Women's Clothing Boutique Business Plan

De Kliek Style Studio

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Executive Summary
Overview
De Kliek Style Studio is an upscale women's clothing boutique that will open in July this year. De Kliek,
which means "the clique" or "circle of friends" in Dutch, defines the boutique and its essence of inclusion. De
Kliek's clothing selections and exclusive personal style services, which include a detailed Style Assessment,
will ensure that our customers are well dressed. De Kliek is a woman-owned business currently organized
as a Sole Proprietorship.

Clothing for stylish women

De Kliek will carry Ready-to-Wear (RTW) designer and casual/contemporary apparel & accessories for
women, and will be the exclusive U.S. home of the German line, Herr Frau. In addition to the fabulous Herr
Frau line, De Kliek will feature other choice selections by American and European designers such as
Hocken, Weekend MaxMini, Tosca and Catherine the Great. The De Kliek customer is a busy professional
woman who lives in Los Angeles with a household income over $100K. She enjoys the boutique fashions
and wants a place where she can go to get services that meet her busy lifestyle.

Unique & innovative

De Kliek will provide services such as Style Assessments, alterations, personal shopping, and special
ordering to customers during store hours and by personal appointments. Style Concierges who are trained
within the image industry will be available to customers on a daily basis. De Kliek's innovative Style
Assessments and educational emphasis in helping women develop their personal styles will enhance our
reputation as a truly unique boutique.

Getting the word out

De Kliek will generate awareness and sales by utilizing PR tactics and the referral networks of personal
stylists. Additionally, De Kliek will meet our customers where they are, focusing on how women approach
shopping by obtaining mentions and reviews in the top fashion publications, travel guides and local papers.

Management
With over 12 years experience in marketing and retail, owner Vrootje Magen has gathered the expertise to
complement and grow the business. Our advisory team holds expertise in retail accounting, retail
merchandising, legal contracts, fashion and design. A detailed project plan has been created and all tasks
are on schedule. Buying for the Fall/Winter season was completed in April, and store design and marketing
elements are currently being finalized.

Finance

• Start-up costs include inventory for the first month, and are estimated at $132,700 of which the
owner will inject 31.4%. Current owner investments are documented at approximately $41,700, of
which $12,700 is in savings and checking. An additional injection of approximately $8,700 will occur by
July 15 of Year 1.
 • Annual gross sales are projected to grow from $513,000 in the first year to over $600,000 by Year
3, with approximately 10% from customer special orders. These Sales forecasts are approximately
three-quarters the average of benchmarked Los Angeles boutiques. Net profits are expected at
approximately 6% through 2007, with reinvestment of 5% for growth initiatives.

• De Kliek will hold Cost of Goods Sold at roughly 39% of sales revenues; we intend to maintain this
approximately 61% markup throughout the next five years.

• Due to the demand for up-to-date fashions, inventory turns are projected at 5, which is higher
than the industry average of 4.

1.1 Mission

• To provide women with a boutique that offers a comfortable and approachable environment

• To showcase quality, well-constructed fashions from prominent and cutting-edge designers

• To offer a variety of beautiful and high-end fashion accessories

• To help women learn what clothing and styles go best with their unique personalities
 • To generate buzz and sales through top-notch exclusive services

1.2 Keys to Success

1. Having a good location in a high-shopping area

2. Quality product and good relationships with vendors

3. Outstanding customer service

1.3 Objectives

• To turn inventory five times and generate $800 in sales per square foot

• To maintain profit margins at 15-20% through close attention to expenses and cost of goods sold

• To drive awareness and build sales through mentions in both local print and the nation's top
fashion magazines
A Standard Business Plan Outline
by Tim Berry

What information needs to be in your business plan? What is the order of information
that will make the most sense to lenders and investors? You can answer these questions
with the business plan outlines provided below.

What are the standard elements of a business plan? If you do need a standard business
plan to seek funding — as opposed to a plan-as-you-go approach for running your
business, which I describe below — there are predictable contents of a standard business
plan outline.

For example, a business plan normally starts with an Executive Summary, which should
be concise and interesting. People almost always expect to see sections covering the
Company, the Market, the Product, the Management Team, Strategy, Implementation,
and Financial Analysis. The precise business plan format can vary.

