Free Clothing Store Business
Plan
Obtaining Business Financing
When obtaining a business loan
for a Clothing Store business, it is imperative that you have a properly
structured business plan that will assist you in showcasing how you intend to
operate your Clothing Store, how the business will operate, how you intend to
market the business, the anticipated financial results of your company, and how
you intend to repay your debt obligations. This sample loan business plan will
provide you with the framework that you need in order to acquire a business loan
for starting or expanding this type of business.
Executive Summary
Introduction
When obtaining a business loan
for a Clothing Store, it is imperative that your business plan has a clear and
concise executive summary that provides an outline of what are seeking to
accomplish, how much capital you are seeking to raise, the management biography
of the business owner, and an overview of the anticipated profit and loss
statements of the business. Here is an example of how the title paragraph should
be written:
Clothing Store, Inc. (“the
Company”) is seeking a business loan of $100,000 in order to launch the
operations of a Clothing Store business that will be based in
San Francisco,
California. The Company was founded in (Insert Year).
The business was founded by Mr. John Doe.
Products and Services
In the next segment of the
business loan and business planning document, you should showcase the products
and services that you will be providing to the general public. For instance:
The Clothing Store is a
business that specializes in the retailing of high end apparel. Through its
store, the Company intends to sell a number of high end men’s and women’s shoes,
scarves, sweaters, belts, and other apparel among a number of high end brand
names. After the business begins its operations, the Company will launch an
online ordering platform to generate sales on a nationwide basis. These
additional sales will allow the business to reach profitability very quickly.
The third section of the business plan will further describe the products
offered by the Clothing Store
Business Loan Terms
Now it is time to discuss the
anticipated terms of the business plan that you are seeking. An example
paragraph of how this is stated:
At this time, Mr. Doe is
seeking a conventional business loan in the amount of $100,000. The interest
rate, loan terms, and loan covenants are to be determined during negotiation.
However, this business plan assumes that the business will receive a seven year
business loan with a seven percent interest rate due on the outstanding
principal balance.
Management Biography
Now that the summary of the
business has been provided, it is time to provide a brief overview of the owner
of the business. An example paragraph summing up the owner is as follows:
Mr. Doe is a highly experienced
business person that has years of experience regarding the direct ownership and
management of businesses. He will be able to effectively bring the operations of
the Clothing Store to profitability while
ensuring that the business loan’s payments and its covenants are met at all
times.
Financial Statements
The most important thing to
your lender when applying for a business loan is how you intend to repay the
bank. In this section of the business plan, you should provide an overview of
the finance’s of the business discussing the anticipated revenues, expenses, and
profits/losses. You can also discuss the applicable collateral within the
business plan that will be used to secure your business financing.
Expansion Plans
One of the most important
aspects of your business plan is how you intend to expand the business over a
three to five year period. Banks and finance companies always want to see that
the business will experience a moderate to strong level of growth. This is
especially true in business lending because as your business grows the cash flow
that secures your business loan will decrease proportionality against your
monthly credit obligations. An example of how this is stated is as follows:
The Clothing Store will
continue to expand through organic means including increasing the Company’s
advertising budget via the reinvestment into the after tax cash flows of the
business. Additionally, if the business is highly successful then the Company
may seek to establish additional Clothing Store locations after the third year
of operations.
The Financing
Use of Business Loan Proceeds
In this section of the business
plan you should focus on how the proceeds of the business loan will be used. An
example of this would be as follows:
- Clothing
Store Establishment - $50,000
- Opening
Inventory - $10,000
- Working
capital - $40,000
Management Equity
In this section of the business
plan you should discuss the percentage ownership of the business among the
owners of the business. For example:
Mr. Doe will own 100% of the
Clothing Store.
Board of Directors
When applying for business
financing, the bank will also want to know who serves as the board of directors.
For small businesses, usually the owner serves as the director of the business.
An example of how this is worded:
Mr. Doe will be the sole
director of Clothing Store, Inc.
Exit Strategy
Any bank or financing company
is also going to want to know what you intend to do with the business over a set
period of time. Many business owners will develop and expand a business with the
intent to sell the company to a third party at a later time. When drafting this
part of the business plan you should focus on what you intentions are in regards
to potentially selling the business. This is often worded as:
Mr. Doe would most likely sell
the Clothing Store to a third party for a significant earnings multiple.
Clothing Stores usually sell for approximately one to three times earnings given
the financial strength of the business. In this event, the business would be
sold by a business broker and the business loan sought in this plan would be
repaid according to the covenants of the business loan agreement.
Products and Services
When developing a business plan
that is appropriate for obtaining a business loan or other business credit
facility you need to clearly showcase the services or products that you will be
offering to the general public. An example of how this section is worded goes as
follows:
The Company will actively sell
and trade men’s and women’s high end apparel to its retail clients. Our
manufactures will provide us with the branded label merchandise. All of the
Company’s sold apparel will always be of the highest retail quality. The
business will carry several brands of high end men’s and women’s apparel
including, Armani, Versace, Kenneth Cole, Polo, Ralph Lauren, Bruno Magli,
Gucci, Coach, and a number of other very high end men’s and women’s apparel
manufacturers. Management anticipates that the Company will be able to mark-up
our purchased inventory 65% of its actual cost. This is an unusually high margin
for a branded label merchandise business. The key to the success of the business
will depend on Management’s ability to create a stable brand that attracts a
wealthy middle to upper middle income earning group within the targeted region.
