The Final Odyssey (1) (1)

Odyssey LLC.

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“Track your Pack”

Tucker Holman Loren Farber [email protected] [email protected] (847) 226-5112 (317) 525-5840

Peter Erickson Corey Roth

[email protected] [email protected] (303) 478-0018 (860) 462-0863

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Table of Contents ii-‐iii

II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4

III. INTRODUCTION 5

1. INTRODUCING PRODUCT TO INVESTOR 5 2. MARKET APPROACH

A. TARGET MARKET 6 B. SERVICES PROVIDED 7 C. MARKET AND SERVICES 7

3. COMPETITIVE DIFFERENTIATORS 9

IV. DATA USED IN ANALYSIS 10

1. DATA SOURCES 11 2. DATA CONTENTS 11 3. DATA ANALYSIS 12

V. LOCATION, LEASE, AND FINANCING PLAN 13

1. BUSINESS OFFICE 13 2. WAREHOUSE AND SHIPPING 15 3. INFRASTRUCTURE 18 A. WAREHOUSE STORAGE 22 B. OFFICE EQUIPMENT & WAREHOUSE MATERIALS (TABLE 5.9) 23 4.FINANCING PLAN 24 VI. PRODUCT PLAN 26 1. PRODUCTS CATEGORIES 27 2. PRODUCT MENU (TABLE 6.8) 32

VII. SUPPLY CHAIN AND INVENTORY MANAGEMENT PLAN 33

1. INVENTORY MANAGEMENT STRATEGY 36 2. STORAGE STRATEGY (DIAGRAM 7.1) 38 3. RECEIVING AND STORING PROCESSES 39 4. DELIVERY SCHEDULE (TABLE 7.2 & 7.3) 40

VIII. HUMAN RESOURCES STAFFING PLAN AND COST ANALYSIS 44

1. EMPLOYEES (TABLE 8.1) 44 2. COST ANALYSIS 45

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IX. NON-HUMAN RESOURCES COST ANALYSIS 48

1. WAREHOUSE AND OFFICE SPACE 48 2. SHIPPING 49 3. PROPERTY INSURANCE/PROPERTY TAXES 49 4. UTILITIES (PIE CHARTS 9.3 & 9.4) 50

X. REVENUE ANALYSIS 51

1. WHOLESALE COST BY SKU 52 2. RETAIL PRICE BY SKU 52 3. FORECASTED QUANTITY SALES BY TIME PERIOD BY SKU 53 4. GROSS PROFIT BY SKU (FIGURES 10.9 & 10.10 & 10.11) 65 5. TOTAL GROSS PROFIT 71

XI. THREE-YEAR FINACIAL ANALYSIS 70

1. BALANCE SHEETS 70 2. INCOME STATEMENTS 71

XII. PROCESS MAPS 72 1. CROSS-‐FUNCTIONAL & FLOW CHART 72&75 2. RELATIONSHIP MAP 73&74 XIII. FINAL SUMMERY 76

XIV. REFERENCES 85

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II. Executive Summery

Odyssey LLC. Is unlike anything ever introduced as a company, we offer a

unique product within the backpack market. Located in Wichita KS, Odyssey can

send products all over the nation with our online e-‐commerce site that is easily

assessable. We offer a GPS backpack that the consumer can interact by logging on to

their profile through our site to track the past location of their Odyssey bag. There is

no other company that offers this kind of product, at Odyssey we plan to engage on

this opportunity and shift to the market trends with modern technology finalizing

an adventurous backpack. Our strategic supply chain and operations has our savings

passed on to our customers who will be paying a fraction of what they normally do

for GPS devices and online code.

Our company solves the problem of tracking your hiking paths, a run, biking

and even answers questions like; did my kid get to school today? Odyssey consists of

the best quality material for its backpacks and specific designs to fit a specific

backpacks theme. Our growth rates in sales are increasing around 25% after each

year in business ending each year with a comfortable profit.

$0.00

$2,000,000.00 $4,000,000.00 $6,000,000.00 $8,000,000.00 $10,000,000.00 $12,000,000.00 $14,000,000.00 $16,000,000.00

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

U.S Dollars

Fiscal Year

Projected Revenue Analysis

Sales

Gross Margin

Net Income

Figure 2.1

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III. Introduction

Odyssey LLC is an online e-commerce outdoor backpack company that offers a

large variety of backpacks that feature optional GPS location services. It focuses on

diversifying each bag design to fit individual consumer needs. Four entrepreneurs who

currently attend the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, Boulder,

founded this company. Odyssey plans to bring tremendous innovation to the backpack

world due to the unique services we plan to offer.

