於台灣設立法國品牌商品專營店之商業企劃書 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學商學院國際經營管理英語碩士學位學程 International MBA Program College of Commerce National Chengchi University. 碩士論文政治. 大. 立Master’s Thesis. ‧. ‧ 國. 學 sit. y. Nat. 於台灣設立法國品牌商品專營店之商業企劃書 n. al. er. io. Business Plan of Franchising Pylones in Taiwan. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Student: Connie Chen Advisor: Professor Jason Tsai. 中華民國一○二年六月 June 2013.

(2) 於台灣設立法國品牌商品專營店之商業企劃書 Business Plan of Franchising Pylones in Taiwan. 研究生：陳康瑀. Student: Connie Chen. 指導教授：蔡政憲. Advisor: Jason Tsai. 國立政治大學. 學. ‧ 國. 立. 政治大. ‧. 商學院國際經營管理英語碩士學位學程碩士論文. er. io. sit. y. Nat. A Thesis. n. a to International MBA Program Submitted iv l C n U NationalhChengchi University engchi. in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master in Business Administration. 中華民國一○二年六月 June 2013.

(3) Acknowledgement First and foremost, I would like to give my most sincere gratitude to Professor Jason Tsai for patiently advising me throughout the development of this business plan. Though some of the meeting sessions had to take place outside of school and office hours, he was always kind, supportive and encouraging in every way possible to help me through the rough and tight schedules squeezed between work, school, and family.. 政治大 through all the challenges raised 立 during the two full years of the IMBA courses and lectures, I. Secondly, without the IMBA faculty staffs and professors, I would never have successfully gone. ‧ 國. 學. would like express my greatest appreciation to all IMBA faculties from the beginning since LECR. A special thanks to Li-Chi for helping and advising every step of the way.. ‧. It has been an honor to have met my fellow IMBA classmates and alumni, for I’ve learned so. y. Nat. io. sit. much from every one of them, they have helped me open my mind to a new horizon, and I. n. al. er. would like to thank all of them for an insightful and enlightening IMBA experience. And a. Ch. i n U. v. special thanks to Paris Chang for helping me collect some observational data from a Pylones. engchi. store while she was studying in Paris in an exchange program; without her, the most critical financial projection in this business plan would not have been possible. Lastly, I am forever in debt to my husband Jerry Chen who has taken on my role as a mother, to take care of our daughter while I was away nights and weekends to concentrate on my studies. I give my wholehearted love and gratefulness to him and to my families for all their support and assistance at home, which allowed me to complete this milestone I’ve set for myself.. i.

(4) TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary .................................................................................................................. 1 1.. Company Background – Pylones .................................................................................... 3 1.1.. Overview .................................................................................................................... 5. 1.2.. Mission ....................................................................................................................... 6. 1.3.. Vision .......................................................................................................................... 6. 1.4.. Company Ownership .................................................................................................. 7. 2.2.. Sales Platform ........................................................................................................... 13. 2.3.. Delivery Service ....................................................................................................... 16. 2.4.. Warranty ................................................................................................................... 16. 治政 2. Products and Services ...................................................................................................... 8 大立 2.1. Products Descriptions ................................................................................................. 9 ‧. ‧ 國. 學. y. Nat. io. sit. Marketing Plan ............................................................................................................... 17. er. 3.. 3.1.. Market Outlook ........................................................................................................ 17. 3.2.. Marketing Strategies ................................................................................................. 20. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 3.2.1. Online Marketing.................................................................................................. 21 3.2.2. Target Customers .................................................................................................. 23 3.2.3. Internet Keyword Search ...................................................................................... 27 3.2.4. Social Media Marketing ....................................................................................... 29 3.2.5. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) ....................................................... 31 3.3.. Competition .............................................................................................................. 31. 3.3.1. Competitive Analysis ............................................................................................ 32 3.3.2. SWOT Analysis .................................................................................................... 35. ii.

(5) Pricing Strategies ...................................................................................................... 38. Operational Plan ............................................................................................................. 42 4.1.. Company Setup and Domain Name Registration ..................................................... 42. 4.2.. Online Shop Construction ........................................................................................ 43. 4.3.. Import Tariffs, Shipping and Handling ..................................................................... 43. 4.4.. Employees ................................................................................................................ 44. 政治大. Financial Plan ................................................................................................................. 45. 立. Startup Milestone and Cost Analysis ........................................................................ 45. 5.2.. Sales Forecast ........................................................................................................... 46. 5.3.. Cash Flow Projection ............................................................................................... 50. 5.4.. Profit and Loss Projections ....................................................................................... 52. 5.5.. Sensitivity Analysis .................................................................................................. 53. 學. 5.1.. ‧. sit. y. Nat. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 55. io. 6.. 3.5.. n. al. er. 5.. Promotional Strategies .............................................................................................. 36. ‧ 國. 4.. 3.4.. i n U. v. Reference ................................................................................................................................. 59. Ch. engchi. iii.

(6) List of Figures and Tables Figure 1: Original Designers and Products................................................................................. 4 Figure 2: Original Pylones Workshop Store ............................................................................... 4 Figure 3: Official Website Theme .............................................................................................. 5 Figure 4: Pylones Mascots.......................................................................................................... 8 Figure 5: Pylones Stores Interior and Product Designs ............................................................ 24 Figure 6: Pylones Store in Sydney, Australia ........................................................................... 25. 治政 Figure 7: Pylones Store in Prague, Czech Republic ................................................................. 27 大立 Figure 8: Official Pylones Facebook Fan Page ........................................................................ 37 ‧ 國. 學 ‧. Table 1: Pylones Stores Global Distribution .............................................................................. 3 Table 2: Beauty Products .......................................................................................................... 10. y. Nat. er. io. sit. Table 3: Office Products ........................................................................................................... 11 Table 4: Tableware Products ..................................................................................................... 12. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. Table 5: Kids Products .............................................................................................................. 13. engchi. Table 6: Website Structure ........................................................................................................ 15 Table 7: Domestic Delivery Charges (SF Express) .................................................................. 16 Table 8: Creative Industries Outlook and Projection for the Domestic Market ....................... 19 Table 9: Brief Interview of Europeans’ Awareness of Pylones ................................................ 25 Table 10: Top 11 Search Engines in Taiwan (www.promote168.com) .................................... 28 Table 11: Internet Users Behavior Statistics ............................................................................. 29 Table 12: Social Media Account Registration in Taiwan ......................................................... 30 Table 13: Competitive Analysis of Creative Industries Market in Taiwan ............................... 34. iv.

(7) Table 14: SWOT Analysis of Pylones-Taiwan.tw .................................................................... 35 Table 15: Pylones Stores’ Country Distribution and GDP ....................................................... 40 Table 16: Taiwan Import Tariff Rates by Product Categories .................................................. 41 Table 17: Company and Business Registration Fees in Taiwan ............................................... 42 Table 18: Chung Hwa Telecom Domain Name Service Charges ............................................. 43 Table 19: Business Startup Milestone and Cost ....................................................................... 46 Table 20: Creative Industries Domestic Market Revenue per Vendor Projection .................... 46. 政治大. Table 21: On-Site Observation of Pylones Paris – Carrousel du Louvre And Sales Projection. 立. for Pylones-Taiwan.tw .............................................................................................................. 47. ‧ 國. 學. Table 22: Twelve Month Sales Forecast ................................................................................... 49 Table 23: Product Purchase Distribution .................................................................................. 49. ‧. Table 24: Twelve Month Cash Flow Projection ....................................................................... 51. y. Nat. sit. Table 25: Net Present Value of Pylones-Taiwan.tw Based on Five Year Period ...................... 53. n. al. er. io. Table 26: Sensitivity Analysis .................................................................................................. 54. Ch. engchi. v. i n U. v.

