P.G.D.

M ‘D’

BUSINESS PLAN ON:

PERSONALIZED GIFTING AND CORPORATE GIFTING

COMPANY NAME: LASTING IMPRESSION’SSS

NAME ROLL. NO.

PALAK AGARWAL 01

NIDHI BHATIA 08

ARPIT DOSHI 16

HARSHIL GADANI 18

DARSHAN GANDHI 19

ADITI JIWARAJKA 26

RUBY MITRUKA 37
INTRODUCTION

Gifting has been an old trend which has been followed over the years. Why do people gift each
other..??..It is basically a medium to express ones feelings for their near and dear ones. However, it
became very monotonous as people started gifting the same typical boring gifts to their friends and
family. We capitalized on this particular phenomenon and thereby came up with the concept of
starting our own venture to provide customized gifts to our customers.

What could be more special than getting a personalized gift from someone? When it comes to gifting,
nothing compares to bespoke personalized gifts, custom-made for some one. The beauty of
personalized gifts is creating something very special and unique for your friends & family.
Personalized gifts make quite an impression. These personalized gifts will let your family and friends
know that you took the extra time to find a special gift just for them.

Not only for gifting friends and family, but also corporate have greatly adopted the trend of presenting
their clients with customized gifts. These gifts can act as a powerful medium to show your customers,
associates and employees that you are a professional business. Just like a personalized letter,
personalized gifts help your associates realize that you care about them.

LASTING IMPRESSION’SSS: Presents a line of varied personalized gift ideas that will enliven the
lives of the recipients. We arrange for a gamut of personalized gifts suitable for gifting to all; be it
customized calendars, wall clocks, key chains, mugs, t-shirts, crystals, Rubik boxes etc.

Thus, as the demand for personalized gifts has tremendously increased we have initiated our own
venture LASTING IMPRESSION’SSS to capitalize on this increasing demand trend. Let us now tread
the path of our journey….
 LASTING IMPRESSION’SSS

- “Brings sparkle in the eyes of your loved ones”

CONCEPT
“Brings sparkle in the eyes of your loved ones”
The concept of our venture is that of personalized gifts.

VENTURE NAME

LASTING IMPRESSION’SSS

GOAL / OBJECTIVE
Our goal is to ‘to be a one stop destination for personalizing all gifts’

Company- About Us:

We are a corporate & personalized gifting company that caters with truly unique products for people
who enjoy collecting and for those discriminating shoppers who like to give unique gifts.

Mission:
Lasting Impression’sss is a specialty personalized & corporate gifting boutique that specializes
in "one-of-a-kind" merchandise not commonly found in the larger retail market. We are
dedicated to providing customers exceptional customer service in a visibly relaxing and
engaging shopping environment. Our mission is to provide customers with unique, high-quality
merchandise at affordable prices.

Vision:
Our process of churning out the finished product is the outcome of an integrated and cohesive team
work. Our creative and innovative designers are striving to meet the upcoming demands of the
customers by offering products. To help customers in self- expressing which the desire to be unique
and express is it by providing personalized products.
The People

Management Team

Client Servicing Executives:

Aditi Jiwarajkar: Completed B.M.S from NM college, specialization in finance, have organized
various events and promotional activities for various brands and non-profit organization, also worked
as a trainee at manufacturing unit named JTI.

Nidhi Bhatia: A B.com Graduate, currently pursing Post graduation at CIMR along with M.com. Have
a worked across diverse industry segments ranging across event management & promotions and
exports of industrial goods, having a rich experience of over 2 years.

Procurement Department:

Arpit Doshi: Completed B.M.S with specialization in finance, participated is various activities as well
as worked for four months in a company named M/s Little Motors - an whole sellers in auto square
parts.

Creative Department:

Palak Agrawal: B.Sc. (IT) Graduate pursuing Post Graduation at CIMR. Innovative thinker wherein I
can help people with new ideas for personalized gifts as well as corporate gifting.

Accounts & Finance:

Harshil Gadani: A B.M.S graduate with experience of four moths in J.P Morgan under Securities
Department in Mutual Funds.

Darshan Gandhi: Currently Pursuing PGDM, B.M.S with specialization in Finance, one year
experience as Client Acquisition Officer in M/s Asit C. Mehta.

