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My Online Store
Business Plan
A Workbook

Index

Business Overview
1

Market Analysis
5

Products
7

Operations
9

Marketing
12

Financial Plan
15

Executive Summary
23
 Business Overview

Business name
The name of my online store is: _______________

Checklist:

Name is not already taken

Available domain name

No special characters

Under 15 characters (recommended)

Business structure
Sole proprietorship

(I am the only owner)

General partnership

(I am one of the owners and we manage the business together)

Limited partnership

(I am one of the owners but not all of us manage the business)

Incorporated

(I have filed my business for incorporation and it has been approved)

Headquarters
This is the address that my business operates from:

_________________________________________

1
Business model type

Business-to-consumer (B2C)

Business-to-business (B2B)

Consumer-to-consumer (C2C)

Consumer-to-business (C2B)

Business model

How do I produce and sell my products?

Making

(I make my own products)

Manufacturing/private labeling

(I get someone else to make my products for me)

Print on demand

(I resell personalized products without inventory)

Wholesale/warehousing

(I resell other brands’ products with inventory)

Dropshipping

(I resell other brands’ products without inventory)

Digital products

(I sell digital nonphysical products)

Subscription

(I charge a recurring fee for access to my products)

Other:________________________________

2
Nature of the business
My online store sells the following:

_________________________________________

Industry
What is the broad category that my store falls under?

_________________________________________

E.g. streetwear, graphic design, customized gifts

Vision, mission, and values

Vision: Here is what the world would look like if my store
becomes ultra-successful

_________________________________________

E.g. “One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain
an excellent education.” - Teach for America

Mission: Here is the problem I want to solve in the world

_________________________________________

E.g. “To connect the world's professionals to make them more productive
and successful.” - LinkedIn

Values: Here are the beliefs that guide how my

business is run

_________________________________________

E.g. honesty, empowerment, e ualit
q y

3
Now try to put that into a statement.

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

________________________________________

E.g. “We believe that entrepreneurs can make their dreams reality and change the

world, so we empower individuals with the knowledge and services they need for

ecommerce success. We work towards a world where everyone will have the

opportunity to start and run an online business.” - Printbest

Business objective

In 1 year, I want my store to:

_________________________________________

In 5 years I want my store to:

_________________________________________

My goals are:

Specific
Realistic

Measurable
Time-bound

Attainable

Team

Here are the people I work with (if any):

_________________________________________

Here are the people who I will need to hire (if any):

_________________________________________

4
 Market Analysis

Target audience

Demographics:

_________________________________________

E.g. loves coffee, self-employed, religious, university graduate, etc.

Other characteristics:

_________________________________________

E.g. loves coffee, self-employed, religious, university graduate, etc.

Industry analysis

How has the industry been doing overall?

_________________________________________

Market size

Based on my target audience and industry trends, how

many people can I sell to?

_________________________________________

5
SWOT analysis
My store's strengths:
_________________________________________

My store's weaknesses:
_________________________________________

Opportunities:
_________________________________________

Threats:
_________________________________________

Competitor analysis

Who are my top competitors?

_________________________________________

What are they doing well?

_________________________________________

What are they not doing well?

_________________________________________

How can I differentiate myself from them?

My products are different

I can sell products more affordably

I target a different niche

Other:________________________________

6
 Products

Main product lines

Here is a preliminary list of the types of products I

will be selling:

_________________________________________

E.g. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, etc.

Differentiators
What makes my products stand out from the rest?

In a world where ___________________________,

my products ______________________________.

E.g. In a world where pet owner clothing is cute and cuddly, my products are
sassy and edgy.

Life cycle
How often do you expect customers to return to your
store?

Length of time: ______________

After my product has worn out

Seasonally

When I launch new products

Other
7
Costs

Here is a general overview of costs for your products

(you will provide details in a later section):

Product line 1: __________________

Cost to acquire: _________

Selling price: _________

Estimated profit: _________

Product line 2: __________________

Cost to acquire: _________

Selling price: _________

Estimated profit: _________

Product line 3: __________________

Cost to acquire: _________

Selling price: _________

Estimated profit: _________

8
 Operations

Online store
Where will I create my store? (Specify)

Ecommerce platform: ____________________

E.g. Shopify

Online marketplace: _____________________

E.g. Etsy

Website builder: ________________________

E.g. WordPress

Other: ____________________________________

Product sourcing
Where will I get my products from? (Specify provider)

Print on demand: ___________________________

Dropshipping: ______________________________

Manufacturing: _____________________________

Other: ____________________________________

9
Facilities
Do I need additional space? (Specify where)

Production: ________________________________

Storage: __________________________________

Shipping/packing: __________________________

Administrative: _____________________________

Marketing: ________________________________

None needed

Equipment/software
Do I need additional equipment/software? (Specify)

Online store: _______________________________

Production: ________________________________

Shipping/packaging: _________________________

Administrative: _____________________________

Marketing: _________________________________

None needed

10
Who are my shipping providers?
List shipping companies:

_________________________________________

Other third party service providers

Is there anyone else involved in my business?

_________________________________________

E.g. ABC Marketing Agency, XYZ the Graphic Designer, PayPal, etc.

Processes
Here is how I will run my online store:

_____________________________________________

Here is how payment collection works:

_____________________________________________

Here is how fulfillment works:

_____________________________________________

Here is how shipping works:

_____________________________________________

11
 Marketing

Content

What is my business’s tone of voice?

_________________________________________

Will I provide any additional content to promote my

business? (E.g. tutorials, blog articles, etc.)

