Are you about starting a bead making business? If YES, here is a complete sample bead making business plan template & feasibility report you can use for FREE.
Okay, so we have considered all the requirements for starting a bead making business. We also took it further by analyzing and drafting a sample bead marketing plan template backed up by actionable guerrilla marketing ideas for bead making companies. So let’s proceed to the business planning section.
A bead making business is an exciting venture you should take seriously. You can start this business part-time or you can do it full time. But no matter how you choose to start this business, it’s advisable you start by putting together a business plan.
Through your business plan, you will be able to know if outside financing is needed and it will help you to acquire those funding.
Your business plan should also have a workable marketing plan. This comprehensive plan should address advertising, promotions, pricing and incentives your business will leverage on to achieve its goals. You will also need to consider if your beads will be sold wholesale and/or retail.
Possible venues may include parties, craft shows, consignment, a retail store-front, and the Internet. Special certifications such as in gemmology or training in special design techniques should be noted in this section. A business plan is not some document you put together in a hurry.
You have to take your time to research and analyze the industry, as this plan will have a critical say in the success of your business.
The world Costume Jewellery Market size was valued at $25,554 million in 2015, rising at CAGR of 6.9% to reach $40,631 million by 2022. This industry market has witnessed growing adoption due to factors like increasing prices of gold, silver & other precious gems, increasing demand for men costume jewellery and availability of wide variety of designs in costume jewellery.
Industry reports have it that the costume jewellery market has largely benefited from the economic growth in the Asia-Pacific and LAMEA regions. It is believed that the rise in living standards and increasing fashion consciousness will boost market growth.
Presently, costume jewellery are high in demand among the working population owing to affordability and increasing demand of men costume jewellery. Also note that the growth in online marketing trends and increase in use of digital media for product marketing are the main factors aiding the growth of the global costume jewellery industry.
Report also has it that the increase in adoption of technologically advanced techniques and colourful stones for artificial jewellery would contribute to the growth of e-commerce websites for imitation jewelleries. But, fluctuating raw material prices and strict trade laws are some of the key factors that could affect the market growth.
According to industry statistics, urbanization is one of the crucial factors that affect the demand for costume jewellery. It is believed that 54% of the world’s population resided in urban areas in 2014, and by 2050, 66% of the worlds population is expected to move to urban areas.
North America and Europe are the most urbanized regions with a large consumer base, emerging fashion trends, and corporate lifestyle.
Have it in mind that consumer movement towards urban areas will undoubtedly increase the demand for the men and women costume jewellery market in the coming years. Also online sales have slowly become a key source of revenue for many companies.
This market is expected to grow enormously in the near future due to fast expanding online and mobile user customer base in rising markets, increase in e-commerce sales, improving logistics services, and ease in payment options.
Experts also believe that the rising cost of natural metal ores such as gold, silver, and platinum is shifting the trend of jewellery to costume jewellery. Non-precious metals in such cases are providing effective platform to costume jewellery industries through their flexible properties.
Also the growing awareness for the conservation of limited resources and availability of affordable replica of precious jewellery items has reduced and replaced the gold jewellery products with artificial jewellery.
Statistics has shown that the united states is the largest revenue contributor in the global costume jewellery market followed by Japan and China. Powered by strong demand in North American and Asian countries, the costume jewellery market in both the regions is developing rapidly.
Seabee Beads is a bead design and manufacturing business located in Manhattan, New York City. Seabee Beads designs and make beads in the form of earrings, pins, and pendants. All our products for now will be designed and manufactured by Jaime Clone.
We at Seabee Beads hope to offer our clients a wide range of bead jewelleries, from pendants, to pins, to earrings. We plan to sell our products directly through our website as well as through selected jewellery shops and art shows. We also plan to start hiring a solid workforce by month eight to help grow our business.
We understand that the general jewellery industry is highly fragmented with thousands and thousands of artisans competing for distribution contracts and fame. Most of these bead makers work and distribute locally, others have national distribution systems set up.
Some of them also design products for larger companies to manufacture; others will design and make the pieces themselves.
