law.

County-

• Sellers permit

• Compensation Benefit

• Work Safety

City-

• Prospecting Hiring

• Customer Statement

• Daily Cash Sheet

39

Regulatory Issues

State-

• Electronic Funds Transfer

• Employment Disciplinary Action

• Employment Disciplinary Aids

County-

• Drug Test policy

• Telecommunity Policy

• Long Distance Call log

City-

• Employee time sheets

• Absence Policies

• Sexual Harassment Policies

• Smoking Policy

• Employment Release

• Vendor Registration Number (VRN)

• Business Licenses / Tax Permits - from your city or county clerk or revenue department.

Many jurisdictions require a trader's license or tax certificate in order to operate.

• Building Permit - from your city or county building and planning department. This permit is

generally required if you are constructing or modifying your place of business.

• Health Permit - from your city or county health department.

• Occupational Permit - from your city or county building and planning development

department. This permit is required for home-based business in some jurisdictions.

• Signage Permit - from your city or county building and planning department. Some

jurisdictions require a permit before you can erect a sign for your business.

• Alarm Permit - from you city or county police or fire department. If you have installed a

burglar or fire alarm, you will likely need an alarm permit.

40

• Zoning Permit - from your city or county building and planning department. This permit is

generally required if you are developing land for specific commercial use.21

Tax Issues

National-

Starting and Operating a New Business

• Form SS-4, Application for Employer Identification Number

• Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals

• Forms, Sole Proprietorships

• Forms, Employment Tax

• Forms, Information Returns (W-2, 1099-A, 1099-MISC, 1099-R, etc.)

General Business Expenses

• Form 1040 Schedule C, Profit and Loss From Business (Sole Proprietorship)

General Forms

• Form SS-5, Application for Social Security Card

• Form 1045, Application for Tentative Refund

• Form 2553, Election By a Small Business

• Form 6252, Installment Sale Income

• Form 8903, Domestic Production Activities Deduction

Employment Tax Forms

• Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification

• Form SS-4, Application for Employer Identification Number

• Form SS-8, Determination of Worker Status

• Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement

o Form W-2, Instructions

• Form W-2C,Corrected Wage and Tax Statement

• Form W-3, Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements

• Form W-3C, Transmittal of Corrected Wage and Tax Statements

• Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate

• Form W-4P, Withholding Certificate for Pension or Annuity Payments

• Form W-5, Earned Income Credit Advance Payment Certificate 21 search.business.gov/permits

41

• Form 940, Employer's Annual Federal Unemployment Tax Return Form 940, Instructions

• Form 941, Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return

o Form 941, Instructions

• Form 941, Schedule B, Employer's Record of Federal Tax Liability

• Form 941-X, Adjusted Employer’s QUARTERLY Federal Tax Return or Claim for Refund

• Form 944, Employer’s Annual Federal Tax Return


• Form 945, Annual Return of Withheld Federal Income Tax


• Form 1040ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals

• Form 1040, Schedule H, Household Employment Taxes

• Form 1042, Annual Withholding Tax Return for U.S. Source Income of Foreign Persons

• Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Income Form 1099-R, Distributions From Pensions,

Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRA, Insurance Contracts

• Form 4137, Social Security and Medicare Tax on Unreported Tip Income

• Form 8850, Pre-Screening Notice and Certification Request for the Work Opportunity and

Welfare-to-Work Credits

o Form 8850, Instructions 22

State-

• State Tax, Forms and Information

• Seller’s Permit

• BOE-401 State, Local and District Return

• BOE-230 General Resale Certificate

• Business Income taxes

• Withholding Tax

County-

• Property Taxes

• Utility Taxes

• Income Statement Templates

22 http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99198,00.html

42

• Government Contracting Forms

City-

• Business Tax Registration Certificate

• Tax rate 9.750 %

Licensing Issues

State-

• Register business with the Board of Equalization

• Obtain business license.

County-

• must follow country license laws

City-

• File a DBA (Doing Business As) Form

• Vendor Registration Number (VRN)

• File a Business License

Social Issues

Educational Level: The educational levels for the people in our area of business have higher than

high school education as shown in the graph below provided by zip skinny. This shows that the

people in the area are well educated which means that they have higher paying jobs creating a more

disposable income for clothing and entertainment.

