Running head: MAKEMYHOME.CA 1

MakeMyHome.ca

Aditya Boyilla (1010699)

Anil Reddy (1010694)

Irfan Khan (1010799)

Praneet (0910484)

University Canada West

Professor: Marcelo Machado

MBA 509 – Digital Universe

Date – 11th October 2011

MakeMyHome.ca 2

Table of Content

1.0 Executive Summary........................................................................................................................4

2.0 Business Overview..........................................................................................................................4

2.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................................4

2.2 Business Model..................................................................................................................................5

2.3 Product .............................................................................................................................................5

2.4 Revenue.............................................................................................................................................6

2.5 Mission Statement ............................................................................................................................7

2.6 Major Demographics..........................................................................................................................7

2.7 Major Players.....................................................................................................................................7

2.7.1 Suppliers.....................................................................................................................................7

2.7.2 Manufacturing Unit....................................................................................................................7

2.7.3 Clients.........................................................................................................................................8

2.8 Nature of the Industry.......................................................................................................................8

2.9 Market Segmentation........................................................................................................................8

2.10 Safety Issues.....................................................................................................................................9

3.0 Sales and Marketing..............................................................................................................................8

3.1 Competitve Positioning......................................................................................................................8

3.1.1 Product.......................................................................................................................................8

3.1.2 Place...........................................................................................................................................9

3.1.3 Price............................................................................................................................................9

3.1.4 Promotion...................................................................................................................................10

4.0 Market Analysis...................................................................................................................................10

5.0 Competition.........................................................................................................................................11

6.0 Marketing Plan.....................................................................................................................................12

6.1 Social Media and World Wide Web.................................................................................................13

MakeMyHome.ca 3

6.2 Paper................................................................................................................................................13

6.3 Video................................................................................................................................................13

6.4 Tradeshows......................................................................................................................................13

6.5 Festivals...........................................................................................................................................13

7.0 Operations Plan...................................................................................................................................14

7.1 Business Location.............................................................................................................................14

7.2 Competitive Advantage....................................................................................................................14

7.3 Lease Details....................................................................................................................................15

7.4 Equipment.......................................................................................................................................15

8.0 Human Resource/Key Employees........................................................................................................16

9.0 Key Issues.............................................................................................................................................17

9.1 Trust.................................................................................................................................................17

9.2 Publicity...........................................................................................................................................17

Appendix Financial Plan.............................................................................................................................18

MakeMyHome.ca 4

1.0 Executive Summary:

MakeMyHome.ca is an online-based company where customers can design their own

furniture with the help of Solid works and 3D filter software. After the customers send in their

design we will get back to them with a price within 24 hours and few other designs similar to the

original design and other varieties of wood so the price might drop and customers have plenty of

options to choose from.

Then the designs sent to India where the carpenters design it and ship it to our customer’s

doorstep within the promised 90 days.

The marketing plan, operations plan, key issues and the competition are described in

detail in the following pages.

2.0 Business Overview:

2.1 Introduction:

In present era, Canada is among the best countries in the world to live in; every other

person wants to settle down here. Canadians are working very hard to buy their dream house in

this multicultural country. And are ready to spend a mammoth amount of money to make their

houses look attractive, but they end up buying furniture from stores like IKEA and other famous

stores and feel dissatisfied when that furniture does not fill their needs and it is not comfortable

to them.

Moreover, the most common problem for the people living in small condominiums, or in

high-rise apartments, where they have very limited space and fail to find the right size of

furniture in that spot where they think it may look beautiful. They have a hard time to find the

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right piece, it usually happens when you like a design it is oversize and when you find the right

size, you do not like the design or model. In addition, we know number of people demanding for

high-end furniture with good quality of wood like Rosewood, teakwood, Acacia etc.

Some people like to have their beautiful furniture for years, they do not prefer which looks good

but lasts few months or a year if they are lucky.

Make my home.ca is here now to offer exactly you want, wish to have the furniture in

your house according to your size requirement, your selection of design and model, and even the

wood you select with affordable price for everyone. Our website (makemyhome.ca) has a variety

of wood to select and different finish as well like light and dark finish, golden oak, red

mahogany etc. The most important we have a tool called solid works CAD/CAM to make your

own design or model on our website and submit it with the information and deposit to make an

order.

2.2 Business Model:

2.3 Product or Service:

Makemyhome.ca provides high-end furniture with customization as an option where you

can build or design it according to your requirement. We manufacture that customized piece for

you in India with high quality of wood and other raw materials and ship it to you with in a short

period (90 days). Initially as we start our website, we do not expect to get the orders right away.