Industry and Market Analysis
The
Current
State of the Economy
It is important to let your
financial institution know that you are well apprised of the financial situation
of the general economy when you are applying for a business loan. This is
especially true in today’s environment where lending has become more difficult
and will remain more difficult in the foreseeable future. Specifically, you
should gear this section of the business plan analysis towards the industry that
you are operating within. For example:
The current economy has
remained difficult over the past few years. However, Clothing Stores usually (if
they run properly) retain some level of economic stability provided that they
are able to distribute their wares via a number of different channels. As
discussed in the third section of the business plan, the Company intends to
maintain an online platform that will ensure that the business remains
profitable and cash flow positive at all times.
The Clothing Store Industry
In addition to providing your
business loan officer with an understanding of the general economy, it is
important that you showcase that you have an equal understanding of the industry
in which you are operating within. As such, you will need to provide you
business loan institution of a brief overview of your industry and any potential
changes that may affect the way that your company does business. An example of
how an industry overview is as follows:
The direct retail sale of
apparel to the end user is a $150 billion dollar a year industry in the
United States. This growth rate for this
industry has been tremendous over the last five years. Growth is expected to
occur at a rate of 4% to 5% on an annual basis. This is primarily due to the
shift in advertising by brand name and high end retail stores. The economic
tastes of Americans have changed significantly over the last five years as the
overall wealth of the country has grown. As Americans now have more access to
capital and an increased borrowing capacity, their ability to spend money on
brand name and luxury items has also increased. Retail sales operations are a
slightly riskier operation to maintain. This is due to the fact that there are
significant costs in maintaining a high end retail location in an urban or
upscale suburban market. There failure rate for these businesses is
approximately 65% for the first five years of operations. Management is
currently building a number of proprietary marketing and pricing models to help
ensure the continued success of the Company.
Target Market
In this section of the business
loan application and business plan analysis, you should focus on the
demographics of your localized market (or national market if applicable). This
section should discuss how many people live in your area, the anticipated number
of people that would require the use of Clothing Stores, the median household
income of people living in the area, poverty line statistics, and any applicable
laws that would apply to your operation of Clothing Stores.
Competition
Many people that are developing
new businesses or expanding existing businesses often feel that their business
does not have any competition or limited competition at best. However, this is
almost never the case. Unless you have re-invented the wheel – you will have
competition. When applying for a business loan, you should clearly showcase your
competition in your business plan. This is especially important to your banker
as they will be able to gauge your ability to be successful in your targeted
market. Many business loan underwriters will aggressively confirm that
competitive nature of your local market and your local industry.
When drafting this section of
the plan you should heavily discuss the competitive advantages that you intend
to have over your competition.
Marketing Plan
In addition to all of the above
information that we have covered, your business loan officer is also going to
want to know how you intend to market your business to the general public. Most
people do not quite understand how to effectively market their business outside
of prominent signage or flyer distribution. When applying for a business loan
(again in this difficult lending climate), your banker is going to want to see
that you have a clear methodology of how you intend to market your services or
products to the general public. In this section of the business plan – we will
overview how to showcase your services/products to the general public.
Marketing Overview Example
- The Clothing
Store will place prominent signage on the facility to draw a significant amount
of foot traffic.
- The business
will maintain listings in the Yellow Books.
- The Clothing
Store will also maintain an internet website that showcases the Company’s
operations, hours of operation, and relevant contact information.
- The business
will also using popular sites such as EBay in order to generate additional sales
from outside of the retail location.
Marketing Strategies Overview
Additionally, you will be
required to further drill down (in your business plan) how you intend to
implement your strategies when you launch or expand your business’s operations.
In this section of the business loan and business plan documents, you should
amplify the bullet points from the section above. For instance:
The Clothing Store intends to use a number of strategies that will
create instant traffic and customer flow to the Company’s location. These
strategies include not only using prominent facility and road signage, but also
distributing flyers to people that fall into he Company’s targeted demographics.
The business will also regularly take out advertisements in localized newspapers
that showcase the Company’s hours of operations, clothing store products and
services, and specials that are occurring within the store on a regular basis.
The business will also maintain
a highly informative website that showcases the Clothing Store’s products and
services, its hours of operation, apparel product listing information, licensure
information, and other relevant information in regards to the Company’s
services. This website will be listed on major search engines such as Google as
many people now use the internet to locate local businesses. The business will
also use major sites such as EBay to generate sales of apparel items sold
through the Company’s location.
The Financial Plan
Beyond any other part of your
business loan application or business plan, the financials section of these
documents are what matters most when applying for a business loan or any other
type of credit facility. Ultimately, this section of the business plan showcases
not only what your anticipated profitability will be, but also how you intend to
repay the funds that you have borrowed through your business financing facility.
An example of how this section is structure is as follows:
Assumptions
- Clothing
Store Store, Inc. will have an average annual growth rate of 10% per year.
- Mr. Doe will
acquire $100,000 through a business loan in order to launch the operations of
the business.
Proforma Financials for a
Business Loan
Now it is time to showcase how
you intend to repay your loan, generate a profit, and increase the book value of
your business over a three to five year period. BusinessPlansForLoan.com has
developed an easy to use financial model that you can use when drafting out the
financial model for your business plan and business loan application. Through
your business loan application, you will be required to have the following:
- Profit and
Loss Statement for your Clothing Store
- Cash Flow
Analysis for the Clothing Store
- Balance Sheet
for the Clothing Store
- Business Loan
Amortization Tables
Please see images below
Please see images below