43

http://zipskinny.com/index.php?zip=90064&pagetype=main

Family Size and structure: The family size in the area where Petite Chic is located is two people,

the graphs below provided by zip skinny show that 67% of homes have no children and 49.1% are

married. This shows that the majority of the families are two people.

Homes with Kids


3.80%

5.40%

12.60%

20.90%

6.70%

27.90%

22.60%

90.80%

50.60%

EducaSonal Achievement:

(among people 25 years or older)

Less than 9th grade:

9th-‐12th grade (nongrad):

High school graduate:

Some college:

Associate degree:

Bachelors degree:

Graduate/Professional:

High school or higher:

Bachelors or higher:

Educa6on Series1

44

Relationship Status


Birth Rates: 15.1% is the birth rate for the Los Angeles area.23

Housing: The majority of the people who live in our area of business rent a home or apartment as

the graph below shows. The average home in the area sells for $709,158.24 However, 72 houses are

foreclosures so that is the reason people rather rent than own a home since they have a risk in going

foreclosures.

Owners vs. Renters


Poverty & Crime Rates: The poverty rate is only 9.6% of all of the population in the area.25

Therefore, there are not as many low-income families in the area. The crime rate was higher than the

average of all large metro areas because the rates were based on the entire city of Los Angles. The

crime rate for our specific location is lower since the poverty rate is at a low level; poverty and crime

are linked together.

Unemployment/Poverty

Unemployed 3%

Below Poverty Line 9.6%

23 http://www.laalmanac.com 24 http://www.neighborcity.com/ 25 www.zipskinny.com

45

http://money.cnn.com/smallbusiness/best_places_launch/2009/snapshot/199.html

Cultural issues

There is a wide range of cultural diversity in the area of our business. There are many

Hispanics in this area, but there is also a mix of cultures for there not to be ethnicity sensitivity. The

graph below shows all the different races for the Los Angeles area. The diversity in cultures creates

awareness to the people who live in this city. Petite Chic benefits from having diverse people because

petite women tend to be in the Hispanic and Asian cultures. As shown below the graph indicates a

large portion of the race in Los Angeles is Hispanic and it has a reasonable amount of the Asian

race.

City stats Average for all

large metro areas

Violent crime

(rate per 100,000 inhabitants)

553.8 537.6

Property crime

(rate per 100,000

inhabitants)

2,564.5 3,700.0

46

http://www.city-data.com/city/Los-Angeles-California.html

Listed below are the different places that Petite Chic’s customer likes to go for entertainment and

food.

Movie theaters

• Landmark Theater, this movie theater is located in the same shopping center as Petite Chic,

this helps our business because our customer will come and shop before attending the

movie.

Restaurants

The different restaurants listed below are places that our customer likes to eat and they are all

located near the Westside Pavilion Mall. These restaurants are diverse restaurants because our

customer likes to eat a variety of foods. They go to these different restaurants before or after

shopping at our store.

• Chili Thai

• East Wind

• Great Khan Mongolian Grill

• Gyu-Kaku

• La Salsa

•

Night Clubs

The Nightclubs listed below are the different places our customer likes to go. They all play a

variety of music to satisfy our customer love of various music genres. They are located near the

Westside Pavilion mall; our customer will come in and purchase a going out outfit before hitting

these nightclubs.

• Goodbar

• Good Hurt

• Plan B

• The Joint

• The Mint

47

Civic Center and events

Los Angeles Convention Center, this is where our customer attends concerts and special

events.

The Arts and museums, our customer loves art and culture. They attend the various museums listed

below:

• LA county museum of art

• Jonathan Novak contemporary art

• Museum of tolerance

• Connecting cultures museum

• National film museum

Religion Issues

More than half of the population in the area follows; the Catholic faith as shown below in

the chart 69% of the people considered themselves Catholics. This shows us that most of our

holiday events will tie in with the Catholic celebrations for example Christmas and Easter.

