Rodrigo Alves

Entrepreneurship
Business Marketing Plan
May 08, 2015

General Company Description:

What business will you be in?
Our business will be a sport store that will sell the most popular name-brand
sporting goods, apparel, and accessories in every kind of sport.
Mission statement:
We want to be the best and more complete store of Missouri that can be
easily found and provide any sports-related products that the customers
need.
Company goals and objectives:
-We want to capture the Missouri market and expand exponentially.
-We also seek for an improvement in peoples lifestyle due to the top
equipment that we will provide for their activities.

-Our employees will be the best trained group that will happily attend every
customer and expend the necessary time helping them until they make the
correct decision.
-One of our main objectives is to have a loyal customer that will always come
back and purchase in our store.
Business Philosophy:
Our philosophy is to see people more often practicing sports and having a
healthier lifestyle using our Number 1 products.
To whom will you market your products?
We will sell products for every ages. Since young kids to older people that
want to keep practicing and having an active lifestyle.
Describe your industry:
Our company will be a growth industry. We are starting in this market now
but we look forward to become the biggest one in Missouri State and expand
throughout the US in a long term future.
Describe your most important company strengths and core
competencies.
The strengths of our company is an increasing demand for a healthy lifestyle
and our ability to recognize these demand and offer to the public exactly
what they are looking for. Our major competitive strengths will be our high
quality products and extremely well trained employees with an amazing

ability to sell. In addition, the stores will be set in strategic spots close to
sports buildings like stadiums so customers will be tempted to buy. Also an
online store will provide the chance for customers to buy without having to
leave their comfortable house.
The store will be managed by three ex-athletes that played in a high level so
they are used to this environment and know exactly how to deal with
athletes.
Legal form of ownership:
Our company will be a Limited liability corporation (LLC).
Business Plan part V: Marketing Plan
A. Economics
1) Size and Demand of the Market?
The market we are about to enter is in constantly growth. Currently there are
more than 20 million tennis enthusiasts around the U.S and growing
approximately 10% a year. That is, there are two million new tennis players
in this country each year. That is a very good sign because it means that
demand is in continuously growth. Consequently, with a high demand for
tennis related issues, we are going to provide the necessary supply for the
customers. St. Louis is one of the most important cities of U.S and its
metropolitan area is within the biggest ones of United States so it can
definitely be a good representative of U.S demand for tennis stuff. It is
estimated about 180,000 tennis enthusiasts in St. Louis and this year alone
20,000 men, women, teenagers and children will learn to enjoy tennis on
many different levels.

2) Barriers to entry?
There are a few boundaries stopping this business to flourish. First of all, we
need to ensure that we have enough money to cover all startup expenses.
Also, we are entering in a big market, what means that our marketing costs
will have to be high in order to get recognized and known by the customers

we expect. Lastly have we done enough recruiting of workers who fit the
standard that we want? This is just a select few problems that we will have
but I feel will be the bigger impact compared to others.
3) How will you overcome the barriers to entry?
Overcoming the barriers to entry is currently a goal that we are fixed on right
now. First of all we will have a loan to cover the startup expenses and also a
good business plan in which all the necessary information about the business
will be provided. We will have organization in how we make decisions that
will impact the business. What I mean by this is that we cant just think that
everything will always be ok; we need to be prepared if business goes bad
and customers dont buy as much as we expected. All of the work will be
done before opening, we will organize what we are thinking of making
financially in the first month, six months and a year. Also, we will have a two
week preparation for the employees before they start working to make sure
that they are ready to perfectly attend the customers.

B. Competitive analysis
1) Advantages and Disadvantages
As a competitive advantage, in our market our store will provide for
customers the best stringing service and also we will provide for our
employees a two week preparation to sell this specific kind of materials to
our customers. Our employees will all be current or ex-tennis players so they
will have plenty of experience in the area and can perfectly provide the
necessary assistance to our clients.
The disadvantages are that we will have a strong competition in St Louis and
as a new business this is always a barrier. In this big city there is already
tennis stores providing a similar kind of service with a good reputation so
this big competition makes it harder for new business to succeed.
2. Niche
In spite of competing with many different stores, our tennis store will be
unique. We will differ from others because we will provide the best service
for the customers, we will work with the best brands of the world and also we
will provide a different service to string racquet because we will have ex
tennis players working during the day to help our customers find the best
option for his type of game. We will have in our store a big variety of
products because we will work only with tennis products. Stores like Hibbett
sports and Walmart cant provide the same variety because they sell many
different products for different sports and areas, so they do not specify too

much in a single sport. Another important positive point to have experience

sellers is that we will give really good advices for customers when they need
to make a difficult decision like change their racquets or an important
equipment. This service customers wont be able to find in a general place
like Walmart where most of the employees are college students. So our store
will, of course, be another one that sells tennis products, but the way people
will remember us is what will make us great. We will be remembered as the
place where they got an amazing treatment and found exactly what they
needed. So when they got back home they will tell their friends and family
the good treatment they received in the store.

