Presented by: Sydney Bates, Clay Holt, Kristin Knetzer, Mason Purkis, Cole Witte

The Gifter
317 W Watson St., Fayetteville, AR 72701
(429) 777-9876
thegifter@email.com
Business Foundations
Professor Marie Halvorsen-Ganepola
December 2019

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 Table of Contents
Executive Summary
Organizational Plan
Benefits to Community
Company and Industry
Management Team and Labor Force
Manufacturing and Operations Plan
Marketing Plan
Financial Plan
Exit Strategy
Critical Risks and Assumptions
Graphics
References
Appendix

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 Executive Summary

The Gifter is a website that will simplify the process of giving a gift by using algorithms
to generate ideas of the perfect gift for a desired recipient. Users will enter personal information
about the person whom they are needing a gift for, and The Gifter will create several options of
gift ideas that are ideal for the occasion and within their stated budget. Once our customers have
decided which gift they want to purchase, they can purchase the item directly from our website,
and it will be delivered to their choice of destination. Our website’s focus is to reduce the anxiety
that comes with the gift giving process and increase the likelihood that the gift recipient will love
the item they receive.

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 Organizational Plan
Benefits to Community

How many times have you needed to get a gift for someone and cannot think of a single
item they would like? Have you ever given a gift to someone and can immediately tell they don’t
like it? The Gifter, a website that generates the perfect gift idea for anyone and any occasion, is
here to solve these problems by making the process of gift giving substantially easier and more
efficient.

In today’s society, everyone has a busy lifestyle. As life gets more chaotic, time becomes
more and more precious. When a holiday or birthday is approaching, hours are spent on
worrying and thinking about what gift to give. When The Gifter enters the community, it will
lower the levels of anxiety that comes with the gift giving process. It will increase the excitement
of individuals regarding the upcoming holiday or birthday. With a click of a button, the perfect
gift idea will be at our customers fingertips. This means less time stressing about what a gift
recipient would want, less time shopping around hoping for a new idea, and a higher chance of
successfully giving a gift the recipient actually enjoys.
The Gifter intends to decrease the overall anxiety within society. All the energy that the
customer needs to provide is deciding who their target gift receiver is. This will lead the
community to more happiness during any gift giving season. The Gifter intends to me the most
admired company in the region.

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Company and Industry

The Gifter, is operated completely through an online website, www.thegifter.com, where

customers can use our services to generate gift ideas for any recipient, occasion, and budget.
After entering personal information about a recipient such as demographics, likes, interests,
needs, wants, etc., our website will provide multiple ideas for gifts the recipient will love based
solely on the provided information. The gift will be delivered, with the option of being wrapped,
directly to the desired address. The Gifter, will begin as a small business with hopes of becoming
something more. The potential customers of The Gifter includes anyone who has ever struggled
with wanting to give a loved one a gift that will show he or she how much they are appreciated,
but cannot think of an idea. The Gifter will be the first gift generating website in society. The
company will be the immediate leader in this particular field. Through sponsors who are looking
to advertise and companies that want to promote their products as gift ideas, The Gifter will have
the opportunity to grow into a service that is used by our customers for every occasion in which a
gift is needed.
The costs that are necessary to create this company are minimal. The costs include: labor
forces, shipping expenses, and competition analysis. The Gifter does not need a physical store; it
is fully an online company. The expected date of establishment of The Gifter is January of 2021.
The first step of launching The Gifter is the creation of the website. In order for The Gifter to
succeed, the company must obtain and sustain customer satisfaction. The trust that customers
have in our services will increase sales, and bring in more sponsors and investors (increased
output). The company’s short term goals are maximizing customer satisfaction and building
customer relationships. The company’s long term goals are eliminating waste within the
shopping process, benefiting society, and increasing profits of the business.
The Gifter is a service that will suggest gift ideas that are already made products. The
Gifter will sell premade, hand held items that are easily able to be distributed to intended
customers. The company’s suppliers will be local or international, depending on the need of the
customer. The providers of the inventory will obtain cheap products, as the company does not
provide extremely high end products to customers. The company’s services also includes easy
transportation of intended products, cheaper gift giving, a simplistic technological platform for
all customers to access, and rewards for recurring clients.

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 The gift industry needs a new leader, one that brings quickness, efficiency, and an overall
improvement in customer service to simplify the seemingly constant act of gift giving. The
Gifter is just that!

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Management Team and Labor Force

The owners and operators of The Gifter are us five. We will manage the online aspect of
the company, and we will also hire labor intensive employees to run the warehouse and products
future need of products. The predicted salary of an online website manager would be around
$55,000. Labor employees will get paid hourly at a rate of $17 an hour. We, the five owners of
the company, will receive a predicted salary of $120,000 each. While looking into the future for
a three year time period, each employee previously listed will see a raise in their yearly salaries
up to 30 percent. The company expects to see a break-even point by year seven.
The company will have three online managers, a marketing specialist, an accountant, and
15 labor employees. The marketing specialist will need prior marketing experience, with a
completed undergraduate degree. The labor employees working in the warehouse will not need a
completed undergraduate degree or prior experience.
The company’s support providers are lawyers, accountants, and insurance providers. The
lawyers will provide our company with assistance in any legal disputes, or decisions, that would
need to be made in the scope of our business. The accountants will ensure that we are efficiently
operating, and at the lowest reasonable costs. Lastly, the insurance providers will manage and
control all insurance operations within the company.

