This is where Roxie will post her final pitch.

Introduction:

Good evening everyone,

Today I will be presenting Team Aptitude’s idea for an innovative and original new store – Valenti. Valenti aims to sell cosmetics and food with the overlying emphasis and theme on looking healthy and keeping healthy. At our store, we will be focusing on selling natural cosmetics with a twist – they will be following food-based themes. We will be selling products such as raspberry face masks, honey creams, chocolate perfumes, mango shampoos promoting an idea of looking good by looking healthy. Alongside this we plan to have a healthy eating section with protein bars, healthy snacks such as nuts, seeds, cereals etc and low calorie food which will be designed to help with gym regimes or just eating more healthily in general. There will also be a small smoothie bar blending together fresh crushed fruit in different arrangements to create highly nutritional drinks. Not only that but we will also have a small spa section with various small procedures such as facials, manicures, pedicures and small massages for people to be able to try out our food-based products, and relax after a busy day of shopping.

At Valenti, we believe in order to look lovely, you have to feel healthy and then look healthy, and we believe through our products we will achieve this.

Name:

Valenti is a Latin word meaning health, derived from the Latin word ‘valens’ which means strong, powerful and healthy. I believe that summarises the ethos and concept behind our store in a nutshell. The whole product selection is designed to make you feel stronger and the entire store is based on the principles of promoting good health and well-being. The name is also simple, easy to say and is eye-catching, and when combined with our logo (shown below) it will irrefutably make the name of the store stand out and memorable. Our slogan will be ‘feel good, look good’ as the message associated with our brand is in order to look lovely, you need to feel healthy (with our healthy eating) and look healthy (with our cosmetics). Again we feel our name and slogan will stand out in people’s minds.

Concept:

The concept of the store is about promoting health through the cosmetics as well as healthy eating. The store will be focusing on selling food-themed cosmetics which will be based on natural products – we believe that this is an innovative and fresh idea. Many of the ingredients used in our products also have proven health benefits for the skin such as raspberries, which are powerful antioxidants, and vanilla, which is antibacterial and helps to remove acne/pimples. In the case of smoothies, there are more systemic benefits (inside the body) such as bananas which high levels of iron which increases levels of haemoglobin and prevents anaemia, and tumeric which is an anti-inflammatory and promotes healthy liver function. So the ingredients used in our products and food also make the store attractive from a health perspective. The men’s section will have natural products but these will be mainly more earthy scents from herbs and spices. There will also be a healthy eating section to promote having a healthy body as well as looking healthy and therefore lovely on the outside. The healthy smoothie section plays into that ethos well with its nutritious drinks. The small spa area will be designed only for small procedures at first (which do not require you to take substantial amounts of clothing off) which would be useful for people to try out our own cosmetics with facials, manicures etc and therefore increase incentive to purchase our own products at the store. Conversely, we also think we could entice people shopping at the store – or anywhere in the mall – to come down into the small spa for a bit of relaxation.

We feel that our idea has a lot of potential to succeed. There is high profitability associated with beauty products, Forbes say that health stores have one of the greatest profit margins of any industry. Chron says that there are low barriers to entry for the cosmetics industry and that there has been resurgence in consumer cosmetic spending. The Guardian has also done a report about which stores have done the best in this economic period (i.e. 2014) which tends to be the more luxury stores which high profit margins (such as Burberry and Majestic Wine among some beauty product stores), and we will include more expensive products therefore among the cheaper and more affordable products in our product selection. We also feel from a costs angle our store would work. Our ingredients will also be mainly organic and thus much easier and cheaper to obtain than synthetic chemical ingredients, and would require less use of factory processing which would lead to higher manufacturing and labour costs. Thus we will also ensure high profit margin. Also a store of this nature already has an existing consumer base, people enjoy going to Boots, Superdrug etc to look at beauty products so there is an existing market.

