First National Bank
Loan Proposal
Amount Requested
$175,000
Submitted To
First National bank
Loan Department
10 Money Street
Raleigh, North Carolina 27695
(919) 123-4567
by
Thomas Katz
April 25, 1997
Executive Summary
With fish becoming more and more popular pets, pet owners are looking for a
less expensive way to continue their hobby. At Waterworld, we are committed to
satisfying the customer and giving him a reduced cost so he can further enjoy
the aquarium world. This fully equipped store will offer tanks, equipment, and
of course, as many fish and invertebrate specimens as possible. The store will
also provide to new innovations to the industry. An In-Home set-up and
maintenance service and an In-Home problem solving service will allow many
customers more freedom in exploring the aquarium world. In order for our store
to help the public, we will need assistance from First National Bank. Our loan
request of $175,000 will be used to secure a location, purchase equipment and
supplies, advertise the new store, and pay a minimal staff. With your help,
Waterworld will be able to draw new customers into the industry and give existing
customers the retail store they have been looking for. Research has proven that
Waterworld could soon be the areas leading retailer and a valuable investment
for First National Bank.
Table of Contents
NOTE: Page numbers are not included since they are not relevant in this online presentation.
Market Outlook for Fish Aquariums
- Market History
- Market Position
- Customer Base
Competition in the Triangle
Marketing
- The Importance of Location
- Advertising Strategy
Components
- Products and Services
- Facility
- Personnel
Estimated Startup Expenses
Estimated Timeline for Operating
Bibliography
Tables and Figures List
Estimated Startup Expenses
Market Outlook For Fish Aquariums
The following passage describes the history of the pet industry's growing
interest in fish. It also gives a general prediction of the industry's future.
Market History
Fish have long been a source of fascination for humans, but an unrealistic
goal for the pet owner. With an increase of knowledge and constantly improving
technology, life under water has entered many homes and businesses. Although
the industry started small, it has seen a steady increase in public interest and
has grown into a million dollar business.
When fish first began to serve as pets, freshwater aquariums were the only
option. They were crude and expensive. As the industry grew, freshwater prices
dropped. New innovations in technology, disease control, harvesting and
transportation made it possible to keep saltwater aquariums. These technological
advances were not inexpensive. Within the last twenty years, saltwater expenses
have dropped to little more than the cost of maintaining
freshwater aquariums.
Market Position
In an industry that consists of manufacturers, harvesters, and retailers,
Waterworld will provide all the fundamentals of fish keeping at reasonable rates
to benefit the consumer. By running an efficient display system and purchasing
supplies at a less than wholesale fee from suppliers, Waterworld will provide the
customer with an economical alternative to high costs in the set-up and maintenance
of aquariums.
Customer Base in the Triangle
To be a successful business, it is essential to have a large clientele that
is steadily growing. The Triangle area will provide a large customer base. At the
rate it is growing, it will continue to increase that customer base.
With the development of the Research Triangle Park, the Triangle has shown a
steady growth in population. New developments have grown and communities such as
Cary have thrived. Money Magazine rated the triangle area as one of the top 15
places to live in the United States.
What makes this area so ideal for the growth of the fish keeping industry is
the large number of apartments. Although many houses and businesses are incorporating
fish aquariums into decorations, the largest percentage of fish owners are found in
apartment buildings. This is due largely to the fact that apartment complexes and
town home communities often do not allow pets. The exception to this rule is the fish
tank. Because fish are self contained, they are less likely to damage property and
therefore allowed in most complexes.
Why is the Triangle home to so many apartments? It is simple. New families moving
into the area with new jobs or in search of jobs require temporary, low overhead
housing. Thus there is a demand for available apartments. As the area continues to grow
bringing in new businesses, there will be an increasing large demand for apartments.
Another reason there is an abundance of apartments is the large number of colleges in
the area. College students flood the apartment market, again increasing the demand for
apartments.
Competition in the Triangle
The following information describes our main competitors and why they will not
threaten Water World.
Fish World is located in north Raleigh off Capital Boulevard. It is a fully operational
aquarium store with large numbers of display tanks for both fresh and saltwater
specimens. Fish World has also dedicated a small room to the display of reef tanks.
Although this store offers a wide variety of equipment, its high prices force many fish
enthusiasts to look elsewhere.