We know a person who owns a furniture store he imports the real hardwood, rosewood furniture

manufactured in India, which includes very beautiful Rosewood furniture. In addition, the

antique old door dining tables, coffee tables, reclaimed wooden bookshelves, shoe racks, Bar,

and Acacia dining table, coffee table that is rarely available in North America and believed to be

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the high-end furniture. Actually, it is a kind of pop up store. Every year, they setup a store in one

location for 4-6 months they believe that by signing short-term leases keeps their overhead low.

At the end of their period of 4-6 months, they store whatever they left with in a cheap storage or

warehouse for the next year.

We are targeting our market for the customers who have a design or model of furniture in

their minds, and could not find it anywhere else, and for those who are tired of spending on

delicate stuff, which does not last long enough. There are few reasons for which people should

go for makemyhome.ca. It will give value added to their service for their customers such as:

1. Provide wide range of wood quality.

2. Customize it according to your design, size and model.

3. Wide range of finishing stain to match your existing furniture

4. Do not have to wait for years, will be delivered within 90days of order.

5. A very reasonable and affordable pricing

6. Beautiful Handcraft, carving on wood

This website has some of the regular design and size furniture pictures and the tool to build

your own design after building the design, select the stain finish and wood type.

2.4 Revenue:

At makemyhome.ca, we collect the revenue through credit card. We charge our

customers on various factors depending on the type of material (wood) they select, size, shape,

woodcraft and time to deliver on customized furniture. The minimum time to deliver a

customized order is 90days; price might slightly dropped if time is not restricted. Moreover, the

regular on store furniture from our aligned store will delivered within 15 days.

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2.5 Mission Statement:

Our mission is to meet the need of customers with respect to quality, price and

satisfaction and help them accelerate their passion to decorate their homes with right furniture of

comfort.

2.6 Major Demographics:

Age: We are looking to target age group of 35 to 60 years.

Gender: Both males and females would require furniture, but our priority target would be

couples.

Household income: MakeMyHome.ca offers high-end furniture; the minimum household income

we would target would be $60,000 to $100,000 per annum.

2.7 Major Players:

2.7.1 Suppliers:

MakeMyHome.ca gets its raw materials, that is, woods from two suppliers located in

India. They are M.K.Wood India Pvt Ltd and Sonearply Pvt Ltd. We would negotiate with the

company who gives us quality wood for a reasonable price.

2.7.2 Manufacturing unit:

After buying the raw materials, we need a manufacturing unit and few labours to create

the furniture according to the design requested by the customer. This is where our product

designer comes from his family owns a small manufacturing unit in India that we could use. All

we need to do is to hire few labours or carpenters to create the furniture according to the design.

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2.7.3 Clients:

Our major clients would be the couples who bought their first house. Those people are

the one is willing to spend money to make their new home perfect. The baby boomers too are out

minor clients who would like to spend their retirement according to their liking.

2.8 Nature of the Industry:

The population in Canada is increasing slowly every year, many people from Asia and

other parts of the world are moving to the great white north. Therefore, people will buy new

houses at some point of their life and they need to fill it with furniture. The furniture industry is

huge in today’s world and giving customers customized furniture is an added bonus for our

business.

2.9 Market Segmentation:

The Canadian furniture market is in need for a customized furniture shop to open. The

first step in target marketing is to identify different customers, market segments, and their needs.

While promoting the product the marketing manager should identify group of people that are

easily measurable, and are easily reachable through different modes of communication. There

should be enough resources with the manager before targeting the people. We are targeting

couples in the age group of 35 to 60 years. We have identified a particular group of people and

we are trying to fulfill their water sport need. Our market segmentation is as follows: geographic

segmentation, demographic segmentation, psychographic segmentation and behavioural

segmentation. We are launching the website in Canada but our operation will take place in India.

2.10 Safety issues:

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After delivering the product to the customer’s doorstep they might face difficulty to set-

up the furniture, we would provide the customers with free broachers with easy to follow

instruction to set-up and we would include removable markings on the furniture so the customers

would not get confused. We would offer to set-up the furniture in their house for an extra fee if

the customers were willing to pay for it.

3.0 Sales and Marketing:

3.1 Competitive positioning (The four P’s):

3.1.1 Product:

MakeMyHome.ca offers personalized custom furniture for the Canadians. We will upload

tools with the help of a Computer Aided Software, Solid Works to get a 3D design of the final

product. The lack of customized furniture shop in Canada will make sure MakeMyHome.ca

successful in the near future. We even offer antique woods for the customers to use them as their

furniture such as coffee table, dinning table etc. We would also sell products of Exotic rosewood

furniture based on Vancouver who sells high-end furniture.