We also feel that our store has the potential to succeed because while it fits into its industry well, it also offers something different which instantly makes it attractive to people. Not only is it unique with the food themed cosmetics but also the combined emphasis on looking healthy and eating healthily. It also has a clear demographic which is teen to older adult women which are also the main demographic who tend to shop at shopping centres/malls and especially at health stores and beauty salons. We believe the sweet-smelling, natural scented fragrances that our products possess have a clear appeal to this demographic. It also has universal appeal with various other measures put into place such as men’s cosmetics, healthy eating (with protein snacks), lower end products and smoothies (see the target demographic section below for more details). The message we send out to the general public is also a sensible one – not concerned with self-image but a more positive one promoting natural beauty and looking healthy. There will be also be an ethical side to our store focusing on fair trade, no animal testing (testing on human volunteers like some other stores do) and making the products organic. We feel our message and ethical values will make the brand image look incredibly attractive to the general population who may be concerned with such issues.

Location:

In terms of location, we believe the three most important factors in deciding where to build a location are ease of access, rental/leasing costs and annual/weekly footfall (i.e. the number of people entering a shopping centre in a given time) to maximise profitability. We believe therefore that Birmingham would be a sensible location. In fact, we would locate the store in the Bullring Shopping Centre in Birmingham. Bullring is inarguably one of the busiest shopping centre in Britain which sees the one of the greatest weekly footfall counts in the country at 750,000 people a week, thus we feel there would be a huge consumer base to tap into. Bullring is also one of the largest shopping centres in the country with 125,300 square metres of space (1,349,000 square feet) so they have plenty of space for each store. We also feel that by locating outside of London we will be paying less for fixed costs (such as heating/lighting) and especially rental/leasing costs as the property market in London is indefinitely the most expensive in the country, thus we would be maximising profitability by avoiding having to pay high rent costs. Birmingham itself is also a central location within Britain which would allow ease of access to all around Britain. Birmingham also is the second most populous city in Britain so it has a huge domestic population to take advantage of. Also as a new store, it would be better to test the water out in Birmingham where we can establish the store’s reputation and where we can sort out any initial problems before expanding to other areas such as London (covered in our Future Plans section below).

In terms of position within the shopping centre/mall itself, we would aim to be located right next to entrance in Bullring on the ground floor. This is because we would ensure maximum viewership from the high footfall of 750,000. But we realize this may not be feasible when it is starting up so we would aim to have the store on the lowest and most accessible floor possible, in a central location to maximise viewership from passers-by. If we are located on the ground floor but not close to the entrance, we will also have free samples by the entrances to attract attention. If we are on another floor, then we will have free samples by the entrances and the central area of that floor to again attract attention. This will be covered in more detail in our promotional plan.

Size:

We believe a store of this nature would be medium and averagely sized – an estimate being around 5000 – 7000 square feet all on one floor (of course we would be able to plan what size exactly when we have more idea of stock and therefore potential sales per square foot). The spa area will be small focusing mainly on testing the products out and the smoothie bar will be an open small Shake-Away type area. Thus accordingly we would need an averagely sized letting space which would be easier to obtain in a mall setting. Shopping centres/malls tend to have bigger properties to let for shopping space and are able to lease it for less than buying a whole property in a high street. Malls are also concentrated areas of people which see many people more with higher footfalls than their high street counterparts. They also make for a more comfortable shopping experience especially in Britain when the weather is unpredictable. It is also better to set up in a mall if the brand of the store is just starting up as there is no pre-existing consumer base and passers-by would be more likely to see our store in a close, intimate setting such as a mall rather than the open space of a high street.

Target Demographic:

We believe that every store has a target market and a store of this nature is no different. There is an inherent demographic who visits shopping centres and an inherent demographic who would visit health stores selling beauty products. Therefore the store will mainly target females with focuses on men with other sections such as the healthy eating section. Women are the main demographic who visits stores of this nature and shops more frequently at shopping centres than their male counterparts. The female age group we are targeting will be from teens to middle aged adults (the 18-45 age band) which would mainly shop at this kind of store as well, but again we do have additional features that the other age groups would enjoy such as the spa, smoothie bar and healthy eating sections. We feel that all aspects of our store lend themselves quite well to the demographic from the colourful cosmetics, to the fruity fragrances, to the exotic perfumes, and facials/manicures at the spa are all appealing to females of all ages.

