Do Business Well

Most television, radio, VCR, and DVD player purchases are made today to replace or upgrade existing equipment. New flat screen and plasma TVs and DVD players represent the latest technological innovations drawing shoppers into the stores for new entertainment equipment. Nearly all (99 percent) of U.S. households own a color television, while 71 percent own two or more TVs. VCR and DVD player ownership is almost as high, with about 90 percent of households having a VCR or DVD player. Continue Reading »

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Universal Memorabilia Collectibles Retail

Collectors turn first to specialty stores to buy new items to add to their collections. About 35 percent reported they shopped in these types of stores to buy collectibles in the past year. They also looked to mail order, the Internet, and other nonstore channels, with about 28 percent reporting purchase through these sources. Rounding out the top three channels for collectibles purchases are discount department stores, where 21 percent of collectors shopped last year, with women in particular having a preference for the discount stores. Continue Reading »

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Just over 40 percent of households (42 percent) bought some kind of art in 2005, up significantly from the purchase incidence in 2003. With consumers turning their attention to the walls for decorating, they are responding to new availability of ready-to-hang art at retail outlets ranging from mass merchants and discounters to home specialty stores. No longer are consumers required to seek decorative art in out-of-the- way galleries and art dealers, or pay exorbitant prices to custom frame a print. Already-framed art, as well as the explosion of specialty framing boutiques that offer affordable and quick custom frames, have opened the art market to the masses. Continue Reading »

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Just over 40 percent of consumers (42 percent) in 2003 purchased baskets, boxes, vases, pots, and other decorative holders. With the definition of this category expanded from the last survey, the whole range of functional storage accessories are becoming more important in home decor, offering both decorative values as well as the functional benefit of holding flowers, plants, or other items. Continue Reading »

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Purchase incidence of furniture was the same in 2005 (41 percent) as in 2006. The purchase of furniture can range from inexpensive occasional tables and ready-to-assemble and unfinished furniture to major furniture acquisitions that are often bought on credit and paid for over time.

Furniture Industry Snapshot

Personal consumption of furniture, including mattresses and box springs, reached $69.8 billion in 2002, up 3.2 percent over 2000 levels of $67.6 billion. Continue Reading »

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Purchase incidence of home textiles, which includes rugs, throws, pillows, and table and bed linens, dropped sharply in 2003. While purchase incidence peaked in 2001 at 60 percent, only 52 percent of households bought this class of goods in 2003. Once one of the prime categories associated with nesting and cocooning, consumers‘ new anti-clutter approach to home decor is turning them off this once-vibrant category. Continue Reading »

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As a new category added to the consumer survey, window coverings, blinds, curtains, and other window treatments are an essential part of most home remodeling projects, big or small. Some 37 percent of households made a purchase of window coverings in the past year. With consumers avidly tuning into such do-it-yourself decorating shows as The Learning Channel’s Trading Spaces and While You Were Out, they are learning all about the easy, quick, and cost-effective decorating possibilities available through window treatments. Continue Reading »

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Once you get yourself past some of the barriers that seem to be an inherent part of the writing process, you can confront some of the issues particular to the business plan. The overriding point, though, is to keep yourself focused as much as possible on business issues rather than on writing issues. My experience is that the better understanding you have of the business issues, the more easily the writing comes.

While there’s no one right way to write the business plan (or any other material), here are some approaches/techniques I have found to be useful:

1. Determine the priority of issues/success factors for each area of the business. In other words, for each section of the plan—the company, marketing, product/service, sales, and financial sections—list in order of importance the challenges facing your business. Also provide your approaches/solutions for handling the challenges.

For example, for the sales segment, suppose that key issues are whether you can justify an in-house sales force, how you will train it, and how much advertising you can accomplish within the $10,000 advertising budget you have available. List each of these issues and then explain the justifications or solutions for each. This is how your analysis might look: Continue Reading »

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From the delegator’s point of view, AOL operates in its industry—as an Internet service provider—in the same way that Carnival operates in its, as a vacation provider. Each preselects the destinations and puts together a package of offerings that can be bought all at once. For both, after the decision and initial arrangements are made, no further thought or maintenance is required. According to Forrester, a leading market-research firm, four out of every ten people active on the Internet in 1999 were using AOL. Furthermore, AOL retains 97 percent of its customers, the highest rate of any Internet service provider. For all of AOL’s blackouts and delays, its slow pop-up ads, and even a short-lived scheme to sell customers‘ phone numbers, only 3 percent walk away.

Part of the reason for such loyalty comes from the stickiness inherent in delegators: Once a delegator makes a decision, he or she tends to revisit it rarely. Continue Reading »

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This subsection was kindly contributed by Glen Freeman, Brunel University. Background

The traditional high street retailer W. H. Smith plc has already established new channels to market through the Internet, digital television and WAP mobile phones. The company has a huge high street presence in the UK, with 1,500 stores nationwide. It also now has stores across the globe on major transport routes at airports and railway stations, and already has over 5 million members registered with its ‘club card‘ scheme. These are already loyal W. H. Smith customers who have experienced the company through its stores. Moving this confidence online will be far easier than trying to generate new business online. Continue Reading »

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