Odyssey is a limited liability corporation because we believe that it is the smartest

business model to pursue for many reasons. Being an LLC will allow our owners to not

be responsible for the business liabilities our company will accrue, this will also allow the

company to not pay taxes at the business level, and instead taxation will be passed

through to the owners’ individual tax returns. This will also give us the flexibility to

establish any organizational structure we prefer.

Odyssey’s mission is to differentiate each of our products to accomplish a

customer’s personal needs in a bag. After an Odyssey bag has been purchased, we hope

to build a relationship with the consumer in order to maintain close contact. Customers

have the option to include a GPS tracker that allows them to access unique features

directly from our website. The backpacks are also offered without a GPS tracker, to reach

a larger market share with decent amount of disposable incomes. At Odyssey, we build a

relationship with our customer that guarantees reasonable prices and high quality along

with the security of GPS location.

Odyssey is a metaphor that has inner meaning, representing our company’s

values, ethics, and mission to always fuel the adventure, similar to the long adventure that

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Odysseus traveled on in the Odyssey. This company was established with strong values.

Our customers always come first, and our exceptional service goes above and beyond

customer expectations.

The founders recognized the large market for different kinds of bags, so they set

out to create the most efficient online marketplace for an adventure-oriented backpack. In

the past decade, E-commerce businesses have emerged as a large marketplace. On an

average day, around 76% of U.S. adults go online in search of products. Our main

competitor is ebags.com but we offer a new form of technology that they don’t have. At

Odyssey we have a website login that users can track where they went today with their

Odyssey backpack. Ebags.com offers a large selection of product lines including low-end

and poor quality bags that we don’t sell. Our entire product ensures quality with trusted

wholesaler and durable products that you can track. Ebags.com does not do what we

stand for and that is simply live the adventure to adequately satisfy our customers with an

online interaction of tracking where you were/are.

Odyssey is a Business-to-Consumer e-commerce company that will ship

backpacks and bags to individual consumers everywhere in the United States. Although

Business-to-Consumer is comparatively small, it has grown rapidly since 1995 and is the

type of e-commerce that most consumers are likely to encounter when searching the

Internet. Within the business-to-consumer category, we decided to approach using a

market creator business model.

Target Market:

Odyssey has a primary focus on high-end products. When our customers buy our

products they know they are receiving a high-quality backpack for a reasonable price.

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Our product line will be geared towards active/adventurous men and women from the

ages of 18 and up. They probably enjoy hiking, skiing, snowboarding, camping, running,

and biking. At Odyssey we thrive to provide the best quality and durability in our bags.

Our primary target market will be people with a household income of $50,000 and above.

The western states such as Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and others are

home to the most national parks and conserved land in the United States. This geography

allows us to market to the residents of those states easily. The company located its

headquarters around this area for easier shipping and faster delivery service. We also see

tremendous opportunity and market potential for our products in the Midwest, East coast,

and Southern states.

Odyssey is introducing a children’s backpack that will allow parents to access the

location of their kid at all times. These packs are made for school children from the ages

of 3-12, whose parents who are constantly concerned with the location and safety of their

kids. We believe that parents all over the country will want the added security of the GPS

services included with the pack. Odyssey will market the children’s pack across the

country.

Overview of Services:

Odyssey specializes in all different

kinds of products in the high-end spectrum of

backpacks designed to be comfortable and

light. Odyssey will offer a child product line

of backpacks that come equipped with the GPS tracker resulting in better and more

sophisticated child safety. For example, of the user interface that allows the user to track

Figure 3.1

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the movements of the backpack, (see Figure 3.1) those customers that choose to purchase

the version that comes equipped with the GPS tracker will be able to access unique data

and features directly from our online website. The GPS tracker purchase includes a

membership to our online website that lets our consumers locate exactly where they have

traveled on each journey with the bag. Hikers and people interested in backpacking can

access valuable information about the highest point you reached, as well as the rout you

took. Parents who purchase our child backpacks will be able to visit our online website

and have direct access to the location of their kids while at school or at a friends house to

ensure their safety and whereabouts.

After purchasing an Odyssey product, the customer will register that specific pack

through the website. The customer’s account will show each pack they own as well as the

location of each of those backpacks. Not only will the GPS tracker allow our customers

to track their own personal travels, but the travels of family and friends through a

network sharing cloud. A “friends” list will allow anyone you wish to see where you have

been on your travels with the Odyssey product. This will create a fun way for our

customers to share their travels and adventures with their family or friends

Research has shown backpacks are lost everyday around the United States. At

Odyssey we know backpacks can be expensive, which is one of the best features of the

GPS tracker. Through the online account, a user can easily access the location of a lost or

stolen bag. Recovery of the bag will be much easier when the location of the bag can be

pinpointed.