However we do realize the importance of universal appeal and therefore have various attractions for other demographics. For men, the whole healthy eating section which is a major part of the store has universal appeal which will include protein bars, protein shakes and various kinds of protein meals for gym regimes for example which would be attractive to men. We will also be selling hair gels, hair sprays, shampoos and soaps in a men’s section which again will be targeted at men. The small spa facilities would also include foot massages and head massages which some men, especially older demographics, would enjoy. People of both genders and various age groups, especially younger teenagers would enjoy the smoothie bar and visit that frequently. We will also keep a mixture of lower cost items as well as higher cost items. The lower cost items will make the store more affordable to younger demographics like teenagers, while the higher cost luxuries will have higher profit margins and be more orientated towards the higher end consumers/upper middle class consumers. So yes while the store is naturally skewed towards teenage to middle aged women as any cosmetic store would be, we do have a number of measures put into place which gives the store more universal appeal.

Product Selection:

Our cosmetic products will mainly focus on food-based themes, thus they will be organic and natural products. Again many of the ingredients used have proven health benefits both for the skin (raspberries being powerful antioxidants for example) and systemically (turmeric being an anti-inflammatory agent for example). This is a good message to associate with our products as many people do get concerned about what they put on their skin. There will also be a mixture of low end and high end products. The low end products will be there to increase brand familiarity and make the store more accessible to less well-off and younger demographics, and the high end products to increase profitability as these higher end products will have higher margins, as well as appealing to the more well off demographics.

The product range will be a mixture of cosmetics, foods, smoothies and spa treatments. The cosmetics that we will be selling will be perfumes, body sprays, face masks, face creams, body creams, soaps, shampoos, conditioners, lotions, oils, hand creams, foot creams, aftershaves, men’s creams, deodorants, hair gels, hair sprays. The foods we will be selling will be protein bars, protein shakes, figs, nuts, seeds, healthy dried fruit, cereal bars, whole grain cereals, granola, porridge, low calorie rice, low calorie noodles, low calorie popcorn. The smoothie bar will be small and would have various flavours of shakes such as triple berry blend, kiwi avocado punch, berry blue and raspberry tumeric. For spa treatments we would have mainly small procedures; we will divide them into two price groups. One will be for when people use our products such as facials, manicures, pedicures, foot spas. The other is regular small massages without using our products such as foot massages, head massages and back massages (with clothes on). We will increase our product selection and diversify our products, spa treatments and smoothie range further when the store is more established.

Samples:

These are some of the items we will be selling. The images of the items linked are only to give an indication of what the product will be like and what it may look like. We have priced each item accordingly as well as per competition and market research. Our product selection will also be available on the online store once it is set up.

Cosmetics:
Cherry Soap (£2) - http://www.buyprovence.com/725-thick...-oil-35-oz.jpg
Mango Shampoo (£5) - http://www.sonestaforhome.com/images...n-303_xlrg.jpg
Red Berry Conditioner (£5) - http://www.ekobutik.eu/media/catalog...onditioner.jpg
Almond Hair Oil (£5) - http://www.madanapalas.com/dabur-alm...bup4tmdmuq61t6
Cookies and Cream Face Masks (£5) - http://cdn3.volusion.com/fvtc4.uxjd6...jpg?1324376404
Milk and Honey Body Cream (£7) - https://ecs3.tokopedia.net/newimg/pr...552523fab8.jpg
Passion Fruit Body Butter (£5) - http://chuyenhangxachtay.vn/Uploaded...r-review-3.jpg
Coconut and Pineapple Body Spray (£15): https://item4.tradesy.com/r/1432c8cf...ist-725708.jpg
Raspberry Hand and Nail Cream (£5) - http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/ODAwWDgwMA==/z/yc4AAOxy1JBSQvBH/$T2eC16ZHJGsFFMn)lzGrBSQvBHJdFw~~60_58.JPG
Apple and Cinnamon Perfume (£12) - http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dD32Dosn66...Nutmeg+001.JPG
Vanilla Perfume (£22) - http://cdn1.feelunique.com/img/produ...1375687478.png
Peach and Pear Perfume (£35) - http://d3pllp7nz3wmw5.cloudfront.net...20106_FULL.jpg
Rose and Blueberry Perfume (£50) -
http://asset1.marksandspencer.com/is/image/mands/RC_07_T23_1146I_NC_X_EC_0?$PDP_MAXI_ZOOM$
Black Citrus Perfume (£65) - http://www.lavishchoice.co.uk/media/..._902652758.jpg