Fish Pros is located on Hillsboro Street near the State Fair Grounds in Raleigh. This
store has been established for 15 years and also provides fresh and saltwater. The major
problem with Fish Pros is their lack of room in their showroom. This store also has very
little in the way of reef specimens. Again, high prices will force many pet owners to
look elsewhere.
Tropical Fishes is the only strictly fish based store in Durham. Located on Highway 501,
it is on the northern end of Durham. This store does house a large freshwater supply but
has little focus on saltwater.
Other pet stores around the Triangle do carry aquarium supplies and small assortments of
fish but the small nature of these stores presents little competition problems. With
Raleigh housing two fish stores, Durham housing one, and Chapel Hill and Cary housing no
aquarium shops, there will be little competition for a well placed and furnished aquarium
store.
Marketing
This section is designed to describe the advantages of the location of Waterworld,
as well as, describe the marketing strategy for the newly forming aquarium store.
The Importance of Location
The location that we chose is on Harrison Avenue in Cary. It is located beside of
Sam's Wholesale Club in --------- Shopping Center. Harrison Avenue is highly traveled
and will provide an excellent chance for the store to advertise itself. The location is
prime for the convenience of our Cary clientele. The most influential reason behind the
choice of location is the availability to all of the clientele. Being positioned so
closely to Interstate 40 allows easy access to customers coming from Raleigh, Durham,
and Chapel Hill. It also provides easy access to travelers coming down I - O and visiting
RDU Airport.
Cary is an ideal area to open an aquarium shop. The rapidly growing community is very
wealthy and could easily support the store. Another bonus to the location is that by
avoiding the Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill city limits, the store will avoid higher
tax and utility rates.
Advertising Strategy
The advertising for Waterworld will consist of a blend of newspaper and magazine
advertisements, radio announcements, advertisements in telephone books, and television
commercials.
The primary focus for the store will be in local newspapers and telephone books.
This will develop the local clientele in a cost effective way. With each of the cities
having a major newspaper and using the same telephone books, this form of advertisement
will reach a wide audience. Additional funding will be needed for advertisements in
college newspapers. This will target the apartment owning students at each school as
referred to on page ---.
After our first phase of advertisements, there will be advertisements made on the
radio. Two stations will be used to try and cover a large audience. The radio stations
selected are G105.1 FM and WRDU 106.1 FM. These two stations have two of the highest
listener rates in the Triangle. Commercials will be 30 seconds long and will air Mondays
thru Fridays at 5:15 PM for the first three months with a reduction to advertisements on
just Fridays thereafter. Studies show that this is when these two stations have the most
listeners. Radio advertisements are scheduled to run approximately $6,000 per year.
As the customer base continues to grow and sales increase, the store will begin
television advertisements and place advertisements in popular aquarium magazines.
The least expensive form of advertisement is word-of-mouth advertising. For this
reason Waterworld will be committed to customer satisfaction. By keeping prices low and
only hiring well mannered employees, Waterworld hopes to ensure our customers satisfaction
and promote word-of-mouth advertising.
Products and Services
Waterworld will be a fully equipped aquarium shop, offering aquariums, equipment,
maintenance chemicals, freshwater specimens, saltwater specimens, reef specimens, in-home
set-up and maintenance services. Waterworld will also provide servicemen to go to the
customers home, diagnose problems, and repair failed equipment.
Aquariums
A full line of aquariums will be offered at waterworld. Sizes of tanks will range
from 2.5 gallons to 250 gallons. Custom tanks over 250 gallons will be made available
through a catalog. Both glass and acrylic tanks will be offered in various shapes. Some
shapes include rectangular, square, hexagonal, and circular. Custom shapes will also be
made available through the catalog. Some name brands include Perfecto, Hagen, and Tenecor.
Equipment
All aquarium equipment will be offered through the store. Some of the equipment
offered will be chillers, lights, lighting accessories, canister filters, undergravel
filters, trickle filters, powerheads, sumps, protein skimmers, thermometers, heaters,
air pumps, testing kits, algae scrapers, siphons, and fish nets. Various styles of each
will be offered to allow the customer selection. Some name brands include Magnum, Shark,
Hagen, Ebo-Jager, Amiracle, Icecap, Coralife, Whisper, and many others.