We at Seabee Beads have taken our time to consider the market and the competition we will be facing. We have noted that bead makers creating designs that are then manufactured on a large scale and distributed nationally will compete with our business directly.
We have left no stone unturned to ensure that Seabee Beads fulfills its visions and business goals. We have decided to focus on two distinct groups of customers. One is the end consumer; the other is jewellery shops. Our first target audience, the end consumer, will be interacting with Jaime Clone via our company website as well as through personal contact at exhibitions/shows.
The jewellery shops (museum shops, jewellery stores) will also be met through exhibitions and shows. It’s very important to state that Seabee Beads will be completely financed by equity capital provided by Jaime Clone. We will pass our break-even point within the first year.
Conservative projections based on sales over the next three years will yield annual revenue of $341,000 by Year 3. The company expects its cash account to remain healthy. We have made plans to employ diligent workers after one year of opening and we plan to train them to align well with our business vision and ethics.
Seabee Beads will design and manufacture bead jewelleries. These jewelleries will take the form of pendants, bangles, waist beads, neck beads, and pins.
All of the products are designed and made by Jaime Clone. We will be using different shapes and sizes of bead material such as stone, bone, shells, glass, plastic, wood or pearl. We also plan to use different bead sizes, from under 1 millimetre (0.039 in) to over 1 centimetre (0.39 in) in diameter.
All our beads will be shaped by carving or casting, depending on the material and desired effect. In some rare cases, we hope to employ specialized metalworking or glass working techniques, or a combination of multiple techniques and materials such as in cloisonné to provide attractive and standard products for our clients.
Our Business Structure
Seabee Beads is founded and operated by Jaime Clone. Seabee will be formed as a sole proprietorship in Manhattan, New York City. Jaime Clone is well known as an expert in bead making. Even at a young age, instead of playing sports such as football and lacrosse, he would often find ordinary things lying around school and transform them into pieces of art.
Most of his free time was spent crafting things, this is what he enjoyed. Jaime pursued his undergraduate degree from the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA), where he studied and excelled in graphic design.
He worked all through school at Melanie designs that did a wide range of design work including company logos, furniture design, and product design. After graduating, Jamie decided to tour the United States and find a perfect art he would enjoy doing all his life.
While on his destiny-inspired tour he met Miranda Jones, a well-known bead maker in Chicago. He worked with Miranda for three years, an event that sealed his fate. According to Jaime, within the time he worked with Miranda, he discovered and loved the art of bead making.
Along the line he realized that he needed to develop his own business, specifically a bead making design and manufacturing business.
Jaime moved out to Manhattan with his wife because of its mature market and economy. Jaime Clone within the one year will wear many different hats. He will be designer and manufacturer of the beads. He will also handle all ordering of the raw material and sales of the pieces.
From the beginning of the business’s second year, Seabee will employ a solid workforce to helps us achieve our visions of becoming the number one bead maker in all of New York.
We at Seabee Beads plan to hire workers that are very qualified, innovative, customer centric, having good communication skills and are open to help us build a business that can compete in the industry. From our second year in business, we plan to hire qualified and competent hands to occupy the following offices;
Chief Executive Officer (Jaime Clone)
Admin and HR manager
Bead Designer
Marketing and Sales Manager
Information director
Company accountants
Deliverers
Cleaners
Security guard
We at Seabee Beads have taken our time to research the industry. We also understand that a business plan is not complete without a SWOT Analysis that analyses your flaws and strength. We employed the services of a renowned Consulting firm to help with our SWOT Analysis.
We also understand that the jewellery industry is composed of thousand upon thousands of people. Some work and distribute locally, others have national distribution systems set up.
Some artists will design products for larger companies to manufacture; others will design and make the pieces themselves. Our SWOT analysis noted all these and also outlined our strengths and advantage in the industry. Below is a summary of our SWOT analysis presented by Sandra-Rich consults.
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
The general jewellery industry, in spite of being a characteristically traditional domain, is not bereft of the ramifications of this modern day transformation, with more and more established brands making use of technology and innovation to stay ahead of the competition. Customers, on the other hand, especially millennials, are now aware of trends.