(8) Executive Summary The purpose of this document is to properly and realistically develop a business plan to establish an online store selling Pylones (French branded company) products in Taiwan, which includes various gift ideas with creatively designed everyday commodities in Beauty, Office, Tableware, and Kids product categories. Through detailed market analyses, promotional marketing strategies and operational plans, financial projections will be made to indicate how the business is likely to progressively operate as a special franchise of Pylones France.. 政治大 The business plan, for the 立 company which will presumably be named Pylones-Taiwan.tw,. ‧ 國. 學. includes business startup information, product categories, marketing strategies, pricing plan, operations structuring, and financial analyses. This new startup business will be operated on a. ‧. virtual platform as an online store with a variety of Pylones goods/gift selections offering. io. sit. y. Nat. various payment methods.. n. al. er. The keys to the success of Pylones-Taiwan.tw are the thorough market analysis and strategies. Ch. i n U. v. including social media tactics and promotional plans on attracting visitors and create more. engchi. online traffic, target the right audience, maintain within the top search results with keyword search, leverage social media to build brand awareness, and build brand loyalty through customer relationship management tool. A great deal of efforts will be put into Internet marketing campaigns to maximize the exposure of the brand and products. Based on observations taken at a physical Pylones store in Paris, sales forecast was made to be NTD 5,113,260 in the first year (with consideration of country GDPs), and using the NPV rule to calculate the cash flow over the five year period, the NPV would turn out to be NTD 8,330,160. And by utilizing the sensitivity analysis method, it has been indicated that the actual. 1.

(9) sales will greatly affect the cash flow, thus generating sales to meet the sales forecast is the most important mission in this business scenario. With the one of the kind design elements, durable functionality and quality, Pylones-Taiwan.tw will leverage the power of social media as one of its main marketing strategies to open the door and create a world for targeted potential audiences. And with the projected financial figures, once established and following the strategic plans, Pylones-Taiwan.tw is heading towards. 政治大. prosperity, continuous growth, and sustainability.. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 2. i n U. v.

(10) 1. Company Background – Pylones Pylones (pronounced pea-lone) is a uniquely colorful and animated store, founded in France, which delights consumers with thoughtful designs and innovative twists on everyday objects. Though Pylones is still a private company, it has successfully expanded globally, having its own stores respectively in France, Germany, England, Netherlands, Italy Czech Republic, Lithuania, Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, US, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Philippines, Indonesia, India, Lebanon, Dubai, and Australia. Pylones currently has 96 stores. 學. Table 1: Pylones Stores Global Distribution. io. n. al. America. Asia. Oceania. Ch. engchi. 3. Total. y. No. of Stores 18 7 12 7 1 2 1 1 7 1 4 8 3 2 10 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 1. sit. Nat. Europe. Country France Germany England Netherlands Italy Czech Republic Lithuania Russia Turkey Azerbaijan US Colombia Brazil Venezuela Japan South Korea Hong Kong Philippines Indonesia India Lebanon Dubai Australia Total Stores. er. Continent. ‧. ‧ 國. 治政 throughout the globe across 4 continents. Table 1 below 大illustrates the number of stores by 立 country in each continent.. i n U. 57. v. 17. 21. 1 96.

(11) Pylones started out as a workshop in 1985 in Paris, with a collection of animal jewelry made from rubber, the products caught the attention of everyone who passed by the shop. From the beginning, the rubbery, flexible and stretchable material fit perfectly with Pylones’ imaginary environment. Then came a collection of multicolored accessories that attracted all, young and old alike. Under the magic wand of promising designers, Pylones filled up with poetic and colorful objects that are soft, resilient, and washable. Figures 1 & 2 were the photos taken when Pylones was first established with original designers and product concepts.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學 sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. Figure 1: Original Designers and Products. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Figure 2: Original Pylones Workshop Store The story continues, Pylones’s core competencies come from its enthusiastic and talented designers who keep on exploring new concepts utilizing new materials and techniques, reliable. 4.

(12) suppliers, and attentive employees, all these led to Pylones’ success in business. For 27 years, Pylones is still driven by the pioneering spirit of giving objects shapes that are often figurative, representing animals or humans that are colorful. Pylones transforms everyday objects into gifts, making people look at them with pleasure and use them with enjoyment. Figure 3 in the following is the current theme displayed in Pylones’ official website, which included pictures and shapes of products that it carries in different categories.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Nat. sit. y. Figure 3: Official Website Theme. n. al. er. io. Pylones-Taiwan.tw, a limited company which is to be established in 2014, is a privately owned. i n U. v. online store that offers a variety of products brought in from Pylones Headquarters located in. Ch. engchi. France. The founder being a fan of Pylones, who happened to come across an adorable bicycle bell which was sturdily built in material and stylishly designed in vivid colors, that not only attracts the eyes, but also meets the demand in terms of practicality. It was how the brand Pylones came into picture in terms of a business idea to bring in a series of creative industrial designed gift commodities into Taiwan, for which the market still lacks such.. 1.1. Overview Pylones-Taiwan.tw, as the name implies, will initially be registered as an online gift shop with design elements as well as commodities following that of Pylones.com of France. The business,. 5.

(13) though privately owned, will be operated under the concept of special franchise, meaning the license of trademark, business model, and rights to sell specific merchandises will be given by Pylones France. Later depending on the outside factors and circumstances, business expansion may take place, where there will be needs to setup physical store(s). Besides the products’ integration of design and utility, the major differentiation of Pylones-Taiwan.tw will be its advocate and practice of social entrepreneurship. Certain percentage of the profits earned will be giving back to the society, on top of that, certain product marketing campaigns will help and. 政治大. raise funds for specific minority groups. Although Pylones products had appeared in the Taiwan. 立. market for a brief period of 3 years selling through department stores, and later started its e-. ‧ 國. 學. commerce, yet business closed withdrawing all the physical stores along with its online channel. Pylones-Taiwan.tw will not end up like that, with the social media marketing strategies, this. ‧. time it will be a success.. er. io. sit. y. Nat. 1.2. Mission. To bring into Taiwan stylish fairytale-like everyday commodities and inspire the public with. al. n. v i n personified designs that put smiles faces and bring colors into people’s lives while Conto h epeople’s ngchi U. using the products; Pylones-Taiwan.tw aims to utilize social media marketing to become a profitable entity and stays sustainable by giving back a fair share to the society.. 1.3. Vision To eventually setup physical Pylones stores in major metropolitan areas in Taiwan, and make Pylones a well-known brand for creative designer gift ideas. To penetrate the brand and design concept into the Taiwan market, when people think about where to find stylish, cool and fairytale-like everyday commodity gifts, Pylones will be the first to pop in mind.. 6.

(14) 1.4. Company Ownership Pylones-Taiwan.tw, to be founded by Connie Chen with the legal structure of “Limited Company” registered in Taiwan, is solely owned by the founder. Initially, the business will be operated by the owner, taking on the roles of website maintenance (limited), marketing promotions, sales transactions, product shipping, book keeping etc. When monthly sales transactions reach certain level (about NTD 200,000) that exceeds the full timer’s working capacity, part time employee(s) will be recruited to share the workload.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 7. i n U. v.

(15) 2. Products and Services Pylones-Taiwan.tw offers a variety of product selections directly imported from abroad (depending on where the country of manufacture is) with the authorization of product sales given by Pylones Headquarters. In France, the products are considered commodities of gift ideas, where people buy Pylones products not only for self-use, but mostly purchased as presents for their loved ones.. 政治大 be sold in Taiwan, they are Beauty, 立 Office, Tableware, and Kids. The following picture (Figure. Due to market differences, the business will mainly carry and focus on 4 product categories to. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. 4) shows the Pylones mascots created by renown plastic sculpture artist Jean Bourdier.. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. Figure 4: Pylones Mascots. 8. v.