3.1.2 Place:

We are an online-based company that focuses on Canada. We have a small

manufacturing unit in India where we manufacture the furniture and then ship it though our

Vancouver based exotic rosewood furniture, which we are going to form alliance with our

company.

3.1.3 Price:

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To determine the price of the product beforehand is not practical. Once the customers

send us their design of the furniture, we would get back to them within 24 hours after analysing

the cost. We would also send some alternative designs with very few modifications and other

wood varieties so the cost of the final product goes down with free of cost. If the customer is not

happy with the price of their design, they could opt for the alternative wood varieties or designs.

3.1.4 Promotion:

After hosting the web site, we would like to start with on ground marketing strategy. We

would like to enter different trade shows held in Canada. We have found few trade shows which

we would be a part of they are, Canada Trade show which is held at Toronto on January every

year, Canadian home furniture trade fair which is also held in Toronto every year and Calgary

trade show in February every year to name a few.

We would also take part in festivals that take place every summer in entire Canada such as

Italian Festival, Mexican Festival, Indian festival, Car-free day, Caribbean festival, etc. After

generating some reputation, we would target to market in the social media, newspapers.

4.0 Market Analysis:

It is always important to gain the knowledge about the market before launching a new

product into the market. Our product, MakeMyHome.ca is a new and unique product in

Canadian furniture industry. As the uniqueness of the product is not enough for the success of

the product or business. There are many other aspects such as need of the customer, requirement

of the product to the market, and the consumer behaviour these are things should be taken in to

consideration before entering into the market. We have made a research by preparing a

questionnaire and sending it to local reputed furniture retail stores across Canada.

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The questionnaire will contain the following questions:

How many customers do you get daily?

During which season you get most of your business.

What are the main customer preferences in high-end furniture?

Do customers ask for a specific variety of wood?

Are the customers interested in antique furniture?

How much percent of your customers buy high-end furniture.

What is the age group of customers?

Do you think the online-customized furniture shop can survive in today’s market?

How many customers ask for a specific shape and size of the furniture?

What percent of the customers request for customized furniture?

After receiving this feedback from about twenty retail stores, we found that this online-

customized furniture shop satisfies the needs for custom furniture.

As most of the Canadians will be willing to spend money to get furniture for their new

home according to their liking, MakeMyHome.ca has a good chance to survive in this market.

We are planning to target the people who recently bought or about to buy a new house.

This particular furniture industry is very big as people taste change quite often and wants new

furniture very now and then. The age group of 35 to 60 would be our target market.

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5.0 Competition:

Every business has both direct and indirect competition. Direct competition is a

competition when a similar kind of product offered in the market and indirect competition will

taken into considered as a competition when a same product is presented to different customers.

5.1 Direct Competition:

This kind of competition is not present in the Canadian market for the customized online

furniture shop in Canada, as none of existing company offers the same service. There is a chance

for direct competition in the future, if some other company or an existing can introduce similar

kind of service that will capture our business.

There are few online-customized furniture shops in the United States of America and

Canada but they do not provide any tools in the website for the customers to modify, they need

to contact the person in charge and need to make a face-to-face appointment with them. Web site

such as Remafurniture.com is one of those sites.

5.2 Indirect Competition:

There are many on ground furniture shops that offer customized furniture through out

Canada. Moreover, there are famous retail stores like IKEA which offers high quality furniture

(not customized) at a very low price. Nevertheless, the only advantage we have is the uniqueness

of our service.

6.0 Marketing Plan:

Marketing plan plays a vital role in the company’s success and its product. In current

trend, having a good product in hand only will not sufficient for the success of the product but

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taking that into the market and marketing plan also plays a vital role in the success of the

business. As our business mainly targeted on the people who bought new houses, broad

marketing techniques are required to reach the customers.

6.1 Social Media and World Wide Web:

Social Media is an influential channel through which marketing is going on for many

products in the present world. We would put up Ads in real-estate web sites, so when people are

searching for a new house they can see our site.

6.2 Paper:

Advertisements in famous magazines and local newspapers, so by this can reach to a

wider range of people.

6.3 Video:

A sample attractive video telecasted in local cable network in order to attract local

customers and in all real estate web sites because the impact of the videos is more effective.

6.4 Trade shows:

We would like to open our stall and display our services in all the furniture (or relevant)

trade shows that takes place in the entire Canada.

6.5 Festivals:

We would like to display our services as we do in our trade shows in as many festivals as

we can cover lot of couples and would get huge publicity for almost free of cost.