Breakdown of population affiliated with religious congregations.

Name Catholic

Church

Southern Baptist

Convention

LDS (Mormon)

Church

Muslim

Estimate

American Baptist

Churches in the USA

Adherents 68.8% 2.0% 1.8% 1.7% 1.3%

Name Charismatic

Churches

Independent

Assemblies of

God

United

Methodist

Church

International Church of

the Foursquare Gospel

Other

Adherents 1.3% 1.2% 1.0% 0.9% 20.0%

: http://www.city-data.com/city/Los-Angeles-California.html#ixzz0fxq2YGUd

Technical Advances

Technical advances help our business provide a more efficient and faster way to helping

customers and employees working at our store. As well as having, an organized store to find items

effortlessly. Petite Chic will have P.O.S. systems in the cashier area to make paying quick and easy.

Inventory Pro to help organize and facilitate inventory because it is all done through the computer.

Our website will provide online shopping for our customers who are not in the area and want to

48

shop. We will also have a facebook and twitter to alert our customers when we have special

promotions.

Environmental Issues

Today most businesses to stay on top of the game must help or do something to help our

environment. Donating money to a cause that helps save the environment or having an eco-friendly

friendly business are some ways to help the environmental issues.

Impact Assessment

Our business is not only here to help our customers but to also help the environment. We

will keep track of our environmental footprint by the assessment of business operations to figure

out what we need to change to be more environmental friendly. Keeping track of our energy usage,

making sure we recycle everything that needs to be recycled. Lowering our carbon emission will also

help to lessen the carbon footprint in the world. Teaming up with Global response to raise

awareness of what is going on in our world, also to change what is happening to our environment

Sustainability

We plan to use all recycled material for the entire store. There will be many skylights in the

store. There will be many skylights in the store to create more lighting and trying to save as much

money on electricity as possible. Instead of having paper receipts we will have electronic receipts we

will have electronic receipts that are sent to your e-mail address, this will save a great deal of paper.

Customers will receive a discount upon purchase when they bring back their bag.

LEED Compliance

In order to have our business in LEED compliance we must follow the steps below to help

us obtain the certification. The steps below are informative to help set a budget and also to get

money back by having energy sufficient items and to have an environmental friendly business.

“Set a clear environmental target. Before you begin the design phase of your project, decide

what level of LEED certification you are aiming for and settle on a firm overall budget. Also,

consider including an optional higher certification target -- a "stretch" goal -- to stimulate creativity.

Set a clear and adequate budget. Higher levels of LEED certification, such as Platinum, do require

additional expenditure and should be budgeted for accordingly

Stick to your budget and your LEED goal. Throughout out the design and building process,

be sure your entire project team is focused on meeting your LEED goal on budget. Maintain the

environmental and economic integrity of your project at every turn.

49

Engineer for Life Cycle Value As you value-engineer your project, be sure to examine green

investments in terms of how they will affect expenses over the entire life of the building. Before you

decide to cut a line item, look first at its relationship to other features to see if keeping it will help

you achieve money-saving synergies, as well as LEED credits. Many energy-saving features allow for

the resizing or elimination of other equipment, or reduce total capital costs by paying for themselves

immediately or within a few months of operation. Prior to beginning, set your goals for "life cycle"

value engineering rather than "first cost" value engineering.

Hire LEED-accredited professionals. Thousands of architects, consultants, engineers,

product marketers, environmentalists and other building industry professionals around the country

have a demonstrated knowledge of green building and the LEED rating system and process -- and

can assist you in meeting your LEED goal. These professionals can suggest ways to earn LEED

credits without extra cost, identify means of offsetting certain expenses with savings in other areas

and spot opportunities for synergies in your project.” 26

26 www.nrdc.org

50

Marketing Strategy Plan

Marketing Mix

Image

Petite Chic is committed to help petite modern women find clothing that fits them perfectly

and that is chic at the same time. Petite women are an underserved market, these women are 70% of

the United States Population.27 That is why we want to create a store for this particular kind of

women. Our customer will have a wide selection of fashionable petite clothes. When our customer