Is the order important? If you have the main components, the order doesn’t matter that
much, but here’s the sequence I suggest for a business plan. I have provided two outlines,
one simple and the other more detailed.

Simple business plan outline

1. Executive Summary: Write this last. It’s just a page or two of highlights.
2. Company Description: Legal establishment, history, start-up plans, etc.
3. Product or Service: Describe what you’re selling. Focus on customer benefits.
4. Market Analysis: You need to know your market, customer needs, where they
are, how to reach them, etc.
5. Strategy and Implementation: Be specific. Include management responsibilities
with dates and budgets. Make sure you can track results.
6. Web Plan Summary: For e-commerce, include discussion of website,
development costs, operations, sales and marketing strategies.
7. Management Team: Describe the organization and the key management team
members.
8. Financial Analysis: Make sure to include at the very least your projected Profit
and Loss and Cash Flow tables.

Build your plan, then organize it. I don’t recommend developing the plan in the same
order you present it as a finished document. For example, although the Executive
Summary obviously comes as the first section of a business plan, I recommend writing it
after everything else is done. It will appear first, but you write it last.
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Standard tables and charts

There are also some business tables and charts that are normally expected in a standard
business plan.

Cash flow is the single most important numerical analysis in a plan, and should never be
missing. Most plans will also have Sales Forecast and Profit and Loss statements. I
believe they should also have separate Personnel listings, projected Balance Sheet,
projected Business Ratios, and Market Analysis tables.

I also believe that every plan should include bar charts and pie charts to illustrate the
numbers.

Expanded business plan outline

Here’s an expanded full business plan outline, with details you might want to include in
your own business plan.

1.0 Executive Summary

1.1 Objectives
1.2 Mission
1.3 Keys to Success

2.0 Company Summary

2.1 Company Ownership
2.2 Company History (for ongoing companies) or Start-up Plan (for new companies)
2.3 Company Locations and Facilities
3.0 Products and Services
3.1 Product and Service Description
3.2 Competitive Comparison
3.3 Sales Literature
3.4 Sourcing and Fulfillment
3.5 Technology
3.6 Future Products and Services

4.0 Market Analysis Summary

4.1 Market Segmentation
4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy
4.2.1 Market Needs
4.2.2 Market Trends
4.2.3 Market Growth
4.3 Industry Analysis
4.3.1 Industry Participants
4.3.2 Distribution Patterns
4.3.3 Competition and Buying Patterns
4.3.4 Main Competitors

5.0 Strategy and Implementation Summary

5.1 Strategy Pyramids
5.2 Value Proposition
5.3 Competitive Edge
5.4 Marketing Strategy
5.4.1 Positioning Statements
5.4.2 Pricing Strategy
5.4.3 Promotion Strategy
5.4.4 Distribution Patterns
5.4.5 Marketing Programs
5.5 Sales Strategy
5.5.1 Sales Forecast
5.5.2 Sales Programs
5.6 Strategic Alliances
5.7 Milestones

6.0 Web Plan Summary

6.1 Website Marketing Strategy
6.2 Development Requirements

7.0 Management Summary

7.1 Organizational Structure
7.2 Management Team
7.3 Management Team Gaps
7.4 Personnel Plan
8.0 Financial Plan
8.1 Important Assumptions
8.2 Key Financial Indicators
8.3 Break-even Analysis
8.4 Projected Profit and Loss
8.5 Projected Cash Flow
8.6 Projected Balance Sheet
8.7 Business Ratios
8.8 Long-term Plan

Business plan outline advice

Size your business plan to fit your business. Remember that your business plan should
be only as big as what you need to run your business. While everybody should have
planning to help run a business, not everyone needs to develop a complete formal
business plan suitable for submitting to a potential investor, or bank, or venture contest.
So don’t include outline points just because they are on a big list somewhere, or on this
list, unless you’re developing a standard business plan that you’ll be showing to
somebody else who expects a standard business plan.

Consider plan-as-you-go business planning. I’ve done a lot of work on this idea lately,
resulting in my new “Plan As You Go” business planning, which is a now a book
published by Entrepreneur Press, available through Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and
Borders, and bundled as an eBook with Business Plan Pro. I’ve also added a short video
here to the right, illustrating how the outline could be simpler with a new approach.