Gardening Boutique &Online Service Center

POLLINATION STATION

Group Members

• Haylee Hornbeck (hhornbec@uwyo.edu) 307-575-4254

• Cory Fields (cfields3@uwyo.edu) 970-631-4279

• Doug Roehrkasse (dougr@uwyo.edu) 307-760-5850

Company Background

• In honor of, and as a memorial to, Grandmother Rose Polly

Employee Roles

• Haylee – Vice President of Marketing and Vision

• Cory – Vice President of Finance and Accounting

• Doug – Vice President of Technology

Company Processes / Products & Services• Products• Flowers/Shrubs/Trees suited for our unique climate• Pre-made wooden planters with flowers• Large planter

• Small planter

• Starter pack of seeds• Starter bed A

• Starter bed B

• Starter bed C

• Flower/tree/shrub planting• Online tutorials• Online custom planter ordering

Storefront and Online Operations• Storefront• Greenhouse with starter plants – annuals and perennials• One acre lot with shrubs and trees

• Online • Gardening tutorial videos and how-tos• Custom planter orders • Large or small planter, choice of flowers (pickup at store, or local

delivery)

Customer Demographics• Laramie and surrounding area• ‘experienced’ gardeners (older generation)• Installation service will be especially helpful to this market

• ‘beginner’ gardeners (those interested in learning more about gardening)• Online tutorials and in-store demonstration services offered will

target this demographic

• ‘busy lifestylers’ (those whose schedule doesn’t allow them time to visit our store)• The online product outlet, pre-made planters/packages, and online

reservation for installation services will be helpful for this market

Marketing Mix• To offer a Gardening Outlet and Service center to the residents of Laramie while promoting the general well-being of the community.• To gain recognition and popularity within Laramie and surrounding areas as well as through the online community.

This will be achieved through two sources: • a physical storefront• an online outlet

Marketing Mix• Storefront:• Provides tangible products for consumers to view/customize as

they desire. • Provides In-Store Demonstrations/How-To/DIY Projects in order

to provide product/service knowledge to customers and gain publicity • Is where our greenhouse is located.  Also potential site for

“community garden” to promote a sense of connection within the community and our business. • “Kids corner” to draw families, help out parents and educate

children on fun gardening facts (promotes general well-being)

Marketing Mix• Online Outlet • Provides an “online storefront” for our products to be sold to

customers without access to our physical storefront• Access to online tutorials to provide customers without access

to our physical storefront to knowledge on how to use our products, installation services, as well as tutorials for DIY projects/landscaping/at-home pest removal etc. to promote general happiness and well-being of our customers• Online customization feature to design planters/seed

packages, etc. to customer’s preference (this feature sets our products apart from competitors) • e.g. NIKE SHOES (online design and personalization factor)

• Option for customers to reserve at-home installation online/over mobile phones or other mobile devices (allows ease of access)

CRM• QuickBooks Pro (Intuit) will be used as our Customer Relationship Management System.

http://quickbooks.intuit.com/

QuickBooks Pro – System Details• QuickBooks Pro is used by millions of small businesses. (

http://quickbooks.intuit.com/) • QuickBooks has different ‘modules’ that can be added as the need arises. • QuickBooks can track every part of the business in one convenient location – customers, sales, employees/payroll, bank accounts, products and services offered, job estimating, and reporting.• The graphical interface in QuickBooks makes it easy to find specific tasks to carry out. Training will still need to be done on business processes, but getting around in QuickBooks is very intuitive. • Upgrading to the ‘Premier’ version is possible with little headaches as the business grows.

QuickBooks Pro – System Implementation• QuickBooks has a 'setup wizard' for creating the business data file.

• The wizard asks for Company Name, Tax ID #, Physical Address, Webpage, Email Address, Phone #, etc.

• Choose the industry of the business, the wizard will customize the file for your specific needs.

• Choose whether the business is a Corporation (and type of Corporation), an LLC or Partnership, or Sole Proprietorship.

QUICKBOOKS - PROS• Inexpensive - stand-alone version costs $199

• A very large support network, both from Intuit and from community based forums.

• Constantly updated

• Premier version includes retail specific support and inventory tracking

• Pre-built reports – makes it easy for anyone to run reports as needed

• Can add in credit card processing, online banking, remote access (beneficial if we want to process orders at a customers location), and payroll assistance

• Easy-to-use graphical interface

QuickBooks Professional

QUICKBOOKS - CONS• Lack of scalability • If our company grows too large, we would have to switch our

systems. If we expect to grow rapidly, it may be beneficial to find a different program. It may also be that we will have to contract out to have a program specifically made for our company. 

• Takes time to set it up correctly• As it would with any system, but since we are a small business with a

limited budget, the setup of the company file would fall on our shoulders – we won’t be hiring an accountant to set it up for us.

• Time to train users• Even though it has a nice graphical interface, it will still take time to

train users on the proper procedures for our company processes.

References• Textbook• Quickbooks: http://quickbooks.intuit.com/