comes to Petite Chic, her expierence will be a personable shopping expierence, fit to her needs. If our

customer is in need of a stylist, our salespeople are capable to style our customer appropietly and

that flatters their shape. Our customer will have a good time, and feel like they are hanging out with

one of their girlfriends. Customers will have salespeople cater to their needs and assit them with any

concerns they may have. We have a broad selection of fashionable clothes to chose from at

moderate price. Petite Chic only specializes in petite clothing this will help us to cater all the needs of

a petite woman. Accessories and shoes are also sold in the boutique, so our customer can have a

complete outfit in one stop. Free tailioring is provided for clothes that are not fitted perfectly for the

customer, when a purchasing more than $50 dollars.

Product

The product life cycle stages shows the diffrent cyles a product goes throughout time.

Introduction means the period of slow sales, growth means acceptance of the product and sales

increase,maturity is where sales start decreasing due to the acceptance of customers, decline is when

sales fall off.28 Petite Chic’s products are going to be in the introduction period of the life cycle at first

but will increase to the growth cycle shortly after being opened for a few months.

27 Bellapetite.com 28 Marketing an introduction

51

http://www.12manage.com/methods_product_life_cycle.html

Petite Chic caries everything needed to create an entire outfit, so our customer only has to

make one stop for shopping. All the products we carry are listed in the chart:

52

Womens Apperal

Blouses and Tops (PeSte

Chic,metrostyle,Varello,Tunix)

Dresses and Skirts (PeSte Chic, allisonizu, Tamice)

Pants (PeSte Chic, Tle

designs,Guirdano)

Jeans (PeSte Chic,True Religon, 7 for all mankind, J Brand, joe jeans, chip

and pepper)

Shorts (PeSte Chic,Tle designs,Guirdano)

Sweateres and Jackets (PeSte Chic, Fernanda Carnerio,

Brazzen Hussy)

Accessories

Belts (PeSte Chic)

Jewlery (Fsshion Bella)

Scarffs (PeSte Chic)

Shoes (Cinderella of Boston, Bamboo,

Novela,Sugar)

Under Garments (Lulalu)

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Price

Price Ranges: We have a moderate to high price range because we carry some designer brands

particularly in our jean section.

Blouses &Tops

$19.95-

$59.95

Dreses &Skirts

$29.95-

$299.95

Pants

$39.95-

$199.95

Jeans

$29.95

$199.95

Shorts

$19.95

$39.95

Jackets & Sweaters

$39.95-

$299.95

Belts

$15.95-

29.95

Jewlery

$6.95-

$39.95

Scarffs

$16.96-

$29.95

Shoes

$29.95-

$59.95

Under Garments

$8.95

$45.95

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Price line: The depth of Petite Chic’s inventory is at the $39.95 to $59.95 price, as shown in the

chart above. The volume of our inventory means that our store is at a moderate price for our

products.

Place: We will get our merchandise from Conrad C located in the fashion district of Los Angeles.

Warehousing: We will keep our entire inventory in the backroom of the boutique or on the

floor.

Transportation: We will receive our merchandise via trucks from our vendor in downtown

Los Angles to our location in Westside Pavilion Mall.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

$19.95 $39.95 $59.95 $99.95 $199.95

Inventory

Price Zones

Price Zones

Promo

Volume

PresSge

55

Promotion Mix

To get customers to know who we are, we will use different promotion mixes; advertising,

sales promotions, personal selling, direct marketing and internet. We will use all of these various

methods so we can get our name out there and customers will create traffic in our store.

Advertising Strategy: We will use various paid commercials to get to our target market. Petite Chic

will first use the pull strategy. The pull strategy means spending a lot of money on advertising to

create a demand for the products. We will reach our customers in the store by advertising on the

MyFm radio station, Los Angeles Times, flyers and Facebook.

Direct Marketing strategy and means to build more of personable relationship with our

customers we will use the following outlets:

• Twitter, have people tweet about our new business.

• Google Buzz, start a conversation about our new business so people can ask us questions

that they may want know about us.

• Mailers send out mailers to our demographic in our area letting them know that we are now

open.