Men’s Section:
Chocolate Deodorant (£3.50)
https://img0.etsystatic.com/025/0/68...17000_17vq.jpg
Herbal Pine Deodorant (£10)
http://www.swansonvitamins.com/en_US.../ABR059_Xl.jpg
Sandalwood and Lavender Cologne (£30): http://cdn1.feelunique.com/img/produ...1400241981.png
Maca Root Aftershave (£10): http://www.stitchfashion.com/wp-cont...zor-relief.jpg
Olive Oil Hair Gel (£8): http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kL87J794hE.../ecostyler.jpg
Extra Hold Fudge Hair Gel (£10): https://flowkoan.blob.core.windows.n...24b0016490.jpg
Organic Peppermint Shampoo (£5): http://www.prlog.org/10572826-mens-active-shampoo.jpg
Citrus Mint Shampoo (£3): http://pics1.ds-static.com/prodimg/471694/300.JPG

Food:
Pumpkin Seed Packets (£3) - http://images.iherb.com/l/WOF-00833-1.jpg
Mixed Nuts Cans (£7) - http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51%2BX95S107L.jpg
Almonds Packs (£2) - http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3VnT_SJth7...00/almonds.jpg
Whole Grain Cereals (£2.50) - http://www.totalcereal.com/whole-grain.aspx
Porridges (£2.50) - http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2UmnRiA2DM...s-porridge.jpg
Granola (£2) - http://images.hawthornhealth.com/ima...2-99172800.jpg
Dried Figs (£2) - http://www.phuketdeli.com/912-1575-t...-400g-pack.jpg
Dried Fruit Packets (£4) - http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uWBTFEOE-f...uit+snacks.jpg
Protein Bars (£1) - http://www.christopherjamesclark.com...n-bar-zoom.jpg
Protein Bar Packs (6 for £5, 15 for £12) - http://uk.usn-sport.com/media/catalo...n_bars_box.png
Protein Meals (£13) - http://s4.thcdn.com/productimg/0/960...7522-69800.jpg
Protein Shakes (£4 per drink, £14 for a pack of 4) - http://www.multipower.com/assetpool/...Strawberry.png
Protein Powder (Small - £10, Large - £18) - http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/...__2760292b.jpg
No Carb Noodles (£2.50 per packet) - http://gonutrition.com/media/catalog...n-small_1_.png
Low Calorie Popcorn - http://trndmonitor.com/wp-content/up...rn-696x308.jpg
No Carb Rice (£2.50 per packet) - http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/...62_306x423.jpg

Smoothies:
Regular - £3.20, Large - £4.00
Strawberry Banana http://img2.timeinc.net/health/img/m...ie-400x400.jpg
Triple Berry Blend http://www.spicytasty.com/wp-content...smoothie-1.jpg
Berry Blue http://www.thesmoothies101.com/uploa...1_orig.jpg?266
Kiwi Avocado Punch http://diaryofasocialgal.com/white/w...i_smoothie.jpg
Mango Passion Fruit http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/mango...h-39329263.jpg
Raspberry Tumeric http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/23...7867131176.jpg

Small Spa Treatments:
Using Products: 10 mins - £10, 20 mins - £18, 30 mins – £25
Facials
Manicures
Pedicures
Foot Spas

Not using any products: 10 mins - £8, 20 mins - £14, 30 mins – £20
Regular Back Massage
Foot Massage
Head Massage

General Pricing:

The general pricing would aim to make it affordable while maximising profit margins, thus these will change when the store opens up. We feel the pricing is appropriate against competition, is value for money and attractive to the target market. As stated before, we will have a mixture of lower end and higher end products to increase appeal to a wide range of consumers of varying age groups and backgrounds. For example, the perfumes will range from one fruit perfumes which are cheap at £10, to a mixture of natural ingredients with fruit essences which would be more expensive at £70. We would adjust product range accordingly for each season and change prices according to the time of year. During the holiday seasons, such as Christmas, Easter and Summer, we will bring in holiday offers and discounts for the cosmetics. We will have special discounts off cosmetics for special national days such as Valentine's and Mother's Day. We will also have special 50p gift bags for individual special events such as birthdays and weddings, and special bags for special days like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. We would also have cosmetic and smoothie of the week where they would be 30% off, and this will change every week. This will be a good way of getting people back to see what the deal is on a weekly basis.

