Poppi Designs is an importer of Italian furniture serving New York. The business was originally incorporated in N.Y. over 10 years ago and has undergone various changes in business strategy. The refined model allows the company to import a variety of Italian furniture and sell it to designers and unfinished furniture stores. Two principals are Kate Jackson, located in New York, and Luca de Febonio, located in Rome, Italy.

The Concept

Poppi understands that good furniture is very competitive and will therefore target niches to reduce competition. Generally, they will concentrate on locations out of reach of larger furniture superstores. Poppi Designs can leverage Luca’s expertise and location in Italy to manage the entire importation process. Poppi will have Luca as its principal in Italy. He also acts as an agent.

Poppi Designs possesses three keys to its success. Poppi Designs’ first key to success is building a long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationship with its customers and vendors. A second key is to make sure that their products are delivered on time. The last key to success is reliable administration of the organization.

Poppi is a home-based business that has additional warehouse space. This will allow for the most cost-effective arrangement while still providing the required support and service.

Market

Poppi Designs intends to target three markets. Their primary market segment is specialty retailers, which makes up around 80%. This segment is growing at just 2% and has 16 potential clients. Poppi can reduce their dependence upon this niche through targeted marketing. The second group is designers. These customers also experience a 2% increase in annual sales and are able to offer 44 designs. The last targeted niche is unfinished furniture retailers growing at 2% with a potential market of 50 participants.

The market is not based on the brand equity of the manufacturer, but on the actual product or service provider. The customer must be able touch and feel the product. The salesperson plays an important role in the transaction. Poppi can now choose from many manufacturers rather than being limited to selling products from one company.

Sales Strategy

The key to the sales strategy are direct sales calls on all market segments covered in the plan, except for interior designers. These sales calls need to be made by the owner, Kate Jackson, by virtue of her background and knowledge of the products and competitors. Experience has shown that the more time Kate Jackson devotes to selling, the greater the sales results. It is essential to find a full-time employee and add them as soon as possible. Kate loses too much time on her primary task of selling without this person.

Poppi Designs with its well-focused business plan will reach profitability by month two. According to conservative forecasts, sales will almost double between year one and year three. The ratio of net profits to sales will be comparable.

1.1 Objectives

Poppi Designs is focused on the following:

1. To put in place adequate, and reliable, administrative machinery, allowing the owner to spend her time selling and maintaining major accounts.
2. Poppi will concentrate his efforts on a few market segments that have been studied and found to be promising.
3. To improve the reliability and timeliness of shipments from Italy.

1.2 Mission

Poppi’s mission is to supply certain market niches for chairs and other furniture items which are, for a variety of reasons, not well served by the large domestic manufacturers. The owner of Poppi Designs utilizes her interior design background, her experience in the furniture retail market, as well as her contacts in Italy to tailor her products to the needs of these market niches.

1.3 Keys for Success

Poppi Designs&#8217’s business is a success story.

1. Offering items of a high quality-value relationship which are not available everywhere. This is crucial for maintaining niche markets as stated in the mission statement.
2. Delivery on time and reliable. Poppi has to keep its promises. Poppi must fulfill its delivery promises because of the nature and culture of Italian business.