A BUSINESS PLAN FOR ROXE APPAREL Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

A BUSINESS PLAN FOR ROXE APPAREL - Essay Example These initial costs will be used for rent, recruitment, salaries and start-up expenditures. While serving the whole family, Roxe Apparel will focus more on the younger people aged between 16 and 35, because they are the cream of the clothing market. Introduction The apparel industry in the UK is a very lucrative one. However, it also has many barriers to entry. Nevertheless, there are many opportunities due to a number of possibilities that the fashion subsectror in the industry offers. Starting a business in the industry can be challenging but also highly rewarding. In this regard, it is prudent and worthy to start a clothing company in UK. The following is a business plan for starting a clothing company in the UK. The company will be called Roxe Apparel and will seek to serve the UK market as a medium class apparel company. The market for middle class clothing is very big in the UK, and it will be easier for such a new firm to commence its operations. The firm will concentrate on t he younger generations as the main market niche, but will also serve the whole family. Competitor Analysis The environment The clothing industry is a very competitive industry due to the fact that it is affected by some special factors which do not impact other industries (Gwilt and Rissanen, 2011). Popularity is a very important issue in the clothing industry since customers always buy from the clothing companies they are already used to. Unlike other basics needs, clothes are some of the few basic products which people choose carefully where they buy because that also matters. In other words, an individual may choose to buy from a more expensive store if the store is popular, and not to buy the exact same product from a cheaper one if the store is regarded lowly (Shishoo, 2012). This is especially so in the UK clothing market where competition is so tough and there are so many already established clothing firms. At the same time, most UK people are loyal customers, who choose to f ollow one brand and not to try many different ones. Creating the balance between branding the company as a popular one and giving the customer the best price is always a challenge in the clothing industry, and this is going to be a bigger concern for Roxe because it is a new firm. No clothing firm wants to be regarded as cheap, but at the same time, it is necessary to give the customers the best price. This makes already established firms more popular and entry into the industry very difficult. The main competitors that Roxe Apparel will face include established firms. These businesses already stand firmly on the ground and have a well established rapport with the customers in terms of knowing what the customer wants and expects. They have also been able to relate well with suppliers, which is a very important thing with regard to the fact that it determines how successful a business is going to be in the market. Economies of scale The other competitors are well established and have achieved higher economies of scale, which Roxe Apparel will not be able to reach in its initial months. This will mean that they will be able to compete more strongly in the market. As Briscoe (1971) argues, economies of scale are important for any business in the clothing industry because this is the only way to beat the market challenges. Customer service Most of the competitors rate very lowly in this respect and cannot make their customers happy. This is because most of them are large firms and therefore find it harder to create useful customer service. Large firms are also quite old, which increases the risk that they have not evolved enough to apply the concepts appropriate to the modern business environment (Kotter, 1998).