We will also have a number of deals. For every £20 spent on cosmetics and customers will get £5 off gift vouchers. £5 gift vouchers are also available for completing competitions as we have outlined in our promotional plan below. For every £50 spent there will also be a 50% voucher off at the spa. There will also be a half price smoothie for every 30 mins spent in the spa. The smoothie bar section will feature a menu of smoothies with prices for regular and large. We will also have a points system where every £10 spent earns £1 off with a loyalty card which people can sign up for at tills, the spa and on feedback forms. This will be a good way of ensuring repeat customers and we can send promotional deals and special offers to them via email. We will also not advertise small smoothie sizes on the menu similarly to Costa/Starbucks as that leads to less overall profit margins for us, we would only advertise medium/large. We also have a rough idea of what our overheads would be with fixed costs such as staffing, maintenance, lighting/heating and rental/leasing costs and the prices have been shaped accordingly.

Logo:

http://tinypic.com/r/2i0xm0/8

For our logo we have chosen to keep a simple, eye catching design. We feel that this will stand out in consumer minds. The green leaves and background advertise the natural aspect of our products well. The font looks elegant and appropriate for the type of store we have. The yellow print is eye-catching and quite exotic. The colours in general are neutral and thus not restricting the appeal of our store. We will be putting the logo on all advertising and future advertising (such as the television advert). We will also be imprinting it on various products that have been made by us (such as soaps) as well as on bottles. We feel that our logo combined with imprinting on our products as well as on our promotional campaign will be effective in making people remember our store.

Layout:

Design: http://tinypic.com/r/1oskrb/8

Externally we will have the windows made entirely out of clear glass so that onlookers can look into the store. The layout of the store will involve four main sections – the beauty products section which will be the bulk of the store, the healthy eating section, the small smoothie bar and the small spa. On the side facing closest to the entrance, the small smoothie bar, the cosmetics section, the healthy eating section, the men’s section, attractive soap cake bars, and the small spa section will be visible. This combined with the clear external windows will ensure every feature of our store is exposed to passers-by. We will put attractive bars of soap by the window (such as soap cakes) to make the store look attractive and entice people to come in. We will also put a fruit display on the windows by the smoothie bar with the smoothie bar showing so that people can see the delicious and colourful smoothies we are making which would give further incentive for them to come into the store. We will also have the small spa section by the entrance so that people can look and see that they can get treatments done (and again we will start the store only having small procedures which do not involve taking clothes off). By ensuring the men’s section and healthy eating section are visible too, men can see that there are features for them in the store as well. We feel by advertise every feature of the store we will maximise the likelihood of enticing passers-by to come into the store. We would have soft normal yellow lighting in the store. We would aim to keep the store looking comfortable and inviting with soft neutral colours for the walls and stalls like yellow and beige.

As for the beauty product section we will keep four stalls of cosmetics. Each stall will have four shelves. There will be a side stall by the entrance to the spa which will have all the cosmetics used in the spa facials and manicures. The whole point we are using our own products for the facials and manicures is so that there is an increased chance that customers will buy them, so having them in close proximity where they are going to be most visible will increase the likelihood of customers purchasing what was used in their spa treatments. We will also have the most expensive cosmetics kept at the front of the store in the most accessible areas to ensure people have seen them when coming into the store. We will have the healthy eating section on one of the central stalls closest to the smoothie bar and the stalls around the smoothie bar area. We will also spread the snacks out by the tills to entice the people who have only bought cosmetics to buy some of the healthy eating food as well. The smoothie bar area will be open to increase visibility for people within the store and therefore increase the likelihood of using it and purchasing smoothies. The spa will have an enclosed glass window area around it, the purpose of this is twofold – to maximise visibility again to maximise the potential for consumers to use the facility while reducing noise levels for people within the small spa to promote a relaxing atmosphere for them.

