ERA FASHION HOUSE

Executive summary:
ERA- is a fashion house selling exclusive ladies wear. We sell Exclusive saree and Kameez, Regular Saree and kameez, Bridal wear for formal parties, weddings, celebrations (Eid etc). We have Seasonal collection for summer, winter and autumn. We are located in Gulshan-2 and we serve the women from Ultra high, Lower high and higher middle class families. We are four partners initially investing in our business, each contributing equal amount and sharing equal profit. Our management team also includes our four partners. We have conducted thorough market research before we decided to invest in our current business plan consists the interview of the executives of our competitors, questionnaire survey, and secondary research and so on. We have collected detailed data and conducted in depth analysis about our market, industry and competition. These data and analysis has given us the impression about the over all feasibility, profitability, risk etc about the business. We have decided to sell Indian cloths like our major competitor Vasavi, Shoppers world etc. But we will sell indian product at a lower price than our competitor and make up that from selling Pakistani product at a higher price which is not being offered by any of our major competitor. We have a major marketing campaign to establish our business. We have multi dimensional market penetration strategy by using billboards, Television promotional programmed, Magazine advertisement, leaflet and after sales offers. We have a substantial initial investment which we will finance from multiple sources. As per our moderate projections our business is a profitable one with enough opportunity for future growth, expansion and diversification. We have a well thought out exit plan which is to merge with one of many men wear fashion chain who regularly look for opportunity to expand into the women wear segment which is the most lucrative one. We also have a back up for our exit plan giving ourselves enough flexibility and option. From our over all understanding of the business, market, competitor, trends, opportunities and risk factors we conclude that our business plan is a feasible and profitable one.

ERA FASHION HOUSE The Opportunity:

Its an era of globalization and people are becoming closer day by day. There taste and preferences are becoming similar. This trend has also gripped the clothing sector of the whole world. In Bangladesh also people are becoming more and more concern about their outfits and there is a significant increase in spending on the apparel sector. But if we compare between the male and female sector it can be found that female segment has been more profit generating for this apparel sector. When we did our research we found that though there are lots of fashion houses but there is still a significant gap between the customers expectations and the offers of different existing fashion houses. So we came up with the idea to establish ERA Fashion House in order serve the female segment not only with the good quality of product but also at a reasonable price. After thorough market and industry research we found that most of the fashion houses that offer exclusive collection of womens wears mainly bring their supply or products from India and very few from Pakistan. So we decided to use the combination of both Indian and Pakistani apparel. We will offer an upscale and glamorous range of traditional party-wear dresses for women such as sarees, salwar kameez and lehengas, that are specifically designed for special occasions such as weddings, formal dinner parties, social events etc. In addition to this, we offer exclusive and unique collections for the special festivals like Eid, Pohela Baishakh, and New Year etc. The key factors that can increase our profit margin are the stable economic conditions of the country, stable political condition, excellent communication procedure, cultural and social background of Bangladesh and the also the ever-changing youth who dont follow a specific trend rather than they try to set their own trend.

PRODUCT:

ERA FASHION HOUSE Our fashion house ERA has been designed to operate in the apparel sector of Bangladesh. We offer an upscale and glamorous range of traditional party-wear dresses for women such as sarees, salwar kameez and lehengas, that are specifically designed for special occasions such as weddings, formal dinner parties, social events etc. In addition to this, we offer exclusive and unique collections for the special festivals like Eid, Pohela Baishakh, and New Year etc.

As such, our product line comprises of the following:

Sarees (exclusive and regular) Salwar Kameez (exclusive and regular) Bridal collections (for weddings, receptions etc.) Festive collections (Eid, Pohela Baishakh etc) Seasonal collections (summer, spring and winter collections).

While we offer exclusive party-wears for the special occasions, our offering also includes a regular section of sarees and salwar kameez designed for normal outings. Celebrations on festivals such as Eid, Pohela Baishakh and Pohela Falgun have experienced an upsurge in Bangladesh in recent years, and so has the increasing zeal of women to look good and dress up well on these occasions. Keeping this in mind, we have included in our product offering some festive collections that will cater to the unique needs of our customers on each of these occasions. Fashion changes over time and with seasons; what looks good in one season does not necessarily do so in another. That is where our seasonal collections come in. For instance, women might prefer dresses with softer blends of colors and simpler in design during summer and brighter, bolder shades in spring. Our seasonal collections will be designed to meet this end.