• Word of Mouth, telling other people about us so it can get around to others.

• Facebook, creating a page for Petite Chic.

Public Relations becoming part of the community is very important to us. To help with the

community we are going be part of the West Los Angles Small Business Association, help with

community events and charities.

Personal Selling and Sales Promotions, our staff is trained to listen effectively to customer’s

interests and needs to help build a long lasting relationship with them and so the customers can

inform others on our great customer service skills.

Petite Chic will have different holiday and sales promotions they are listed below:

• Grand Opening Sale to create a buzz about our business 25% off everything you buy.

• Valentine’s Day Sale $14 for selected items in the store.

• Spring Sale, spring clothes are 30% off.

• Summer Sale, summer clothes are 30% off.

• Fall Sale, fall clothes are 30% off.

• Christmas Sale, everything in the store is on sale on Christmas day for last minute shoppers.

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• Birthday receive a birthday card and $20 off when purchasing $100 or more at the store

• Send coupons to customers who shop at our store frequently.

• Have special games and winner will receive the prize of customers gift certificates.

Internet Strategy and means through the internet and cell phones we can reach a large amount of

customers by using E commerce in the form of Facebook and our own website. Using M commerce

to help keep in contact with our customer, through a cell phone to send out text messages out to

our customers about special promotions and events or have a special application in the cell phone

that notifies customers about these items.

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Marketing Strategy Plan

Tactical Plan

12 Months Prior to Opening Task Jun

11 Jul 11

Aug 11

Sept 11

Oct 11

Nov 11

Dec111

Jan 12

Feb 12

Mar 12

Apr 12

May 12

June 12

Secure location

Attain Permits and Licenses

Make sure building is up to code

Meet with fashion designer

Meet with Vendors

Meet with Interior Designer

Start working on the interior

Start contacting advertisers

Have vendors send merchandise

Set up POS systems and inventory control

Hire Employees

Book Dj

Build stage for fashion show

Hire employees

Last Minute items for grand opening

Grand Opening

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June 2010

• Receive loan for business, meet with Macerich to secure location at the Westside Pavilion

mall. Review and sign all the papers required to obtain the location

• Get Permits and Licenses. Obtain permits and licenses through online services at Cal gold and

Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.

• Get insurance for Store, talk to various companies in the area to compare different prices.

July 2010

• Make sure building is up to code, all the requirements are met for the store to be in business,

August 2010

• Meet with fashion designer. Discuss what kind of clothes we want them to create for Petite Chic.

• Meet with Vendors make sure they know what we need from them and build a relationship with

them.

September 2010

• Meet with Interior Designer, they need to understand what kind of vibe we want to have for the

store.

• Start working on the interior of the store.

October 2010

• Start planning store grand opening; make sure we know what we need to accomplish for the

stores Grand Opening.

November 2010

• Meet with Advertisers, on what the ad should say or have on various advertising locations.

December 2010

• Set up POS systems and Inventory Control systems

January 2011

• Have Vendors start sending merchandise

February 2011

• Book a DJ from the area to play at the Grand Opening

March 2011

• Hire employees, Start looking for qualified personnel.

April/May 2011

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• Build the stage for the fashion show.

• Last minute items for the Grand opening get the banner, supplies for grand opening party. Get

ribbon to cut at grand opening, order appetizers from La Salsa

June 2011

• Grand Opening! Have the store open and ready to start selling.

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12 Months after Grand Opening

Jun 12

Jul 12

Aug 12

Sept 12

Oct 12

Nov 12

Dec 12

Jan 13

Feb 13

Mar 13

Apr 13

May 13

Jun 13

Grand

Opening

4th of July in Santa Monica

Inventory Sale

on Spring summer

inventory (online)

Christmas Sale

New Year, New

Clothes Sale

Valentine Sweepstake

Easter Sale

One Year

Anniversary Sale

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Grand Opening Event

Our store’s Grand Opening will be a fun and exciting event. There will be a cutting the

ribbon ceremony.We will have a live DJ playing at our store playing the latest music. There will be a

fashion show with petite models, modeling the lines we carry. Fun trivia games and activities will be

played at the store with prizes of Petite Chic gift certificates. Appitizers and sparkiling cider will be

served at the event. Atendees will recive goodie bags, filled with various sponsors free samples.It will

be a socializing event and to get to know what are store is all about.

