Products offered: Formal dresses Tuxedos Accessories Jewelry, clutches, hair accessories, Spanx Services offered: Affiliation with 3 different dry cleaners Personal assistance Tailor for Tuxedos
Weddings Charity Events Black Tie Parties Business Parties Formal Dances Parties New Years Eve Graduation Etc
Tuxedo rentals are the only formal wear rental available in the market now Women must buy dresses (spend a lot of money) for a dress they wear once, maybe twice in their lives. Offer many different styles of dresses to allow the women customers to have many dresses to choose from for their special event.
Male All ages Female Ages 15-35 Prom, formal dances, weddings, sweet 16 s etc. Middle class More likely to rent then buy
No other European country has a store quite like Affitto di Moda. Expand to other European countries England, France, and Spain Eventually, would like to expand to the United States where prom, sweet 16 s, sorority/fraternity formals are very popular
Website offered As of now, only shows pictures of some styles available, price range, location, store hours, phone number Eventually, when the company expands, we will hopefully be able to ship formal wear to customers houses directly with a return sticker to send garment back free of charge
Simone Buyer & Part Owner Eryka Sales and Merchandise & Part Owner Kelsey Sales and Merchandise & Part Owner Kelly Advertising & Part Owner Interns Tailor
Location Via Del Corso Rent per month 5,000 Euros/month Utilities 250 Euros/month Lights, Gas, Water, Heat, Electricity Wages: Interns class credit Tailor 12 Euro/hour Owners 15 Euro/hour
There is a fairly broad fashion market There is a very large designer district with almost every expensive label you can think of and high end boutique stores Contrastingly, there are stores as cheap as 5 euro a shoe, usually owned by Chinese Laborers that can be expected to be generated from Chinese sweatshops. There is also a market for the middle class consisting of some boutiques and stores like H&M, Coin, and Zara. For men to buy a tuxedo is very expensive, they would be forced to go to expensive tailors or designer stores There is no tuxedo or dress rental in Italy
After learning from personal experience, if one wanted to find a cocktail or special occasion dress, there are few places that have a wide variety for the middle class. If I wanted to go out to get a special occasion dress, for a formal dance, wedding guest, Prom, wedding party, etc. I would have difficulty finding something in a decent price range for my budget ($50-$150) I would be forced to go to stores like Patrizia Pepe and designer boutiques which are out of most middle class women's budget A place for a man to rent a tuxedo for events is crucial due to the expensive prices of the suits. Most men cannot afford to spend 800+ euro on a tuxedo for rare use, so having the opportunity to rent them for a low price is essential.
Affito di Moda Target the middle class, male or female, ages 16-35, living in Florence and the surrounding areas. FOR WOMEN:Our store will have affiliations with particular brands and the buyer will select products from their brand to rent out of our store. Some of the top brands that we buy from are BCBG Generation Bebe Jessica McClintok Betsey Johnson Jessica Simpson Kensie, etc. Additionally to having our own stock of dresses, we will buy, sell, and trade dresses from the public. The buyer will analyze the product for quality, trend, season, occasion, and brand to come up with an estimated value. We will buy the dresses that fit our criteria for 20% of the value and sell them for 60%.
We will buy the dresses at a wholesale price from the brand company and rent them out for 40% of the value, with a 50% deposit to insure the return of the dresses in the quality they were prior. Example: Jessica Simpson $185 dress, we will buy for $111 (60%, wholesale price) and rent it out for 40% of the value, $74 with a 50% deposit $92.50 The deposit must be a high price to insure that the dresses will not be stolen or damaged Because we are renting out the dresses we will have an "endless" stock once all are returned, therefore, when the dresses that are no longer in style or desired we will sell them for 60% of their original value in a semi-annual end of season sale. ( $200 dress for $120) When buying and trading dresses from public: Example: a customer comes in with a Betsey Johnson dress that she claims she paid $250 for, I will analyze the product and if I feel $250 was a correct value, I will purchase the dress for $50 and sell it for $150. They can chose to take the cash or trade for a dress of same or lesser value from our sales section (other preowned dresses or last season dresses).