As such, we aim to satisfy these various needs of our customers, not only by offering superior quality but also designs that are modern and in vogue. We aim to provide the most exquisite
3

ERA FASHION HOUSE designs, in combination with the best fabrics and craftsmanship to our customers. Our objective is to celebrate the true beauty of Bangladeshi women, dressed in the clothes we offer. We want our customers, not just to be satisfied, but also delighted with our clothing line.

Market Research:
Methodology For this particular project we mainly focused on primary data. Besides that to get general idea and understand the background we have used some secondary information. The data collections methodologies that we used are discussed as follows: -

Primary data: Focus Group Discussion: Focused group interview is an unstructured, free-flowing interview with a small group of people. We have not been able to make a comprehensive analysis of making up a group with a moderator, but we made a small, convenient sample of twenty people. We conducted this focus group discussion to find out the criteria or parameters which are most important to the customers when they are purchasing their outfits. Sample Questionnaire: We used a sample questionnaire of 15 questions which are both of objective and subjective. We tried to come up with all the important factors regarding the customer's consumption. Sample size and selection process: 80 female have been selected randomly to run the survey, mainly ranging from 18 years to 50 years which mostly covered students, jobholders and even the housewives. Interview: Interviews of general managers of Vasavi, Shoppers World, Posh, Joti and other fashion house have been taken regarding the current market situation, growth, trends and other relevant issues of the clothing industry. Secondary data:
4

ERA FASHION HOUSE Websites Magazines Newspapers

MARKET ANALYSIS:

In order to set out who will be our target customers, based on an extensive market research, firstly we have segmented the market by identifying a number of variables that can be used in combination for our exclusive clothing line. The variables we have taken into account are geographic, demographic (gender segmentation, age and income segmentation) and behavioral (occasions segmentation).

Secondly, we have developed the segment profiles and thus evaluated:

GEOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION: First, we have divided the market into different geographic units such as the 6 regions in Bangladesh (Dhaka, Chittagong, Barisal, Rajshahi, Khulna and Sylhet). Based on our secondary research on the level of income, consumption spending and population size (mainly from the official website of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics), we have found Dhaka to be the most profitable market of all 6 regions, for our business.

DEMOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION: Here we divided our market into groups based on variables such as gender, age and income.

GENDER: By interviewing the general managers and salespeople of some of the

leading exclusive clothing stores in Dhaka, as well as by following trends in higher

5

ERA FASHION HOUSE expenditure on fashion products through fashion magazines and articles, we concluded that womens clothing section is the most profitable section, in an upscale clothing store.

AGE: On the basis of age, we have segmented the market into several age groups,

such as: 15 19 years (teenagers), 20 29 (women in their 20s), 30 40 years and 41 59 years.

INCOME: On the basis of income, we have divided the market into several social

classes such as upper class, upper middle class, lower middle class, lower class etc.

Then, as the next step to market segmentation, based on our research results and segmentation findings, we have identified our target market as follows:

We have decided to locate our operations in Dhaka, and to locate our first store in Gulshan 2. This is because, Dhaka being the capital city is more urbanized. More modern and wealthier than any other regions in Bangladesh. It also consists of a large and profitable segment of consumers, thereby making it a more lucrative market for an upscale clothing line. We have chosen Gulshan 2 as our primary area of operation since the results of our questionnaire reflected that a majority of the people would prefer this location since it has convenient access to our target customers.

We have decided to serve the womens segment in this business, since by following trends in spending on fashion products, we concluded that women indulge more in clothes purchases than men and are keener about lavish clothes and looking different. Therefore they can make a more profitable segment for a company offering upscale apparels.
6

ERA FASHION HOUSE

Of the various age groups that we segmented the market into, we decided to serve the women in Dhaka city aged between 20 45 years. This segment is a broad one, consisting of fashion-conscious women who can be both experimental and casual about their dress-up. They may attend parties and want to look stylish and well-groomed. So we believe we can serve this segment well.

The social classes that we have targeted to serve are the upper middle and upper class, since our business involves an exclusive clothing line. Our product is a luxury one; therefore, the women belonging to the upper middle and upper class would be the best target market for us. They have the means and the wealth to purchase our product.

Finally, we have chosen concentrated marketing as our market-coverage strategy, so as to enable us to go after and capture a large share of the few segments or niches that we have evaluated above. Since we are using a multi-variable segmentation for our clothing line, capturing the whole market would not be a wise idea. Therefore, keeping the company resources in mind, this approach would enable us to design a good marketing strategy and better serve our target segment (Women) and sub-segments by providing more value & satisfaction. Thus we can serve the segments well and profitably

Size of the market: In 2005, in Dhaka city the income distribution among the household is given in a table below. The table shows the number of household with extreme high income, moderately high income and
7

ERA FASHION HOUSE higher middle income. These 3 income segment will be our target market as we positioned ourselves as seller of exclusive women wear in the city of Dhaka.

