Business plan
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The customized lingerie brand for cup D+, with the ease of a web
shop and the advice of a specialized lingerie store
Businessplan Double Dutch Design // www.doubledutchbras.com
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Corporate Summary
Issue
- Available products from the global brands
often do not supply bras for women with a large
cup size and small waist line - Finding well-fitting bras is almost impossible
for customers, also because the sizes differ per
brand - Larger size lingerie is limitedly available and
often sold out in regular shops - The price of such regular bras that are
comfortable ánd fashionable are quite high - Alternative, handmade bras, cost over € 150
euros per item
The Double Dutch concept - Double Dutch offers an innovative retail concept
combined with e-commerce serving women with a large cupsize - Double Dutch is a customized lingerie shop with the ease of a webshop and the advice of a
specialized lingerie store. - Partnerships with existing lingerie shops and co-creation with the customer are the base of the
concept and (marketing) strategy. - Double Dutch serves women with a large bra size and small waist line who encounter difficulties in
finding the right bra that fits well and is fashionable. - Double Dutch provides the solution of bras in a large cupsize and small waist line combined with the
option for customization and personal fashion.
Cocreation - Customers can choose to create their personal ideal bra. - Ongoing use of testpanels to test and adapt the bra - Use of social media to enquire about favorite designs and colors for the upcoming season. - Customers can order first before the bras will be taken into production by which risks are low. - Dutch designers create designs for the bra and the most liked types by customers will be taken into
production. In this way, real fashionable bras are created following actual requirements of customers.
Showroom stores - Women need professional advice: partnerships with physical lingerie shops are being created in all
parts of the Netherlands. - One bra in each size is available in the shop and women can fit the bra in the presence of specialists - After the fitting, women can purchase the bra in the desired colors and with the requested features
via a tablet computer in the store. By this way, an extensive large group of potential customers will be
reached at low cost. - Repeated purchases are very convenient both via the internet and in the lingerie stores.
Double Dutch Design: we support women
Business Plan PHIA 2014, Double Dutch Design // www.doubledutchbras.com
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Issue All over the world, the average ’breast size of women is growing whereby larger sized bras are
needed. In Europe, the average bra size increases rapidly. Around 15 years ago the average bra size
was 75B and in 2010 this increased up to 80C. Today, 30% of the women in Europe have cup D or a
larger size (Source: www.nu.nl, 2013). With regard to bra size, Dutch women count for a third place in Europe. The average size in The
Netherlands in 2013 was D cup, and 33% of Dutch women has a D cup or larger (Source:
www.Brasize.com, 2013).
SWOT analysis
Potential strengths: S1 ! the product is value-driven: it fulfils the
need of many women with a plus size who can’t
find a fitting bra which is also fashionable S2 ! the product has a first mover advantage in
the customized women’s lingerie both for normal
ánd plus sizes S3 ! Because of the use of co-creation, the
collection will be stemmed on the customers’
needs S4 ! different channels (physical and online) to
build relationships with customers S5 ! strategic relationships with bra specialists
to guarantee a good fit of the bra S6 ! women order first before the bras will be
taken into production: risks are kept low for
Double Dutch and suppliers
Opportunities: O1: customization is an upcoming trend O2: the breast size of women all around the world
is increasing O3: people want more and more to be unique, to
differentiate themselves from the mass O4: lingerie is increasingly becoming a fashion
item O5: plus size lingerie is often only limited
available, often sold out in the regular shops O6: high entrance barrier for the big lingerie
chains to use a new distribution model that works
with co-creation O7: co-creation is an upcoming trend O9: product life cycles are declining in the
women’s lingerie industry O10: demands for innovative products in a variety
of styles, sizes and fabrications increases
Potential weaknesses: W1: Issue of legitimacy W2: there are no qualitative production houses for
lingerie in the Netherlands W4: initial investments have to be made before
profit can be gained
Threats: T1: sewers/ small companies which design
individual tailored bra’s T2: because there are very few bra’s in the right
plus size available, women start increasingly with
making their own bra’s. T3: global brands are leading in the women’s
lingerie market and can adjust fast to changes in
the market T4: Imitation of large incumbent firms in this
industry, which can respond fast to changes in the
market
Business model - Revenues will be gained from the sale of bras, complementary undergarments and accessories. - Women can fit the bras in the showroom stores and order them there and in the online shop. - After year 2, the collection will be complemented with bikini’s, bathing suits, body’s etc. for large
breasted women. - The co-creation with customers and partnerships with the existing lingerie stores are key elements of
the business model.