(16) 2.1. Products Descriptions In order for any product to be introduced into a market with success in terms of public acceptance, it has to be somewhat differentiated from other products of its genre, to play a role and obtain certain position in the market industry. Pylones products possess that specific touch of elegant design utilizing objects and colors that are all around people’s everyday life, which pulls and draws people’s attention to those products of vast variety of design ideas and elements applied onto things (tools) that are so frequently used every day, which brings the closeness and. 政治大. linkage of Pylones to people. Thus, the majority of its products carries such presentation and. 立. spirit, also offers numerous models per product showing the diversity of designs.. ‧ 國. 學. Most of the Pylones products were created by respective designers with similar design concepts. ‧. that all revolve around giving lives to products by applying elements of personification,. sit. y. Nat. meaning implanting characters, shapes, and colors, thus making each product sophisticated and. io. n. al. er. unique in its own way.. i n U. v. Though all merchandises will be imported, their descriptions will be localized with theme. Ch. engchi. stories to bring the products to life, aiming to target those customers who have appreciation for personified industrial design commodities that are every bit as practical to serve the utility purpose as those without any exterior designs. The following Tables 2, 3, 4 and 5 will display the full product list which will be available on Pylones-Taiwan.tw.. 9.

(17) Table 2: Beauty Products Beauty Product Name. Photo. Product Name. Photo. Product Name. Large Hairbrush NTD 828. Tweezers NTD 460. Foot File NTD 550. Curling Brush NTD 830. Nail Scissors NTD 645. Comb (Guy) NTD 370. 立. ‧ 國. Hairbrush Mirror NTD 550. ‧. Nat. sit. io. n. al. Lice Comb NTD 320. y. Nail File NTD 370. er. Comb NTD 550. Nail Clippers NTD 550. 學. Pocket Mirror NTD 830. 政治大. Hair Dryer NTD 1795. Ch. engchi. Hair Clips NTD 275. 10. i n U. v. Small Hairbrush NTD 690. Photo.

(18) Table 3: Office Products Office Product Name. Photo. Product Name. Photo. Product Name. Scary Pen NTD 230. Tape Dispenser NTD 640. Pen and Holder NTD 550. Occupation Pen NTD 275. Paper Punch NTD 550. Tape Dispenser NTD 460. 立. Girl Pen NTD 275. 政治大 Mini Stapler NTD 230. Scissors with round tips NTD 735. A5 Zip Folder NTD 140. Material : Polypropylene. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Details : 33 x 24 cm. A4 Folder NTD 230. Stapler Remover NTD 275. sit. n. al. er. io. Pencil Case NTD 140. y. Nat. A4 Zip Folder NTD 185. A5 Folder NTD 140. Ch. engchi U. Notebook NTD 275. v ni. Business Cardholder NTD 460. Pin Box NTD 550. 11. Photo.

(19) Table 4: Tableware Products Tableware Product Name. Photo. Product Name. Photo. Product Name. Porcelain Bowl NTD 830. Juicer NTD 415. Table Mat NTD 550. Kitchen Timer NTD 550. Corkscrew NTD 1150. Dishbrush NTD 830. 立. ‧ 國. ‧ Funnel NTD 320. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Ice Cream Scoop NTD 830. Nat. Pasta Spoon NTD 670. Dustpan & Brush NTD 1520. Bottle Stopper NTD 550. 學. Kitchen Glove NTD 550. 政治大. Ch. engchi. 12. i n U. v. Photo.

(20) Table 5: Kids Products Kids Product Name. Photo. Product Name. Photo. Product Name. Bib NTD 690. Tambourine NTD 550. Bicycle Bell NTD 550. Lunch Bag NTD 1000. Bib NTD 830. Pen NTD 230. 立. Vege Pen NTD 230. y. ‧. ‧ 國. Pair of Elastics NTD 320. Nat. Horn NTD 830. sit. io. n. al. Bowl NTD 370. er. Skipping Rope NTD 830. 政治大. 學. Coin Purse NTD 640. 2.2. Sales Platform. Photo. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. The Pylones-Taiwan.tw business is to be established through a professional e-commerce platform called AEstore, which provides services to startup entities to build online stores. The services of AEstore includes the setting up a virtual shop through the web, allowing sales transactions with mechanisms of information flow, cash flow and logistics all to be done online. Among the aforementioned fundamental elements, other diversified added values are available as optional services, such as corporate e-mail accounts, multi-language website, Domain name registration etc.. 13.

(21) Due to the vast usage of Internet and the extended amount of time people spend online nowadays, selling through an online shop is the most cost effective and feasible method to start off. In 2012, among the population above the age of 12, more than 15 million people in Taiwan used the Internet, and the number has increased by 0.3 million from the year before according to 2012 Taiwan’s household Internet usage survey done by Research, Development, and Evaluation Commission, Executive Yuan (Ref. 1), and based on the information provided in Media Metrix Internet Traffic Reports by InsightXplorer Market Analysis Consulting in 2012. 政治大. (Ref. 2), each webs user spent about 26.8 hours online and browsed 2,598 websites per month.. 立. This would indicate the importance of having an online store setup as an initiative to capture. ‧ 國. 學. the attention of the Internet users. Thus building a web store would definitely be the first step to take.. ‧. sit. y. Nat. Instead of constructing the business website from scratch, contracting AEstore to do the work. io. er. will speed up the overall time to market, thus saving time and effort spent on the technical side of things. The estimated cost of setting up and activating an online store through AEstore is. al. n. v i n NTD 19,740 with tax includingCessential functions and over 75 featured services, such as hengchi U. webpage design, unlimited shelf space, discount/promotion plans, online payment methods, product grouping, website administration settings, message management, product information management, payment transaction management, online order management, quote/inquiry management, customer relationship management…etc. Table 6 below indicates the website structure along with major functions that are displayed on the business website, and the items highlighted in blue indicate some of the important features and functions.. 14.

(22) Table 6: Website Structure. Website Structure Functions and Specifications Online Payment Methods DNS Management Support with E-mail Unlimited Shelf Space Product Photo Enlarge Add to Favorite Facebook Fan Club Link Knowledge Management (Topics/Article Publish) Photo Album File download. 立. 政治大. Web Storage (Internet Data Temporary Space). ‧ 國. 學. Product Arrangement: Customize Products On and Off the Shelf Timing Product Arrangement Methods: Popularity｜New｜Low Price｜High Price. ‧. Transaction Methods - Shopping Cart / Product Display / Pricing Inquiry. y. Nat. Customize (Color/Style/Headers/Fields). sit. Payment/Delivery/Discount Settings. al. n. Multiple Marketing Tools - Banners/Graphical Ads Ad Exchange Links. Ch. engchi. er. io. Message Management - Message Board. i n U. v. High Visibility Through Search Engines/Search Resources Member Management Member Class / Member Discount Member Search / Member Data Export to Excel facebook Account Log-In Order Management - Notify / Inquiry / Statistics / Print Order Shipment Marking / Shipping Details Printing Product Sales Ranking System IP Lock and Time Lock (Security Management) Multi-Language (TC, SC, and EN) The image and style of the online store will match the design elements shown through the. 15.

(23) products to keep the platform lively in order to attract customers and prolong the time they spend surfing the website.. 2.3. Delivery Service Contracted logistics company, SF Express, will make the merchandise delivery within 3 days after the date of online purchase. For each order transaction exceeding NTD 1,500, delivery will be paid by Pylones-Taiwan.tw. And for order amount under NTD 1,500, customers will be. 政治大. required to pay for the delivery. The estimated delivery cost per delivery will be based on the following rates, see Table 7:. 立. 學. ‧ 國. Table 7: Domestic Delivery Charges (SF Express) 1kg. 2-5Kg. 6-10Kg. Price per Same City/County Delivery (NTD). 75. 90. 120. Price per CrossCity/County Delivery (NTD). 85. 105. 135. ‧. Weight. n. al. Ch. engchi. sit. er. io. 1620Kg. 150. 180. 165. 195. y. Nat. 1115Kg. i n U. v. 2.4. Warranty Once products are purchased from Pylones-Taiwan.tw, customers will have a 7-day appreciation period, from the date of product receipt, to inspect if the goods are in quality condition. If in any circumstances, a customer wishes to return the product(s) purchased, he or she may do so within the 7-day appreciation period. Products may also be returned, in its original packaging, if they are damaged or with flaw upon receipt. Customers may choose to either have the returned goods replaced or refunded. Cost of return and re-delivery will be taken care of by Pylones-Taiwan.tw.. 16.