Promotional Plan:

We will launch an extensive promotion plan to market Valenti. Firstly, we will have a number of ways of marketing the store within the mall to take advantage of the high footfall Bullring attracts – 750,000 people a week. We will do this by having free samples of our cosmetics and small smoothie cups at the entrance to Bullring and on the floor of the store to get more passers-by interested. We would have a vouchers distribution on the entrances on the first few weeks as well for people to get 20% off some of our spa treatment and smoothies. We will also put up posters in the central area and food court to gain attention from people especially when we are starting out.

Moreover, we will also have a number of ways to market our store outside of the mall with the general population. We would have posters located throughout Birmingham high streets. We would have flyers distributed for the first few weeks to again make the people in the mall aware of our store. We will also put adverts in general female orientated magazines such as the Cosmopolitan to reach out to our demographic more effectively. When we are more established in the coming months, these magazines adverts will also be put on special Health and Fitness magazines such as Women’s Health, Health and Fitness to further advertise the health aspects of the store. Additionally, we will associate ourselves with health professionals such as doctors and nutritionists whose reviews would be invaluable in terms of increasing the reputation of the brand; they can even give reviews online on our website. We will also prioritize customer service, which will increase promotion of the store through word of mouth, and we would also encourage customers to tell their friends about us and to come along, especially at the spa. We also plan to launch a short radio adverts on local radio stations in Birmingham. For example, we could even include short nutritionist reviews informing people that our cosmetics and foods are healthy, and telling them where are store is. We would plan on starting a TV advertising campaign once the store is established, successful and going to into a second store in London.

Finally, we will also launch an extensive online campaign to promote Valenti. We will have a social media campaign with pages dedicated to Valenti on Facebook and Twitter. We will also have competitions on our Facebook and Twitter pages and the winners will get £5 gift vouchers or even 50% discounts off our spa and products. We will also take advantage of Youtube as we will also demonstrate some of our products on our Youtube page, as well as sponsoring a Youtube artist who video blogs about make-up and beauty to incorporate some of our products, such as Zoella and Tanya Burr who get millions of views. This will target the teenage and younger demographics particularly well. We will also advertise our products on beauty websites such as Female First and Cult Beauty. As the store gets more successful, we will extend the online advertising onto more health-orientated websites such as Healthy Women. We will also launch our own online website where we will put up what the store is about, contact details and where we are, as well as advertising special offers, discounts, gift packages and holiday offers. There will also be an online store on our website as it would be advantageous in this day and age to take advantage of online shopping. We will also have a points system for people who register on the website where £1 is 1 point and there will be £1 off on any part of the store for every 10 points obtained. This will play hand-in-hand with the points system within the store itself, with our Valenti loyalty card which people can sign up for in the tills, the spa and online. It will also be used to inform customers via email about the latest offers, seasonal discounts and special deals, and would ensure 10% off our spa.

Future Plans:

For future plans, if the store takes off, we will firstly increase product selection and diversify our range. For our healthy snacks section for example, we would perhaps have a refrigerated section with frozen protein meals, sandwiches, salads, fruit juices and yogurts. We will also increase the quantity of the more expensive and higher priced items such as the perfumes as the brand gains a reputation. We would also increase the size of smoothie bar if it does well and further increase our range. If the smoothie bar does make successful enough, we may diversify and expand to accommodate herbal teas and become a café as well to further increase the appeal and possible health benefits of coming to the store. If the spa is successful we will also increase the size of that accordingly and increase the range of procedures to include more complex body massages. We would also set up cubicle rooms/towel areas accordingly to accommodate this which would of course be located at the back of the store away from the windows.