Compensation:

We have agreed to that, the sales executives will be awarded with a certain % (to be decided) of
commission on sales for his/her efforts. Further, each member would get an equal share of the
remaining margin. This is done with a view to encourage team work.
The Industry

Trends:

Nearly nine in 10 people (88.5%) buy at least one personalized gift every year since they have more
disposable income and more people i.e. parents, children, grandchildren and friends to buy for.
Baby Boomers are the biggest purchasers of personalized gifts.
The most popular gift occasions to give personalized gifts are:
•Birthdays (27.9%)
•Christenings (15.8%)
•New babies (12.8%)
•Anniversaries (8.6%)
•Mothers Day (8.5%)
•Christmas (6.6%)
•Father’s Day (6.3%)
•Weddings (5.2%)
•Valentine’s Day (4.4%)
•Engagements (4.0%)

The highest numbers of personalized gifts are given to partners/spouses (63.1%), friends (43.8%),
children (43.1%), parents (40.0%), and nieces/nephews (24.6%)

TOP TRENDS IN PERSONALIZED AND CORPORATE GIFTING

Poems: Many people are placing orders to have their original poems or other poetry engraved in
crystal vases, marble plaques, plates, and wine bottles. These poems are often romantic or heartfelt
poems honoring a family member or other loved one.

Engraved Caricatures: Customers can simply email us a picture and our caricature artist will create a
sketch. We’ll send you an email proof and fine tune the caricature, once the design has been finalized
we will engrave and hand paint the caricature into wine bottles or black marble plaques.
Personalized Glassware / Mugs: People no longer seem to be content with mugs and wine glasses
with the standard “World’s Greatest Boss.” Today they prefer to write their own message; “Jamey,
you are the best boss, thanks for your help with the ‘Magic Project.’” We are happy to engrave
personalized messages in all types of glassware.

Engraved Vases: Beautiful vases are hard to find and even harder to find if you want to have
something engraved on them. The vase has to provide an area large enough to allow for engraving and
be designed well.

Customized artwork: Customers requests that we engrave designs that are special to them, such as
family crests, specific designs for weddings and anniversaries, even book covers.

CURRENT GIFTING TRENDS

Nowadays be it any occasion – birthdays, anniversaries etc, the first thing that would come to
ones’ mind while thinking of gifts would be to personalize it for their close ones to add that
personal touch. It could be anything from personalized photo frames, mugs, wall clocks,
pillows, chocolates, perfumes, calendars etc.

FUTURE OF THIS MARKET

The future has immense potential for this market. Newer and newer products are being added
to the basket of personalized gifts. For e.g. personalizing laptop bags, school bags for kids,
files etc.
There is a huge market for such gifts and since the trend of gifting will never cease this market
will continue to grow in the future.
COMPETITION
In recent times, the market of personalized gifts has seen many new entrants. A no. of players are
already involved in the personalized gifts venture. Some of these are:

1. Feelings

Located at Parle west with many colleges around it such as N.M, Mithibai, UPG and various
other engineering colleges around it. It is one of the student’s favorite destinations for
personalizing gifts.

2. Other outlets such as Tohfa, Print Stop etc

Similar to feeling these outlets too offer a variety of personalized gifts to suit one’s needs.

3. Web sites

There are various web sites such as gifts4u.com, picsquare.com that offer customers a wide
range of customized gifts. Customers can log on to the web- sites, choose among the various
products available, submit a picture if needed, make payment through a credit card and the
product is shipped to the customers within a period of 7-10 days.

These competitors have an edge over us due to their relatively wider experience over us as well
as because of the fact that they enjoy customer loyalty. And not just these, there are more and
more entrants in the market as the popularity of personalized gifts continue to rise.

LAUNCH STRATEGY
As many competitors already existed while entering the market for personalized gifts, being a new
player in this segment it was essential to have a strong launch strategy to distinguish our venture from
that of the other players. The launch strategy adopted by LASTING IMPRESSION’SSS

PENETRATIVE PRICING:
Penetrative pricing basically is to enter the market by keeping our products low priced and once
successfully established after a reasonable period of time to gradually increase the price. Thus, our
launch strategy we adhered to was low pricing initially and this did give us a competitive edge over
other players in the same market.
RISKS IN THE VENTURE
There are no major risks involved in this venture since we haven’t borrowed funds from any investor
as we do not need any major financial investment since ours is a service. Thus there are no major
financial risks, however there is a strong risk of non acceptability of our venture since we are a
relatively new entrant plus because of the fact that we do not have a place of our own neither do we
have a web site where customers can get in touch with us.

SWOT ANALYSIS
1. STRENGTHS

 Personal touch:
Personalized gifts help to add that personal touch to the typical boring gifts. It helps to foster
and further make the relationship bonds stronger.

 USP(Unique selling proposition):

The USP of the product is the biggest strength of our product. This is what differentiates our
product from the typical traditional gifts.The unique selling proposition of our venture is our
innovative designing which differentiates us from our competitors.