(24) 3. Marketing Plan Among all things, marketing is by far among the most critical factors on whether or not a brand or its products could be successful in terms of sales and recognition. Therefore the heart of the business is to deliver the message through marketing strategies and campaigns. In this section, the overall market will analyzed with industry statistics which in a way will give a clear guidance on how the products should be marketed and through what media and methods would most likely to lead the business to success.. 3.1. Market Outlook. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Due to the diverse types of products offered at Pylones-Taiwan.tw, it is rather difficult to categorize the kind of market it belongs to, though a bit abstract, the products could be. ‧. considered and recognized in the creative industries. The following information will be based. sit. y. Nat. on observation and projection of what the market is likely to be for branded products with. n. al. er. io. industrial design elements specifically speaking, the Pylones style.. Ch. i n U. v. Though there are physical shops and online stores here in Taiwan already selling imported or. engchi. locally designed boutique gift products, yet from the business operation and expansion progress, it is feasible to make the assumption that the Taiwan market for differentiated gift products is growing, and based on the rapid inclination of online shopping trend and frequency, consumers are adopting the habit of ordering goods through the Internet. According to 2012 Taiwan Internet Usage Report done by iThome Online (Ref. 3), in 2012, among the total population of more than 17 million people using the Internet in Taiwan (more than 15 million are users above the age of 12), the Internet usage rate is about 75.44%, and among those 17 million Internet users, 59.62% are utilizing the online shopping services. From the age perspective, people. 17.

(25) below the age of 44 are the main segment that made up the Internet shopping community, and 89.5% are between the age of 20 and 24, the main reasons for the high online shopping usage are through word of mouth, peers influence, convenience, time efficiency, easy of search and comparison, delivery, and the pricing advantages. And among all purchases, the sales transactions with the amounts between NTD 2,001~ NTD 5,000 comprise about 28% of overall online order transactions, and females had the higher engagement rate in participating in online shopping activities than males.. 政治大 Below are some information on the marketing assumptions for Pylones-Taiwan.tw based on the 立 above statistics of the domestic market:. ‧ 國. 學. A. Market subdivision – creative designer gift items including stationary, toy, personal. ‧. articles…etc.. sit. y. Nat. B. Target segment – female with age between 13 and 44. Purpose of purchase could be either. io. er. self-use and/or gift idea.. C. Projected margin – special franchise rebate of 50% upon products sold, with pricing plan. al. n. v i n markup about 15% of the listC price offered on Pylones Headquarters’ website. hengchi U. D. Projected profit – NTD 528,111 in the first year, with incremental growth at a rate between 7% and 15%. E. Domestic creative industry statistics shown in 2011 Cultural and Creative Industries Annual Report by Ministry of Culture (Ref. 4) indicates that from the past trends, it would be positive to project the continuous growth of industrial design market within the creative industries. The data within the dotted gridlines would be the projections based on statistics from the previous years, see Table 8.. 18.

(26) Table 8: Creative Industries Outlook and Projection for the Domestic Market Creative Industries Domestic Market (Revenue in NTD). 2007. 2008. 2009. 2010. 2011. 2012. 2013. 2014. 7. 21. 36. 54. 68.5. 84.1. 99.7. 115.3. 27%. 23%. 19%. 16%. No. of Vendors. Industrial Growth in No. Design of Vendors Revenue. -. 200% 71.40% 50%. 26.1M 61.8M. 56M 149.5M 188.3M 231.2M 274.1M 317.1M. 政治大 not have authenticated and 立genuinely French designed products that come in creative and. F. Pylones-Taiwan.tw has positive market potential due to the fact that Taiwan market does. ‧ 國. 學. vivid forms. Currently the brand “Pylones” has not entered into the Taiwan market, thus the market share is zero; however from the market revenue analysis on creative industries by. ‧. Ministry of Culture, the market growth for this industry will continue to bloom in the. sit. y. Nat. coming years.. n. al. er. io. G. Though the growth of vendor numbers for the industrial design products in the creative. v. industries sector is diminishing, the actual revenue for such market is expanding at a large. Ch. engchi. i n U. scale, thus it is affirmative to state that this specific industry is at the stage between developing and maturing phases. H. From the trends of the previous years, the financial crisis in 2008 did seem to slightly affect the market revenue of the creative industries, from NTD 61.88M in 2008 to NTD 56M in 2009. The global economic situation is likely to impact the creative industries a bit in term of revenue. I. Government plays the role to advocate and help only the local vendors in the cultural & creative industries, it would be difficult to display any sign of support for the imported brands in the same industry.. 19.

(27) J. Factors for the creative industries development could vary. For imported products, government regulations and taxes may play a big part in the survival of the creative design goods from abroad. And a vast availability of domestically designed products (with similar design concepts and lower prices) could also affect the sale of the imported goods.. 3.2. Marketing Strategies On the products’ side, Pylones-Taiwan.tw offers the product concepts that integrate creativity. 政治大 durability and utility. On the marketing side, there are several methods to conduct online 立. and innovation onto everyday living products while maintaining fundamental elements of. marketing including keyword search/advertisement, website ranking, optimized search engine. ‧ 國. 學. etc. to directly and cost effectively promote products and/or even brands online. And below are. ‧. some thoughts and directions to be put into consideration:. Nat. sit. y. A. Attract visitors and create more online traffic. n. al. er. io. B. Target the right audience. i n U. v. C. Maintain within the top search results with keyword search. Ch. engchi. D. Leverage social media to build brand awareness. E. Build brand loyalty through customer relationship management tool Bearing social responsibility in mind, the business strategies will include periodic/seasonal marketing campaigns to raise funds for the minority groups, such as having back to school sales promotions to come up with donations for poor children would be an idea of utilizing the concept of helping the society.. 20.

(28) 3.2.1.. Online Marketing. In order a run an online store successfully and grasp the market opportunities, the following essential factors need to be taken into account. a. Market Differentiation Though Pylones products are already unique in their own way in terms of style, design, theme, characteristics etc., by utilizing the concepts of micromarketing and business intelligence, a. 政治大 individual customer’s preferences and purchasing behaviors (to certain extent), and then to 立. strategic approach is to have one-to-one marketing through recording and studying each. understand and analyze what the customers really want, thus increase the customer return rate. ‧ 國. 學. and repeat purchase. The ultimate goal is to obtain and secure customer loyalty.. ‧. b. Brand Awareness and Positioning. Nat. sit. y. Without an attraction of a physical store, Pylones-Taiwan.tw needs to work out a different type. n. al. er. io. of strategic approach to first draw people into the virtual shop, and this would be the most. i n U. v. difficult part of a startup business. Though the brand Pylones has been around for 27 years and. Ch. engchi. with 96 stores worldwide, it has never entered Taiwan, and the brand is rather unfamiliar to the local market in subject. One conventional method is to go through the media (most likely the creative industrial design magazines) and announce the launch of the brand. Through the news article, the local public will be able to learn everything about the brand, design concepts, products, and everything else that may attract their attention. Specifically Pylones will be known for its innovative designs resolving around everyday objects that can be purchased for self-use or as gifts for the loved ones.. 21.

(29) c. Reasonable Pricing Given the brands, no creative designer products should (or could) be identical in any manner, however creative commodities may carry similar design elements that could be known or seen by certain customer groups, thus people may already formed some ideas about the product worth and value. Without the high overhead costs of a physical store, Pylones-Taiwan.tw will need to offer fair pricing on its products sold online. It does not necessarily mean that product pricing won’t be higher than others, Pylones products will be priced according to the various. 政治大. factors (the type of materials used, the concept of design, product safety and reliability…etc.),. 立. to give customers solid reasons for the set pricing.. ‧ 國. 學. d. Convenient yet Secure Payment Methods. ‧. Due to the fact that online shopping has been quite popular in the domestic market, about a little. sit. y. Nat. over 1 million people experienced online purchasing activities in 2012, from the same report. io. al. n. Taiwan will be as follows:. er. by iThome Online (Ref. 3), and the common online payment methods widely accepted in. Ch. 1. Postal office wire transfer 2. Bank ATM wire transfer. engchi. i n U. v. 3. Payment collection upon product(s) delivery 4. Credit card payment 5. Payment collection via convenient stores (future plan) 6. Store voucher, membership card with stored value, prepaid card…etc. (future plan) Since Pylones-Taiwan.tw is not considered a large scale startup online store, payment choices will be focused on the most widely utilized methods (top four in black). Security wise, the cooperating logistics company SF Express offers the payment collection services which could 22.

