There is a simple business plan but it could be used as an example for more complex cases.
The Wild Pet Shop
BUSINESS IDEA AND STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION
Core idea
The core idea is to sell various well animated wildcats at a reasonable price. The
wildcats will be shown and sold in one special pet shop – The Wild Pet Shop.
There will be sold four different species of wild cats (lioness, leopard, panther,
tiger). Moreover, freebie animals like teddies and cows will be sold for 1L$ to
attract customers to visit the shop.
Service offering
The wild cats will be animated to walk beside the avatar and to interact with the
avatar by clicking on them, e.g. they will roar. Moreover, it will be possible to ride and even navigate them. Demo wild cats will be exposed in the shop, so that the
potential customers know how the animals look like.
The shop aims to offer the best animated realistic wild pets in SL.
MARKET INCL. RISK ANALYSIS
Target market
The target group are SL users who want to have a pet. There are different reasons
for having a pet. E.g.:
1) User who have an animal in real life and would like to have one in SL as well
and user who aren`t able to take care for an animal in RL but want to enjoy the
feeling of taking care in SL (women between 25-35)
2) User who want to have something to act up with and think “cool” pets are pretty
fashionable (men between 20-30),
3) Users who want to have animals for a zoo or a race, e.g. horse race, camel race
or even a turtle race (men between 20-40).
Potential market volume
Most of the registered users are from US, France and Germany - together around
50% of the users. In these countries about 25% of the inhabitants own a pet. As a
simplification, it is assumed that 25% of all SL users are interested in pets.
There are 500,000 active users in SL. It is assumed that only 30% of the active
users (150,000) in fact have a reasonable amount of money. It is expected that out
of these 25% (37,500) in fact buy an animal, since this is the number of users
interested in pets.
Currently in SL are 160,846,535 L$. Giving this money belongs to 30% of the
users, each user owns about 1000 L$. The potential target group will be willing to
spend 30% of its funds for animals and so the potential market volume is about
11,250,000 L$.
SWOT-Analysis
Strength
• Good offer: The strength of The Wild Pet Shop are the good-looking
wildcats and their fancy animations.
• Low maintenance: Once started there is not much effort needed to be
invested into the shop, since the shop does not need any attendance because
the animals can show their animations on their own.
• Low follow-up investments: Within 100 days there will be 40 animals
including freebies which is a large enough assortment to ensure customer
satisfaction and so no new animals are needed.
Weakness
Facing a limited budget, the initial investments for four animals are relatively
high. Therefore, the other expenses, e.g. marketing and rent, have to be reduced.
Opportunity
• The shop can easily be reproduced to other locations, so a franchise or
chain system is possible.
• There are various innovative forms of exhibition and possibilities for the
users to “try out” the animals, which will create word of mouth and thereby
demand, e.g. setting up an own race course and announce an animal race
there or opening a zoo where the animals are represented and can also be
bought.
Threat
Since there are low entry barriers, a good competitor with a higher investment
volume could enter the market before The Wild Pet Shop is introduced to the
market.
MARKETING CHANNELS
Targeted customer segment
According to the target market, there are three different customer groups which
will be addressed in the marketing campaigns:
1) Women who have/want to have an animal in RL and who love cuddle toys
this target group has the largest group, but only medium wealthy
2) Stylish people who want to have very special animals to act up
3) Rich people who always want to win, be/have the best to talk big and are
willing to spend a lot of money
Since a high amount of money is needed for the development during the first
period, the expenses for marketing may not be too high. Therefore a selection of
customer segment 1) will be done, since this segment is the main segment.
Especially, the freebies will attract this customers. The very specialist segments 2)
and 3) will be targeted later on since the very special marketing campaign will be
more expensive.
Market entry strategy
At the beginning, there will be only one shop in a high frequented mall. This will
make sure that a lot of people see the shop. However, not all users of the target
group will find the shop and so there will be appealing advertisements at various
spots within SL. For the future, it is planed to have a franchise system and shops at
various spots in SL.
The marketing concept consists of two main levers: Advertisement in Second Life
magazines and "word of mouth". Two support the second lever, we will have
avatars visiting high traffic areas and happenings with pets from our store.
Pricing
The pricing of the animals depends on the size and the complexity of the
animation. Regarding to the current prices in SL, e.g. a “normal” not animated cat
is about 300 L$, and the lower income of user in segment 1) e.g. a well animated
wildcat will only be 499L$ in The Wild Pet Shop. Aim of The Wild Pet Shop is to
attract price sensitive customers (freebies) as well as richer people who like good
quality to a fair price (wildcats). This will attract more customers and so the low
prices are compensated through higher sales.
TEAM ORGANIZATION
The team consists of Nina, Tobias and Sarah. All of them love animals and have a
lot of experience in taking care of them.
Since they have a special connection to animals the team members know what
animals and animations are useful and nice to have. Therefore, they are in fact part
of the target group and represent the needs of the SL inhabitants. Moreover, they
can give hints to the customers on the use and care of the animals.
Moreover, Nina knows a lot about Second Life, since her boyfriend loves to play
computer games and shows her how to do it. Therefore, she knows the most
visited places and in case she has a problem, she might ask her boyfriend.
Tobias works at a zoo in RL and especially takes care of the wildcats. Moreover,
he often talks to visitors and so he knows what other people like about wildcats.
Sarah used to study animal health and so she knows a lot about the anatomy of
animals.
