Example of a BUSINESS PLAN for an online furniture business

Online retail is reaching the next stage, shaping opportunities in the home decoration industry for start-ups that change the rules of the game

With an investment of EUR 100 k, Company X will launch an online home decoration brand targeting EUR 12.5 m revenues in year 5

We have a strong team with the business knowledge, experience and contacts to make Company X a success

Our target customer is a 40+ year old woman with a passion for classical interior design

Her home is her castle and she is constantly looking for high-quality decoration items with a ?story? to create a warm and cozy family home

She loves to shop at small boutiques, but these are quite expensive, too far away and in the end the quality is not what she hoped for

Traditional home decoration retail needs breakthrough business model innovation to overcome a challenging industry situation

As an online brand, operating from Poland, Company X is able to offer high quality home decoration items at attractive prices

By selling under our own brand, we can differentiate our products, have complete freedom in price setting and exploit any trend inspired on the past

All operations will be organized in Poland ? the combination of high skills, low wages and short lead times ensures quality at low cost

We attract customers through online marketing, inspire them via our online magazine, retain them through our blog and sell to them in our webshop

We will ship our products, packaged as gifts, from our warehouse in Poland directly to our customers in Western Europe

We will start selling in the Netherlands ? Main growth priorities are the UK and Germany where we can build up scale at relatively attractive margins

By adding one country per year, we can target a market of 10 m women with an interest in classical design that amounts to EUR 900 m

As the most important costs are variable the downside is limited ? we need to sell 450 items per quarter to break-even

First projections show revenues around EUR 12.5 m in year 5, with net profits of EUR 2.6 m

Key Performance Indicators will be closely monitored ? we know where and how to take action if results are below projections

Through our blog and marketing campaign we have already established contact with >500 potential customers and learned what their needs are

We are on schedule to launch September 2010 ? next steps are to contract suppliers, develop a full webshop & webmagazine and secure funding

We are looking for a private investor that invests EUR 100 k for 40% of equity to finance inventory, working capital and investments in the website