Income level extreme high Lower high Higher middle Total 221400

No. of Household 22140 (2%) 55350 (5%) 143910 (13%)

Industry Analysis:

After determining the market size which is 221400 households we identified the location our target market mostly resides. This location specific knowledge about our target market will help us to direct our marketing and communication effort (billboard, newsletter, leaflet distribution) into these specific areas. Next, we determine the professional affiliation of our target market to better understand their need, taste and preference, buying pattern, buying behavior. In the process we identified the specific taste and prefernce of our target market. Our market research which includes closely following Fashion magazines and newspapers, websites, questionniare survey, a small focus group discussion, visiting our competitors and talking to the employees, customers and observing their operation, services, products, etc carefully and interviewing the top executives, owners of the competitor firms as well as following customer buying pattern and fashion trends we have formed a in- detail idea about the over all industry. This in depth knowledge of the industry is what has made us confident that we can successfully launch a new business in upscale female party wear and exclusive clothing industry. Also the opportunites associated with different industry
8

ERA FASHION HOUSE trends like the short life cycle of different fashion, style, design made it an interesting business with many opportunities as well as the higher sales volume, profit and higher growth rate compare to Men and Kid's wear segment make the women wear segment the most profitable and lucarative to invest for a new firm. We have also identified some new features like launching Pakistani dresses, Serving only the women wear and high emphasis on marketing as key factors to become successful in this competitive market. We have also identifed our key competitor in the market and find out in details about their strength annd advantages they have over us and the advantages we have over them.

Overall Industry information: Target Market Size 221400 ds Gulshan, DOHS, Dhanmon di,Uttara, Baridhara Students, housewife, men 183040+ Location Profession Age Taste and preferen ce Quality, Style, Comfort, Design, Prestige Eid, Wedding, New Years, Summer, Winter, Regular etc Shorter lifecycle, Quickl ybeco mes out-offashion More sales volume, profit compare High Growth Rate (Accordi ng to Occassion Trends Profitab ility Growth Rate

househol Banani,

Jobholders, 29, businesswo 39,

to Men, industry Children. insiders)

Some starategic indicators:

Key

success Our

Key

Competitors

Our
9

Factor in the differentiation

ERA FASHION HOUSE industry Differentiation, Market goodwill, strategy competitors advantages Established business, Khan Existing customer relationship advantages New line, Higher given to marketing programme. effort our product

Pakistani cloths Vasavi, Indian cloths, Serving only women world, brothers, Dressydale etc

Brand Identity, in addition to Shoppers

Efficient Sales the force.

wear market.

External forces shaping the industry:

Societal and Cultural Background:The societal and cultural factor is one of the most motivating factors for this business. We have a long cultural history regarding those types of outfits which will be provided by ERA. Culturally the women of Bangladesh have a great interest in sarees, kameez and lehengas for weddings, social events or even for the formal dinner parties. Moreover, here people are becoming more familiar to the global culture which is creating demand for the apparel of other countries and culture especially which are similar to our culture. Trends:By analyzing the trend in the clothing sector it can found that the women are becoming not only increasingly conscious about quality but also about the fashion. Though it has been true for most of the women youths are the major player regarding fashion and uniqueness. These youths have their own creative style of dressing and believe in setting a trend rather than following a trend set by others. They are now not tied to only one kind of clothing item rather they are now looking for varieties in the clothing items for different occasions. Fashion and uniqueness has been determinant factors in case of purchasing of attire. Technological Enhancement: Because of globalization the latest technologies are becoming more and more available which have made the production procedure not only easy but also enhanced the productivity streamlined with great quality. Technological enhancement in the world of media has brought people more closer than ever before. This has created a sense of fashion and uniqueness in the people which can be a really motivating factor regarding this business.
10

ERA FASHION HOUSE Economy:Economic factors like the level of disposible income, buyer's confidence to spend on luxury goods are some crucial variable related to this kind of business. Moreover, the business we are going to start is very much dependent on the economic well being of the country. If the economic condition is not suitable to our business, the whole project may fail. In this analysis we have found that though a global recession is going on the economic condition of Bangladesh has been less affected compared to other countries and the economy is now pretty stable. The economic growth is such that many people have money to support their luxurious lifestyle. The overall growth rate in economy and spending on luxurious items is good. Bangladesh is entering into the global economy rapidly. So the overall economic condition is suitable for this business.