Maintenance Chemicals
There are many chemicals in the aquarium market. They range from buffers and salts
to disease control elements. Waterworld will carry a full line of chemicals with at least
two brands of each chemical. Buffers, calcium, salt, strontium, iodide, copper, and all
disease cures will be stocked. Seachem, Instant Ocean, and Coralife will be our major
brands.
Living Specimens
The living specimens are the key to the fascination with aquarium keeping.
Waterworld is committed to keeping large varieties of freshwater, saltwater, and reef
specimens at all times. There will also be a catalog as to what fish and invertebrates the
store can obtain. Because different suppliers carry different specimens, Waterworld will go
through three harvesters to insure quality and diversity.
In-Home Set-Up and Maintenance Services
At Waterworld we intend to revolutionize the service given to customers. There will
be a technician available to go in-home, inspect the area, help pick out the best aquarium
for the customer, and set it up. This service will target the more financially inclined
clientele that enjoy aquariums but do have the time to invest in them. Our technician will
set up your tank and do bi-weekly or monthly maintenence. This service will be extremely
useful to companies who want to decorate a lobby withan aquarium.
In-Home Service
Another new service available to the customer is In-home service. With many
aquariums, especially reefs, problems are not easily diagnosable. For that reason,
Waterworld is providingtechnicians to come to your home to diagnose and solve problems.
Facility
As previously mentioned, Waterworld will occupy a vacant building in ---------
Shopping Center in Cary. This building is 60 feet by 400 feet, for an area of 2,400 square
feet. This area will be divided into three display rooms and one storage room. Two large
room will be dedicated to displaying fish, one for freshwater and one for saltwater. The
third display room will be for displaying reef tanks. Each of these room will feature
various aquariums linked together on a central filtration system. Each room's filtration
system will be designed to treat disease and water control problems on a community basis.
Personnel
At the opening of Waterworld there will be two full-time employees. Part-time help
will be hired as business increases and qualified applications are received.
Two full-time servicemen will be hired shortly after opening to do the In-home
services that will be offered. The servicemen will work in a particular field although
they may be called to transfer from fresh to saltwater and back. Qualifications for the
job will entail in-depth experience in keeping aquariums and good customer relations skills.
All personnel will be examined carefully to insure that our clientele is treated with
courtesy and respect. As previously mentioned, we hope to advertise by word-of-mouth so
customer satisfaction is a necessity.
Estimated Startup Expenses
The following information is a general breakdown to help explain the size of the loan
requested. The figures are projected here for the first year.
Each expense is referred to below:
· Computer is designated for the cost of a computer that will run inventory programs.
· Equipment cost is based on the cost of three self contained filtration systems,
tanks, lighting, freezers, oxygen tanks, and other miscellaneous pieces of
equipment needed to run displays.
· Building Rent is based on $2500/month rent of a building in Cary.Insurance and
utilities are also included in the rent.
· Accounting Fee is a representation of what a private accountant would charge for
services.
· Advertising is the cost of advertising as defined in the Advertising Strategy
section.
· Once Supplies is set aside for any supplies that are needed for receipts and
documentation.
· Chemicals refers to the cost of various chemicals and foods that will be sold
through the store.
· Tanks and equipment is the cost that the store will spend on stocking a selection
of basic necessities that are involved in the set up process.
· Staffing is the cost of running the store with a minimal staff.
· Fish and Invertebrates is the cost associated with bringing in specimens to stock
the display tanks
· Miscellaneous is money allotted for any unforeseen or hidden costs.
Estimated Timeline for Opening of Water World
05/01/97 Loan proposal and application submitted to
First National Bank.
06/01197 Loan approved by First National Bank.
Begin finalization of leasing building.
06/15/97 Lease signed and secured.
Begin renovations to building.
Equipment ordered.
07/01/97 Place advertisements in local newspapers and magazines.
Place advertisements in telephone book.
Begin work for future radio and television advertisements.
07/15/97 Begin to run television and radio advertisements.
Equipment arrives.
08/01/97 Final renovations completed.
Store is stocked and ready to open.
08/15/97 Grand Opening.
Bibliography
1. Hargreaves, Vincent, The Tropical Marine Aquarium, Sterling Publishing CO, Inc., 1989.
2. Levine, Joseph, The Complete Fishkeeper, William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1991.
3. That Fish Place Catalog, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1995.
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