Online Shopping Return Business Plan

Executive Summary    

ReturnEasy.com will be an internet-based company that will become a leader in presenting online retailers and give customers a suitable way to give back goods they have purchased online. The business will be providing solutions to online merchants. Our company will use a relaxed and straightforward approach when handling goods returns, saving our customers from poor sales. We will offer our customers a suitable platform to claim their profits.

Service Offering

Our services involve the entire process to return merchants to retailers. They give retailers a chance to control a large part of their business, which provides them with the ability to concentrate on the market’s core values. Our company will decelerate the organisation’s expenses that consume their services; this will raise customer satisfaction of the merchant, boost purchases and advance bookkeeping administration. Consumers will gain by having a smooth and straightforward way to get back their acquisition.

Key to Success

Our company has the essential keys to success. One is to create software that will be in charge of satisfying customer needs. The software will be our company platform that ensures smoothness management of their business activities. Secondly, we will provide we have a good relationship with online users and credit card companies. The relationship wills easy our company in enlarging their consumer base of retailers served. We will also create a partnership with some credit card companies to get a chance to offer exact cards, which will lead to generating more revenue source.

Registration and Hosting of Web Site      

Since our company is built on a business network, direct orders can be used to market it to internet retailers. We can contact and negotiate with online service providers such as America Online, which hosts shops, as an example. According to a report, America Online hosts 25% of the overall internet providers in the United States. As a consequence, we would build a healthy relationship in which our business would be a viable alternative for all returned goods. This will develop us as a brand and generate barriers to a potential market.

Furthermore, we will build a banner to be shown throughout the America online site. “For quick product return, CLICK HERE,” would be written on the flag. We’ll even approach Yahoo! Portal. Yahoo! hosts over 6500 stores with a monthly rate varying from $250 to $350. When we form a relationship with Yahoo!, that will offer our business a lot of hope when it comes to returning negotiations.

In the year 1993 US department of commerce, with the public and private sectors’ help, created an internic that maintains databases with all the domain names and their IP addresses. A network solution was also designed to keep the growing numbers of website domain and IP addresses. This database is connected worldwide, which creates primaries labels used by all computer that accesses the internet. Only the assigned registrar can modify the information about the domain names in the database. If our company decides to use the .com domain name, we will have to pay Verisign, the operator of .com. it costs $7.34 and an$ 0.58 annually to US administration fee. ReturnEasy.com will have a partnership with American.com to have an accredited registrar ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is a non-profit organisation. An organisation that manages the internet’s domain names (ICANN) which will give us a high-level domain name. However, before we get the domain name, we will have to acknowledge and agree on the terms and conditions with conjunction with the services which are not being granted by America Online but are following rules and regulation of ICANN.

Registration of domain name discovers a set of the Start of Authority (SUA) records in the parent domain servers and use IP address which is authorised. However, registering domain names does not require the provision of DNS services for the registered field. As most domain hosters after DNS hosting for the fee service. It is said the maximum period for registration for a domain name is ten years. However, they are other hosters who offer for more extended periods of up to 100 years. But it involves the annual renewing. ReturnEasy.com Company will be updated on the website to get to know when it will expire. If a domain registration expires for any reason, it will cost our company difficult, expensive, and hard to get it back. When the domain name expires, it will have to pass through many managerial processes to have it again. They have also dedicated hosting, which involves a purposely devoted machine to the traffic to a website. We might later decide to use this dedicated hosting if our company becomes busy.

Business Description and Online Strategies

Objectives

Our plan would boost the number of people who buy online, thus growing the demand for online retailers. Retailers that are the first to implement the application would have an edge in gaining considerable market share. When a sufficient number of stores sign up for the service, it can become an industry norm. Since there will be no rivalry, we will be able to maintain confidence in the newly developed forum. ReturnEasy.com would make every effort to reach an agreement with businesses that host a large number of retailers, such as Yahoo! There will be no place for competition once anything is achieved.

Our business is attempting to advertise itself by forming alliances with online retailers and web hosting firms. Consumers can benefit from lower delivery costs on returning goods. This would boost customer acceptance as well as sales for participating businesses. Users that access the software and web procedures via cell phones or other networked devices can benefit from the software and web procedures.

 Mission

The goal of ReturnEasy.com is to provide customer loyalty to online customers, improve their loyalty, and maximise their companies’ sales. This leads to an increase in global online shopping.