Businessplan Double Dutch Design // www.doubledutchbras.com
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Sales strategy: the market, competition and unique selling points
Potential market
According to studies by the company Research-Assistant (2010) and Management Science (2013):
1. Product life cycles in the women’s lingerie industry are becoming shorter, while demands for
innovative products in a variety of styles, sizes and fabrications are increasing. 2. The women’s lingerie industry is growing, yet its consumer base requires both fashion-forward
merchandise as well as products that fit comfortably for women. 3. Customization and co-creation are upcoming trends 4. Showroom stores are increasing in number 5. More and more small lingerie shops and lingerie brands are going bankrupt
Double Dutch tackles the problems and fulfils the market need by facilitating a customized lingerie
shop with the ease of a webshop and the advice of a specialist lingerie shop.
Double Dutch targets the 33% of the Dutch market of women with cup D or larger. This comprises of
approximately 2,3 million women in the age of 15 year and older in The Netherlands (Source: CBS,
2011) (Appendix 1 lists the average bra size per country). In the first year, women with a D - G cup
and a waist line of 60 - 85 cm are being served. In the subsequent year, other sizes shall be delivered.
Customer quotes “Dit spreekt me aan omdat ik zelf altijd moeite heb een goed passende bh te vinden, cupmaat 70 D,
met niet te lange bandjes. Als ik een bijdrage kan leveren in het ontwikkelen van dit soort mooie en
goed passende bh's dan werk ik daar graag aan mee.” – Helga K
“Uw website was een opluchting voor me. Mijn dochter van 16 draagt 65F en ik zelf 65G. Wij kunnen
niets normaals vinden en als we iets vinden is het niet stevig genoeg. We zouden graag in het
testpanel plaats nemen.” - Karin and Felicia M., Amsterdam
Unique selling points
Double Dutch offers women a customized lingerie shop with the ease of a webshop and the advice of
a bras specialized shop, with the following benefits:
Functional benefits
Fit: women with a large cupsize
will have a bra that is both
functional and beautiful
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Health: women with a large
cupsize have less back- and
shoulderpain by wearing a fitted
bra
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Flexibility: customers can order a
personal bra on the website by
choosing different colours, designs
and features
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Hassle free: no search for the ideal
bra anymore. Women can easily fit
the bra in a participating lingerie
store in their neighborhood and
then buy the bra there or online.
When women know their size, they
can order their bra repeatedly
online in the colors/design they
like.
Economic benefits
Cost transparency: women can
make the bra as expensive as they
want by using different colours,
features and interchangeable
straps
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More value for money: women get
a comfortable ánd fashionable bra
for the same price as the common
bras in the larger cup sizes. By
using the interchangeable straps,
they don’t have to buy a bra for
every occasion anymore. !
Participating lingerie stores save
money: there participating lingerie
stores only have one bra of each
size in their store to fit women and
after that the customized bra will
be made, they don’t have the costs
for upfront or unsold stock.
Social benefits
Cocreation: women have a voice
in creating the ideal bra
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Social cohesion: by using test
panels to test the bras and using
social media to ask women about
their favorite colours and designs
for the upcoming season, there will
be increased cooperation and
communication between women
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CSR: for every 50 bras sold,
Double Dutch gives a handmade
bra to a woman with breast cancer,
who need special tailored bras.
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Support Dutch Design: talented
Dutch designers will provide the
designs for the bra. In this way,
they share a platform and Dutch
Design will be supported.
Business Plan PHIA 2014, Double Dutch Design // www.doubledutchbras.com
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Psychological benefits:
Benefits of customization
A Bain survey of more than 1,000 online shoppers found that while less than 10% have tried
customization options, 25% to 30% are interested in doing so. While it is hard to gauge the overall
potential of customization, if 25% of online sales of footwear were customized, that would equate to a
market of $2 billion per year (Bain & Company, 2013).
