Opening a new sport shop Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Opening a new sport shop - Essay Example Scott McPherson is starting out as a small-scale businessman, testing his market and value chain before going full blast into an entire chain of stores. McPherson must therefore start out with a single store and expand gradually after that after gaining a stronger foothold on the business. The choice of a business should be one that has a quick cash cycle that would turn over sales at a relatively fast pace, but which has the potential of growing to a chain of store catering to retail sale of consumer goods. For this purpose, a sports retail business would be a good enterprise for McPherson, whose twenty years as secondary school teacher would have kept him abreast of the various sports events at least in the school level. The appeal and demand for sports and outdoors gear and equipment has a stable market because of the strong interest in sports and fitness. An image attaches to being associated with a healthy lifestyle, even if it be conveyed by one’s clothes or footwear. Fi nally, sports activity is usually complemented by a desire for healthy and nutritious A comprehensive analysis of the sports retail sector follows: SWOT ANALYSIS The SWOT analysis is a helpful tool for formulating the strategic plan of a business. It identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the firm and juxtaposes this against the opportunities and threats in the environment, maximizing strengths for opportunities and minimizing weaknesses to avoid the threats. The SWOT analysis for McPherson’s store chain follows: STRENGTHS A source of strength is the familiarity of McPherson with secondary schools’ sports programs, and his contacts with sports teachers and program directors in the different schools. It should be recalled that McPherson’s twenty year history as a secondary school teacher would have created friendships that would be useful for his business, from a relational point of view. Another strength of McPherson’s business would be its financial stability, having skipped the period of economic crisis which had ruined or weakened the finances of many small (and large-scale) businesses. OPPORTUNITIES A good number of schools and universities located in the South England area provide a lucrative market, which could still expand and absorb additional supply despite the existence of other stores. Retail customers are in constant search of new shops which may provide better product offerings, or better terms of sale. A further opportunity presenting itself is the growing interest in new media sports, where indoor digital sports consoles games enable persons interested in keeping fit but without the