As far as we know, this is not an existing business in Florence, or anywhere in the nearby cities. Sometime men only wear a tuxedo once in their life, so it would be logical for them to want to rent. We will buy tuxedos from Men's Wearhouse at wholesale price in America for our stock. At our store, we will have samples of all the available sizes and there will be catalogues for viewing.
The client will chose their preferred style and pick out colors and be fitted About a week later their fitted tuxedo with removable hems will be sent back to the store to be picked up. The tuxedos will be rented out anywhere from $250-400 depending on the amount of detailing at pieces the style is. Because tuxedos are classics, we will not have to worry about last season styles to get rid of.
Examples of dresses available
The first step to deciding how we will advertise to reach our target market is to decide how much money to allocate towards the funding of advertisement. We can do this by looking at our anticipated monthly sales and deciding on a percentage of that to use for advertising. Then, we can take our total anticipated sales and multiply it by the chosen percentage to reach the amount allocated for advertising. Example: Estimated monthly sales = 1200, 8% for advertisement, Total estimated sales = 14,400, 14,400 x 8% = 1,152
Newspapers We will publish color-ads in the Florentine Newspaper, The Florence Newspaper, La Nazione, and Nove da Firenze.
Ads on Florence radio stations: Radio R D F fm102.7, RTN Radio Toscana FM104.7, Radio 105 Network Reaches a wide range of listeners, of all different ages
Window displays are a very important part of advertising and expressing the store s image. They are valuable attentiongetters. Will include our current featured products, prices, or current sales or discounts happening in the store. Our merchandisers will work together with the advertising department to create a window that is pleasing to view, exciting, and efficient to drawing attention.
Publish ads in Italian magazines: Anna: One of Italy's many weekly magazines for women, with fashion, advice, beauty, some culture, targeted to a middle-income audience D Donna di La Repubblica: a weekly women's magazine that comes with the Saturday edition of the daily newspaper La Repubblica. Glamour: The Italian version of the U.S. monthly magazine comes in a much smaller format than normal but has a lot of editorial comment, Italian style.
We will have a billboard or two in either a major highway in Florence and/or on a major street.
Posters of our company will be found in Santa Maria Novella Train Station and other parts of the city that will be visible to many people. Posters will also be posted inside the trains and buses in Florence.
Interns will pass out flyers at popular events or shows happening in and around Florence. They will also be passed out at some bars and restaurants throughout the center of the city.
What business am I in? What quality of merchandise do I sell? What kind of image do I want to project? How do I compare with competition? What customers services do I offer? Who are my customers? What are their income levels? Why do they buy from me? It is important to ask these questions so you can correctly assess the market your company is in and the most effective way to advertise your product.
Our company will have seasonal promotional discounts that will last a week long. The discounts will be between 20% and 40% off. We will also have a buy one, get one half off for accessories. These sale periods will be promoted to the public and will hopefully draw in more customers during the specified times and thereafter.
Brooks Brothers targets a market with high-income customers who are very sophisticated representing impeccable quality. Due to their high standards of their target market our store will receive customers who will be able to afford apparel with good quality.
H&M Lower quality Doesn t offer many formal dresses Lower price Negatives: No personal assistance Trendy new designs (change each season)
Coin No personal assistance No tailoring Not as well made Negatives Lots of choices with lower prices then designer brands Everything needed is located in one store Dress Shoes Accessories
Italian Boutiques May be pricey Smaller Selection Negatives: Unique styles only offered in Italy One on one personal assistance Customers are more likely to have a dress not worn by another person at the same event
Having shopped myself in Florence I noticed it is very much boutique based, which means traditionally high prices for unique items, even when the apparel is considered out of style. Our store offers apparel and accessories, which emphasizes a classic and professional style. Affito di Moda competes with other retailers of formal and professional men s and women s wear as well as department stores. Compared to many of our stores competitors especially in men s apparel, our store maintains large in store inventories, ensuring that all sizes and styles are available for rental.