Retail

Executive Summary

Metamorphosis is a retail store that specializes in chic and trendy furniture. The store offers a large merchandise assortment designed to furnish a dorm, apartment, or a house. The destination store offers services such as: free shipping and the ability to coordinate colors and room themes. An advantage of the store set-up is the consumers' ability to see the furniture displayed and having the furniture available for the sale immediately.

Market research shows an increase in furniture sales for 2006. The marketing objective is to aggressively sustain continued growth through execution of the communication mix and marketing strategy.

Mission Statement:

We focus on providing the services/supplies that will give

affordable style, comfort and peace of mind to students and their

parents while helping ease the students' transition from home to living

on their own in the college environment. Since going to college requires

lots of moving around, we offer services along with our products that

will make the frequent moves easy.

Situation Analysis:

Our product offerings focus on college students who are living in temporary housing and experience frequent moves. Our customers appreciate that our products are designed to appeal to their specific design tastes, satisfy their unique living needs and fit in their budget. Our market segments include Kent State University students, the parents of those students, the general population of Kent and any other incidental customers who order through the website. We will target our market through catalog distribution, the Internet, guerilla marketing and word of mouth. Catalogs must be requested or picked up from available locations on campus. Since the users of our products spend more time on average than the rest of the population, our website will increase sales significantly. Because our special combination of products and services are only available through our company, we do not have any direct competition. Our nearest competitors are Target and Ikea based on similar attributes.

Strategic Opportunities:

Company: Metamorphosis

Product Line: "Home away from home" Furnishings

Image: Student friendly, design conscious, individual

Technology: Convenient online services with coordinated, decorating help.

Links to a personal account that can be accessed by multiple roommates.

In store kiosks linked to personal account.

Culture: We want to make you feel at home. Our years of college experience

help us know how to service you and make you comfortable in a fun, new space.

We want to help you have a great college experience in a great living environment

without worrying about bills or moves.

Goals: To use the online service as a way to expand beyond Kent to other

college campuses by focusing retail stores in local areas surrounded by

university communities. We might have to limit services to those other

communities until we can physically locate there, but we can still provide great products!

Target Markets

Target Market Profile:

* Age: 18 through

29

* Gender: Male and Female

* Education: Some College

* Income/Allowance: Medium/High

* Lifestyle: Trendy, Computer Savvy

* Main Geographic Location: Northeast Ohio

We focus our marketing on three types of target consumers:

1. Kent State and Surrounding Area College Students: According to the Kent State web site, More than 19,000 undergraduate students and 4,900 graduate students enrolled at the Kent Campus for the fall 2004 semester. Approximately 60 percent were female students. Kent State University enrolls a total 35,458 students across the network's eight campuses. 14.4 million Students in United States according to http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-26.pdf. About 27% of United States college students are in Ohio universities as stated in the American Fact Finder.

2. Parents Of College Students: The income for a family living in Ohio averaged $44,160 according to a census done by, U.S. Census Bureau, Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division. On average, an Ohio family will spend 35 percent of total income to send a student to a university in 2004. (http://www.policymattersohio.org/press_release/College_Bound_pr.htm)

3. Households Around Retail Store: The total population in Kent, Ohio is 27,906. The average income for a family in Kent is $29,906. The average household size is 2.27. (American Fact Finder).

4. Other: We will also sell to some buyers outside of the segments listed above. The website my attract consumers around the United States. The direct mail may attract consumers other then college students, households, or parents such as single family owner occupied homes.

Market Analysis

Potential Customers Growth 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 CAGR

College Students 2% 144,000 146,304 148,645 151,023 153,440 1.60%

Parents 3% 150,000 153,750 157,594 161,534 165,572 2.50%

Households 5% 440,000 462,000 485,100 509,355 534,823 5.00%

Other 5% 100,000 105,000 110,250 115,763 121,551 5.00%

Total 3.99% 834,000 867,054 901,589 937,674 975,385 3.99%

Market Needs

Design: Since we will mainly focus on campus living design is