Home Accessories and Gifts Business Plan

The Scarlet Tassel has a very strong, experienced and professional management team in co-owners Deirdre Staab and Shelly Dozier-Mckee, with 36 years of combined experience. Each brings to the business their own area of expertise leaving few gaps of knowledge.

Shelly Dozier-Mckee, Co-Owner/Manager – Merchandising & Marketing
Shelly has spent 17 years in the retail and catalog industry, with direct experience in men’s and women’s apparel, footwear, personal accessories, gifts and home decor. She spent 10 years with a large-scale industry-leading international retail and catalog company in the Seattle area. Her extensive background has included positions such as buyer, senior buyer, director of merchandising and general merchandise manager. She has been responsible for strategic planning and business management for business segments generating in excess of $400 million annually, including new business development and implementation. Additionally, Shelly has five years of off-shore sourcing and product development experience. Having spent extensive time in the home decorative marketplace, she is very familiar with the product lines, vendor base and business elements utilized within the home decorative industry. Shelly has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington State University, is married, 40 years old and a homeowner in the Smyrna, Georgia area.

Deirdre Staab, Co-Owner/Manager – Operations & Finance
Deirdre is a 19 year veteran of the catalog industry, with direct experience in footwear, personal accessories, gifts and home decor. Her background has included positions such as buyer, purchasing manager, operations manager and senior manager of purchasing & operations. Deirdre’s experience has crossed many diverse areas of responsibility including corporate strategic planning, policy and procedural development, merchandising, purchasing, forecasting, vendor management and compliance, third party warehouse and call center operations, transportation and managing software development in a proprietary system environment. Deirdre’s recognized expertise in inventory management and forecasting has afforded her the honor of being selected as a session panelist at both the 2001 National Conference for Operations & Fulfillment and also at the 2000 Direct Marketing Association’s 17th Annual Catalog Conference & Exhibition. Deirdre has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, is married, 41 years old and a homeowner in the Smyrna, Georgia area.

Decision-making will be divided as follows:

Shelly Dozier-McKee
Merchandising & Store Planning
Marketing & Advertising
Workshop Development & Instruction
Web Development: Front End

Deirdre Staab
Purchasing & Numerical Analysis
Operations & Accounting
Software & Computer Systems
Web Development: Back End

Shared
Hiring, Employee Development & Policies
Customer Services & Policies

7.1 Personnel Plan

The Scarlet Tassel store hours are planned Monday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Sunday, 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.. The Scarlet Tassel will not be open in the evenings unless a workshop or other customer event is taking place. The Personnel Plan, as detailed in the table following, has been developed to support these store hours and expected volumes as per the Sales Forecast section.

Assumptions regarding personnel have been made for Year One through Year Three as follows:

• Year One Ending March, 2004 – Owners, Deirdre Staab and Shelly Dozier-Mckee, will not take a salary the first three months – April, May and June 2003. Starting in July, their salaries will begin to increase incrementally, every two months, until the planned annual salary is reached by January of 2004. One full-time employee and one permanent part-time employee will be hired to start work the first week of April 2003. One temporary part-time employee will be hired to work through the Holiday season – October, November and December 2003. It should be noted that the full-time employee hired is expected to have retail management experience or have enough experience to be considered promotable to assistant manager or manager within a few years, hence, the higher starting salary. The support of a trusted and experienced employee will be needed to enable Deirdre and Shelly to be away from the store when necessary to shop the markets for product. As well, the ability to promote from within supports The Scarlet Tassel’s pledge to its employees. The permanent part-time employee will be hired at the Atlanta average of $10.00 per hour and the temporary part-time employee will be hired at $9.00 per hour. Atlanta Average Source: Atlanta Magazine, Salaries Survey 2002
• Year Two Ending March, 2005 – Salaries for Deirdre and Shelly will increase beginning in July 2004. Current full-time and part-time employees will be provided salary reviews and given appropriate salary increases – 4% has been factored in. A second permanent part-time employee will be hired in July 2004 at the Atlanta average for retail of $10.00 per hour. Atlanta Average Source: Atlanta Magazine, Salaries Survey 2002
• Year Three Ending March, 2006 – Salaries for Deirdre and Shelly will be maintained at their current level. Current full-time and part-time employees will be provided salary reviews and given appropriate salary increases – 4% has been factored in. A second full-time employee will be hired in April 2005, and a temporary part-time employee will be hired for the Holiday season, if needed.