 Increasing awareness
Today there is increasing awareness than in the past for such products. Today the market is not
just restricted to the youth but the market segmentation has immensely widened to include
even the other age groups like the middle-aged people.

 Increasing demand

Earlier personalizing gifts turned out to be extremely expensive but it was only restricted to the
elite class group. However as new players entered this segment with their low pricing strategy,
this has now become affordable to everyone including college-goers. Thereby, the demand for
customized gifts has increase tremendously.

2. WEAKNESS
 Cost

Personalized gifts are priced higher than normal gifts because of the value addition made to the
product. Hence people might not have the ability to afford the high priced products.

 Time duration
 Personalized gifts require considerable amount of time for designing, hence a person who is in
a hurry and is pressing for time would rather pick up a normal gift that is available instantly.

 Tangible display of products

Since we don’t have a place of our known, we cannot tangibly display our products. This is
where shops like Feelings, Tohfa have an advantage over us. Also customers can only get in
touch with us through the internet or the telephone and a face to face contact can take place
only through prior contact.

 Dependence on partners
We are basically involved in the designing of the product. However for customizing it on the
gifts we are dependent on our partners.

3. OPPORTUNITIES

 Widening of market segments

Earlier personalized gifts were largely popular amongst the youth – i.e. students, college goers
etc. However, of late even adults have started customizing their gifts.

 Increasing no. of products

Earlier the no. of products that were customized were limited to mugs, photo frames etc.
However more and more products can be customized today to suit one’s requirements.

 The scope to launch our own web site

Currently our presence on the web is limited to our blog and social networking websites such
as facebook, orkut etc. However as we know today going online is the easiest way to reach out
to large number of consumers. At the same time it also provides customers the convenience to
reach us from the comfort of their homes.

4. THREATS

 Growing competition

Competition from outlets like feelings, i- feel, Tohfa etc is a grave threat to the growth of our
venture. Already they have an upper hand over us due to the fact that they started if prior to us.
  Resistance to change

Certain customers may still prefer the traditional gifts over personalized ones. We shall have to
adopt various strategies in order to win over such customers.

POSITIONING
Positioning is creating a favorable impression in the minds of the target segment so that it enables
them to remember our product. We have positioned our venture LASTING IMPRESSION’SSS by
keeping our products at a lower price as compared to other market players in the segment of
personalized goods. Thus, with the help of lower pricing we have a competitive edge over our
competitors.

SEGMENTATION
An organization many not satisfy the needs and wants of all consumers. Segmentation is simply the
process of dividing a particular market into sections, which display similar characteristics or behavior.
In order to make the task of marketing and promotion easier we segmented our market on the basis of
the following variables:

a. Age Group

Initially we started off by segmenting our potential customers as the youth. This was done as
according to our study and analysis it is basically the teenagers of today who are extremely
enthusiastic about gifting customized gifts to their friends or family.

However, as time passed by, we witnessed the widening of the market segment to include even
the people who are middle aged. Personalized gifts is something whose trend is not restricted
to only the youth but spreads across a wide range of people as relationships never cease to exist
and in order to enhance them further and also to add that value-added personal touch,
customized gifts is the only way to do so.

b. Income

Since our products are priced lower than our competitors, unlike other market players in this
segment, out target audience also includes low income and middle income people along with
the elite class group. For example, college-goers whose pocket money is very low can think of
coming to Memories: The Treasure Chest where he does not have to shell out too much money
to gift a customized gift to his friends and family.

c. Corporate and normal customers

Along with taking individual orders, we also take bulk orders from corporate who want to gift
their clients or employees customized mugs, t-shirts, etc. Thus, by way of organized
segmentation, promotion becomes easier and helps to increase our sales and acquire a market
share in this upcoming industry.
 4P’S OF MARKETING

1. PRODUCT
Mugs, Frames, Collages, Calendars, Newspaper, Wall clocks,Video CD. with CD. cover and
sticker, Key chains, Rubik cube, T-shirts, Banners, Chocolates, Scrapbook,etc.

Packaging
Packaging is very essential to give a cover to the customized gifts that one places order for. As
our items and products like mugs, crystals are extremely delicate and fragile they need to be
handled with care. While transporting it to the customer, care needs to be taken that no damage
is caused during transit to the products. Thus our packaging is extremely sturdy. There is a
thick cardboard box used in order to protect the product from breaking.
Also, we write our company name LASTING IMPRESSION’SSS along with our contact no on
the packaging. This is useful when the same customer wants to revert back to us in case of any
problem i.e. after sales service is provided. Also, helps in retaining the existing customers and
when the same customers present these customized gifts to their near and dear ones; it acts as a
promotion strategy for our venture and helps us to become easily accessible to the potential
customer.