If the store takes off, we will additionally open a second store in London and establish the stores as a chain of stores. Opening in London would be an advantageous next step as London would be able to establish the brand further, we would get a different set of people turning up to the store than at the Birmingham store and London is the biggest metropolitan area in Britain. If the London store is successful, we will start opening stores in Manchester, Leeds and other city centre areas at the rate of 1 every 6 months. If the smoothie bars and spas are successful enough, we may open up small individual smoothie bar outlets and individual spas in high streets in Birmingham and if they do well, we will start opening up them across the country. We may also open up smoothie bars in the middle of the central areas of the malls and open one up as part of the food court in each mall. As health is the main focus of Valenti, if the stores become successful, we would start opening up gyms and combine our low calorie, protein based snacks and healthy food with gym regimes which we would advertise further on the website, and on our Youtube page.

Bringing Customers Back:

We will also have various measures put into place to make customers return and keep profit high. One incentive for people to return will be the customer service at the store, and we will make sure that the staff are properly trained in this, our returns policy and complaints management. We will also hold monthly scenarios to ensure the staff are kept up-to-date with how to deal with any kind of customer. The small spa lends itself to the idea of promoting customer satisfaction as well, as we are pampering clients and allowing them to have a more relaxing time with the enclosed glass space. Another incentive is the quality of the goods and value for money, and we would ensure that goods are good quality by carrying out quality assurance checks, carrying out inspections at the manufacturing end for cosmetics, making sure stock such as the perishable goods (foods) are properly sealed and stored to ensure food safety. Once the London store is established, we will also employ a manager to focus mainly on these quality assurance checks to focus on ensuring the maximum quality of our goods as possible. We will also make sure the time people have to queue for is minimal by including self-service tills as well as normal serviced tills. We will also ensure our prices remain competitive against other cosmetic and health food stores to avoid losing customers. We would also feedback forms available at the spa, smoothie bar and tills which would be used on a monthly basis to give us feedback on customer service and product quality.

We would also have cosmetic of the week and smoothie of the week where we put a specific product/smoothie up for 30% sale (usually a more expensive to build the reputation of them up). This will change every week so people will come back every week to see what it is and therefore come back to the store more often. We would also have an extensive email database built from people registering on our website, customers signing up to get a loyalty card and various in-store customers from the spa, feedback forms etc. and would inform our database about the latest deals and offers to get them back. The gift vouchers, points system, loyalty card and deals we offer in the store will also help give incentives for the customer to return by discounting various items.

Additionally, we would also manage the reputation of the store well by associating ourselves with nutritionists and doctors who would give reviews for us and we would focus on promoting our message that we are promoting good health with our cosmetics and food rather than focusing on self-image. We would also make it easy for us to be found which would again increase the likelihood of customers revisiting us. We would do this through our promotional activities which would always highlight our location and remind people where we are. To keep profits high, we will again advertise the expensive most profitable products the most, for example having them at the front of the store and more easily accessible will ensure this, and advertising them on our online and magazine adverts. The store itself relies on low cost ingredients such as fruits and plant extracts so from a manufacturing point of view, our cost for our products will already be fairly low. We will also be sensible with our advertising, only advertising selectively at the start to keep costs low and then expanding the marketing campaign as the brand gets more established and successful.

Conclusion:

We believe our store has the potential to do well in the current economic climate. It is not only innovative and unique with our focus on promoting good health to look attractive with our food-based cosmetics, healthy eating foods and smoothies, but it is also incredibly realistic as it has a clear demographic, has additional features which lend itself to more universal appeal, and cosmetic/health stores have generally done well in the past few years with the best profit margins. We feel that products will be hugely appealing to our main demographic, while our other products will attract others. Our marketing campaign (such as radio adverts, social media, beauty magazines) and pricing deals (such as cosmetic of the week, loyalty card and gift vouchers) will ensure we not only get a steady source of new customers but also repeat customers. We also feel Birmingham would be an excellent location to test out the potential of the store and we have measures put into place to attract the high footfall such as free samples at the entrances, the layout and posters. Moreover we believe that the ethical values and message we send out make our store stand out most of all as a store which promotes one’s own natural beauty through being healthy. At Valenti, our products are there to make you feel healthy, look healthy and therefore look lovely.

We hope you have enjoyed the pitch. I would now like to open the floor to questions.

Hi Roxie, and congratulations on your pitch.