COMPETITION ANALYSIS:

VASAVI:

After some considerable market research, we have identified Vasavi, one of the best-selling and most exclusive fashion houses in Dhaka, as one of our major competition. Vasavi is an Indianbranded fashion house, that has been operating in India and UAE long before it started its operations in Bangladesh in 2007.

Its product offerings include

Regular kameez, designer sarees, exclusive party wears (sarees and kameez) and bridal wears (both sarees and lehengas) for women. Exclusive panjabis, sherwanis, prince coats etc. for men. A separate section for childrens regular and exclusive clothes.
11

ERA FASHION HOUSE Starting with an initial investment of Tk.3 crores in Bangladesh, Vasavi has successfully managed to acquire a significant market share in the exclusive apparel sector today. Owing to the fact that it continuously reinvests every year, the company has not reached its break-even yet. Presently, its level of investment amounts to Tk.20 crores.

According to the General Manager of Vasavi, this year its costs have risen by 100%. Approximately 90% of its supplies come from India. Therefore, possible reasons for its cost increase could be higher delivery charges, larger orders or higher costs of inventory build-ups. The cost of their inventory is the highest for men and childrens sections, as they need to keep higher inventory levels (a range of different sizes) for each. However, the cost of inventory for their womens section is negligible, mainly because, be it sarees or kameez, womens clothes are generally available in free sizes. The womens section is their most profitable segment.

With its fashion outlet (occupying a floor space of 12000 square feet), and warehouse, both located in Gulshan 1, today Vasavi has a base of member customers as high as 5500. Additionally, they have an average number of 250 300 customers per day on weekdays. While sales volume and number of customers are low for them on Fridays, their Saturdays sales more than compensate for it, which is why they claim Saturdays to be their peak sales day. Normally the evening time (after 5 pm) includes the peak hours of their sales per day, when after days work, women set out to shop. This is an approximation of their business throughout the year. During peak seasons of Eid, Pohela Boishakh and New Years, their sales increase by 3 times.

Since our clothing line has been targeted to serve the womens segment of the exclusive clothing market, we consider the womens section of Vasavi as one of our main competitor.

Vasavis price ranges for the Womens section:

12

ERA FASHION HOUSE

Regular Kameez

Tk.1800 Tk.8000

Exclusive Kameez Designer Sarees (Satya Paul) Other sarees exclusive

Tk.9000 Tk.23000

Tk.20000 Tk.40000

Between Tk.15000 to Tk.2 lacs

Bridal (sarees SHOPPERS WORLD: lehengas)

wears and Tk.50000 to Tk.4.5 lacs

Another upscale clothing outlet that we have identified as a very strong competitor is Shoppers World. Located in the heart of the city, Shoppers World began its business in Bangladesh in the year 2003. Very similar in nature to Vasavi in terms of their product offerings, Shoppers World was established 4 years before Vasavi came into the market. In 2007, four of the members of Shoppers worlds executive body moved out and created Vasavi. Today, Shoppers World and Vasavi consider each other as their toughest competitor, although Shoppers World also claims to have a larger market share. Located in Gulshan 2, Shoppers World occupies an outlet with a floor space of 36000 square feet. It also includes three clothing sections for women, men and children, with the women section being their most profitable one. Again, it is the womens section of Shoppers World that we consider as our competition. Its product offerings include very similar categories of regular and exclusive dresses, with very similar price ranges to Vasavi.

DRESSY DALE:
13

ERA FASHION HOUSE

Dressy Dale is a fashion designing, manufacturing and marketing company based in Bangladesh. Its first fashion outlet was located in Dhaka (in Banani and Dhanmondi). Later they also expanded to Sylhet and Chittagong. DD specializes in embroidery (hand and machine), screen print, block print and hande paint form of design. Its primary product lines are womens wear which includes sareees, kameez, tops, skirts etc. Its secondary product line is a traditional Indian Mens wear which includes panjabis, fotuas and wedding wears. DD also offers household decoration items like cushion covers, bed covers etc.

The design team of DD comprises of 30 full-time free-lance and graphic designers. It employs a total number of 850 1000 people. Their factory is located in Dhaka and the area is approximately 40000 square feet. There are 700 workers and 30 management personnel in the manufacturing unit. Thus DD sells its products through 4 showrooms in 3 cities of Bangladesh. They also fulfill orders from customers in North America, UK and Australia. Their total annual sales volume is approximately between US $2.5 million to US $5 million. While DD captures a relatively less share in the bridal wear market in Bangladesh, it captures a significant share in the market for exclusive party wears (exclusive sarees and kameez) for women.