2. PRICE

Price refers to the value attached to the product. The customer's perception of value is an
important determinant of the price charged. Customers draw their own mental picture of what a
product is worth. A product is more than a physical item; it also has psychological
connotations for the customer. We have adopted a strategy of pricing our products significantly
lower than most of our competitors. It is a penetrative strategy to a certain extent since we are
adopting a low pricing strategy in order to attract customers and we shall gradually raise our
prices as our popularity rises and there is increasing awareness of the kind of products that we
offer.
 Price list
Considering the pricing of the product cost as well as the pricing of our competitors the pricing
is set.

PRODUCT PRICE (Rs.)

MUGS 200
FRAMES A4- 300 A3- 500
COLLAGE DESIGNING 99 ONWARDS
CALENDARS 650
NEWSPAPERS (4 PGS) 230
WALL CLOCKS(DESIGNING) 99 ONWARDS
CD’s ( 10 – 15 VIDEO) 250
KEY CHAINS 99 ONWARDS
RUBIK’S CUBE 150
T- SHIRTS 450 ONWARDS
BANNERS (4 X 6) 450
CHOCOLATES 200 ONWARDS
SCRAP BOOKS 250 ONWARDS

3. PLACE
Initially we would operate from our own home. The advantage is that we save on our initial
investment of hiring or buying a new place for our venture. However, this also at times serves as a
disadvantage. Firstly, we are not easily accessible to our customers and they can make contact with us
only through the e-mail and telephone mode of communication. Secondly, tangible display of products
is not possible thus customers have to make a decision to buy our products based on the catalogue
photos and also a few samples made for our previous customers.

We would outsource the purchase of products like plain T-shirts and mugs and also the printing on
these products to our partner I Feel. The designing of the customer’s photographs is done by us as per
their tastes and preferences and printing of products like calendars or collages are also done by us at
our own place.
4. PROMOTION
Promotion involves disseminating information about a product, product line, brand, or company. It is
one of the four key aspects of the marketing mix. Initially many players were involved in this market
segment and hence we had to face immense competition from them. Being a new player, it was
extremely essential to create awareness about our existence and how we stand apart from the normal
run-of-the-mill players in the market. Thus with the help of the following promotion strategies adopted
by us we spread awareness and thus were able to receive orders to be placed thereby increasing our
sales as also our profitability.

Some of the promotion techniques followed by us since the start of our venture are as follows:

a. Word- of-mouth

Our main PR (Public relations) strategy was that we promoted our products through word of
mouth marketing. It is not only the cheapest method of promotion, but also the most effective.
Just viewing the banner of some company does not influence a potential customer as much as
the recommendation and appreciation by a personal acquaintance. Thus, we capitalize on word
of mouth marketing to a great extent and we have even received maximum orders with the help
of this strategy.

b. Banners

Conventional method of promotion by placing our banner during events at a strategic place
where it was visible to all the people entering. The banner having the details of our entire
product list and logo including our contact number so that interested and potential customers
could easily get in touch to buy our products for the near and dear ones.

c. Social networking sites

Nowadays, the best form of promotion to target the youth is through social networking
websites, orkut and facebook. Creating our own community there and used these websites to
create maximum awareness about our new venture among our contact list as well all the people
enrolled in such sites. This strategy too will provide us to be very successful as people would
reverted back to us on the site by asking us many questions regarding our products and thereby
this would help us convert our potential customers to actual customers.

d. Tie-up with Just dial services

 We would have a tie-up with just dial service wherein if anyone calls them to ask about
personalized gifts we have registered our company name and contact number with just dial
service. They, thus, help in promotion for our venture among all the people calling them up for
contact numbers.

e. SMS’es to database

We would enroll ourselves with www.way2sms.com Thus, sending SMSes is free of cost to us.
Also it helps in creating awareness among the numerous people we send our messages to. This
includes all the contacts we know of and also random database of college festivals which
includes the correct target audience indulging into buying of such customized gifts.

f. Promotion during events (announcements)

We plan to make a few announcements during a few events in order to create awareness about
our company and try to attract our potential customers.

g. Promotion with the aid of a blog

We would created our own internet blog. This blog talks about why one should go in for
personalized gifts instead of the normal typical boring gifts. Also it gives details about our
entire product list along with our company name and contact number. Thus anyone witnessing
our blog become aware of our company and thus reverts back to us thereby placing orders with
us.

h. Promotion during college festivals

We plan to promote our venture through our very own college festivals by distributing
pamphlets and putting up posters during the festival to attract the participants coming in during
the festival.

i. Internet communication through e-mails

Lastly, we also promoted our venture by sending e-mails to potential customers which talked
about out venture our product list and contact number.