Services

Our firm can include facilities that provide the merchandise return process. Customers will claim to be able to return the product in a hassle-free way as they visit our website. The consumer would be asked to input necessary information such as the product’s name, order number, first name, and return for returning the product, as well as an acceptable procedure for coping with the problem. Our business operates as an online portal that reacts to a product’s return policy by receiving a license code if required by retailers and providing customer support.

Benefits to Consumers

• Our company provides a platform that is simple for a consumer to claim their return.
• If applicable, our company will call and give you an authorisation code.
• Our organisation has a mailing mark for you so that the customer would not have to waste a lot of time in the store if a tag is not issued.
• The delivery expense can be reduced or eliminated entirely by our business.

 Structure of Sales    

Our corporation has budgeted $350000 for acquisitions and another $400,000 for program production and distribution operations. Salary and commission arrangement was provided in the first distribution kit. In the early stages of a business’s growth, this would ensure that all revenue targets and consumer desires are fulfilled. Within six months, the salespeople would be divided into two categories. People who operate exclusively for the intent of selling would be in Category One. They’ll be assigned a certain place to operate in and will be paid on the contract. People who perform flawlessly will get incentives and awards from our organisation. The commission will develop into something more progressive. The average commission rate is calculated to be between 5% and 20%. A specialist would serve on the customer service desk in the other category. They’ll make sure the consumers’ expectations are addressed and that the service is effective. These workers will be stationed at the company’s headquarters and will be paying a basic wage.

Our business can create high-speed contact lines between company software that identifies consumers and the returns phase, as well as individual retailers. When an object is claimed for a customer’s refund via our website, the liable merchant is informed of the sale as it happens. This would be a crucial component of the whole curriculum. This link will be established through the internet. The returned commodity documents would be handled by a login process in the business program. The retailers would organise the data according to their categories, then copy it to spreadsheet applications such as Microsoft Excel. Hackers would not be able to access our internet network or login keys. We’ll need experts because most of our contact would be conducted over the internet. This would preserve our customer’s loyalty and guarantee that their interests are fulfilled fully.

Competitive Advantage

 ReturnEasy.com differentiates itself from its competition through convenience, service, target market selection, and personalisation. The company plans to incorporate an approach, combining the internet’s comfort and flexibility with the “human touch” of a 24-hour customer service agent. The company believes that solid customer responsiveness is crucial, as its target market demands a high level of service, quality and value for money spent. Another factor that makes the Company unique is the specific market segment that RuturnEasy.com is focusing on. A third competitive advantage that the company offers is choosing and personalising a tour according to the customer’s preferences. Through the combination of these factors, the company believes it can successfully carve out a niche market and operate profitably

Market Opportunity

Service Business Analysis

Our business would evolve in the future, necessitating regional growth. Our business will be able to sell its product all around the world as a result of this. Services can be given both inside and across boundaries. This would encourage daily online retailers to offer services in other countries.

New Services

As the number of online shoppers grows, customers would be forced to return items they have bought. Most online retailers have an opportunity to react to a purchased object, but not the whole distribution process. The higher the amount of sales, the more probable it is the items may be returned. To do that, customers would need to go to the retailer’s website to inquire about delivery status and read the retailer’s communications. A software that maintains track of all items bought digitally and displays the results of the transactions in a clear and intuitive way, adding value to consumers. As long as we establish relationships and knowledge sharing arrangements with website holsters, the business would be able to deliver easy services to consumers.

New Customers

Our services are limited to online retailers catalogues and direct mail orders since they face the same returned goods product. A survey done shows that consumer catalogues exceed 9500 in the US alone. According to the National Postal Order Organization, $358 billion in transactions is produced via the mail. Despite the rise of internet retail, revenues rose by 15% between 1997 and 1998. Market commodity revenues accounted for $120 billion in net sales in the same year, about 15 times that of retail products. According to research conducted by the organisation, the incidence of returns for all products bought on an online marketplace is about 10–20 per cent; this is according to research conducted by the organisation. Many big guide houses are needed to keep track of various returned goods in order to keep track of the total number of things returned. A limited number of catalogue firms, such as Lands’ End, have been emphatically praising the online portal as an outstanding business outlet. Our business would operate at a high level of quality and ensure that all of our customers’ demands are met.

Many businesses utilise the internet to market and distribute their goods. The majority of retailers would consider returns of items purchased digitally and returned to physical stores. This builds consumer loyalty and builds confidence, and goodwill. Our business will extend the offering to include online customers who don’t have time to return products to the market. This would speed up the return process and improve the department store’s brand.