In addition to the above, we have identified Khan Brothers as yet another major competitor for our product. Its primary product line is also womens wear, consisting of exclusive and regular sarees, exclusive and regular kameez, fotuas and bridal wear (wedding, holud etc.) for women. Its secondary product line is for the mens wear section, including exclusive and regular panjabis and fotuas. The bridal wears available at Khan Brothers are relatively lower priced, ranging from Tk.40000 to Tk.2.5 lacs compared to the other competitions discussed above, but nonetheless exclusive.

A few other competitors that we have identified (the not-so-close competitors) are the shops selling bridal wears in New Market and Hawkers Market (for our bridal section), and the boutique shops
14

ERA FASHION HOUSE like Libasse for our exclusive sarees and kameez section. However, competition from these would not be as strong as the ones mentioned above.

As such, these businesses offer well-off customers the neighboring countrys clothes, ranging from childrens dresses to wedding attires with magnificent colors and designs, which have created a craze among the clothing shoppers, especially youngsters. Cashing in on the craze, which is said to have stemmed from Indian satellite culture, a number of fashion houses or stores have sprang up in Dhaka.

These houses import a huge number of Indian garment and other fashionable items for men, women and children to make a brisk business ahead of the festivals. Industry insiders say that demand for such clothes have been on the rise since the late 90s. The attraction of Bollywood and Hindi serials and music videos has gripped Bangladeshi women.

Marketing Plan:

Customer profile: A typical customer at our shop will be a woman from high, Lower high or Higher middle class family and she will most probably be inbetween from 18 years to 49 years old. She most probably lives in Gulshan, Banani, Dhanmondi etc and She can be a student, a professional, a businesswomen or a housewive. She will most probably be an outgoing type,extrovert person who like to go for shopping or party and a woman who like to look different and look beautiful on different occassions like Eid, wedding ceremonies and formal dinner parties. She will be less price sensitive and more interested in superior quality and style that symbolizes her higher status and luxurious life-style.

15

ERA FASHION HOUSE Size of the market: In 2005, in Dhaka city the income distribution among the household is given in a table below. The table shows the number of household with extreme high income, moderately high income and higher middle income. These 3 income segment will be our target market as we positioned ourselves as seller of exclusive women wear in the city of Dhaka.

Income level extreme high Lower high Higher middle Total 221400

No. of Household 22140 (2%) 55350 (5%) 143910 (13%)

Business Model (Company profile):

We Will initially have only one shop in Gulshan-2 area. The shop will be a rented 2-3 storey building in any major road. Our budhet accomodation for rent is high as we want to rent a place which is easy to identify and access. The location should also be in consistant with our business's upscale and exclusive image. The house we rent will accomodate our store in the ground floor and first floor and it will also accomodate our warehouse in the second floor. As we sell only women wear which is generally available in free sizes ( sarees and kameez) we need not to keep the inventory of different size which will significantly reduce the complexity and space requirement of our inventory storage and management. Each floor in our shop willbe approximately 3000-4000 square feet. We will have a stuff of 30 slaes persons in two shifts. Our sales persons willbe highly paid, efficen, friendly, respectful and helpful to the customers. One of our key success factor will be the efficency of our sales force. Also 10 security person for security, storefront services like
16

ERA FASHION HOUSE opening the door and greeting customer etc. We will have counter persons, cleaner, inventory carry personnel etc. Our management team will consist of the four partners who will look after marketing, sales, finance, supply and inventory etc as well as a Managing Director / CEO to coordinate all the different activity. We will have a engaging marketing programme that includes billboards, Televisison sponsorship of different ladies shows like Fashion clothing, beauty programmes, gossip programmes etc. We will also have a fashion and other lifestyle and general magazine advertises, leaflets, special offers etc included in our marketing programme. We will have shelves, racks as well as display platforms display our product. We will have different section for exclusive sarees, kameez, regular saree and kameez and bridal sections. Lighting both within and outside the shops are essential and we have put much thinking and have allocated sufficient budget for lighting both within and outside of the shop. We will have different sales, inventory, accounting softwear and our computers will be networked to accomodate and easily access sales data, inventory data, customer data etc. We plan to custom made our softwears from local IT firms and has sufficient budget for that. We will provide parking service, chairs to sit inside the shop, different washrooms for male, female and employees. We will offer service like offering to carrying the bags of the customer if the customer have purchased multiple items and in need of help carrying the bags, we will also provide pure drinking water, after slaes services include partial refund, product retrun with in a specicfeid period of the purchase. We will offer membership to any customer who has made a more than average purcahse in terms of price, multiple purchase etc. We will keep contact information to later inform our customer about new arrivals, special offers, collections, discounts etc via newsletter, sms, email etc. In short, we thougt out every details carefully and checked all the necessary reqirements by comparing with ourselves with our competitors.