(30) be covered in the partner contract agreement. As for credit card payment, Pylones-Taiwan.tw will be running on AEstore platform, which is e-Marketplace Services and e-Transaction Services certified by Ministry of Economic Affairs, and the credit card payment will be processed by GeoTrust, the world’s second largest digital certificate provider, which secures online transactions. e. Reliable Products/Services Delivery. 政治大 which is the key to customer’s satisfaction and business success. The essentials of the 立. The most important part of the online shopping process would be the product/service delivery,. logistics would be servicing the customers efficiently and conveniently without creating extra. ‧ 國. 學. cost or trouble. However, to gain customers’ affection and favorable impression, Pylones-. ‧. Taiwan.tw offers reliable and speedy delivery services provided by SF Express.. Nat. sit. y. f. Reasonable Refund Policies. n. al. er. io. All operational business policies of Pylones-Taiwan.tw will conform to the Consumer. i n U. v. Protection Law of Taiwan, meaning that refund and replacement conditions will be inclined to. Ch. engchi. favor customers, by providing 7-day appreciation period, commodities and goods sold may be returned unconditionally within that period, no strings attached. All policies will be clearly stated on the website.. 3.2.2.. Target Customers. Through brief interviews of 12 individuals (7 males and 5 females) from different parts of Europe, four of the females have either heard or personally shopped at Pylones in France, yet none of the males have even heard of Pylones, let alone shopped at any of the stores. The following Table 9 contains some remarks given by the interviewees, and the overall message. 23.

(31) perceived is that even though Pylones is originated in Europe, the brand awareness/exposure is not high enough as it did not penetrate to a diversified customer groups, and it would seem that the majority of its customers might be women. This alone couldn’t prove or form a solid statement on who the target customers would be for Pylones products; however based on the orientation of the commodities and products offered at the Pylones stores, together with the stores’ interior designs and decorations (see Figure 5), it is. 政治大 7 are respectively the photos of Pylones stores in Australia and Czech, it is not hard to see that 立. not hard to catch the feeling that the focused group of end users would be females. Figures 6 &. most of the customers shopping in the stores were females. Since the positioning of the brand. ‧ 國. 學. is creative everyday objects as gifts, the target segment of customers would be primarily female,. ‧. because females will likely be purchasing Pylones products for themselves as well as for friends. sit. y. Nat. and family in a form of presents for certain occasions. On the other hand, males could also play. io. er. the role of purchasing the goods, not necessarily for their own use, but as gifts most likely for woman friends and loved ones.. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Figure 5: Pylones Stores Interior and Product Designs. 24.

(32) 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學 ‧. Figure 6: Pylones Store in Sydney, Australia. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Table 9: Brief Interview of Europeans’ Awareness of Pylones. Ch. engchi. 25. i n U. v.

(33) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 26. i n U. v.

(34) 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 7: Pylones Store in Prague, Czech Republic. Internet Keyword Search. ‧. 3.2.3.. sit. y. Nat. In the current era, regardless the type of business being operated, in order to increase the. io. er. chances of the company or products to be found and shown in the search results, keyword search services must be taken into consideration as part of the marketing investment. To make the. al. n. v i n attempt to maximize the exposure an approach on Search Engine C hof Pylones-Taiwan.tw, engchi U Optimization (SEO) will be necessary. Through SEO, websites would have relatively high. ranking and exposure on the keyword search results, yet business won’t be charged on Pay-PerClick basis as opposed to Keyword ads. One of the highly recognized professional SEO service provider is Promote168.com, a subsidiary of IDV International, Inc. located in Irvine, California. Upon the official launch of Pylones-Taiwan.tw, SEO standard package will be purchased from Promote168.com with the following features: 1) Optimization of website's main page 2) One custom designed and optimized doorway submission page 27.

(35) 3) Up to 10 Keywords and phrases optimization 4) 3 month maintenance service 5) Creation of robots.txt file for search engine crawling 6) Hand submission to 11 major search engines in Taiwan (see Table 10) Table 10: Top 11 Search Engines in Taiwan (www.promote168.com) http://www.yahoo.com.tw http://www.google.com.tw/ http://www.bing.com/?cc=tw. http://search.sina.com.tw/. http://www.openfind.com.tw/taiwan/. n. al. er. io. sit. Nat. http://www.pchome.com.tw. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. http://www.yam.com/. y. 立. 政治大. Ch. i n U. http://www.hinet.net/. engchi. v. http://reg.tisnet.net.tw/ http://dmoz.org/tw/ http://www.seed.net.tw/. 7) Submission to over 230 search engines worldwide 8) Ranking Report by keywords and search engines Top 10 SEO plan: NTD 25,600 (one time charge, no monthly fee). 28.

(36) 3.2.4.. Social Media Marketing. Though real operational and sales transactions take place on the official business website, the powerful impact of social media marketing cannot be neglected today for people influence people via word of mouth. From reliable onlines sources of 2013 Social Media Marketing Methods by Electronic Commerce Times in 2013 (Ref. 5) and InsightXplorer’s 2012 Social Media Whitepaper (Ref. 6), the total population of the Internet users was 11.8 million with an average of 26.8 hours (per month) spent on the Internet, each user browsed 2,598 web pages on. 政治大. average. And among the Internet users, Table 11 displays the distribution of the top 3 most. 立. 學. ‧ 國. visited sites and time spent by the users. The first two were the most popular search engine portals, and the third one was the social networking platform, which dominated the social media market in Taiwan.. ‧. Table 11: Internet Users Behavior Statistics. al. 367.2. y. 160.9. sit. 83.5% 80%. n. facebook. 263.6. io. Google. 96.6%. er. Yahoo. Nat. % of Internet users visited Time Spent (Min/Month) Websites Browsed. Ch. engchi U. v ni. 366 197 564. Despite the fact that facebook ranked after Yahoo and Google, the time users spent on facebook and the websites browsed through it were way more than those of the search engine portals listed, see Table 12.. 29.

(37) Table 12: Social Media Account Registration in Taiwan. 政治大. 立. ‧ 國. 學. It has been indicated by the aforementioned studies that social media marketing creates three. ‧. major benefits for businesses:. sit. y. Nat. 1) Increase business exposure (85%). n. al. er. io. 2) Increase website traffic (69%) 3) Provide market insights (65%). Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Based on the above information, Pylones-Taiwan.tw will mainly utilize facebook as its social networking media by creating fan page and provide periodic updates on product promotions and activities to attract potential customers, and get people to know what Pylones-Taiwan.tw is all about and what it is up to. Certain marketing campaigns will be announced on the facebook to invite fans to join fund raising events to help the society. The fan page will not just be another platform to promote Pylones gift commodities, but a place to spread information and share ideas on how and what people can do to make a difference for a better community.. 30.

(38) 3.2.5.. Customer Relationship Management (CRM). The cost to keep an existing customer is much lower than that of to develop a new customer, therefore keeping a healthy and positive relationship with customer is crucial, and it can most likely be done through routine newsletters and after service. In the beginning phase of business when customers are not great in number, consumer information will be maintained manually without any CRM software tools, Pylones-Taiwan.tw will take the following approaches in the attempt to build and maintain decent customer relationship:. 政治大. A. Design a ‘before’ survey to understand the purpose of purchase. 立. B. Make recommendation of the product (or gift idea) based on the survey results. ‧ 國. 學. C. Send out an ‘after’ survey to find out the satisfaction of purchase D. Profile customer information. ‧. E. Utilize Smart phone apps to send out anniversary or special occasion reminders. sit. y. Nat. io. er. 3.3. Competition. Creative designer products can be found practically everywhere, and Taiwan has quite a few. al. n. v i n gift stores that offer a variety of industrial that are rich in cultural aspect as well C h design products engchi U. as innovative with facility elements. And the following information provides an overview on the market competition: A. Main competitors for Pylones in the Taiwan market will be boutique stores that offers both locally designed and imported creative products. For example, Zakka Idea, CDPiazza, Be Home, Treasure Art, udn shopping, Yahoo auction…etc., though each offering not quite the same gift idea product concepts, yet they are considered and fall into the category of creative industries. B.. Information on the market share of the aforementioned players in the industry can not be 31.

