SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN FOUNDATION IN NATURAL AND BUILT ENVIRONMENTS (FNBE)

INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS [BUS30104]

FINAL PROJECT: CHARITY DRIVE EVENT Lecturer: Mr Chang Jau Ho

TEAM HOROSCOPE BADGES

Group Leader: Christina Ng Sue Li (0319671)

Group Accountant:

Lim Joe Onn (0318679)

Group Members: Victor Heng Wei Yen (0319584)

Lee Ren Jet (0319058

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGES

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1

OBJECTIVES 2

TARGET MARKET 3

COMPETITION ANALYSIS 4-5

PRODUCT AND PACKAGING 6

PRICING 7

PROMOTION 8

SPONSOR 9

DISTRIBUTION 10

GREEN MEASURES 11

HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING 12

EVALUATION OF RESULTS 13

APPENDIX 14-15

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In groups of 4, Foundation in Natural and Built Environments students who took the Introduction to Business module need to do a charity drive event. The purpose of this assignment is to raise funds for a charity organization.This project gives us an opportunity to run a business venture and also to gain experiences about how a business is run throughout a week.

After group discussions, our team decided to raise funds by selling horoscope badges designed by ourselves. Badges were chosen as our selling product as they are easy to carry around, does not expire and has a low production cost. This lowers the risk of the business. Horoscopes were selected as the theme of our badges because it relates to everyone as it not designated to a specific group of people. This widens our range of customers. However, university students remain as our main target market. The main focuses of selling the badges are the 4Ps – PRICE, PRODUCT, PACKAGE AND PROMOTION. The badges were sent to our supplier, SmartVision Sdn. Bhd. for printing and production.

All profits will be given to PAWS Animal Welfare Society, a society that looks after stray cats and dogs. We chose this charity organization as they are currently undergoing land

ownership and financial issues. Besides that, we approached VSL Engineers (M) Berhad to receive sponsorship.

In a time period of a week, our team set up a booth near the Student Life Centre in Taylor’s

University Lakeside Campus to sell our badges and receive donations to PAWS. Also, we went to multiple places such as Sunway University and Paradigm Mall to increase our sales.

A total profit of RM 2692 was raised by our team for PAWS.

Diagram 1: Flow of Cash

TEAM HOROSCOPE BADGES

VSL ENGINEERS (M)

BERHAD

CUSTOMERS

AND DONORS SMARTVISION

SDN. BHD.

PAWS ANIMAL WELFARE

SOCIETY

OBJECTIVES

Raise a minimum of RM 2500 and donate it to PAWS Animal Welfare Society by selling badges

Sell a minimum of 500 horoscope badges to achieve the targeted amount within a week

Create awareness of the public towards animal welfare Our team chose to support PAWS and donate all our profit to it as PAWS is currently having a financial crisis and land ownership issues. They also lack volunteers and are in risk of

closing down. This concludes that PAWS is seriously in need of the money.

Video Link: http://youtu.be/Vr5XppFRjEQ

TARGET MARKET

1. University Students

University students are the main target of our sales. They are expected to provide the highest percentage of our income. After research, it is found that many university students, especially female students, love collecting visually-appealing badges as a hobby or for fashion purposes. They are also more likely to buy our badges when informed that all profits will go to charity. Despite the fact that most students do not generate their own source of income, they still have sufficient money in a way that they are willing to buy our products.

Many of them have high spending power.

2. Friends and Relatives

Before the booth near the Student Life Centre is open, sales are targeted towards friends

and relatives. People who know us personally tend to trust us more and support our charity event. The badges were delivered to them via appointments.

COMPETITION ANALYSIS

Our competitors are the other 15 groups in our class that were doing charity sales at the same period of time (19-23 January 2015). The two main competitors were:

1. Mustaqim Choo’s Group

This group was selling DIY tie-dye shirts. Their booth was located on the opposite left of our

booth and was the nearest booth to the administration office and commercial block.

Advantages: Their strategic location near the administration office and commercial block allows them to

approach potential customers first. Their group would be the first sellers to persuade customers to buy their products or at least collect some donations. It was also found that

customers tend to donate more money to them than our team, which affects our income. Weaknesses: They do not have a variety of products to be sold (only shirts and a photo booth). A lot of their income was relied on the donations collected from passer-byes. As both our teams sell different products, we decided not to amend the price of our badges. Our team members were more proactive in the strategy of attracting customers. Instead of sitting at the booth, we walked towards them to promote our badges, diverting their

attention to our products.

