DA business plan is a guide used to help a business owner make ...

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DA business plan is a guide used to help a business owner make decisions. The plan is also used to ''sell'' the business idea to bankers or other investors as well as to vendors and potential landlords. Many online resources, such as the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), offer guidance to entrepreneurs about business plans. Visit the SCORE web site to answer the following questions.
  Click the 5 Tips on Building a Sound Business Plan link. What are they? Which tip do you think is most important for a fashion retailer? Explain your answer.
  Click the 5 Tips for Making the Most of Your Business Plan link and read the tips. Then name at least two people who might be able to help a new fashion retailer ''get where he/she wants to go.''
  The promotional plan includes all four of the components of promotion - advertising, public relations, publicity, and personal selling. What advice does the SCORE site offer for this aspect of the business plan?

Question 2

WSales forecasting is not an exact science. Many events can occur that might even cause the most carefully calibrated sales estimates to go awry. One such event occurred on September 11, 2001, when terrorists attacked the United States in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. Read about the effect of the September 11 attacks on fashion retailers to answer the following questions.
  What were sales forecasts for fashion garments before the September 11 attacks?
  In what two ways did the September 11 attacks hurt sales at full-price, high-fashion New York department stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue?
  Briefly describe the physical damage sustained by the fashion industry as a result of the September 11 attacks.

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Answer to Question 1

The five tips are: (1) Write a business plan with a complete financial and marketing plan. (2) Your marketing strategy should be built around your strengths, your competitors weaknesses, and your customers' desires. (3) Test the reality of your businessknow why it will work and how you will make it work. Think your business through step by step. (4) Allow at least two hours every week for thinking and planning. Do not allow anything to interfere with this time. You run the business. Don't let it run you. (5) Establish an annual operating plan. Review it and update it monthly with appropriate employees. Students opinions about the most important tip for a fashion retailer will vary.
Possible answers include lenders, fashion designers, existing fashion retailers, or fashion buyers.
SCOREs advice regarding promotion is: (1) Know why you are advertising and what you want to accomplish. Evaluate your advertising carefully and measure its effectiveness. (2) Develop appropriate sales promotion tools such as flyers, brochures, and signs. Carefully review each item for its effectiveness and evaluate what these tools say about your business. (3) Signage should be a major part of your marketing strategy. Signs are a vital part of small businesses and can be the most efficient, effective, and consistent device for generating revenue. (4) Every small business should be listed under the appropriate heading in the Yellow Pages, but not every business needs to buy expensive display ads. Be judicious. (5) Get involved in your community. Join the chamber of commerce, business organizations, service clubs, and charities. Network yourself and keep your antennae up.

Answer to Question 2

Before September 11, garments sales for the first six months of the year were off 3.1 from the same period in 2000. The forecast for 2001's Christmas sales at that time was for low, single-digit gains.
The goods sold at these stores are seen as luxuries, the purchase of which could be postponed; in the months following the attacks, many Americans disdained such ''unnecessary'' purchases. In addition, tourists account for a large portion of sales at these stores, and tourism in New York City fell sharply in the weeks and months following the attacks.
New York City is headquarters for many international brands and fashion houses. The September 11 attacks destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail space in Lower Manhattan, an estimated 400,000 square feet in the World Trade Center alone.

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