12 Months after Opening

June 2011

• Grand Opening

July 2011

• Santa Monica 4th Of July, we will have a booth at the Santa Monica Pier with

games and information about our new store.

September 2011

• Inventory Sale on spring and summer Inventory (online only). Have a Sale on our

website to get clear out our spring and summer inventory, everything is 50% to

60% off.

November 2011

• Invite Only Sale; only selected customers will have a chance to attend this sale for

winter merchandise 20% off before, it hits on the floor.

December 2011

• Christmas Sale have a sale for late Christmas shoppers 30% off selected items

January 2012

• Employee Evaluation to make sure employees are meeting the standards of

customers and of our business.

February 2012

• Valentine Sweepstake a Petite Chic customer and guest will win a dinner at a

nearby restaurant. Customer must spend over $200 to enter the sweepstake.

April 2012

• Easter Sale; 25% off dresses for Easter Sunday

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June 2012

• One Year Anniversary everything in store is 30% off.

Advertising, Reach and Frequency Budget

Medium Reach

(people)

Frequency Size/type Monthly Cost

Total Yearly

Cost MyFm 104.9 22 Million Once a Month 30 seconds $1,083 $12,936 Flyers 5000 The month

before opening 5000 flyers $600 $600

Facebook 1,034,940 Daily 43 clicks per day

$900 $10,950

Los Angeles Times

2.9 Million Twice a Month 3x21 $1000 $12000

Pricing Plan

Pricing Objectives

Marketplace innovation, Petite Chic is an innovation because there are not many specific

stores that cater to petite women. Company growth is our main goal in order to achieve success in

our business venture. These two objectives will also help with the pricing plan to help our business

achieve this goal.

Pricing Strategies

To help our marketplace innovation and company growth we must use different pricing

strategies to achieve this goal. Price skimming is going to determine how much our customer is

willing to pay for our product, because it is a niche market. Our customers will be more willing to

spend more money at our store since it is a unique store. We will also use psychological pricing by

captivating our consumer by emotion selling as one of our strategies to achieve company growth.

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Markup Plan and Mark Downs

Product Mu% MD% MD% (30 days)

MD% 2 (60 days)

Blouses and Tops

300% 20% 10% 20%

Dresses and Skirts

300% 10% 15% 20%

Pants 400% 10% 10% 10%

Jeans 400% 10% 10% 10% Shorts 300% 20% 10% 20%

Sweaters and Jackets

500% 20% 10% 10%

Belts 300% 25% 10% 10%

Scarves 300% 20% 10% 10%

Shoes 400% 10% 10% 10% Undergarments 300% 10% 10% 10%

Sales and Events

Our store tries to limit sales to only special holidays and events.

Stock turnover

Ratio 3.7, to get the ratio we divided the cost of goods sold with the average inventory at

cost. We got 3.7 because our ratio is not going to be very high our first year of opening.

Terms of Payments

Petite Chic will have 2/10 Net 30 with our vendors Pro-apparel and Conrad C, so this

means that we will get 2% off our order if we pay within the 30 days of our invoice. We want to

have a good relationship with our vendors, also save some money by paying at a faster rate.

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Distribution Plans

Off Site Sales

Petite Chic will offer the opportunity to those who do not live in the Los Angeles area to

purchase clothes through our website and it will be delivered to them. The customer must spend

over $200 dollars, to obtain free shipping; otherwise, they will have to pay the prices we pay for

shipping as listed below.

Forms of Payments

Our store will accept cash, debit cards, the only credit cards we will accept are visa and

MasterCard because they have the lowest interest rate and they do not have a return policy.