(39) found due to the somewhat different product orientations as well as market positioning. C.. From the observation of physical store expansion over time, particularly for Treasure Art and Be Home (both carry imported goods), it is feasible to project that the market for creative industries in Taiwan is still growing. There could be trends and demands showing signs for European branded industrial design products in the domestic market.. D.. Although the Pylones will be considered a late comer into the market, the market positioning and creative design concepts are relatively different than the existing products. 政治大. sold through any of the aforementioned stores or web platforms. Pylones-Taiwan.tw will. 立. not at this stage open a physical shop, in a way this saves a great deal of overhead expenses.. ‧ 國. 學. The brand itself is a shining armor that can be seen globally in various parts of the world, and the Pylones products all carry certain recognition in terms of brand value.. ‧. E.. From the observation of the creative industries, the competition is quite abstract because no. Nat. sit. y. competitor is much alike; and these players are fighting over consumers’ personal. al. n. F.. er. io. preferences towards artistic appreciation in relation to products’ value worth.. i n U. v. The biggest obstacle of business entry and setting up Pylones-Taiwan.tw would be the lack. Ch. engchi. of experience in the online sale of gift commodities. To overcome such dilemma requires extra efforts in understanding the market ecology by studying and analyzing what other companies in the same industry are doing, and projecting what strategies to use at different business stages.. 3.3.1.. Competitive Analysis. Based on the overall market scenarios described above, a preliminary observational analysis is prepared as follows on the potential competitors that are present in the creative industries market here in Taiwan, that carry gift commodities with innovative design concepts. Though. 32.

(40) not all of the products are in ways similar to those of Pylones, yet some do have advantages over Pylones on pricing, and accessibility. Table 13 below indicates where and how Pylones and its potential competitors are standing in terms of products, designs, quality, price, service, payment policies, and business type. The overall perspective analysis would indicate that Pylones can be differentiated and have its own market segment lead by design and style.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 33. i n U. v.

(41) al. Ch. engchi. Online store only. Payment Policies. Business Type. Online store only. v. Low start bidding price yet time consuming. Direct buy may cost more than market value Mostly one time deal, not much of after service provided. 7-day appreciation period with reasonable refund and return policy. Quality could be inconsistent due to wide base of sellers. Product designs could be authentic. Variety of products for bidding from different sellers. Yahoo auction. Fair pricing, product and designer dependent. Plain and fair. Simple, light, straight forward type of style. udn shopping Wide diversity of brands and products available by designer; large online department store platform. ATM, convenient Web ATM, stores payment ATM, and credit collection and card conditional credit card acceptance 1 flagship store in the Diversity of cultural and creative PCHome online store and 8 physical stores; no products sold Online store only park; also selling 10 physical stores online store online by different online sellers. After service and policies unknown. Credit card, ATM, Postal wire, ATM, pay and convenient Cash and credit upon delivery, and credit Cash and credit card Cash, credit card, ATM stores payment card card collection. Conditional product replacement policy, no refund allowed. Service. i n U. e r and After service sit policies unknown y. ‧. Conditional 7-day appreciation product period with unconditional replacement and refund and return policy refund policy. 學. 34. Mid to high price range, product dependent. Considerably fair priced. High pricing range due to high quality designers products imported from European countries. On the rise with the cost of material and currency fluctuation, once pricing went up, it never came down. 政治大. Price. Mid to high price range, product dependant. Trendy with a modern high living touch. Fine. ‧ 國. Treasure Art Most products tend to fall towards utility Few collection of product items imported from brands from UK, Italy, abroad particularly Korea, Thailand etc. from France and Germany Delicate and Elegant Exquisite, fun, cute, and product designs that home decorative type of fit the modern live style styles. Be Home Collection. 立. Quality. Designs. Products. Zakka Idea. CDPiazza A collection of brands Offers various categories Wide diversity of offering creative living including office, toys, products available objects as well as beauty, and tableware, all in a small office stationary, 3C branded as Pylones department store commodities and products scope boutique items Vivid, colorful, creative, Simple, light, utilizing animal or human Domestic cultural and straight forward shapes/characterisics on creative concepts type of style everyday objects Fair product quality Durable in materials with adopting obvious Plain and fair environmental sense mass production techniques. Pylones.tw. io. Competitive Analysis. Nat. n. Table 13 Competitive Analysis of Creative Industries Market in Taiwan. Table 13: Competitive Analysis of Creative Industries Market in Taiwan.

(42) 3.3.2.. SWOT Analysis. As mentioned in an earlier section, there are existing players in this particular creative industries market, however, it has not yet been identified who the market leader would be because of the product diversity and spread in different segments. Nonetheless, below in Table 14 is the SWOT looking in and out at Pylones-Taiwan.tw. Although the weaknesses and threats might be harmful to the startup business if they can’t be overcame and improved within certain period of time to catch up to the competitive environment and rivals, the brand/products positioning along with. 政治大. the strategic marketing plans and directions are the key factors for success, which will certainly. 立. help establish a solid foundation for the growth and expansion of the business.. ‧ 國. 學. Table 14: SWOT Analysis of Pylones-Taiwan.tw. colorful artistic design and practical utilization elements that will attract customers 2. Well established Pylones fan page network in Asia which could be leveraged for co-marketing campaigns 3. No physical store in the initial stage to minimize operational cost 4. Exquisite products with market. make huge impact on reaching out to large crowds of potential customers 2. Investments on Search Engine Optimization and keyword search mechanism will enhance the brand awareness for Pylones in the virtual world 3. Emphasize on Customer Relationship Management from the beginning to build. n. Ch. y. sit. er. io. al. ‧. Opportunities 1. Social media marketing focus will likely. Nat. Strengths 1. All products are one of the kind with. engchi. differentiation Weaknesses 1. Limited experience in sales and promotions in retail business. 2. Insufficient skills and practice in online sale. i n U. v. customer loyalty and fans Threats 1. Competitors are long established with years of experience in multi-branded retailing 2. Gift ideas with cheap pricing may alter potential customers’ buying choices. 35.

(43) 3.4. Promotional Strategies Although launching a brand in a new market would normally take on steps such as advertising on top search engines/Internet Portals, such as www.yahoo.com.tw, www.pchome.com.tw...etc.; however, this would require a great deal of investment to startup. For example, Yahoo charges NTD 420K for a one time brand launch ad campaign, thus chargeable advertisements will not be considered in the initial stage. Since Pylones-Taiwan.tw is an online store, and the target audience as mentioned earlier would be people with online shopping habits, thus brand and. 政治大. product promotion will be conducted purely on virtual platforms targeting mostly towards. 立. women. Pylones-Taiwan.tw will focus on promotional plans and strategies one of the biggest,. ‧ 國. 學. most influential and FREE social media platform - facebook. Based on the article 20 Ways to Promote Your Facebook Fan Page by Justin Wise (Ref. 7), the following are some social media. ‧. strategies to attract fans (potential clients) and develop traffic to the online store.. sit. y. Nat. io. er. 1. Have the fan page URL in the company email signature - every email sent out would be a chance for someone new to discover and explore Pylones-Taiwan.tw’s facebook fan page,. n. al. an act of free publicity.. Ch. engchi. 2. Embed fan page hyperlink. i n U. v. or. on the web store. – to provide online visitors an easy linkage to the fan page and vice versa, which would allow fans and visitors to check out existing events and products easily. 3. Tag other well-trafficked Pylones fan pages – to create cross-traffic and get people further involved into the products and brand. Figure 8 is the official fan page of Pylones on facebook (among numerous others each from different countries and regions).. 36.