I have a few questions for you:
1) I'm quite into healthy living as well so I like it that you've gone down that route, but I really have concerns about your price range. I think the pricing would turn people off, as it is quite expensive. I preach the fact that you can live healthily without spending extortionate amounts. I certainly wouldn't consider paying your rates for the food. Also, some of the pricing doesn't seem to compare very well - a large smoothie costs more than a chocolate deodorant, for example, which seems a bit odd.
2) How are you marketing this shop? I don't really understand how you can be a spa, a food shop and a cosmetics retailer all at once.
3) How sustainable is the business? Are the products sourced ethically?

Hi George - thanks for taking the time to ask some questions. I hope this clarifies it all for you:

1) The prices we have based our products on are estimated based off what market research and online research have put their prices at. For example cereals/porridge are sold at £2.50 to £3.50 at any food store, our low carb rice and noodles are very cheap at £2.50 considering the size you buy them for, figs match competitor prices at £2, soaps are sold from £2 to £4 at Boots and Superdrug, chocolate deodorants are sold at £3 to £4 in Boots and Superdrug etc and thus we have priced them accordingly. The price range is not expensive as such as protein bars normally cost in the region of £1 for example in any store, the nut packets and cans are based off larger sizers and we would of course have smaller sizes in the store which would be cheaper. The smoothies actually undercut Shakeaway prices. It is not all that odd really because chocolate deodorant can be bought in bulk whereas we are using fresh fruit for the smoothie bar which have to be refrigerated and stored. At the end of the day we undercut prices from competitors and therefore we are cheaper than they are. Moreover, we are just starting out so we have room to adjust the prices once we have more of an idea of how many customers we are getting.

2) As outlined in the promotional section, we have ways of marketing both invididual aspects of the store as well as advertising all aspects of our store simultaneously. For example we have measures to advertise individually, the smoothies will be promoted more within the mall itself via leaflets in the high street, posters throughout the mall and free samples as the entrance. The spa will be advertised on the website and again within the mall itself. The cosmetics will be advertised by sponsoring beauty artists on youtube and by advertising on female beauty magazines and websites for example. The healthy eating section would on healthy eating websites and magazines.

As for ways of advertising our products all at the same time we have ways of doing that too. As described in our concept section, all areas of our store are linked together by a central theme which is based on health - keeping healthy and looking healthy, and we would advertise them altogether with this in mind. For example, with the radio adverts on local radio stations, we would get nutrionists to give simple short reviews saying our products, smoothies and snacks are healthy, on magazines we would advertise the healthy aspect of our store with both cosmetics and food. Youtube artists, our own website and social media will also advertise all aspects of our store by linking them together under the general topic of looking healthy. Eventually we will also have a TV advert in which we can easily advertise each invididual part of the store.

It is quite easy to advertise all aspects of our store really because they are all linked by a general theme which is improving one's health, so we do not need to advertise them individually as such. They all play into each other really, by eating healthily, you're looking healthy and therefore looking lovely which is what the message of the brand is about anyway.

3) Yes as outlined in the concept section, we have made sure the business is sustainable from an environmental perspective as well as a long term business one. As outlined in our concept section we will be focusing on fair trade products, making sure all the ingredients in our products are natural and organic and testing products on human volunteers rather than animal testing so yes it will all be ethically done as we have said. We care a lot about ethical values and principles at Valenti.

In the sense of a long term business idea we've got promotional plans, cosmetic/smoothie of the week, various gift vouchers and deals, loyalty cards, a points system to ensure repeat business as well as new business. We have placed a huge emphasis on maintaining profits in the long run by keeping costs down as well, starting out in Birmingham rather than London is a prime example of that because of rental/leasing costs, advertising ourselves in moderation at the beginning for example doing a TV advert only after we have become established, and moreover our costs of production are low with cheap raw materials. We are using fruits and natural products so from a costs angle we have them at a consistent minimum.

Most importantly we have a clear and consistent demographic, the female demographic who normally buys cosmetics that we sell and we feel we cater to that well with our colourful soaps and fruity smells. And this demographic is always shopping and always looking for the latest products - we will always have a market for this kind of store. This business will definitely be sustainable in the long term due to all these factors.

I hope that has answered your questions for you.