Means of Shipping

Carrier Base Rate plus each item

FedEx Standard Overnight (by 3:00PM*) $17.00 $0.50

FedEx Priority Overnight (by 10:00AM*) $22.00 $0.50

FedEx Priority Overnight Saturday $34.00 $0.50

USPS First-Class Mail (3-10 days) $0.00 $0.00

USPS Priority Mail (2-4 days average) $6.50 $0.50

USPS Express Mail (1-2 days) $17.00 $0.50

plus per lb

UPS Ground

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Inventory Control/ Management Function

Planning/Forecasting

In order to have fashionable clothes we must figure out what will be in style for Petite

Chic. This is important factor for our business to evolve and succeed. The owner will be responsible

for the planning and forecasting. To forecast this, we will attend fashion shows such as LA Fashion

Week, LA Fashion Market, LA Fashion Night Out and Simply Stylist. Attending trade shows in Las

Vegas and in San Diego such as ASR Access, Project Las Vegas, Moda Las Vegas, Magic and Las

Vegas Boutique. Fashion websites such as WSGN, Women’s Wear Daily, Pantone and Trendsetter

will help us plan and forecast. Petite Chic will also survey our salespeople and customers on what they

would like to see in our boutique.

Projecting Seasonal Needs/ Buying Resources & Procedures

The owner will be in charge of projecting seasonal needs and the buying procedure. The

seasonal needs for Petite Chic will not be a big change from each season, for the reason that Los

Angeles is a warm climate all year round. We will provide clothes for the different seasons but less

winter clothes since there is not much need in Los Angles for winter clothes.

The owner will be responsible for the buying process. The owner will be communicating to

vendors around the area and other locations for purchasing merchandise for the boutique. The first

time buying for the store we want to buy a smaller inventory of everything. Seeing as we are still in

the process of figuring out what will sell more at our location. The next time buying we will have a

better understanding on what we need to purchase more of for Petite Chic. From then on, we will

know what Petite Chic will need.

Trend Analysis and Resources

The owner will be in charge of the trend analysis. We will use various resources to find the

current trends in the fashion world. We will use websites, magazines, fashion shows, trade shows,

competitors and newspapers to find out what are new trends. Using all these different sources will

help us know what are the latest trends and styles, also what to buy for our customers.

The various methods that we will use are as listed below:

Competitors

• Macy’s

• Nordstrom

• Ann Taylor

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• Banana Republic

Fashion Shows

• LA Fashion Week

• LA Fashion Market

• LA Fashion Night Out

• Simply Stylist

Magazines

• InStyle

• Vogue

• Bazaar

• Elle

• Life & Styles

• US Weekly

• People

Newspapers

• Women’s Wear Daily

• Los Angeles Time ( fashion Section)

Trade Shows

• ASR Access,

• Project Las Vegas,

• Moda Las Vegas

• Magic

• Las Vegas Boutique

Websites

• Bellapetite.com

• Trendsetter.com

• Pantone.com

• WSGN.com

• PetiteFashionista.com

Studying our competition will help us with managing our business. This will help us to

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differentiate ourselves from our competitor and will help us improve our business. We will study our

competition by using the S.W.O.T analysis to get a better understanding how our competitors

manage their business and what works for them.

Tracking stock on hand

We will use the Point of sale system POSmicro; this system will help us keep track of the

merchandise that is bought. The owner, manager and assistant manager will be in charge of keeping

track what is in stock and what we need to purchase. We will track the stock on hand quarterly since

it is a time consuming process to accomplish it on a monthly basis.

Quality Control

To certify merchandise is intact at Petite Chic we will have MSI Inventory Services come to

our location twice a year. This will insure inventory correctly accounted for, monitor shrinkage and

control inventory.

The staff at Petite Chic will be in charge of hand counts, inspecting the clothes, before they go

on the floor to confirm that all merchandise in the store is not damaged or is in poor condition to

sell

Human Resources

Taxes/ Accounting/ Records Keeping

Our accountant Money Honey will handle money issues such as taxes, accounting and

records.

Legal

Our attorney Sue Happy will handle all legal issues that have to do with Petite Chic.

