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the owner’s money, and also granted a minority grant in the amount of $25, 000. The overall costs to start the business totaled $31, 334. Currently there are two other major plus-sized women clothing shops which include Lane Bryant and Cato’s. At the end of the first year of business, there was a positive cash flow. Sales are estimated to be around $150,000 annually after the first year. Although Spark’s has been open for two years, the company has seen a greater-than-anticipated demand for its products. They have been talks and inquiries on extending the products offered to shoes and accessories for women. Over the next 3-5 years, Spark’s ultimate goal is to increase its distribution of products, create custom products made locally, and ultimately transition over to men’s clothing, shoes, and accessories. Once the local market has been saturated, the ultimate goal is seek out opportunities to sell products online for the markets that still do not have local shops available and as well as opening up other stores in surrounding communities and states.

Environmental Analysis

Economic

Economic factors can positively or negatively impact the store. During economic boom periods, people have more disposable income. Therefore, they may buy more clothing, increasing sales. However, recessions have a reverse impact. Sales for various clothing entities may be significantly lower. Consequently, retailers may have a lot of things left in inventory. In addition, the store would have to sell lower-priced clothing brands to compete with other stores. Consumers often shop for cheaper brands when they have less disposable income.

Competitive

The clothing industry is a highly competitive and fragmented due to low barriers of entry. It is f...

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... the trends and clothing that we offer. There is currently no way to place orders online. To add onto our customer base, we will also be exploring the option of offering men’s clothing. Some of our threats would be online websites that have been the primary source of purchasing plus-size items. In addition to online sales, the expansion of plus size attire in other local retailers could pose a threat as well. Currently Spark uses a standard cash register which makes it hard to keep an active inventory to what sizes or products we have in stock, which could cause frustrations for the customer. With us not being a franchise or chain of stores, we often pay more to wholesalers and distributor. Although our ultimate goal is to keep prices low and competitive, those costs could cause our prices to increase just to remain profitable (Teige, 2008).

Marketing Strategy