2. Tang Ze Zheng’s Group

This group poses as a stronger competitor towards our team due to the fact that both of us were selling similar products – badges. DOTA (Defence of the Ancients Online Game) badges were sold by them. The fact that there was another group selling badges did not stop us from proceeding with our original idea. Advantages: DOTA fans and players would usually buy a full set of 6, some were willing to pay RM 50 for them. This brought huge income to their team. They also had a brilliant strategy by promoting their products on online DOTA fan pages. There itself, huge amounts of pre-orders were done. Weaknesses: Only customers who play DOTA will willingly purchase their badges, which limits their potential market because not everyone plays DOTA. These badges mainly attract male customers as females usually do not play DOTA. Bes ides, the cost of their badges were high due to expensive material.

Most customers drawn towards this group were males. Hence, we focused more of our sales towards females as some males were more reluctant to buy our badges as they bought

their products. Our pricing was unaffected as our badges were cheaper than theirs.

PRODUCT AND PACKAGING

Product

We are only selling horoscope badges for the charity drive. As there are 12 horoscopes, we have 12 different designs of badges that share the same theme. The badges are made of

plastic and have a 57 mm diameter.

The provided designs are (top row left to right) Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, (second row left to right) Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, (last row left to right) Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces.

Each badge design exhibits the logo of the specific horoscope and the features that represent it (etc. Pisces is symbolized by two fishes, Leo is symbolized by a lion’s head)

Features: The badges can be clipped onto literally anything as a stainless steel pin is provided at the

unprinted side. Customers can clip it on their bags, pencil cases and clothes. Due to the fact that the badges were designed by ourselves, they are indeed one of a kind as no one else in

the world had the same badge design.

Benefits: The badges can act as a form of collection, decoration or accessory. Clipping it on items can

act as a form of customization and expression of individual identity.

Packaging

In order to reduce cost and decrease wastage, no packaging was done to our badges. The badges were given to customers by hand. The absence of packaging does not affect the attractiveness of the badges. This is due to the fact that the printed side of the badges are an artwork itself. It does not require an interesting packaging to make them intriguing. Video Link: http://youtu.be/Vr5XppFRjEQ

PRICING

Cost Price : RM 0.80 per unit

Selling Price: RM 5.00 per unit, RM 12.00 per 3 units

The selling price is 6.25 times the cost price if the badges are sold in unit, guaranteeing good

profit when sold.

Many customers find the designs of the badges unique and attractive. This makes the price of RM 5 reasonable. Also, customers were highly likely to buy our badges when they know

all profit is given to charity.

The price of one badge is set at RM 5 as no change is required in most money transaction processes between the buyer and seller. This makes the process of selling and receiving

money smoother.

If there are difficulties selling the badges, the badges will be sold at a lower price so that customers are more willing to buy them. If the badges are sold faster than expected, the

price will not be affected.

PROMOTION

1. Social Network

A Facebook page was created to show all the design of the badges to the public before the charity drive. Customers can inbox us if they have any enquiries or if they would like to place an order. Posts were done on Instagram and Twitter to increase publicity.

2. Posters

An A4 poster was designed using Adobe Photoshop and printed. This is to allow passer-byes to have a quick glance of what we were selling and hoping that they would stop just to have enough time for us to approach them. An additional poster with the words “Donate to PAWS” was placed at the booth. This message attracted many people to approach us, especially animal lovers.

3. Face-to-Face Conversation

This is the most effective way of promotion. It is applied when we approach potential customers to explain further about our badges and the reason why we were selling them.

We realized that face-to-face conversation works best when people are sitting down where they are not in a rush or just taking a break. This allows us extra time to explain briefly to

them. Usually, people will either donate or buy our badges. Canvases with all designs pinned on them was used to make the promotion process easier.

Video Link: http://youtu.be/Vr5XppFRjEQ

SPONSOR

First, we asked the supplier of our badges, SmartVision Sdn. Bhd. to sponsor our charity drive but it was refused. Hence, we asked for sponsorship from VSL Engineers (M) Berhad instead. As this company is financially generous and one of our team members know them personally via student financial aid programmes, we approached them via phone calls, text messages, e-mail and a face-to-face meeting with their manager. The company agreed to sponsor RM 700, which covers the production cost of the badges. The money was handed to

by cash.

DISTRIBUTION

Our badges were separate into different bags flowing the design. We would carry our bags

in bigger bag packs so that it is more convenient when we carry around different venues and

locations.