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7.0 Operations Plan:

7.1 Business Location:

The main business location is our online web site, MakeMyHome.ca and we will be

operating from Vancouver, Canada. Our Manufacturing unit is in India because of the cheap

labour and cheap raw materials.

We will register our company trade name and open a company bank account. Then we

will apply for payment processing system such as PayPal, credit card, interact, cheques.

7.2 Competitive Advantages:

As we have already mentioned, our main advantage will be the simple tools created by

Solid Works software and Filter 3D software for our customers so they can design according to

their will. In addition, due to our alliance with Exotic rosewood furniture, we get free shipping

from them, so we will not charge our customers the shipping expense that is very expensive and

they will get high-end customized furniture for a reasonable price. Moreover, we make sure that

we shall deliver the product within the promised time.

7.3 Lease details:

For the manufacturing unit we do not require to pay any lease because our product

designer, Anil Reddy, family owns a manufacturing unit, which we would use.

However, we need to pay for our Web site and maintenance frequently so the customers will not

face any difficulty or interruptions like site breakdown etc.

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We are planning to rent a virtual office in Downtown Vancouver, where we will get out mails

and checks, permits etc. If we need a place for official meeting place, we could rent an office for

hourly bases.

7.4 Equipment:

We need to buy Solid Works software and Filter 3D software to create tools on our web

site while our IT tech, Irfan Khan will install and create the tools and make it user friendly.

We need not pay money for the equipment in India because all the required equipment already

exists.

8.0 Human Resources/Key employees:

Management team:

Our management team consists of four key employees, they are

Irfan Khan - IT Technician

He has done his Bachelors in Business management and has a diploma in Information

Technology. He is in charge of hosting the website and maintaining it.

Anil Reddy – Head of Operations/Product designer

He has done his Bachelors in Electrical engineering and has a good grip in product design

because of his family business.

Aditya Boyilla – Marketing Manager

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He has experience in marketing and sales for the past six months and he will take care of

all on-ground marketing and online marketing strategies

Praneet – Financial Manager and Auditor

He has some background in Accounting so he will take care of all the financials and legal

stuff.

Other than these four, we are going to hire few carpenters in India to design the furniture.

9.0 Key Issues:

9.1 Trust:

Gaining trust with the customers is the biggest concern MyMakeHome.ca is about to

face. It takes ages to gain enough trust with the customers so they will order furniture from our

online website.

9.2 Publicity:

Every new company faces this problem. Many companies will have a very aggressive

marketing strategy, but they fail to reach the target market. MakeMyHome.ca is making sure no

stone will left unturned in the marketing strategy but how much percent of the target market it

might not reach is the biggest concern.

9.3 Delivery:

Customers do not like to wait for a long gap of time for their products. We will make sure

that we will deliver the products to the customer doorsteps within 90 days of the final payment.

MakeMyHome.ca 17

Appendix: Financial Plan

In this business, it is very important to pay attention on cash out flow, as start-up cost

mainly will for the manufacturing unit in India for the tools, equipment’s, labour, rent, and

material. As Anil Reddy’s family has an existing furniture-manufacturing unit with almost all

equipment to start we need to buy the material like wood, and other accessories needed, we need

to hire some more carpenters and the shipping cost to the dock. Shipping cost to Canada is not

applicable, as our furniture would be coming in the container of Exotic rosewood furniture as we

have an alliance with them. The second part of expenses begins in Canada to develop and launch

our website that will also have the software tool 3D solid works CAD/CAM for designing the

furniture on the website; it just comes in the start-up cost, as it is one time investment and the

website and hosting maintenance ongoing. Investment on marketing will be very crucial

including all types of promotions, newspaper ads, and online promotions on social networking

sites, attending trade shows, fairs and festivals where we might have to go there and set up a

stroll or booth. It will cost us to rent a booth, stroll and spot in the trade show, fair or festival.

In order to lower our cost, we decided not to hire local Canadian employees, therefore all

the tasks regarding website hosting, Irfan Khan will perform maintenance and receiving orders

online as he has some previous experience in web hosting and managing online sales. Parneet is

in charge for all the financials of our business transactions, taxes, expenses, incomes etc. Aditya

will be dealing with marketing, promotions, attending trades shows, fairs. Anil is our operations

head residing in India who will be responsible for the managing employees, buying material,

delivering furniture to the containers and all other manufacturing operations.

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We will invest funding for the start up equally and profit shared equally. We maintain

some extra amount of money every month for other miscellaneous expenses or contingency cost.

