styleME styleME… is a company partnership between Lana Mokhtar and Neha Gandhi who aim to serve the women in the Middle East and are supported by a useful list of stylists who are both dedicated and talented. Lana Mokhtar Lana is an Egyptian and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication. She has experience in brand management with leading multi national companies and has a keen sense of fashion. Neha Gandhi Neha is of Indian origin and holds a Master’s in Business Administration from a reputed business school. Her forte is customer insight and brand management in FMCG and consumer durables industries. Our Elevator Pitch By merging the fashion sense of experienced stylists and the technology of algorithms, our aim is to allow every woman to look her best by providing her with her own personal stylist at an affordable price. Project Name - styleME Partners Key activities Value proposition Customer relation Sourcing of the products at best price Matching the clothes and accessories to best fit customers style and preference Top retail fashion brands offer us wholesale prices to sell their goods through our channel Customer segment Social media Marketing Offering an affordable, stylish personalized and convenient shopping experience that saves time. Using feedback to get better by time Resources Surprise element PR coverage Customers promoting styleME on their own social media with an incentive of a future discount Women of all nationalities between the age 25 to 55 who live in UAE Channels Busy mothers and working women Sourcing of the clothes and accessories Logistics staff, stylists, delivery men, marketing manager Warehouse, delivery van Cost Goods Logistics Packaging 3 to 4 day door to door delivery Free returns Revenue Office space Payment methods: Cash on delivery or online checkout during delivery Marketing Non refundable 70 AED styling fee Human resources 30% mark up on each item Delivery Warehouse styleME website Website Quarterly sale Executive Summary Market intelligence data & recent trends have established the fact that ecommerce is booming in the Middle East and people are spending more time on the internet searching for better offers and products. We also see that more and more women are spending time looking for clothes and accessories online. On a separate note, we spoke to women and realised that given a choice and the right price, every woman would want to have her own personal stylist – one who ensures she looks fabulous always. We combined the demand / market trend with the basic necessity of every woman and gave birth to styleME which is an online service that blends expert styling and a unique product to deliver a shopping experience that is truly personalised for you. UAE, we believe is the perfect market to start with since fashion is not a luxury but a necessity in this part of the world and in need of an experience that is so unique. We have the expertise and the will to transform a great idea into a successful business which will exhibit great returns year on year (financials as attached). Market summary • Geographical market selected to launch styleME is UAE. This market is lucrative because fashion is not a luxury but a necessity in this part of the world. People in the UAE take fashion very seriously and spend their money to up their style quotient • A bit on the statistics – Population of UAE is 9.3 million and our target audience is approximately 2.1 million women • UAE has 78% internet penetration which is growing and this makes it a lucrative market for such an initiative. Online spending in the Middle East is expected to grow from $9 billion in 2012 to $15 billion by 2015 E-commerce in UAE is growing – some facts: UAE has the highest percentage of internet users who shop online, compared to other countries in the Middle East. B2C 2010 ecommerce sales growth in the UAE was US $2 billion, 55% to 60% of the total GCC e-commerce sales, according to Visa The GCC e-commerce industry is estimated to grow to US $15bn by 2015, up from $3.5bn in 2010 32% of online shoppers in the Arab world are women. 17% buy clothes and 14% buy accessories online Users are motivated to shop but the main barrier preventing online purchase is a lack of trust in payment, an issue cited by 43% of internet users in the Arab world. Not being able to return the goods is another hiccup Opportunity Most women pick safer options in clothes; they don’t take risks with new colors or styles Busy mothers and working women have no time to shop Busy women have to give up on time with their families and friends in order to shop Others start not to give much attention to the way they dress. This consequently lowers their self esteem Then there are those who shop a lot but are not well turned out because they find it frustrating to mix and match things Target Segment Women (Local Emiratis, Expat Arabs, Asians, Westerners etc.) from the age of 21 to 55 years who live in the UAE. Our target is working women & stay at home mothers who would like to stay stylish while they enjoy the convenience of clothes / accessories being hand-picked for them by expert stylists and delivered at their door step Business Concept An online fashion retailor for women that offers an affordable, stylish, personalized and convenient shopping experience that saves time. Avoid the hassle of parking at the mall, browsing through several options, trying them on and the long queues during check out. Visit www.styleMe.com and signup to always stay stylish. Step 1- Create your fashion profile Clients signup and enter all their information: Budget Size, measurements, color preference Lifestyle information Particular dress code Social Networks: Clients have the option of allowing us to access their Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest profiles. By studying our client’s profile, we get an idea of how to best dress her. Step 2- We do our magic styleME’s unique algorithm analyzes the customer data to help our team of stylists study each customer profile. The stylists select 5 items from our existing inventory that would fit our client’s style, body shape and at the same time give her a fabulous makeover. We add a “how to wear” polaroid images which shows our client the different ways she