Advertisement and Promotion:

As we have decided to have a bigger, more attractive and eye catching marketing programme than our competitors to win our customers advertising and promotion is at the heart of our marketing programme.
17

ERA FASHION HOUSE

We have identified billboard as a very effective means of reaching our target customers who happen to resides in few specific locations we have already identified. So, we will be concentrating specificly on our target customers if we give our billboard advertisement in their areas of residence. We will have billboards of 1000-1200 square feet in Gulshan-1,2, Banani, Dhanmondi, Uttara, Mohakhali. And 500-600 square feet billboards in baridhara, DOHS, shegun bagicha, Eskaton, shantinagar ares stc. The billboard addvertises can have a range of rate starting from 250300 tk per square feet to 450 per square feet in Gulshan and Banani area and more than 1000 tk in places like Airport road, Mohakhlai etc.

We will also have Advertises in fashion magazines, lifestyle magazines and general magazines like ICE Today, purple, Girl's fashion etc. In magazine ads the rate start from 15000 tk per page and ends at 20000 tk per page in the case of ICE Today, the leading magazine with the highest number of readership.

In television we will sponsor various programme which are specificly popular among women like fashion and beautification, gossip programmes. We have a substantial budget for the television segment.

We will also distribute leaflets in places like Bashundhara city mall, Jamuna city and other shopping malls, in Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara, DOHS, Dhanmondi areas and , schools, universities, beauty parlour, gim and spa, boutique etc.

We will also have special offers for our customers like highest purcahsers and lucky coupon winners getting free dinner for two in Westin, family buffet dinner in places like Emanuels, Saffron, Topkapi etc.
18

ERA FASHION HOUSE

We will retain our customers by regularly updating them with new arriavals, special discount, seasonal collections and sending acknowledgement via sms, newsletter and emails.

Product: Our trendy, designer party wear for women with superior quality, style, craftmanship and with a high price tag makes a product that is inherently exclusive in nature. Our product line will consists of the following catagories:

Sarees (exclusive and regular) Salwar Kameez (exclusive and regular) Bridal collections (for weddings, receptions etc.) Festive collections (Eid, Pohela Baishakh etc)

Distribution / Place: We will deliver our product through our own shopping outlet. Our shopping outlet will be located in Gulshan-2 area and our shop will be a 3-storey outlet in a building that will accomodate only our shop. This type of shop is the standard form of outlet in the industry and all our competitor pursue the exact same model as the one we are planning to pursue.

Differentiation: Our competitor are buying indian product, and we as per our policy to differentiate ourselves from our competitor have decided to sell indian product as well as pakistani product.Now for two different product our value propositon will be different. For the Pakistani product will be charging more price for better quality and for Indian product since our competitors sell indian product ourvalue propositon will be charging less for the same product to get some portion of the market share from the competitors.
19

ERA FASHION HOUSE

Pricing strategy:

a) We got overall idea of our products price range from our competitors. Like: Vasabi, khans brothers, shoppers world. We took their prices of exclusive saree, exclusive kameez and bridal dresses as reference to get an idea.

b) We do survey of our target market. From there we got information about our target markets preference of prices. Like we ask them for exclusive saree, kameez, regular saree , kameez how much money they want to pay or they think feasible . They give us information about the range they think as affordable.

c) We give good quality product. Of course the design, materials are also exclusive. Our supplies are from India and Pakistan. So we think the prices we have set are justified.

Volume and special pricing information:

Based on competition we determine this:

20

ERA FASHION HOUSE In vasabi every day 300 350 customers do buy products. In shoppers world this amount varies from 500 to 550. So we assume that at least we will get 100 customers everyday. From 100 we get these percentages.