That is why experts believe that the jewellery industry will undergo a major upheaval in the coming year, to meet the very specific, growing demands of the market.
We at Seabee a beads also understand that customers are growing smarter and more conscious about what they want, and as such, more and more brands are focusing on creating unique designs that appeal to their specific tastes and demands.
Also with the rise in the popularity of smart business and casual attire, people wish to pair their every day, work, and party outfits with the appropriate jewellery that defines their unique style, while also being comfortable to wear it for extended periods of time.
This is why experts believe that in the coming year, there will be a high demand for light, daily-wear jewellery, owing to the practicality, comfort, and versatility that they offer.
We at Seabee Beads have noted that customisability jewellery has been one of the most prominent developments in the industry that has shaped the course of the marketplace. We know that customers are more open to experimenting, rather than sticking to traditional options, and as a result, we have positioned ourselves to offer them the same.
Custom, hand-made jewellery has been rapidly gaining in popularity, and within the next year, is expected to dominate the entire industry. We also know that customers today are used to a wide range of options from which to make their choice, prior to the purchase.
They compare the prices, quality, design, and other factors governing the product to discover the one they like best. As such, the jewellery industry is striving to offer its customers a wide variety of products curated specifically to cater to their particular tastes and preferences.
We at Seabee Beads plan to focus on two unique groups of customers. One is the end consumer, the other is jewellery stores and galleries. The end consumer will be interacting with Jaime Clone via our company’s website as well as through personal contact at exhibitions/shows.
The galleries (museum shops, jewellery stores) will also be met through the exhibitions and shows. We believe that at these events, a long term relationship will be entered into so that the shops will become a retail distribution channel for Seabee Beads.
We believe that buyers are buying beads wholesale and reselling it to the public. Indeed some of the galleries are private galleries, some are artisan jewellery shops, and some are museum stores.
We also agree that the sale margins are not as good compared to sales to individuals and there is also the expense of setting up relationships with the galleries to sell the art pieces, but galleries move a large quantity of work. We also want to point out that the galleries and stores that typically are interested in our work are more upscale and modern.
We at Seabee Beads acknowledge that individuals are familiar with our products either from the Internet, by seeing samples of Jaime’s work at a showing or art festival, word of mouth, or some other avenue. We also believe that these individuals would then view the different available pieces on the website and place their order via the Web, phone, fax, or mail.
From our analysis, the sale margins for individuals are greater because there is no distribution layer involved; it is direct from Seabee Beads to the end consumer. The individuals that are typically attracted to this type of artwork are generally from cities and are fairly progressive.
Our competitive advantage at Seabee Beads is the impeccable artistic skill of Jaime Clone. Although Jaime Clone does not have a monopoly of artistic skill, his level of creativity and expertise is encountered very infrequently. We at Seabee Beads believe that Jaime Clone will make use of his competitive advantage to make and design some wonderful pieces of art.
Our competitive advantage in this industry will be based on creative, unusual designs. Although this strategy can be replicated, it is not easy.
Creative, unusual designs require skill. Indeed not everyone has artistic skill and Jaime is agreeably not the only one blessed with this skill, but irrespective of those facts, Jaime Clone is very skilled in what he does, and every piece that he manufactures incorporates an element of creativity that stands out from most jewelleries.
We at Seabee Beads plan to generate income by designing and manufacturing bead jewelleries. These jewelleries will take the form of pendants, bangles, waist beads, neck beads, and pins. Just like we stated before, all of the products are designed by Jaime Clone.
We will be using different shapes and sizes of bead material such as stone, bone, shells, glass, plastic, wood or pearl. We also plan to use different bead sizes, from under 1 millimetre (0.039 in) to over 1 centimetre (0.39 in) in diameter.
All our beads will be shaped by carving or casting, depending on the material and desired effect. We will also generate income by publishing books on bead making techniques. We also plan to start a class where interested individuals will pay to learn how to make beads of their choice.
We at Seabee Beads plan that our first month will be spent setting up the work quarters and building up inventory. Then our second month will be spent traveling around visiting galleries trying to set up distribution channels. By the third month our sales activity must have started.
