Defining Your Own Business

Suppose that you and a friend decide to pool your funds together and open an online e- commerce company, selling accessories for personal MP3 players.

Activity Use the first four steps of the marketing research process to define your business and determine the focus of your new company.

Prompt

You are working for a small business owner selling women’s fitness apparel in a strip mall in a town with a population of 20,000. The space next door will become vacant next year once the lease expires, and the property manager has offered your business the opportunity to lease the space. The apparel company is financially sound, yet not seeing sales growth year over year. The company does not have an online sales platform and depends on repeat customers and foot traffic from the gym nearby. You are tasked with determining if there is a valid opportunity to expand the business to the location next door.

Explain the method you would use to research the viability of the company. What are three potential mistakes to avoid in your research and how can you avoid making those mistakes?

After defining the business mission, what should a firm do next to develop a marketing plan?