can wear each outfit. Step 3- You receive the package Our delivery man will arrive at the client’s door within 3 to 4 working days. Our client has to pay a flat rate of 70 AED styling fee. She has the option to purchase any items she likes and to return any item she doesn't like. She pays for the items she decides to keep. For those who are apprehensive, can choose to pay cash on delivery. Others can pay online through our website. Step 4- Your feedback After purchasing the items the clients go back to styleME website and provide their feedback regarding each item. Any comments with regards to the style, size, fit and type of attire will help our stylist to arrange for a better pick for the our client’s next order. We incentivize our clients with future discounts / free styling / free outfits to ensure they leave a feedback for us and at the same time promote us on social media – Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. Claire registers on styleME by filling out a simple form with her basic information and style preferences The stylists get to work ; they get to know Claire better through the details she has provided and through her social media page Claire gives her feedback and makes the payment (online / COD) for the items she keeps. The feedback is fed into the algorithm making Claire’s next purchase more personalised 5 items are handpicked by styleME stylists and beautifully packed for Claire. Polaroid images are placed inside the box showing her how to wear and style each one of the items in the box Claire receives the box within 3- 4 days from the order and it’s a complete surprise for her.. Out of the 5 items, Claire can choose to keep what she likes and return the things she doesn’t like One of our Customers • This is Claire– 31 years old. She is married and she lives in Dubai. • She works as an Assistant Marketing Manager with a MNC and has a monthly income of 16,000 AED. • She hardly gets any time to shop but the nature of her job requires her to be well dressed at all times. BEFORE AFTER Confidential The transaction with Claire 1’st Pick - Top 2’nd Pick Jeans 3’rd Pick - Top 4’th Pick – Jump Suit 5’th Pick - Top Base Price 200 + 30% markup 260 Base Price 160 + 30% markup 210 Base Price 100 + 30% markup 130 Base Price 270 + 30% markup 350 Base Price 100 + 30% markup Fixed styling fee 130 70 1300 In case 3 items are kept, total price is AED 890 Profit AED 260 Our value proposition Our value proposition is the 'surprise' element of our business and the 'personalised' experience we offer our customers. The USP is that every woman can now afford to have her own personal stylist through styleME. She saves time and the effort to shop and yet gets to wear the latest trends and be well turned out at all times. Affordable yet personalised Try the clothes in the comfort of your home Save time Option of paying cash on delivery (research says that people aren’t comfortable using their credit cards for online purchase) The surprise element Return the things you don’t like – Free and Easy Returns We give styling tips and tell you how to wear Gets better with time – you give us your feedback, we get to know you more and we serve you better each time STRENGHTS WEAKNESSES 1. Clothes and accessories handpicked by stylists for women keeping in mind their likes, dislikes and budget. 2. Every woman can now have a personal stylist at an affordable price 3. Avoid the hassle of driving to the mall, finding parking, going through endless options (and still not finding something you like), long queues to bill … 4. Your style will be delivered at your doorstep 5. Still not enough? StyleME gives you the option of ‘Cash on Delivery’. 6. Too good to be true? Here’s more - We also give you the option of returning goods that you don’t want to keep 7. It’s a pleasant SURPRISE! 8. Integrating data analytics and algorithms would help fine tune what we know about our customers and also help us serve them better 1. 2. 3. 4. OPPORTUNITIES 1. 2. 3. 4. Highly scalable to include more product offerings for not only women but men and kids as well Expandable to more geographies like Saudi Arabia A mobile app and strategic tie-ups with the likes of Glam box holds more opportunities for growth More developed algorithms would help fine tune what we know about our customers and also help us serve them better Critical to the plan is the information gathered from each of the customers – the picture based form might be too tedious to fill It’s a marketing extensive initiative and word of mouth would be critical. Inventory management would be a challenge as we have a return policy in place. The malls in UAE offer a great shopping experience THREATS 1. 2. Possibility of the business proposition being replicated Other online stores become more popular Go to market strategy Objectives 1. Increasing traffic to the styleME website and thus the number customers 2. Have a high conversion rate and increased customer base 3. Strengthen positioning, increasing awareness and visibility in the market 4. Customer Retention and Growth through repeat purchases Marketing channels 1. Social media marketing: Promoted posts and sponsored stories on Facebook. Also use Twitter and Instagram as marketing channels. The customers will be encouraged to share positive reviews on our owned media channels by incentivising them through future discount options. Word of mouth will help us create the initial buzz. 2. SEO/SEM: In order to drive traffic SEO will be implemented. SEM shall cover aspects such as pay Per Click Adverts, Paid Inclusion and Ads on Search Engine Results pages (SERPS). 3. SMS marketing: This will be a good platform to reach target audience 4. Email marketing. 5. PR, media coverage and content marketing 5 year financial projection We are expecting to increase our customer base to 376,000 people by the end of year 5 We are estimating a Net Profit of AED 71 Million by the end of Year 5 5 Years Estimated Number of Customers Vs. Net Profit 500,000 80.0 450,000 71.3 70.0 400,000 60.0 350,000 267,076 376,043 50.0 300,000 48.4 210,761 250,000 40.0 Net Profit (in M AED) Number of Customers 36.7 200,000 30.0 101,123 150,000 20.0 100,000 16.5 11,865 10.0 50,000 0.8 - Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5