Ecommerce Business Plan Mary\'s Gourmet

Ecommerce Business Plan

Mary's Gourmet Baskets online store will offer the same gourmet gift and picnic baskets as her brick-and-mortar business where success has hinged on serving upscale consumers who are will to pay more for trendy, high quality merchandise and first-rate customer service. Likewise, Mary will charge the same prices for her online goods as she does in her stores. She expects to generate at least one million dollars in annual sales as this is the average revenue from operating a mail order business for gift baskets (Fullbright). Profits for mail order and brick-and-mortar stores are typically 22% of sales (Fullbright, but Mary anticipates even higher margins because of the reduced overhead that comes from online operations.

Although the ubiquity of the Web facilitates word-wide reach, Mary will initially focus on the U.S. market due to high overseas shipping costs as well as cultural and legal differences in local international markets. She will charge customers for shipping and expects the high price points of overseas shipping will deter these customers. The two wealthiest groups of consumers 'Affluent' and 'High Worth' who Mary will target on her Web site have grown in number by an almost quarter across the U.S. since the year 2000 and now total more than 44.9 million consumers (Innovation in gourmet and specialty food and drinks: Market evolution and NPD in super-premium and healthy products, 2006), providing Mary's business with ample market opportunity. Online buying is particularly attractive to these wealthy consumers who seek the convenience of shopping when and where they want.

Mary understands that her market is highly competitive and that there are literally hundreds of gourmet gift basket sellers online (Cox). Still, Mary believes that she can differentiate her business by offering only the highest quality products and outstanding customer service. For instance, she will allow her customers to assemble their own custom baskets and will offer gift cards appropriate for specific holidays or occasions. Further, unlike many competitive sites, she will facilitate the customer's ability to track the status of their order and will notify customers when items have arrived at their destination along with a thank you note for the business.

The two primary gift basket markets are the individual gift-giver and the corporate client (How to start a gift basket service). About half of all this business is during the holidays, with Christmas leading the drive followed by Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, Thanksgiving and Secretaries' Day (How to start a gift basket service). Mary will rely heavily on Google AdWords to attract new business and will increase her advertising during peak gift basket buying times. She will also attempt to retain customers by sending them reminders of their previous orders during the previous year and asking them if she can fulfill another gift request. In the beginning, Mary will also generate market awareness by mailing gift catalogs to her target audiences.