Competition

 Our business would be up against some tough competition. This may involve director rivals, internal rivals, and channel rivals. We’ll do whatever we can to stop getting swept up in the competition. Since its consumer demographic expects a high level of efficiency, consistency, and value for money, the organisation recognises that a strong consumer response is critical. Another attribute that separates the business is RuturnEasy.com’s emphasis on a single consumer segment.

We will have minimum expenses as we try to satisfy our customers. We will also avoid some expenditures and learn from other companies and decide how we will go the extra mile from them. We will be playing with others mind. However, we will also share ideas with our competitors to make an online business grow successfully. Even if we have differences, we have to come together for a better future for online shopping.

 Direct Competitors

In the new brilliance, there is no business in the sector that sells or deals in returning merchandise programs to only consumers. There isn’t a single organisation dedicated to dealing with product returns over the internet. This situation allows the new company to increase customers and face any barriers to a possible existing company. However, when another company establishes itself, we will put all measures to face the competition. We make our company unique in whatever way. We will easy the procedures of the return process and make it the best choice for our customers. We will make an advertisement at whatever cost to catch up and increase the rate of return from customers. We will also have professional workers who will have experience in dealing with online merchandise to have trust with our company. 

Internal Competitors

Online retailers are not the first competitors we have in our industry. To provide its services, our business would need to form partnerships and important agreements with merchants. External rivals can be used to describe this form of rivalry. Customers will be pleased, and retailers may feel their domestic returns are satisfactory. And companies like Amazon.com have people returning items to Barnes and Noble superstores to get their books back—having a deal with online sellers might be a workaround for certain e-tailers. However, there would be no single place where customers will return products, no quick return process, and no delivery cost savings. Customers would be forced to switch from one store to another in order to redeem different items.

Internet merchants might suggest establishing a relationship with companies like Rete Express. At the moment, eBay.com has a contract with Boxes to sell them as an excluded option for object returns. This would contribute to the use of standardised delivery prices, the use of carriers will be reduced, and internet stores will be unaware of item refunds until things get out of hand. Since the carrier cannot deliver, one sale opportunity will be provided to merchants when consumers are on the internet with our business. Furthermore, in order to meet customer demand, the business could establish a simple arrangement and provide consumers with a discounted shipping rate on each returned product.

Channel Competitors

Mail Boxes Etc., for example, attempts to feign a critical alliance with a variety of retailers in order to make the return phase simpler. Customers would miss a large number of carriers for particular stores, and the return mechanism would not be uniformly simple. Furthermore, Mail Boxes Etc. may not have a strong enough retail position.

Ups and FedEx are two firms that may join the business. These companies have adequate connections of facilitates, have skills in shipping procedures, and have the correct record. The postal service for U.s has established a TV advertising campaign for internet retailers that allows customers to print the return label. Shipping companies cannot provide benefits with the same as the proposed company can. The company will organise decisive cooperation with many carriers and even play against each other in negotiating rate reductions and preferred services terms for both retailers and customers. The company is small and will focus on electronic commerce, and it will build a higher degree of compliance in fixing customer needs.

Business model and Strategies of EasyReturn.com

The company will make use of dual pricing passage to ensure a repeat revenue standard. Internet merchants will be debited a specific annual program amount based on the purchases amount, item rank and inevitable return conditions. Our company will also assemble payments in fixed percentage charge through a website for all products solicit.

Pricing Strategies

The table below represents pricing strategy in our company.

Our company will remove all the shipping costs to customers using critical deals with internet retailers and credit card companies. In recent research, 55% of the products being returned are due to merchant’s faults. Hence retailers will have to eliminate shipping cost to their customers. The company, therefore, offers a 60% shipping cost that should be set aside to the correspondent retailer. As orders increase, the organization will also negotiate a shipping rate with other companies UPS. Thus 25% of shipping costs should be appropriated to shipping organizations at a discount.

Moreover, credit cards companies offer 5% reimbursement to customers on sales with chosen internet retailers. It is beneficial to form a deal with credit card companies to comprise 5% shipping cost reimbursement on all returned products. Since item return is 10% of the sales, it will not considerably amount to organizations.