Hiring Process and Qualifications

When hiring employees for Petite Chic they must meet certain qualifications. The qualifications

are as followed:

• Has customer service experience

• Must have a high school diploma or GED

• Have flexible hours

• No criminal background

• Be able to be on their feet for a long period of time

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• Must be at least 18 years old

If the prospecting employee meets these minimum requirements, they will be called for an

interview. During the interview process, we will then find out if the prospecting employer fits our

customer demographic. This is a key element to the hiring process because if the prospecting

employee does not match our customer demographic, this will not create the vibe we are trying to

send out for our store. We will ask the interviewee a series of questions to find out information

about the person and their work ethics. The questions will be:

• Where have you worked at?

• How would you describe your personality in one word?

• How do you handle a stressful situation at work?

• What do you do when you have a problem with someone you work with?

• What do you do if you have a difficult customer?

• If you see another employee stealing what would you do?

• What do you want out of your life?

• Why do you want to work for our company?

After the interview, we will take time to compare others who also applied and then decide which

person is best for this company and call their references to make sure they are who they said they

were. Then we will notify the person if they received the job.

Training Plan and Procedure

When training new employees we will teach them the procedures on how we want them to

treat customers, how to use POS system, how to organize merchandise in the store and other

important information to help run a smooth business. We will train employees by using

demonstrations on how they should treat customers and how to organize merchandise; also, we will

have on the job training on how to use the POS system.

Dismissal Procedure and Criteria

If an employee is caught stealing or doing illegal acts while on the job, they will be immediately

fired. An employer that is receiving many customer complaints, messing up often on the POS

system, arriving late to work constantly or just being negligent at the job, there will be consequences

for their behavior.

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The dismissal process will be:

1. When employee’s actions become a problem, they will be first be notified by a verbal

warning.

2. If the employee’s actions again become a problem after the first verbal warning, they will

have a written notice stating that if they do anything again that is brought to owner’s

attention they will be fired. The employee will have to sign this written notice.

3. The third time that an employee’s actions are brought to attention they will be fired.

Benefits and Qualifications Criteria

Employees that have worked for over three months will be able to receive a 10% discount

on a selected day every other month. In addition, employees that have worked more than six months

at Petite Chic will be able to qualify for medical insurance provided by us. Insurance payment will be

deducted from their paycheck.

Facilities Maintenance

Janitorial

All employees will be doing the janitorial duties. The opening employees will have certain

tasks to accomplish as well as the closing employees.

Opening employee’s tasks are:

• Arriving at 9am to organize merchandise in proper order

• Stock items that need to be replenished

• Clean windows

• Organize mannequins

• Make sure the store looks ready to open

Closing Employee’s tasks are:

• Vacuum floors

• Put back all items, where they belong

• Turn off all lights

• Turn on security system

70

Equipment

IT Strategist Company will handle all electronic equipment problems and maintenance. Web

Design LA will handle the maintenance for Petite Chic’s website.

External Janitorial Service

Evergreen Cleaning Services will come once a month to clean carpets, polish floors, clean

window and deep clean the bathroom, as well as stock the bathroom.

Security

Besides the security system that is at the mall, we will have our own ADT security system in

the store.

Customer Service

Complaints

When a customer complaint arises, we will have a proper procedure to handle this matter

correctly.

Complaint Procedure goes as followed:

1. Sales Associate will listen carefully to the customer’s complaint and try to resolve it.

2. If the customer still has an issue, the sales associate will contact the manager or the owner to

help resolve the problem.

3. The manager or owner will try and complacent the customer, so the customer can leave Petite

Chic happy.

Returns

Our store will accept returned items.

The return policy is:

1. All sale items are final

2. Returned evening dresses are store credit only

3. Items can be returned 30 days after purchase with the receipt

4. Items purchased with a credit or debit card will be refunded to the card

5. Items purchased with cash will be refunded with cash

71

Referrals

In the situation that we do not have the item that the customer is, looking for we will refer

them to another boutique that we know will have the item. We will also receive referrals from our

customers to other customers.

After Sale Problems

If a problem arises with the item purchased, the owner will deal with this matter. If there are

more of the same items that are returned, there might be a manufacturing problem. The owner will

have to contact the company where the items were purchased, to notify them the problem and to

receive a refund from the company.

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Product

Documents

Business Portfolio