4.2.

1 Market Needs

Recent global research, shows that one of the key factors in choosing a personal service (like laundry
and dry cleaning) is not price per say, but the convenience of the service. With regards to the trajectory
growth in discretionary income, people tend to choose these services based on the time and energy it
will save them. Although there appears some drop-off in the business service providers within the area,
Private Cleaners will primarily market its convenient services to busy individuals, willing to appreciate
them better, as it saves them time and energy in the long run for other endeavors.

4.3 Service Business Analysis

The personal service industry is very fragmented globally. The city of Port Harcourt and its environments
are in no exception to that, with numerous small providers servicing the community needs for laundry
and dry cleaning. In other smaller towns like Choba and Ozuoba, there are over half-dozen dry cleaners
in lanes or streets, some of which also provide laundry and garment alteration services. Nevertheless,
almost none of them, except Rebnick Eco-green Lundary & Cleaning Services (RELCS), provide the
convenience of door-to-door service to its customers.

4.3.1 Competition and Buying Patterns

Competition in the dry cleaning/laundry business in the Ozuoba/Choba area is not fierce. Early market
research/analysis, shows that about 5-7 dry cleaners were found in highly dense streets of Choba &
Ozuoba town, with a large number of them offering the traditional drop-off service. The only credible
competitor offering the convenience of door-to-door service is Rebnick Eco-green Lundary & Cleaning
Services (RELCS), that provides dry cleaning and Eco-green remediation and management services. We
believe that initially this will be our major local competitor. We also believe that we will be able to win
customers from our regular, drop-off competitors by enhancing the clients’ peace of mind through
adaptive new level of convenience and time saving strategies, using advancing technologies in the
industry.

Strategy and Implementation Summary

Evaluation

The following areas will be monitored to evaluate the business performance periodically:

 Monthly and annual sales

 Monthly and annual profit

 Repeat business

 Customer satisfaction

The business success will depend on quality and convenience of the service, customer
opinions/perceptions and our competitor’s response.
Optimism

The business provides a new door-to-door dry cleaning, laundry, and alteration service in Choba/Ozuoba
specified areas, that will surely attract customers attention. Working customers may find this services
convenient for them and want to try it. If they are satisfied with the service quality, they will likely
become repeat customers. When the patronage happens continuously, they become loyal customers of
the service we are providing. These customers will further recommend Rebnick Eco-green Lundary &
Cleaning Services to their friends and coworkers. As more and more customers use this service
packages, Rebnick Eco-green Lundary & Cleaning Services image and reputation is enhanced and we will
gain more and more market share.

If we attain monthly and annual sales targets forecasted, total costs and expenses, including any
unanticipated charges, will not exceed our estimates and therefore the monthly and annual profit will
be satisfactorily achieved.

Difficulties and Risks

Rebnick Eco-green Lundary & Cleaning Services is a start-up and as such has less experience and begins
with no market share at all. Assertive, effective initial marketing efforts will be necessary to gain a
customer base. If existing competitors see us as a major threat and they resort to overtly aggressive and
debilitating actions, it will be very difficult for us to become an established player in the marketplace.
Risks caused by competitors are possible, therefore the business has to monitor and evaluate its
performance frequently, and collect customer evaluations and suggestions in order to continually
improve.

Worst Case Risks

The worst case scenario would be that the business cannot support itself on an ongoing basis. The costs
of doing business may be under-estimated, or sales and profit may be less than expected, making the
business difficult in finance. Moreover, in case of social economic recession, political changes, or
inflation, the business may perform even worse than has been forecasted.

5.1 Competitive Edge

As Nigerian economy recovers and quality of life is increases and gets better, people tend to spend more
time and money in leisure activities rather than doing their house work. They prefer that someone
else does the cleaning work for them. Choba/Ozuoba has a population of over 70,000 served by few dry
cleaning and laundry shops. These existing shops wait for customers to bring their garments in and pick
them up later. Customers have to drive cars to lanes/streets, find parking places, carry their clothes or
large items, such as curtains, blankets, etc. to the shop, and wait to be served. Then they must repeat
this boring process when they come to collect their items. Moreover, these shops are only open from
9am – 6pm, and close on Sunday, which are almost the same working hours of offices; most
inconvenient for customers especially those with full-time jobs.
By understanding and addressing this need, our new dry cleaning, laundry and alteration service will be
established, providing door to door service free of delivery charge. We make our customers’ lives
simpler by saving them time, and eliminating waiting in queues, parking problems, forgetting to collect
clothes, missing meals, and going home late.

The following is the SWOT analysis for Rebnick Eco-green Lundary & Cleaning Services:

Strengths:

 We offer a relatively new, Eco-friendly door-to-door service for dry cleaning, and laundry,
providing another choice for customers.

 We provide quick and convenient service in order to save customer’s time.

Weaknesses:

 Competition from already established competitors in Choba/Ozuoba environs.

 Starting at no market share at all.

 Less experience than competitors.

Opportunities:

 Expenditures on clothing is increasing, including expensive clothes; therefore, the demand for
taking care of clothes also increases.

 There are more and more women – who traditionally have done the laundry and cleaning work
in the family – going to work outside the home. The target market of this business is working
class and professional class customers, both men and women.

 Average income of Choba/Ozuoba residence is increasing.

 People tend to spend more time on leisure activities rather than doing the house work.

 Participation within a steadily growing service. The forecast of the dry cleaning and laundry
service goes steadily up through 2021.

 There is a high likelihood of repeat business.

 The ability to decrease the fixed costs as the sales volume increases.

Threats:

 If the business is successful, there will be new competitors who supply the same kind of
service.
 New technology changes may bring out new family washing machines for dry cleaning.

5.2 Marketing Strategy

Place: Dealing directly with customers, conveniently in the customers’ houses within
Choba/Ozuoba environs. We are choosing not to rent a shop in the town center,
thereby reducing costs. Rebnick Eco-green Lundary & Cleaning Services will receive
clothes from and return them to customers’ houses. Requests for urgent situation pickups and
deliveries will be accommodated, and a nominal fee charged.

Product: Free home pickup and delivery service, coming to customers’ houses between 6 pm –
9 pm three times per week. We provide convenience and high quality dry cleaning, laundry, and
alteration services.

Price: Normally, new businesses set their initial prices lower than their competitors. In
our situation however, the business has higher costs for our delivery service and promotions to
increase customers’ awareness and establish our brand name. We will set our prices to match
those of our competitors. The pricing scheme is based on a per service price. Moreover, the
business targets working and professional customers who often pay less attention to price than
the quality and convenience of service. Kelvin Clancy (in Kotler, 2003) shows that only between
15 and 35 percent of buyers are price sensitive. People with higher incomes are willing to pay
more for features, customer service, quality, and convenience.

Promotion:

 Advertise our new service in the local press, the Internet, public areas such as buses and
train stations, shopping centers and supermarkets etc., and drop advertising material into
families’ mailboxes.
 Offer 10% discount as an incentive for customers who sign one-year contracts.
 Issue coupons with lower price for loyal customers.

5.3 Sales Strategy

We will start off , by matching our main competitor’s prices and we will be closely monitoring
our financials to make sure that we develop a sustainable business without heavily discounting
our services to win customers. All sales inquiries will be initially handled by the business owner.
We will also train all our employees, especially those facing the customers, in customer service
to make sure that our customers are fully satisfied, as such customers will not only stay longer
with us but will also refer other customers to us. We will offer limited discounts to our customers
with large recurring orders and also provide incentives for new customer referrals.