For cash inflow, during the first six months, we assumed to get at least five and expect to

increase sales after attending the trade shows and fairs, and as the general public get to know

more about us that it is more easier to get the better quality customized furniture by which they

will be definitely satisfied

Income statement for Makemyhome.ca 2012 (Monthly)

Jan Feb Mar April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov DecRevenueNetSales

$00 $00 $4500 $4800 $9000 $14700 $9700 $8400 $9000 $16200 $13400 $22000

Operating ExpensesWeb Cost Soft/ Hardware

$2000 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200

Working Capital

$00 $00 $1000 $1500 $2000 $3500 $2000 $2000 $2500 $4000 $4500 $4500

Internet/ phone

$560 $460 $460 $460 $460 $460 $460 $460 $460 $460 $460 $460

Advertising $5000 $1500 $1500 $1500 $2500 $1500 $1500 $1500 $1500 $2000 $1500 $1500Traveling $1200 $900 $500 $500 $1000 $500 $500 $500 $500 $500 $500 $500Salaries - - $500 $500 $500 $500 $500 $500 $500 $500 $700 $700Rent $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300Shipping - - $100 $150 $150 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $250 $250Miscellaneous

$800 $500 $500 $500 $500 $500 $500 $500 $500 $500 $500 $1000

Total expenses

$9860 $4860 $5060 $5610 $7610 $7660 $6160 $6160 $6660 $8660 $8910 $9410

Net Income Before taxes

-$9860 (loss)

-$4860 (loss)

-$560 (loss)

-$810 (loss`)

$1390 $7040 $3540 $2240 $2340 $7540 $4490 $12590

Taxes on Income

$187.65 $950.4 $477.9 $302.4 $315.9 $1017.9 $606.15 $1699.65

Net Income $9860 (loss)

$4860 (loss)

$560 (loss)

$810 (loss)

$1202.35 $6089.6 $3062.9 $1937.6 $2024.1 $6522.1 $3883.85

$10890.35

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In the above statement we have no sales in first two months then we have our first sale in mar and

sales go high in June as we attended a trade show in may ending and have few customers and also

the travelling and advertisement increases in that month as expenses. In first month, we have high

expenses because of some start-up expenses as website launch and Office hardware purchase. Even

advertisement will be to maximum in first month to attract customers.

Taxes calculated at 13.50%

Income statement for Makemyhome.ca 2013 (Quarterly)

1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter 4th QuarterRevenueNet sales $72850 $84200 $68750 $88550Operating ExpensesWeb Cost Soft/ Hardware $1050 $1050 $1050 $1050Working capital $9500 $10400 $9000 $10500Internet/ phone $1380 $1380 $1380 $1380Advertising $5000 $6000 $4500 $5000Travelling $2000 $3000 $2000 $2000Salaries $3000 $3000 $11000 $15000Rent $1000 $1000 $1000 $1000Shipping $1500 $1500 $1500 $1500Miscellaneous $1500 $1500 $1500 $2000Total Expenses $25930 $28830 $32930 $39430Net Income Before Taxes

$46920 $55370 $35820 $49120

Taxes on income $6334.2 $7474.95 $4835.7 $6631.2Net income $40585.8 $47895.05 $30984.3 $42488.8

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In this bank statement, Advertising and travelling cost increases in the second quarter, as there is a trade

show in April and We reach the breakeven point in 19th month i.e. in July 2013 and hence we all partners start

taking salary from the next month $1000 each per month, it will increase as our company grows.

Income statement for Makemyhome.ca 2014

Year 2014 Year 2015 Year 2016RevenueNet sales $195350 $211200 $240000Operating Expensesweb cost soft/ hardware $4200 $4400 $4400Working capital $35000 $42000 $46000Advertising $2000 $2000 $2000Internet/phone $5520 $5520 $5520Travelling $6000 $6000 $6000Salaries $84000 $84000 $84000Rent $4000 $4000 $4000Shipping $8000 $8000 $8000Miscellaneous $4000 $4000 $4000Total Expenses $152720 $159920 $163920Net Income Before Taxes $42630 $51280 $76080Taxes on income $5755.05 $6922.8 $10270.8Net income $36874.95 $44357.2 $65809.2

Our revenue increases as our company grows and people know us better and the store, (Exotic rosewood

Furniture) does promotions for our websites as we sell their products too. Our salary also increases. And we

hope to do well in future as well

MakeMyHome.ca 21

Reference:

Francis Lemieux $ Co. (n.d.), Agricultural woodwork, retrieved on October 10, 2011, from

http://www.francislemieux.com/custom.htm

Canadian Freightways (n.d.), Services, retrieved on October 10, 2011, from

http://cf.cfmvmt.com/web/cf/cfWebsite.nsf/frmHome?OpenForm