1. Product Or Service:
Our plan is of Personalized and corporate gifting. We provide you with the innovative ideas for
gifting to your colleagues, friends, family and all the loved ones.
Buy Corporate Gifts, Personalized Gifts in your price range. Our unlimited and huge choice of
Innovative corporate gifts & merchandise are cost effective, time guaranteed, service & quality
guaranteed. 
We have team of Professional artists and as well as support team to make sure that the order placed by
customers are taken care right from the beginning till the delivery of the product.
We are committed to protecting the privacy of the customer.

USP:
Our USP is in our unique gifting ideas, personalized service, gift advisory service and the detailed
personalization done in products.

 Deep understanding of which gift suits which occasion & relationship and providing the
service of gift advice to our customers.

 Creating gift products which are personalized for customers in a unique manner adding lot of
meaning & value to it and not just a photo print.

 Being able to suggest a completely new gift idea to suit their specific requirement so that no
one walks out without making a purchase.

 Being a company which is providing a personalized gifting service starting from advising on
what is the perfect for an occasion to creating the product for a customer.”

The store provides a whole range of gift items with personalized gift products that will customize
products based on name, photographs and templates over products like t-shirt, mugs, key chains and
greeting cards that will discriminate the store from other gift stores.

The Markets

Market research:
Secondary research- looking at various websites to collect information about market competitors,
their pricing strategies, their products, etc.

Primary research- making telephonic calls to corporate for seeking information about gifting policies
and having personalized logo of their company on products.
Marketing and sales strategy:
Our target market would be people of all age groups as gifting is a part and parcel of every
individual’s life. Whereas our main target group would be the youth segment of the society, starting
with youngsters of Mumbai.

We are hoping that with the correct marketing strategies we should be able to reach out to maximum
youth population. Beginning from targeting schools and colleges of different areas.

Our initial expenditure would be related with advertising ourselves with the help of print media,
pamphlets, word of mouth, promoting at various exhibitions. Following are our marketing strategies at
initial level:

 Promoting ourselves at schools and colleges.

 Distributing pamphlets inside daily newspaper.
 Promoting on various social networking sites.
 Spreading through word of mouth.
 Setting up stalls at college canteens and schools.
 Setting up stalls at various exhibitions and fun n fairs.
 Reaching out to various corporate for corporate tie-ups.
 Special tie-ups on occasions like wedding season, friendships day, children’s day, Christmas,
etc.

Target customer & life style: The target segment for the store that keeps paramount importance are
the college going students followed by newly married couples, children and everyone who enjoys the
occasion by gifting to their dear ones. The target base is educated, information seeker, updated and
enjoy occasion and share gifts. There needs and usage are based on different occasions like parties.
FINANCIAL PLAN ESTIMATION

Start-up Summary:
These figures are based on monthly and start-up expenses needed to open and functionally operate the
gift store. The capital needed will come from all members of management.

Start-up
Requirements
Start-up Expenses
Advertising 4500
Delivery Costs 4500
Telephone Landline 1800
Cellular Phone 3000
Utilities and Internet 3000
Legal 3000
Office Supplies 6000
Professional Fees 2000
Licenses and Permits 3000
Total Start-up Expenses 30800
Start-up Assets
Cash Required 29200
Total Assets 29200
Total Requirements 60000
 PROJECTED CASH-FLOW

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Cash from Operations

Cash Sales 240000 300000 375000

Additional Cash Received

Sales Tax, VAT Received 16800 21000 26250

Subtotal Cash Received 256800 321000 401250

Expenditures Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Expenditures from Operations

Cash Spending 30000 67500 81000

Bill Payments 240000 672195 760365

Subtotal Spent on Operations 270000 1122195 1300365

Additional Cash Spent

Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Paid

16800 21000 26250
Out

Subtotal Cash Spent 968880 1199580 1387785

Net Cash Flow 80070 103215 170130

 Cash Balance 105070 208285 378415

Break-even Analysis

Monthly Revenue Break-even 67311

Assumptions:

Average Percent Variable Cost 42%

Estimated Monthly Fixed Cost 33000

LASTING IMPRESSION’SSS will cross Break-even in the 1 year itself.

CONCLUSION
The project was an extremely enriching and learning experience. It gave us an amazing opportunity to
showcase our entrepreneurial talent and potential at the grass root level. This further made us more
efficient in computer software’s and technology, and also provided us with marketing, public relations
(PR) skills and gave us an insight as to how a small business is started and carried out. It has also
enabled to boost our confidence to pursue a similar project in the near future as it would certainly bea
profitable venture at the end of the day.