Marketing Plan Moonbright Arts Most of Us

Marketing Plan

Moonbright Arts

Most of us have a secret identity based on a professional challenge that we never list on our resume. Something that we're quite sure that we could do well but for various reasons have never quite gotten the courage to embark on. For me that chance is a jewelry and accessory business that sells works that use only recycled (and up-cycled) pieces. The name of this business is Moonbright Arts, a name that suggests the bohemian feel of the pieces as well as the bohemian nature of the projected clientele. The location for this store is Davis, California, a college town with a dearth of stores that truly engage the preferences and buying habits of college students.

I believe that I have all of the needed skills and competencies to open and sustain this store, although I would also call on other artisans to contribute their wares to the store and rely on independent contractors to find the raw materials for the jewelry, scarves, purses, laptop cases, and other accessories. These raw materials will include clothes and linens from thrift shops and vintage jewelry from garage sales. Many of the items will feature felted elements that I will create through felting used sweater and blankets.

I have experience in jewelry making as well as in sewing and especially in costume design, providing me with all of the basic skills necessary to create the pieces that the store will feature. Because the materials themselves will be very inexpensive, the major cost for such items will be the labor. However, given that I can provide all of the labor myself, at least initially (with a proposed low volume) that will significantly lower the start-up and carrying costs.

The major challenges that I would face would be in allowing enough time to accomplish all of the business aspects of the store. I could easily become so involved in the artistic work that I would forget business basics. I might rely on outsourcing basic business tasks to compensate for weaknesses in my own skill set.

I believe that there is a significant market for this kind of store, one offering unique items with a background of environmental rigor, in the town of Davis. With tens of thousands of college students with at least some disposable income and the desire to look good while doing good, Davis is an ideal market for a store that offers the combination of these two. Given this fact, it is startling how few stores actually cater to college students in the downtown shopping area that is the only one accessible to most students, who do not have cars.

Most of the stores near the campus have clothes and accessories that look as if they would be popular with students' grandparents. Or possibly great-grandparents. Jewelry and accessories reasonably priced that is contemporary in style should find a very enthusiastic market. While there are online vendors who offer work that is roughly analogous, traditional storefront offerings remain popular among young consumers. Students out for the day with their friends are often not willing to delay gratification but will want something to buy that day. There is no serious competition within this particular niche in the city.

To solidify my feelings about this market (which is close to where I grew up), I asked a close friend who now goes to school at the campus there to survey people at the weekly farmers' market that is one of the cornerstone's of the town's social life. The customers that attend the market would be among those that my store would want to attract, although I would depend more heavily on students than does the farmers' market. She interviewed twenty different people, of different ages, races, and genders and described the idea of the store. All of them said that they would be interested in such a store and several seemed annoyed that it was at such a preliminary stage.