C. Strategy
1) Advertising
We want to work a lot with advertisement. Specifically, the type of
advertising we will do and focus our tennis store are Internet Based, flyers
and yellow page advertising. First of all, I am talking Internet ads and mainly
emailing people informing them how we work, how many good prices and
discounts we have for that specific date and what we can do that will benefit
them as our customers, like special gifts and prices. Seeing as we will be
relying on this to help spread our name we have to ensure everything we
send about ourselves is faultless. We need to certify that people will not be
reading and close the email disinterested. I would personally say that we
have to secure clients trust and make them want to feel comfortable buying
with us.
Secondly, we are looking to do flyers as part of our marketing strategy. Flyers
allows our tennis store to communicate promotions, good prices or a
message to the masses at an affordable cost.
Lastly, we want to have our tennis store information in the yellow page
advertising so people can easily find information about the store such as
operating hours, address, cellphone numbers and e-mail.
2) Other Methods of Promotion
Many of the successful and well recognized shops made their name by word
of mouth, especially when it comes about small business. It is a very
important and powerful advertising tool. For having such as good prices and
exclusive attention for all the customers, we expect our customers to

recommend our place to other people. Furthermore, we want to do marketing

of our tennis store in every single professional tennis tournament around and
close to the area of St Louis MO. We think that this is one of our best
strategies because we will be doing marketing in the core of the tennis fans
and enthusiasts.
3) Promotional Budget
We expect to put a good amount of money to make sure everything we do
related to our advertising looks professional. Realistically, we would like to
spend 15% of whatever profit we make which will be put aside and go
towards all our advertising.
4) Pricing
Our prices will be above mid-market. As every athlete, you always want to
have the best products with the best quality, because this way your
performance will be better. As we are going to sell specific tennis
accessories, our price range can go from $5 to $250, this prices vary from a
simple overgrip that costs less than $10 to a professional racquet that can
cost more than $300.
D. Location
Our store will be located in St Louis Galleria, address: I-70 and I-64, Clayton
RD. AT Brentwood BLVD ST. Louis, MO 63117. Having a store in a mall makes
it easier to gain a good reputation from customers, also our appearance will
be good because the galleria is a beautiful place and is located in a great
area of the city. Another important advantage of having a store in a mall is
because our customers can hang out with friends and have fun in the mall
while the store provide his stringing service. To string a racquet may take 40
to 50 minutes so during this time the costumers doesnt need to wait inside
of the store and can have a good time in the mall.
E. Distribution Channels
Our products will be sold in two different ways. We will have a physical store
in the mall in which customers can come by to visit and. Also we will have a
website presenting all of the products available in our store (catalog) and the
customers will be able to do online shopping. We will deliver the products by
mail with shipping taxes included.
F. Product

1) Features and Benefits

The benefits we are going to provide with our tennis store will be many. First
of all, whether you are a professional player or just an amateur you will need
the basic equipment to practice this sport such as racquets, balls and shoes.
So for everyone, we will provide the pleasure and capacity of being able to
play tennis because in our store you will easily find anything you need with
the best quality. Secondly, playing tennis is a great activity for you to
maintain active and healthy so with our store we will not only be providing
racquets and shoes, but also healthy benefits you can acquire by using them.
Lastly, besides the healthy benefits practicing tennis brings to you, it also
permits you to have fun and be happy. Hitting a ball for hundreds of times for
someone that does not play tennis can seem very boring but the pleasure
and fun you can have playing tennis is something that only players can
understand. We want to be responsible for this pleasure by providing the
best products to a great tennis match.
2) After Sales Service
We are strong believers to keep such strong relationships with your
customers. The reason being is because there is always more work that can
be done for these people. Also if you have good connections with these
people who is to say they recommend you to somebody else. For that, there
will be an Online Customer Service on our website. The customers will also
be able to make claims and suggestions through a Customer Service Phone
Number and all of our products will have a 1 year guarantee in case they
have any kind of defects.
G. Customers
1) Demographic Profile
The social class is key for us, we will be looking for lower middle class, upper
middle class and upper class. As we are a new tennis store we will be
expecting to start off with a lower middle class and then as we get more
recognition, we will continue to rise. Gender is not important for us, we not
bother whether it is male or female because tennis is unisex and it is really
important in both genders. Also, there is no age for playing tennis so even
kids or adults can buy tennis equipment.
2) Ideal customer
Our tennis store welcomes anyone who is interested in visiting us and being
a customer. There is no preference for age, gender, nationality, social class,