Yes (Specify): ______________ No

Ads
What sort of ads will I run, and for how long?

Type of ad #1: ________________________

Length of time: ________________________

Budget: ______________

Type of ad #2: ________________________

Length of time: ________________________

Budget: ______________

12
Social media
What platforms will I use for my business and how
frequently will I be posting?

Platform 1: ________________________

Posting frequency: __________________

Platform 2: ________________________

Posting frequency: __________________

Email marketing
How will I get people to subscribe to emails?

______________________________________________

What will I email them about, and how frequently?

______________________________________________

Special offers
What sort of special offers will I run, and when?

__________________________________________

How will people know about them?

__________________________________________

13
SEO
What will I do to help my online store and/or products
show up higher on search engines?

_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

Word of mouth

Who can I ask to share about my online store?

_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

Repeat customers

What will I do to try to get customers to come back?

_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

14
 Financial Plan

Raw operational costs

Create an Excel or Google sheet with all the different

types of expenses you’ll need to pay for.

Divide them into 2 categories

Fixed expenses (these ones don’t change monthly,
e.g. software fees
Variable expenses (these ones can fluctuate, e.g.
advertising budget)

You likely won’t need everything on this list, but here are
some items to consider
Space/facilities ren
Production and fulfillment cost
Equipment and maintenance cost
Inventory managemen
Packing and shipping supply cost
Shipping and delivery fee
Employee pa
Freelance contractor costs (e.g. graphic designer,
model, etc.)

15
 Website development cost
Web hosting fee
Ecommerce platform/marketplace fee
Payment processing fee
Photography equipment cost
Computer/online software cost
Marketing tool cost
Advertising budge
Office supplies and administrative expense
Travel expense
Electricity/gas/hydro bill
Phone and internet bill
Permits and license
Product development costs (e.g. samples
Returns and refund
Cybersecurity cost
Business insurance fee
Government taxes and tariffs

Add these up and you have your total operational cost.

Total operational cost: ______________

16
Assets

List what you currently have access to for business use

and how much they are worth. Your goal is to have

enough to cover your fixed costs for a month or more.

Divide them into 3 categories

Current assets (these are things that you have easy

access to, e.g. your bank account

Stock (these are goods that you can sell, e.g. art

prints

Fixed assets (these are things that you own but are

harder to convert into cash, e.g. your car)

Here are some things to consider

Cas

Bank account

Debts owed to you or your busines

Goods in stock that you can sel

Equipmen

Vehicle

Buildings

Add these up and you have your total company assets.

Total company assets: ______________

17
Projected profit and loss

In your spreadsheet, create a new tab and enter the

amount you’ll need to spend on each product. Then at the
bottom, add another row with the expected revenue.

Product type: ______________

Cost to produce (use negative numbers)

Cost to pack and ship (use negative numbers)

Cost deducted for payment processing (use negative

numbers)

Taxes and tariffs (use negative numbers)

Other costs (use negative numbers)

Expected revenue (use positive numbers)

Calculate the profit using the sum of negative and positive

numbers.

Projected profit for first product: ______________

18
Repeat this for each category of product, or use average

costs. Then add your profits together to get your total

profit.

Total profit: ______________

If you are not happy with the total profit, you may need to

go back to the drawing board and find ways to either

reduce costs or increase revenue.

For online stores just starting up, a graph showing

multiple months can be helpful because you may need to

spend more at the beginning before you start reaping the

benefits.

19
Cash Flow

This is similar to your projected profit and loss, except

you don’t just calculate the profit. You calculate how much

money is going out of your business and how much is

coming in.

Take those numbers from your profit and loss analysis to

find out how much money is flowing out of your business

and into your business each month.

If you want to get more in-depth with cash flows, here’s a

helpful calculator provided by Shopify:

https://www.shopify.com/capital/calculator

Break even point

Calculate how many items you will need to sell to break

even using this formula:

Fixed costs ÷ (Price you sell each item - Cost you pay

per item) = Number of items sold to break even

20
E.g. It costs $100 per month to operate my business. I
sell T-shirts for $30 each. I buy them from my supplier for
$15 each.

100 ÷ (30 - 15) = 6.67

Therefore, if I sell more than 6 T-shirts, I earn a profit!

Your fixed costs: ______

Price you sell each item: ______

Cost you pay per item: ______

Fill in the formula: ___ ÷ (__ - __) = ___

Number of items sold to break even: ______

What if you add advertising into the mix?

Let’s say I spent $15 on advertising to get 3 T-shirt sales.

That means it costs me $5 per shirt. Let’s put that into our
equation:

100 ÷ (30 - 15 - 5) = 10

This means I would need to sell 10 T-shirts to earn a

profit.

Your advertising cost per item: ______

Fill in the formula: ___ ÷ (__ - __ - __) = ___

Number of items sold to break even: ______

21
Customer acquisition and advertising

Based on the numbers from the previous section,

determine how much you can afford to spend on

acquiring each customer.

How you expect each customer to spend over their

lifetime: ______

Cost for acquiring each customer: ______

22
 Executive Summary

Now you can put everything together

for your Executive Summary. Put this at
the beginning of your business plan.

Business name: _______________________________

Start date: ___________________________________

Business concept: _____________________________

Key people: __________________________________

Mission statement: _____________________________

_____________________________________________

____________________________________________

Objectives: ___________________________________

Products: ____________________________________

Differentiators: ________________________________

Target market: ________________________________

Marketing plan: _______________________________

Current financial state: _________________________

Projected financial state: ________________________

23
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