Two figurse of the Bain & Company study (2013) that show how important customization is and will be:
Businessplan Double Dutch Design // www.doubledutchbras.com
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Figure 2 shows that customers don’t care that it will take 3-4 weeks until the bra will delivered, but that
it’s even better to do so. Also, the bra should not be fully tailored (yet), but partly customized will do.
This is all in line with the strategy and execution of the Double Dutch Design business model.
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Growth opportunities
Double Dutch starts in The Netherlands with the website and showroom stores. The overall goal is to
eventually exploit activities in other European countries,and the United States. From the beginning the
website will be available in the Dutch and English language. In a later stage, showroom stores could
be complemented with pop-up stores on A-locations.
To engage customers even more in the process and increase co-creation and customer loyalty, we
have two sequential steps, after the first collections are created.
Step 1: Create the ideal bra, with designs and features women can customize. Work with testpanels to
adapt the bra until satisfied.
Step 2: Create a 3D printed wire, so every woman can have a full tailored bra for the cost of a normal
bra. The 3D printing techniques are developing as we speak and can give women an unique benefit in
the future by making the wire (which is the most important and supportive part of the bra) all tailored.
Step 3: Open a production house in the Netherlands. To be able to adapt fast to the needs of the Dutch women ánd to support women in the Netherlands by
creating jobs, we will open a production house in the Netherlands in 2017. We expect the sale of the
bras and complementary undergarments be so high, that a production house will be a good next step.
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Business Plan PHIA 2014, Double Dutch Design // www.doubledutchbras.com
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Analysis of the competition
The competition can be divided in the following strategic groups:
·
The specialized lingerie brands for large breast sizes
Lingerie brands such as Freya and Fantasie and stores and websites that offer these
collections such as grotematen.nl, explicitly focus on women with large breasts and thereby
are the major competitors. They offer pretty lingerie that often fits properly. However, plus
sized lingerie is not always available and thereby quickly out of stock. Furthermore, customers
are have to remain with the designs available in their size, because there are no alternatives
from available global brands.
·
The global lingerie brands.
Global brands are a competitor as they are able to adjust rapidly to changes in the market.
However, global brands do not have special attention for large breasted women. And, hardly
any global brand offers customized bra’s, or only offer customized bra’s for the most regular
sizes.
·
Sewing packages
Packages are available that contain all the materials to compose a personal bra. As such
packages are relatively expensive and the sewing takes a lot of time, onlya single misstep can
have the effect that a creation doesn’t fit properly anymore.
·
Custom bra shops
Individually tailored bras are unique items in which everything is chosen by the customer.
These bras can be very pretty but rely on the seamstress. Such bras are very expensive, with
a minimum price of € 150 euro per item.
A positioning matrix of Double Dutch and her competitors is showed below
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Businessplan Double Dutch Design // www.doubledutchbras.com
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In-house competencies
The founder of Double Dutch, Marjolein Oomen has expertise in producing and selling bras. She has
been working in a lingerie store for several years and has experience in producing lingerie. Marjolein
Oomen was a Kauffman Scholar 2013, a half-year program for young entrepreneurs based in the US.
With her novel business model she has illustrated a need in the Dutch market and has already built a
community for the brand with online and offline publicity:
- Awarded the dream prize of the Staatsloterij and STUOP (September 2013) - Blogs in De Telegraaf (November 2013 ) - An article in fashion magazine Glamour (January 2014)
Marjolein works together with talented Dutch designers in the design and production of the bra.
Double Dutch already has a production house in the United States, a fabricated pattern and a sample
bra. Kalista Lingerie in Emmeloord is the first store that has agreed to be selling the bra’s designed by
Double Dutch Design.
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Canvas Business Model
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Business Plan PHIA 2014, Double Dutch Design // www.doubledutchbras.com
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Financial overview The cost price of one basic bra and panty is proprietary information. Once invested, please reach out
to us for more information. Customers can choose how expensive they make their bra by adding features and colours. Retailprize
for undergarments will be 15 each and 90 euro for set (one bra and 2 matching panties) There are no
shipping costs for the customer.