(44) 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 8: Official Pylones Facebook Fan Page. ‧. 4. Put a fan page widget on the Pylones-Taiwan.tw web store – people might not know the. y. Nat. er. io. sit. fan page, putting it on the web store will get it in front of all the store visitors. 5. Customize the fan page URL and print it on the business name card – to make it. n. al. memorable.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 6. Ask fans to post a link to the fan page on their personal profile - leverage the power of potential audience to receive great results. 7. Use the QR codes for Pylones-Taiwan.tw – leading to the fan page. 8. Utilize the fan page - use the “Tell Your Fans” feature. With the tools built in to the fan page, Facebook allows import a contact file or import contacts from Hotmail, Yahoo…etc. It’s a convenient way to inform people on the contact list what the shop is up to.. 37.

(45) 9. Invite friends and family to visit the fan page – ask for improvement suggestions and contents that are truly of interest. 10. Set out targets for the coming year – understand all the dimensions of social media marketing. Set targets that can be achieved within a limited time period. 11. Humanize social media with personal presence – meaning to have a human touch and create a personal brand on facebook.. 治政 12. Create more viral contents – leverage the popular videos 大 or clips on the Internet, and make 立 connections with them. ‧ 國. 學. 13. Incorporate all possible multimedia tools – contents need to be dynamic and vivid to. ‧. make the marketing standout.. y. Nat. al. er. io. sit. 14. Limited time only on sale events – to be shown on fan page to attract buying intentions.. n. 15. Combo sale announcement – related products can be bundled into package sale at a considerably cheaper price.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 16. After sale satisfaction survey – customers will receive e-mail from Pylones-Taiwan.tw about their satisfaction on the products and logistics services. 17. Periodic free delivery by occasions or holidays – to stimulate sales specifically on important holidays, such as children’s day, mother’s day…etc.. 3.5. Pricing Strategies Pylones-Taiwan.tw will follow Pylones Headquarters’ international retail price policy, which will be within the range of +/- 15%. Taking the available retail prices from Pylones Australia 38.

(46) and Korea respectively from http://www.pylones-australasia.com/shop.asp (Ref. 8) and http://www.pylones.kr/ (Ref. 9), product pricing is marked up between 20% ~ 25% from the country of origin’s list price possibly due to currency fluctuation, import tariffs, and GDP of the country in subject, and shipping cost. According to information from the online data WTO Import Tariff Rates by Country provided by Chung Hua Institution for Economic Research in 2013 (Ref. 10), most of the Pylones. 政治大 However, according to the 2012 Global GDP Per Capita Statistics by StockQ.org in 2012 (Ref. 立. products would fall into the 5% import tariff rate category in Australia, and 0% ~ 8% for Korea.. 11) showed below in Table 15, product prices do not seem to be strongly influenced by the. ‧ 國. 學. GDP per capita: Australia at USD 69,200 while Korea is at USD 23,900; therefore it is. ‧. reasonable to state the assumption that the oversea product pricing is mainly managed by the. sit. y. Nat. Pylones Headquarters with markup adjustments based on tariff rates and shipping cost.. n. al. er. io. For Taiwan, even though Pylones products are new to the market, and that some of its design. i n U. v. ideas are one of the kind, price positioning is still critical. Based on the import tariff of how. Ch. engchi. Pylones products are categorized, tariff rates of 3.4% to 10% will be applied to most products; and based on the business model of special franchise, tariffs would need to be put into considerations for Pylones Headquarters to agree on the pricing plan for Taiwan. Table 16 shows the import tariff of the product categories Pylones-Taiwan.tw will carry. Column I indicates the import rates of duty set forth for all countries that are WTO members (for those listed as the members on the WTO website which are not subjected to non-application of the agreement by the ROC), and France being the exporting country in subject, thus the tariff rate would go according to Column I.. 39.

(47) Without having the physical shop to add onto the operational cost, product pricing for online sale should be relatively less expensive than if a physical store was present. Therefore, product pricing for Pylones-Taiwan.tw will be proposed with 10% to 15% markup after being converted from Euro to NTD. Thus, according to Chapter 2.1 Products Descriptions mentioned earlier, pricing will be product dependent and set within the following range: Beauty: NTD 275 ~ NTD 1,795. 政治大 Tableware: NTD 320 ~ NTD 1,520 立 Office: NTD 140 ~ NTD 735. Kids: NTD 230 ~ NTD 1,000. ‧ 國. 學. Table 15: Pylones Stores’ Country Distribution and GDP. n America. Asia. Oceania Asia. Ch. engchi. 40. 2012 GDP Per Capita 43,100 44,500 39,600 51,500 36,800 21,600 N/A 12,900 9,700 N/A 48,400 7,200 12,400 11,400 45,900 23,900 34,000 2,100 3,400 1,500 14,709 69,600 69,200 21,900. y. sit. io. al. No. of Stores 18 7 12 7 1 2 1 1 7 1 4 8 3 2 10 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 1 0. ‧. Nat. Europe. Country France Germany England Netherlands Italy Czech Republic Lithuania Russia Turkey Azerbaijan US Colombia Brazil Venezuela Japan South Korea Hong Kong Philippines Indonesia India Lebanon Dubai Australia Taiwan. er. Continent. i n U. v.

(48) Table 16: Taiwan Import Tariff Rates by Product Categories. Description of Goods. 40151990. Other gloves, mittens and mitts, of vulcanised rubber. 95049090. Other articles for funfair, table or parlour games. 立. Combs, hair-slides and the like, of hard rubber or plastics. ‧. sit. io. er. ‧ 國. 96151100. 學. Ball point pens. Nat. Column I Column II Column III 0%(GT) 0%(HN) DZN KGM 5% 0%(NI) 7.50% 0%(PA) 0%(SV) 0%(GT) 0%(HN) KGM 0% 0%(NI) 15% 0%(PA) 0%(SV) 0%(CN) 0%(GT) 0%(HN) KGM 3.40% 7.50% 0%(NI) 0%(PA) 0%(SV) 0%(GT) 0%(HN) KGM 5% 0%(NI) 7.50% 0%(PA) 0%(SV) 0%(GT) 0%(HN) KGM 10% 0%(NI) 15% 0%(PA) 0%(SV) 0%(GT) 0%(HN) KGM 10% 0%(NI) 15% 0%(PA) 0%(SV) 0%(GT) 0%(HN) KGM 10% 0%(NI) 15% 0%(PA) 0%(SV) 2%(GT) 4%(HN) KGM 10% 0%(NI) 20% 0%(PA) 4%(SV) 0%(GT) 0%(HN) KGM 5% 0%(NI) 7.50% 0%(PA) 0%(SV). 政治大. 96081000. Manicure scissors and blades therefor. al. n. 82130020. Tariff Rate. Unit. y. Standard Classification of Commodities of ROC (CCC Code). Ch. engchi. 82130090. Other scissors and blades therefor. 82142000. Manicure or pedicure sets and instruments (including nail files). 69120010. Ceramic tableware and kitchenware. 39241000. Other tableware and kitchenware, of plastics. 41. i n U. v.

(49) 4. Operational Plan 4.1. Company Setup and Domain Name Registration Pylones-Taiwan.tw will register its company name at the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) website with the following procedures and fees involved, see Table 17. Table 17: Company and Business Registration Fees in Taiwan Registration Item. Applicable Fees (NTD). Company Name Pre-Inspection. 150 1000 for actual capital under 4M. 政治 1 per大every 4000 worth of total capital Business Name Pre-Inspection 150 立 1000 (20% off for Internet Registration = Company Setup Registration. ‧ 國. 學. Business Setup Registration. 800). Setup Labor Health Insurance Coverage. Free. Company’s Internal Work Regulation Approval. Free. ‧. Free. io. sit. y. Nat. Business Operation Registration. n. al. er. After the company is officially established, incorporation and tax registration application and. Ch. i n U. v. purchase of invoice from the Tax Bureau will need to be done, with the initial business. engchi. operations, an assumption of sales between NTD 60,000 and NTD 200,000 will take place in the beginning, thus 1% of sales tax will be applied; however, as business progresses, monthly sales will exceed NTD 200,000, thus 5% sales tax will be applied, and invoices will need to be issued. As for the company domain name, Chung Hwa Telecom Hinet Service charges are shown as below in Table 18, and initially the company will sign a two-year service to obtain the domain name, later as the business grows, the service contract will be long term and extend to possibly 10 years.. 42.