We deliver our products by hand. Customers can immediately receive their badges upon

payment. We had also try to minimize waiting time by pinning the badges on our T-shirts

thus easier to find the design on the shirt and pass it to the customers. Also, travel in pairs

so that one person can manage the badges and the other person can manage the donations

and receipts. In average we approach in estimation of 250 people per day and usually ¾ of

them would either donate of purchase the product.

Appointments were arranged for pre-order customers. We reserved the pre-ordered badges

beforehand and sold the remaining badges during the charity drive week. The pre-ordered

badges were delivered after the charity drive week to avoid any miscalculations after

settling all the accounts. Customers were not in a rush to get their products. Thus, there was

no due date to meet. Besides that, we informed them beforehand to let us know if they

need the badges before a certain period.

Schedule of Distribution:

Our team was divided into groups of two. During the first two days, both groups were

promoting outside campus. After the booth was open on 19/1/2015, one team stays at the

booth in campus and the other team will go to other campuses to sell badges.

DATE

VENUE

17/1/2015 Paradigm Mall

18/1/2015 Curve, Citta Mall, Setiawalk, church 19/1/2015 Taylor’s College (Subang Jaya), Inti College

20/1/2015 Sunway College 21/1/2015 *stayed at Taylor’s Lakeside

22/1/2015 Sunway College

23/1/2015 *stayed at Taylor’s Lakeside

GREEN MEASURES The badges are produced in an environmentally conscious manner. The products were

made by plastic which is not really environmental friendly but long lasting. Our aim is to provide cheap and quality badges to all consumers so that they won’t dispose it quickly. No

waste was produced in the process of producing and selling the badges.

Besides that, we did not use any packaging for our product. This allows us to earn maximum profit by cutting costs. Our badges look attractive as we pinned it all up on a canvas and does not require any forms of packaging to make it more visually-appealing. During our business drive, we reduce the carbon footprints by carpooling when we move to multiple locations to sell our badges. We do not provide plastic bags for customers. Electronic gadgets and social media was utilized instead of printing brochures while promoting the badges, decreasing the carbon footprint by reducing consumption of resources.

HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING A clear job scope is important to direct and guide each member to do their respective tasks and workload evenly. The tasks were given to each member according to personal strengths and abilities.

Distribution of Tasks:

Team Organizational Chart:

TEAM MEMBER JOB SCOPE

Christina Ng Project Leader, Public Relations (PAWS),

Agenda Planner, Saleswoman

Lim Joe Onn Accountant, Treasurer, Social Media Manager, Public Relations (VSL), Salesman

Victor Heng Wei Yen Marketing Strategist, Badge Designer,

Public Relations (SmartVision), Salesman

Lee Ren Jet Assistant Accountant, Chief Salesman

PROJECT LEADER

CHRISTINA NG SUE LI

ACCOUNTANT

LIM JOE ONN

CHIEF SALESMAN

LEE REN JET MARKETING STRATEGIST

VICTOR HENG

EVALUATION OF RESULTS In this charity drive, we earned a total of RM 2692 for PAWS and successfully exceeded the target of RM 2500 net profit. The pie chart below shows that most of our profit comes from sales.

We had a good financial record throughout the whole charity drive. Thus, there were no issues on financial terms. The choice of selling badges is smart. The cost of each badge is RM 0.70 while the selling price is RM 5. The high selling price to cost ratio made our products profitable. Alongside with that, many customers were impressed by our badge design, which increased our sales. As the sales of badges were good, income was high and we did not need to rely too much on donation. However, there are still many rooms for improvement. Firstly, we learnt that we should take more second opinions before proceeding on a decision. We only found that many students, especially girls find our badge design ‘too eerie and scary’. Many customers would prefer a white background instead. Thus, research, survey and questionnaires should be conducted before finalizing the product design. Our team should not had made the decisions hastily. As a conclusion, our team’s charity drive is a success as we hit the RM 2500 target within the designated amount of time.

Video Link: http://youtu.be/Vr5XppFRjEQ

GROSS PROFIT

Sales Sponsorship Donation

PROFIT AND LOSS REPORT

Statement of Income For Team Horoscope Badges For The Business Charity Event Ended 23 January 2014

RM Total Sales Revenue

2275

LOSS: COST OF GOODS SOLD Horoscope Badges

596

GROSS PROFIT 1679 Total Donation Sponsorship from VSL (M) Engineering

397 700

ADJUSTED GROSS PROFIT

2776

LESS: OPERATING EXPENSES Receipt Books Canvas Boards Petrol

12 17 50

NET PROFIT 2697

APPENDIX Photos

Receipt from Supplier

Receipt from Charity Organization