Our company will charge retailers a software fee of 0.5% average of guaranteed sales. Also, we will charge a fee of 10% on every product marked price. However, in the 12% charge per item, at least 4% will be sent to retailers to recover the shipping cost. As the diagram above shows, a 4% beneficial is sufficient to improve each item’s shipping cost. The price is far more than other items categories. Our company will decide whether it will offer retailers a 4% rebate on the remaining part of the shipping cost. Due to financial plans and the purpose of a business plan, 4% contact debate is to be used so that per fee can reduce from 12% to 8% across the borders. 

As we have stated earlier, merchants should increase their sales by at least 15% due to our company’s services. Based on a fixed price of structure, the service should cost retailers less than 1.5% of their total revenues. A 10% ratio cost-benefit will strengthen the company.

As there is a possibility to charge retailers commission of products purchased through the company website, customers return a product. It would not hook all purchases impassioned by the organization. The program will increase customer trust in the company and satisfaction. However, the company will not receive any commission if the consumers start buying products directly from retailers. Thus it will affect our program. Hence, the fee should be charged to the product returned, keeping consumer satisfaction and selling chances developed during the deal procedure and all reiteration sales.

The organization also plans to pay revenue for advertising on its website, but the advertising revenue will be considered trivial. A charge deal may be negotiated with such companies for attracting more consumers to them for shipping costs. They are other revenue sources such as American Express or VISA that can be chosen to advertise a specific credit card as a suitable method of online payment. In the final financial projection, the revenues will be omitted.

Management Team

Board of Directors 

• Responsibility

• Appoints the manager of the business.
• Provide the officers for the board, has to function to provide the mission, vision, and goals of the organization
• Develop governance policies for the market. The system involves how the board will intercept with the CEO
• Board of directors monitors and controls the business. It is in charge of the auditing process and employs the auditor.

President

• Responsibility
• President analyses budget and financial reports.
• Creates and maintain a healthy relationship with a banker and other industry leaders.
• President looks for an opportunity for investment, a partnership with other companies.
• President plans and informs the board of directors at a board meeting
• President shows leadership skills and decision-making skills to run the company with confidence
• President plans on strategies to increase the profits of the company.

Director of Finance and Operations

• Responsibility
• Manage payables and receivable activities.
• Develop the team’s financial priorities and targets.
• Lead the team of financial executive toward the achievement of company goals
• Manage and control credit card payment and invoices.
• Acts as the sole point of touch with all financial operations inquiries and questions.
• We are developing operational initiatives to achieve financial goals.

Director of Information Technology

• Responsibility
  • Recruits, teaches, and oversees a community of IT specialists.
  • I was hiving people with excellent skills needed to operate the full range of IT resources.
  • Has total responsibility for IT resources in the company, reporting to the CEO about the technology.
  • The IT director works together with the business department to improve its IT system and manage the order to ensure they are consistently available to users.

Director of Sales and Marketing

Responsibility

• Manages the budget; it is the role of directors to ensure the department sticks to its account.
• Will be responsible for recruiting people who won’t join a department of sales.
• The Sales Director will manage sales, pricing and profit margins. This ensures returns are high, thus increase profit

Financial Plan

This description consolidates enterprise asset investment of $4.0, plus connection to another $ 1.5 million for various functions. The explanation does not involve money contributed at the scheduled IPO. Any revenues from leaning, huddling, and partnership affairs were removed. 

Cash Flow

The chart below shows cash flow and balance.

Bibliography;

• How to Write a Business Plan [Updated for 2018] |https://articles.bplans.com/how-to-write-a-business-plan/
• Business Plan – Step-by-Step Planning Templates https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/247574
• How to Write a Business Planhttps://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Business-Plan
• How to Write a Business Plan: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-write-a-business-plan
• Honig, B., & Karlsson, T. (2004). Institutional forces and the written business plan. Journal of Management, 30(1), 29-48.
• Chen, X. P., Yao, X., & Kotha, S. (2009). Entrepreneur passion and preparedness in business plan presentations: a persuasion analysis of venture capitalists’ funding decisions.Academy of Management journal, 52(1), 199-214.
• Kuratko, D. F., & Hodgetts, R. M. (1995). Entrepreneurship: A contemporary approach. Dryden Press.
• Abdi, M. D. (2015). E-COMMERCE BUSINESS PLAN.
• Rayport, J. F., & Jaworski, B. J. (2002). Introduction to e-commerce. McGraw-Hill/Irwin marketspaceU.
• Chaffey, D. (2007). E-business and E-commerce Management: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. Pearson Education.
• Reynolds, J., & Mofazali, R. (2000). The complete e-commerce book: design, build, and maintain a successful web-based business. Cmp Books.