Regular saree: 20% Regular kameez: 25% Executive saree: 20% Executive kameez: 30% Bridal: 5%

Every quarter there will be 7500 customers buying our products. Calculations are here: (from survey) Exclusive saree: Total customer = 1500 (20% 7500) a) tk. 9000*855 = tk 7695000 = 57% b) tk 13000*195 = tk 2535000 = 13% c) tk 18000*345 = tk 6210000 = 23% d) tk 30000*105 = tk 3150000 = 7%

total tk 19590000

Regular saree: Total customers: 1500

21

ERA FASHION HOUSE a) tk 2500*945 = tk 2362500 = 63% b) tk 3700*300 = tk 1110000 = 20% c) tk 4500*255 = tk 1147500 = 17% total tk 4620000 exclusive kameez: total customer = 2250 a) tk 7500*1800 = tk 13500000 = 80% b) tk 13000*225 = tk 2925000 = 10% c) tk 17000*225 = tk 3825000 = 10%

total tk 20250000 regular kameez: total customer = 1875 tk 3000*1875 = tk 5625000 Bridal: Total customer = 375 a) tk 65 lac*139 = tk 9035000 = 37% b) tk85 lac*124 = tk 10540000 = 33% c) tk2 lac*48 = tk 9600000 = 13% d) tk 3.5 lac = tk 22400000 = 17% total tk 51575000

Management Team:
Title: CEO and Marketing Manager
22

ERA FASHION HOUSE Department: Marketing division

Marketing manager displays technical marketing skills and product knowledge of the fashion store. He also develops annual marketing plan in conjunction with sales department, which details activities to follow during the fiscal year, which will focus on meeting the fashion houses objectives. He manages the Marketing Department Budget. He delivers all marketing activity within agreed budget. He also manages all aspects of print production, receipt and distribution. His duty is to achieve frequent, timely and positive media coverage and its programs across all available media. He manages the entire product line life cycle from strategic planning to tactical activities. He specifies market requirements for current and future products by conducting market research supported by on-going visits to customers and non-customers.

Title: Finance and Accounting Manager Department: Finance and Accounting division Report to: General Manager He provides and interprets financial information. He also monitors and interprets cash flows and predicts future trends. By analyzing changes he advises. He formulates strategic and long-term plans. He conducts reviews and evaluations for cost-reduction opportunities. He also manages a company's financial accounting, monitoring and reporting systems. Arranging new sources of finance for a company's debt facilities is also his duty. Supervising staff is also done by him.

Title: Sales Manager

23

ERA FASHION HOUSE Department: Sales division Report to: General Manager He develops a business plan and sales strategy for the market that ensures attainment of fashion stores sales goals and profitability. He is responsible for the performance and development of the Accountant. He initiates and coordinates development of action plans to penetrate new markets. He provides timely feedback to senior management regarding performance. He also provides timely, accurate, competitive pricing on all completed prospect applications submitted for pricing and approval, while striving to maintain maximum profit margin. Maintenance of accurate records of all pricings, sales, and activity reports submitted by Account Executives is also his duty. He controls expenses to meet budget guidelines.

Title: Supply and inventory Manager Department: Supply and inventory department Report to: General Manager He manages supply base to improve service, quality and cost. he takes care of continuous improvement of existing processes to optimize inventory whilst maintaining service levels. He builds strong relationships with suppliers in terms of -Distribution & Transport and Procurement & Merchandising he facilitates and manages all operational improvement initiatives he always tries supply chain improvements through planning & purchasing activities.

24

ERA FASHION HOUSE

Organizational Chart:

25

ERA FASHION HOUSE

CEO

Head of Finance and Account

Head of Sales

Head of Marketing Research & Development manager

Head of Supply and Inventor y

Accountant

amanager Sales Manager Sales person Sales person Sales person Sales Manager Sales person Sales person Sales person Sales Manager Sales person Sales person Sales person

26

ERA FASHION HOUSE Delivery Process:

In case of selling either indian / pakistani product we have decided to use an agent to buy all our required inventory from. This is one of the common option to choose from a few available options. Some of our competitor (like posh n pink, Jyoti) has confirmed this practice while others like Vasavi has refused to disclose their inventory replenishment process but somewhat agree with us to the fact that they do not go to India physicaly to buy their inventory.

If we hire an agent from India and Pakistan for purchasing our inventory then we have to pay all the required fund like inventory cost, freight cost, in the case of India inventory will be brought by road and in case of Pakistan by Sea. We will also have import tariff and license cost, but the whole process will be handled the agent and he will assume the responsibility on our behalf and we will bear the cost, in that case we will also have to pay our agent a commission which will roughly be around 1%-1.5% of the cost of inventory In return of the services provided by the agent. We can approach 'posh and pin'k and hire their agent for Pakistan as he has an established network of manufacturer in Pakistan as well as the access to all the relevant official channels and a know-how of rules and regulations etc. In case of India, the Agents are more easy to identify and approach as many Bangladesh attire businesses are currently hiring agent from India.