(50) Table 18: Chung Hwa Telecom Domain Name Service Charges Chung Hwa Telecom Hinet Service. Year 1. Year 2. Year 3. Year 5. Year 10. English domain name registration. 800. 1600. 2160. 3400. 6400. 4.2. Online Shop Construction As mentioned in Chapter 2.2 Sales Platform, Pylones-Taiwan.tw website will be constructed by AEStore, with the annual fee at NTD 19,740 with tax including essential functions and over 75 featured services, such as webpage design, unlimited shelf space, discount/promotion plans. 政治大. etc. and most importantly online payment options and customer relationship management.. 立. 4.3. Import Tariffs, Shipping and Handling. ‧ 國. 學. As previously mentioned in Chapter 3.5 Pricing Strategies, the import tariffs for Pylones products range between 0% to 10%, thus to simplify the calculating process at this stage, an. ‧. average will be taken based on the total tariff rates divide them by the number of categories. y. Nat. er. io. figures in the next chapter.. sit. listed in Table 16, the import tariff rate of 6.5% will be used from here on for the financial. al. n. v i n C h by the shipper The oversea freight is normally designated e n g c h i U (Pylones Headquarters in this case), and from the products’ origin of manufacture, an assumption is made that all goods would be shipped from China, thus shipping cost for the initial merchandise purchase is estimated to be around NTD 5000 maximum. The lead time for delivery (to door) after order shipment confirmation is forecasted to be 5 days the longest. And Pylones-Taiwan.tw will contract a customs broker (IHsing) to perform the customs handling and duties. The cost may vary depending on the amount and volume of the imported goods, thus to be on the safe side, an over-estimated service charge will be made at 15% of the shipping cost, such rate will also be used and shown in the next chapter.. 43.

(51) 4.4. Employees As mentioned in Chapter 1.4 Company Ownership, once monthly sales transactions reach certain level (about NTD 200,000) which exceeds a full timer’s working capacity, part time employee(s) will be recruited to share the workload. The estimated working hours per week for part timer(s) will be set at 20 hours with the starting salary at NTD 4,500 without benefits in principle (but negotiable), an approximate monthly salary for a part timer would be around NTD 18,000.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 44. i n U. v.

(52) 5. Financial Plan The financial plan would indicate the startup cost and expenses listing, projections on the 12month sales forecast, 12 month cash flow projections, and then the profit & loss estimation based on the NPV analysis.. 5.1. Startup Milestone and Cost Analysis The yellow area represents the duration to complete the tasks in subject (milestone). Based on. 政治大 total of NTD 274,175. The立 budget cost for Pylones products (initial working capital) was. the cost figures projected in the previous chapters, the startup cost is estimated to come to a. ‧ 國. 學. calculated based on all items listed in Chapter 2.1 Products Descriptions; by taking one unit of each product model available multiplied by the list price, and in the end sum up all four. ‧. categories. And since the import tariff rates for these products vary from 0% to 10%, thus an. sit. y. Nat. average of 6.5% was assumed, which comes to an estimate of NTD 13,314, and adding. n. al. er. io. approximately 15% of customs clearance payable to the broker, the tariff and handling fee. v. would project to be NTD 15,311. Oversea freight cost tends to be the most difficult to project. Ch. engchi. i n U. because of the packaged weight, volume, departing port…etc., all these unknown factors would make the shipping cost nearly impossible to estimate. However, having the assumption that the Pylones goods are most likely manufactured in China, sea freight delivered from China to Taiwan (given the fact that majority of the goods is rather small) should be well covered by NTD 5000, thus the estimation is stated in Table 19.. 45.

(53) Table 19: Business Startup Milestone and Cost Milestone Company Registration Domain Name Registration Online Store Construction Customs Broker Contract Good Delivery Service Contract facebook fan page Internet Keyword Search (SEO) Plan Merchandise Purchase Taiwan Import Tariff Oversea Freight Cost Pylones-taiwan.tw Officially Launch Total Startup Cost Estimates. 5.2. Sales Forecast. Q4 2013 Q1/Q2 2014 Q3/Q4 2014. 立. Budget (NTD) Manager / Contractor 2,100 Connie 1,600 Connie 19,740 AEstore Ihsing (Broker) SF Express Connie 25,600 Promote168.com 204,824 Connie 15,311 Ihsing (Broker) 5,000 Designated by Pylones HQ Connie 274,175. 政治大. Based on the Creative Industries Domestic Market in Taiwan, the number of business and the. ‧ 國. 學. relative industry revenue projected are as follows in Table 20.. Table 20: Creative Industries Domestic Market Revenue per Vendor Projection. ‧. 2013. n. Ch. engchi. sit. 1,793 4.38% 13.4B 99.7 19% 237.30M 2.38. er. io. al. y. Nat. Creative Industries Domestic Market (Revenue in NTD) No. of Vendors Product Exterior Design Growth in No. of Vendors Revenue No. of Vendors Industrial Design Growth in No. of Vendors Revenue Revenue / Vendor (NTD Million). i n U. v. 2014 1,868 4.20% 11.7B 115.3 16% 273.73M 2.37. This would lead to an assumption of about an annual revenue of NTD 2M per business/vendor for the overall industry; however, with the newly established data collection based on an observational process of visiting one of the Pylones stores in France (Paris – Carrousel du Louvre), the estimated sales per month in that store alone would be approximately 234,000€. NOTE: having 6 customers paying between 25€ to 40€ at the counter within 15 minutes, an average of 32.5€ will be used to come up with the sales amount of 198€ during that period of. 46.

(54) time, and about 7,800€ of sales per day, thus 234,000€ per month since the store is open 7 days a week. So far this would be the absolute optimal scenario and because this particular store is located within the Louvre Museum area, and the observation was done during a free museum day (a Sunday) where lots of tourists and even locals may be visiting, thus with all these advantages, sales could be shooting high regardless. Therefore, to make a rather conservative sales forecast for Pylones-Tawian.tw (a virtual store), given that it only sells four product categories out of total of 9 that Pylones carries, the sales forecast will be projected at 50% from. 政治大. the observational figure calculated, and the monthly sales will be estimated at 30% of the. 立. Carrousel du Louvre’s sales minus the 20% VAT charged as sales tax in France, and then taking. ‧ 國. 學. the GDP per capita and currency into consideration, the ballpark figure of a monthly sales transaction for Pylones-Taiwan.tw will be around NTD 570,152. See Table 21 for detailed. ‧. listing of data collection, assumption and estimations.. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Table 21: On-Site Observation of Pylones Paris – Carrousel du Louvre And Sales Projection for Pylones-Taiwan.tw On-Site Sales Observation Day of Week Sunday Time of Day 1PM ~ 2PM Store Hours 10AM ~ 8PM Days Open per Week 7 Store Location Paris - Carrousel du Louvre Observation Duration 15 Min No. of Customers 6 Amount Spent per Customer 25€~40€ => 32.5€ Sales / 15 min 6*32.5€ = 195€ Sales / Day 40*195€ = 7,800€ Sales / Month 7,800€*30 = 234,000€ Est. Sales / Month for Pylones France 234,000€/2*30%-20%VAT = 28,080€ France GDP per capita (USD) 43,100 Taiwan GDP per capita (USD) 21,900 Est. Sales / Month for Pylones-Taiwan.tw 28,080€/1.97*40 = NTD 570,152. Ch. engchi. 47. i n U. v.