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Manufacturing and Operations Plan

The Gifter will not be located at a physical unit. Since The Gifter only has online
purchases through the website, the company will only have physical storage building where
products are distributed. The projected cost of the storage building is approximately $300,000
per year. The distribution building will be in Fayetteville, Arkansas, which is the location of the
company’s headquarters.
The Gifter will purchase security surveillance that covers the surveillance and
background collection of all online resources. Additionally, the company will need surveillance
at the storage unit in many different areas in order to sustain safety measures within the building.

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Marketing Plan
The Gifter’s marketing strategy is to match customers with specific gifts based on their
personality traits. Our goal is to improve the overall efficiency and quality of the gift buying
online. This strategy will trump the other online gift sites because The Gifter makes it fast and
easy to pick, or design, gifts for loved ones and friends.
The company’s advertising goal is to create ads on large gift making company websites,
post billboards with our company on it, and advertise near schools when the holiday season
approaches. The company’s online advertising costs range from about $100,000-$120,000 per
year. Billboard advertising varies depending on where the ad is posted; in rural areas an ad will
cost about $250 per month, and in a small/mid-sized cities the ads will cost between $1,400 and
$4,000 per month, and in large cities ads can cost as much as $14,000 per month.
The demographics that the company will market to are the middle class and upper middle
class. In order to market to the best extent, our target customers need full access to technology in
order to generate interest in our products. The company specified interest in these markets due
to their needs and wants, and how likely we may satisfy them through our product. In order to
fulfill the need of market research within the company, information regarding the average
income of families in the area will be gathered in order to make sure we are marketing in the
right region. The largest competition that the company will face regarding marketing levels, is
Amazon and any other secular and established online companies. The company’s strengths are
that we are one of the few companies that will fully generate the product for the customer in
need, but a weakness is that the company does not have long establishment in the business area.

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Financial Plan

The costs of the company’s first years will include one distribution center, advertising in
local cities and on related websites, employee pay, website maintenance and packaging. The
distribution center will cost approximately $300,000 to build and maintain. The ad costs will
consist of online and billboard ads. Online advertising costs about $100,000-$120,000 per year.
Billboard advertising varies depending on where the add is posted; in rural areas an ad will cost
about $250 per month, in a small/mid-sized cities the ads will cost between $1400 and $4000 per
month, and in large cities it can cost as much as $14,000 a month. Packaging costs will be
approximately $10,000 per year. The company’s employees will consist of a website manager
that will have an average salary of $55,000, five owners with an average salary of $120,000, and
a team of laborers that will be paid $17 an hour. After calculating all of our costs for the year, the
amount of money needed to provide for our running business is around $740,000 for the first
year. This price should gradually decrease after the first year.
With the $740,000, the company will utilize this money in the best, and most efficient
way possible. This includes the costs of paying employees, the products used by the companies
on our website, and the startup of our company and our headquarters. The cost of advertising and
our distribution centers will also have effect in cost, depending on location.
The company’s budget includes cashing in and cashing out money. The cashing in
amount would equal $1.5 million, and cashing out cost is approximately $740,000. The Gifter’s
net worth is $760,000, which we found by subtracting the $740,000 from the $1.5 million.
The company's projected profits and losses are provided below. Profits include sales, and
any other income that is brought in. Losses include advertising costs, employee salaries, website
subscriptions, storage unit costs, service provider payments, and costs of repairs.

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Balance Sheet

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Exit Strategy

The first step in The Gifter’s exit strategy is to attempt to create a joint alliance with a
similar company. To avoid risk, the company’s exit strategy will include a contract, renewable
each year, that would limit relational risk. After reviewing the company information yearly,
information will be accessed to decide whether it is time to sell the company to a larger
corporation such as Amazon.

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Critical Risks and Assumptions
The greatest risk of The Gifter is the low demand for people willing to purchase the
service due to the assumption it is an unnecessary cost. However, the company will provide
customers with original gift ideas so the customers will recognize the increase of the likelihood
that their gift recipients genuinely enjoy their gifts. These original ideas will not be typical
suggestions customers could previously get from friends or family.

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Graphics

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 References

Adams, R. L. (2016, October 26). 21 Ways to Market Your Business Online. Retrieved from
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/283832.

The Comprehensive Guide to Online Advertising Costs. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/07/05/online-advertising-costs.

How much Does it Cost to Build a Warehouse? Online Prices & Quotes. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.buildingsguide.com/blog/planning-steel-warehouse-building/.

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Appendix

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