among others. The Ideal Customer they should choose us and what
separates us from other tennis stores. The customers would be the person
who walks out of our tennis shop satisfied. Furthermore, we have real
interest in what image the selling represents their self as. The promotional
ideas we will use will be mainly why should be willing to take a risk with us
and trust we can provide them good products.
Our store will be focused on helping every customer in the best possible way.
We are also focus on giving customers the good service of an exclusive
personal attention at the time of a tennis purchase. The store always works
with the expectation of giving the client as much resources as possible. This
will make the customer feel that they are in the right place.
The ability to find a customer, sell products to that customer, and satisfy the
customer so that he or she buys from you again should be the central focus
of our tennis store. We want our store to have loyal customers. These people
are going to be our ideal customers for the reason that they will always buy
in our store and also they will spread our name, contact and information
mouth to mouth around their circumference.
H. Competition
1) Direct Competitors
We will have in ST. Louis two direct competitors that has a pretty similar
service as us. One of them is Racketman Tennis, they provide for customers
the same service that we will provide, they sell the same products of us and
also they have a good reputation in the city. Their store is located in good
location with a really beautiful appearance, address: 12064 Manchester
Road, ST Louis, MO 63131. Another one is Michael Lynnes Tennis, they
provide the same service that we will provide but the difference is in the
quality of the products. This store just offer basic things for beginners and
our store will provide all types of products for all types of customers. Their
store is located in a regular place with a good appearance, address: 5011
Excelsior Blvd, St Louis, MN 55416.
2) Indirect Competitors
The main indirect competitor of our store is Walmart, they sell everything
from food to sport equipment all over the United States, and they are a good
competitor because they have a really good reputation in the country.
Another indirect competitor is the stores that sell all kind of equipments for

example Hybret sports, they are already known and they sell anything
related to many different sports.
3) Table

Factor

Me

Strength

Products

Price

Quality

Selection

Weaknes
s

Racketm
an
Tennis

Michael
Lynnes
Tennis

Importan
ce to
Custome
r
1

Service

Reliabilit
y

Stability

Expertise

Company 1
Reputatio
n
Location
1

Appearan 1
ce

Factor
Sales
Method
Credit
Policies
Advertisi
ng

Image

Management and Organization VII

The person that will manage Woods Tennis Store will be Mr. Marcos
Constantino. He is 32 years old. He is from Miami, Florida but now he lives in
ST. Louis, Mo. Exactly, his address is 400 Central West End, ST Louis MO. Mr.
Constantino was a professional tennis player, and precisely he was top
#65ATP. As a result of that, he has deep experience in tennis and everything
around with this sport. Now he plays tennis just for fun and also to keep a
healthy lifestyle. Furthermore, he is an active member and the Vice President
of one of the most expensive and important clubs in ST Louis MO The forest
lake tennis club located in 1012 N Woods Mill RD. One of the most important
qualities of him is that he is currently presenting a massive experience of
being in a managerial role. He has extremely good communication skills in
order to achieve a potential conversation with important customers without a
problem. Moreover, he has the ability to teach to all the employees different
ways to deal with customers needs properly and effectively. Mr. Constantino
will be managing the tennis store from Monday to Saturday, from 9:00 am to
5:00 pm. During the time that Marcos is not in the store, a designated
manager like the financial director (Rodrigo Noronha) will take care of the
matters that he is usually responsible for. If something were to happen to
Marcos Constantino, the tennis store would not fall. Automatically, there
would be a change and (Elias Fernandez) who is the marketing director would
replace him on the time that we are going to use to find the right person
whom will fill with the criteria.

Professional and Advisory Support

Board of Directors: Every person in the rank below Marcos Vinicius

Constantino. Elias Fernandez will be the Market Director and Rodrigo Alves
will be the Finance Director.


Management advisory board: Marcos Constantino is the owner. Below
him, Elias Fernandez as the Market Director together with Rodrigo Alves as
the Finance Director will be the Management advisory board.

Attorney: We will have an attorney which will only be needed when

legal matters are brought upon us, which hopefully wont happen often.

Accountant: We will have a half-time accountant.

Insurance agent: This is key that we have a good insurance agent who
is able to direct us into making the correct decisions and choices as a startup
company.

Banker: Having a good banker is important for me to have mainly

because our company will be constantly buying and selling new inventory, so
they are looking after the stores money and setting up accounts in order to
benefit us.

Consultant or Consultants: We feel like we dont need this kind of

person right now.

Mentors and key advisors: I feel it is good to have this kind of person in
the work environment, but I feel in a small startup business it is not a priority.
This is the kind of investment you make when the business is growing
financially and employees.

Business Plan part VIII. Finances

Optimal:

Racquets: Wilson = 50
Prince = 30
Babolat = 50
Head = 50
Dunlop = 30

Clothes: Brands will be Nike, Adidas and Asics

200 pair of t-shirts
150 pair of shorts
150 pair of socks
100 jackets
120 pants
50 thermic shorts

Strings: Brands (Head, Luxilon, Babolat, Wilson, Technifibre, Prince)

100 rolls of 200 meters of string.
200 individual sets of 10 meters of string.

Strings Machine:
1 Wilson Balbonera machine

Accessories:
500 overgrips
50 sunglasses
50 watches
250 racquets antivibrators

3 Computers
1 Credit and Debit card machine
1 printer

Bare Bones:

Racquets: Wilson = 20
Prince = 25
Babolat = 25
Head = 25
Dunlop = 10

Clothes: Brands will be Nike, Adidas and Asics

100 pair of t-shirts
750 pair of shorts
750 pair of socks
50 jackets
60 pants
20 thermic shorts

Strings: Brands (Head, Luxilon, Babolat)

50 rolls of strings
100 sets of strings

Strings Machine:
1 Wilson Balbonera machine

Accessories:
200 overgrips
100 racquets antivibrators
1

Computers

1 Credit and Debit card machine

1 Printer