The vast majority of women tells us they are looking for a set: a bra with a matching panty. For
customers who buy one or more complementary undergarments with their bra, we will receive a higher
margin on the undergarments. Hereby, the lower margin on the bra is equalled.
We sell through three different channels: webshop, showroom store and the testpanel.
Webshop We already have 50 customers a day on our website. This has been realised without any marketing
costs. We can therefore assume that at least 1/10 of the customers that visit, are interested in buying
a set of € 90. This give us 1800 customers a year only for the website. The web statistics can be found
in appendix 2.
Showroom stores We already have two stores that are interested in selling the Double Dutch bras and we are talking
with 4 other stores. After talking with the lingerie stores, we will focus on 75 visitors per lingerie store
for the first year and double this every year.
Testpanel We already have a testpanel consisting of 50 women. They will buy one set for early adopters in the
first year, which is € 60 a set. In the next year, we assume they will buy two sets and that they all bring
in one new customer who buys one set. This repeats every year and will give us double exponential
growth.
You can find the specified revenues for July 2014 - July 2017 in appendix 3
Break-even will be reached in 1,5 years. Expansion abroad is foreseen in year 3. The cashflow
analysis for the first three years of Double Dutch Design is showed below. After year 3, we will likely
expand to the United States, start with selling the 3D printed bra and / or open a production house in
the Netherlands. However, this depends on the innovations and opportunities in the market.
Double Dutch Design is a registered business with number 58218939 at the Chamber of Commerce in
Utrecht .
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Businessplan Double Dutch Design // www.doubledutchbras.com
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Appendix 1
Average Breast Cup Size in the World
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Business Plan PHIA 2014, Double Dutch Design // www.doubledutchbras.com
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Appendix 2
Website statistics doubledutchbras.com
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Businessplan Double Dutch Design // www.doubledutchbras.com
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Appendix 3
Specified Revenues
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July 2014 - July 2015
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Website Double Dutch
Testpanel
Lingerie stores x 2
Price
Value for Sheet
1800 €!
90.00 €!
162,000
50 €!
60.00 €!
3,000
300 €!
90.00 €!
27,000
€"
192,000
Revenue 2014
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July 2015 - July 2016
X
Website Double Dutch
Price
Value for Sheet
3600 €!
90.00 €!
324,000
Testpanel
50 €!
120.00 €!
6,000
New customers via
testpanel
50 €!
60.00 €!
3,000
Lingerie stores x 4
900 €!
90.00 €!
81,000
€"
414,000
Revenue 2014
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July 2016 - July 2017
Website Double Dutch
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Price
Value for Sheet
10800 €!
90.00 €!
972,000
100 €!
120.00 €!
12,000
New customers via
testpanel
50 €!
60.00 €!
3,000
Lingerie stores x 8
2400 €!
90.00 €!
216,000
€"
1,203,000
Testpanel
Revenue 2014
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Business Plan PHIA 2014, Double Dutch Design // www.doubledutchbras.com
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References
Brasize, 2013. Accessible via http://www.brasize.com/average.html. Visited on 18-01-2013.
CBS, 2011. Accessible via http://www.cbs.nl/NR/rdonlyres/9A0E2D35-B9B6-4BB0-B6D5C9727B3F0181/0/2011k1b15p37art.pdf. Visited on 02-03-2013
Nu.nl, 2013. Borsten worden steeds groter. Accessible via http://www.nu.nl/lifestyle/2328174/borstenworden-steeds-groter.html visited on 09-01-2013.
Research-assistent, 2010. Womens lingerie industry. Accessible via http://www.researchassistance.com/paper/29963/a_ra_default/womens_lingerie_industry.html. Visited on 10-02-2012.
Targetmap, 2013. Accessible via http://www.targetmap.com/viewer.aspx?reportId=5285. Visited on
15-01-2013
Telegraaf blogs of Double Dutch Design, november 2013. Accessible via http://www.telegraaf.nl/vrouw/
vrouwblog/blogvandeweek/article22057970.ece.
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Businessplan Double Dutch Design // www.doubledutchbras.com
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