Maternity Clothing Online Business Plan

The following sub-topics outline our plans to create and maintain our website. At first, we will have a simple text and image-based website which outlines our products and redirects customers to our eBay store. After the first three months, we will begin online ordering via our own website as well.

6.1 Website Marketing Strategy

Our website will provide information about us and our products as well as order processing to purchase our products online. We will include our web address in all of our advertising to reinforce to our customers how to find us online. Our company logo and motto will also need to be eye catching and easy to remember so that once our customers find us, they will remember us and suggest us to their friends and family.

6.2 Development Requirements

Initial Development

We will be working with an outside contractor to design the layout of the site. Initially, our site will provide an overview of the company, describe our products and services, and redirect visitors to our eBay store to purchase a shirt. The estimated costs for initial website development are listed in our start-up costs.

Some of the features included on the website will be the ability to search for logos by school name as well as by “team name” (such as the University of Alabama “Crimson Tide,” the UCLA “Bruins” and the University of Oregon “Ducks”). Good-quality pictures of our products and the logos on the products will be available, so the customer can see what they will be getting.

Full website (including online ordering)

In the third month of the plan, when we have a better sense of customer preferences, we will finish the development of the site to include online order processing (via PayPal). Starting in November (heavy football season) customers will have the choice of buying either directly from our website, or via our eBay store. Additional security functions are required for doing PayPal sales on our own website. Expenses for this further website development are listed in the Profit and loss table.

The order processing will include the ability to provide both a billing and an optional shipping address and will be able to process credit cards as well as payment by check (using PayPal).

Once the website design is complete, we will contract for ongoing maintenance and support of the site. These monthly cost estimates are listed in the expenses section of the Profit and Loss table.