Jaime Clone will be on the road usually about one week per month traveling to different galleries and exhibits. This will occur for one year. Our second year will mark the time when Seabee Beads will hire capable hands to help achieve our goals. It will also allow Jaime Clone to concentrate on his design and production. Below are the sales assumptions for SB;
Our marketing strategy at Seabee Beads will be targeted at acquiring a wide range of galleries to carry and sell all our products. We plan to achieve these using two methods. The first is attendance and display at different shows. The shows are typically craft shows, art shows or art festivals.
Statistics has shown that final consumers attend these shows; buyers from galleries attend these shows to meet artists and form relationships with them. While our other method is travel to different galleries and speaking with the buyers or owners and showing them the unique products made by Seabee Beads.
In addition to this method, a complete catalogue of our collection can be viewed and purchased over the Web. While some people like to hold the actual piece before purchasing, the photos on the Web are quite detailed and people often feel comfortable ordering a piece directly from the website.
We at Seabee Beads can boost of having no local competition for now, but we understand that we must compete with internet retailers who offer similar jewelleries at slightly lower prices. We’ve been able to note that industry business owners and decision makers would buy based on superior quality and product, excellent customer service, and local business location.
We also know that businesses in our business scope make their money from the interest and commissions when they offer their services and products. We hope to keep our prices below the average market rate for the main time, but will increase as our business identity increases.
It’s our goal at Seabee Beads to make our customers the baseline of our business and satisfy their needs. We plan to establish a platform that will suit our diverse clients at different times. We have also partnered with a renowned banking platform to serve our clients very well and comfortably. We hope to make available the following payment options for our clients;
We at Seabee Beads understand that the cost of starting a business like ours is divided into three folds; the cost of putting together office structure, the capital meant for inventories, and the cost of other issues like advertising and business registration. The financial projection and costing of Seabee Beads is outlined as follows;
From our cost analysis above, we will need $132,850 and our $500,000 inventory fund to start Seabee Beads.
Generating Start up Capital for Seabee Beads
Seabee Beads will be completely financed by equity capital provided by Jaime Clone. We will pass our break-even point within the first year. Conservative projections based on sales over the next three years will yield an annual revenue of $341,000 by Year 3.
The company expects its cash account to remain healthy. We have made plans to employ diligent workers after one year of opening and we plan to train them to align well with our business vision and ethics. Jaime Clone will prefer to fund the business privately for now, but are likely to source for external funds as the business grows. These are the areas we intend generating startup capital for Seabee Beads:
Note: Jaime Clone has been able to raise $700,000 through individual savings and few soft loans from their families. He believes he has what it takes to fund this business completely, while also giving the best to clients.
We at Seabee Beads believe that the buying patterns of consumers fall into two types: gifts and impulse purchases. First and foremost, a gift purchase happens when the buyer is looking for a gift for someone, sees the unique bead piece, and then purchases it.
In this particular scenario, the plan is to make a purchase, it is just not known what or where that product will be made. The other buying pattern is impulse purchase. An individual might be shopping, with no interest or need for anything, will see the item and want to have it, and buy it on the spot.
One last pattern that occurs less frequently is if someone was looking for an “accessory” that would match an outfit and happens to come across the piece of bead we make at Seabee beads and buys it. We have considered every option and have made ourselves available to provide all these needs.
The general jewellery industry, or even broader the art industry, is quite large and diverse. We know there are countless artisans making different pieces of work.
We acknowledge that some of them will compete directly with us by selling to large department stores, some to galleries, some sell them only via a website, and others will travel with the products and sell what they are carrying. But we have made plans to make sure we stay ahead of bead and jewellery trends in the industry.
Manhattan which is our business location was chosen because it is often described as the cultural, financial, media, and entertainment capital of the world, and it hosts the United Nations Headquarters.
Anchored by Wall Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City has been called both the most economically powerful city and the leading financial centre of the world, and Manhattan is home to the world’s two largest stock exchanges by total market capitalization: the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ.
We believe that this location has abundance of the target audience we plan to reach. We have organised our business proceedings to suit the growing needs and culture of our business location.
Checklist/Milestone