Also we have some packaging and other expenses and for this we have the option to hire local packaging and packets, bags supplier located here in Dhaka. Now for all these reasons discussed above we have decided to treat all these expenses under our cost of good sold as these activites are done by outside suppliers, agents, packaging suppliers. For this reason our cost of good sold is almost 86.2% of our price while the cost of inventory is roughly 65% of the price.

Now after our agent has bring the inventory into Bangladesh, it is we who have carry it from them. For this purpose we have our own delivery van with full time driver. We have to keep an inventory
27

ERA FASHION HOUSE level of 3 months and for this we have to maintain a warehouse which will be on the top floor of our shop to increase convenience and better inventory management. For this, we have 3 inventory management labourer in addition to our all important sales force of 30 sales person to carry out our all important day-to-day sales activities. We also have a lot of advertising, promotion, billboard, printed advertise in our marketing programme, for these, we have to take a lot of picture of various models wearing our products. For this we have a fund allocated for taking pictures those will be used in our promotional activities as well as our inside our store in walls and catalogs to further display to our customers.

Risk Assessment:

28

ERA FASHION HOUSE Risk factors for our business plan includes currency fluctuation as we have to pay our agents as Rupee or Dollar, Also the fact that any government plan to increase tax on luxury goods, another risk can be the new entrants of any existing men wear or price war between existing competitor.

Exit plan:
We analyze our over all strength, threat, weakness and opportunity. we also study our market. After analyzing that we came to decide our exit plan. In the cloths market there are many more fashion stores that only sell mens wear. Like Yellow, cats eye, trends, Menz club etc. they are very popular and already establish their brand name. Some of them want to do further expansion into womens wear which has very lucrative market. Here we can get the chance to merge with them. They have enough knowledge about mens wear and we have good understanding of womens wear. So merging of these stores can be profitable for both of us. They will see the men section and women section will be observed by us. We will be benefited because our numbers of outlets will increase. Their marketing strategy and brand awareness will also beneficial for our products. Another option we have if our exit plan fails. That is selling out. There are many fashion houses like ours. Example- Vasavi, shoppers world, khan brothers etc. We can sell our store to them.

Further expansion:
We have planned to expand our fashion house in near future. Plan includes three things. Here they are-

1. Home accessories: 29

ERA FASHION HOUSE

We will add new products to exist product line. That is home accessories. This includes flower vase, bed cover, cushion cover, curtain, wall mat, carpet, photo frame, show pieces etc. 2. Fashion accessories for women: There will be fashion accessories for women like ear rings, bracelet, bangle, sunglasses, bags, sandals etc. 3. Fashion magazines: We will publish fashion magazines in monthly basis. That includes fashion news, interview of celebrities, current trend; showbiz gossips etc. this magazine will be worked as an additional promotion of our products. It will create brand awareness and also enhance our brand image.

These products will be in exclusive design and made of finest materials. Quality is also important here. For these products we dont need any more market analysis because our target market will be same for it. And customers will get these from same outlets.

30

ERA FASHION HOUSE

Bibliography:

Alibaba.com, 2009, Retrieved on 9th August, From http://www.alibaba.com/countrysearch/BD-suppliers/Women_Wear.html Bangladesh Directory, 2008, Retrieved on 6th August, From http://www.bangladeshdir.com/search/bangladesh_fashion_butics.html Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Rate, 2009, Retrieved on 6th August, From http://www.bbs.gov.bd/na_wing/CPIarmay_09.pdf Doshi, G, 2007, Overview of Bangladesh Garments Industry, Retrieved on 9th August, From http://ezinearticles.com/?Overview-of-Bangladesh-Garment-Industry&id=367773 Dress Delight, 2009, Retrieved on 7th August, From http://www.bangladeshfashion.com/ Saree Dreams, 2008, Retrieved on 4th August, From http://www.sareedreams.com/2008/08/exclusive-bangladeshi-sharee-saree-and-sari/ STATISTICAL POCKET BOOK OF BANGLADESH, 2008, Retrieved on 4th August, From http://www.bbs.gov.bd/dataindex/pby/pk_book_08.pdf The Textile and Clothing Industry of Bangladesh, 2008, Retrieved on 5th August, From http://www.cpd.org.bd/pub_attach/DR-18.pdf Window 2 Bangladesh, 2009, Retrieved on 7th August, From http://www.bangladeshinc.com/w2bd/liv_cloth.asp

31

ERA FASHION HOUSE

32