Odyssey believes this market has a large potential for growth as well as room for

new innovation in products. There are currently several backpack companies that offer

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similar products, but Odyssey is the first with a value proposition of a backpack that is

equipped with a small GPS tracker. Odyssey’s high quality bags can offer a competitive

advantage and create a solid market share with an organized business model.

Competitive Differentiators:

There are currently many different outdoor backpack companies in the

competitive environment such as Camelbak, Osprey, Dakine, Jansport, and The North

Face. The products Odyssey plans to introduce are fairly different from its competitors.

The GPS tracker is the main distinction between Odyssey and its competitors and is the

primary market strategy. There are currently no backpacks on the market that come

equipped with a GPS tracker.

Another distinct differentiator between our company and our competitors is what

the GPS tracker allows our customers to access. Customers that purchase the backpack

equipped with the GPS tracker will be able to create a

profile and have access to unique data about their day

with the bag. Through the online website, customers

will be able to view specific details about their

location, distance, height, and time which adds

tremendous value to our total product offer. A sample view of the Odyssey website can

be seen in Figure 3.2. Offering this service to our customers allows us to develop a long-

term relationship with our customer and provide them with more than just our backpacks.

The GPS tracker will also allow our customers who might lose or dislocate their

bag the convenience of being able to find the location of their lost bag via our website.

There is currently no other company that offers a child product line of backpacks that

Figure 3.2

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include a GPS location service that gives parents the security of knowing their child’s

location. With the GPS tracker and online account services, Odyssey will bring its own

kind of innovation to the backpack industry.

IV. Data Analysis

The data sources in this project came from a variety of sources, but all of them

were accessed online. We utilized online search engines as well as databases to discover

usable data. Some of the sources, especially those focused on broad topics, were easily

located and put to use. Some examples of this included finding the costs of the office

supplies and details of the UPS shipping costs. Data such as this are general, easily

accessible, and simple to integrate into the project. These sources were very valuable and

helped fill in the broad details of the project.

Other sources were not as effortless to find and use. In these cases, the necessary

data was much more specific and took some searching to locate. These sources, when

found, were more valuable to the project because of the minute details that they added to

the project. Some examples of these included the monthly lease payments for the

warehouse, the interest rates for the financing business loan, and finding a manufacturer

for the GPS tracker device.

All of the data sources came from trusted websites. Whenever possible, websites

with an .org or .gov domain were used. These sites tend to be more reliable and the data

from them can be trusted. Most of the data sources we used came from the most relevant

website we could find. Often, multiple sources for the same data were found and

compared, and then the best option was used for the project.

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In some cases, the specific sources we needed seemed to be a little unreliable. In

that situation, other sources that were similar but not perfectly applicable were used as a

comparison. For example, when finding the interest rates for the business loan, the first

website gave a figure that did not seem to be accurate. After further research revealed that

similar loans had interest rates that were very close to the first rate we had found. This

gave us the confidence to proceed with the interest calculations and trust that they would

be accurate.

A lot of the data that we found turned out to be useful for the project. In some

cases, sources were even useful across different project sections. The biggest sections for

using data sources were the physical location and revenue analysis pieces. The physical

location section required an extensive search for a viable warehouse. Many different

locations across the Midwest were found and compared. Several different websites listed

and detailed warehouses that were open and available for rent. We had to narrow the

search to find a location that was both spacious enough for our levels of inventory, as

well as affordable enough for a small startup company. Eventually a suitable warehouse

was found, and the rest of the options were discarded.

We used several different step-by-step data analysis processes. One of which is

the process of elimination, in which data is gathered, compared, and then chosen or

discarded based on its merits. Another analysis method used was the multidimensional

drilling down and rolling up, in the case of the revenue analysis. For this process, the

initial data was found and reviewed, determining what aspects would be most necessary

to determine the levels of unit sales. Many times the data would be too broad, and it

would need to be manipulated. The most way of doing this would be to drill down into

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the data and eliminate the unneeded excess. This focused the data down to a point where

it was more relevant toward the calculations being performed. Rarely, the data would be

broken up into too many segments, and it was necessary to roll it up. This was true for the

data about students in elementary schools and the sales of the Trekker model backpack.

The data was divided in to sections based on what grade and type of school the children

were attending. These types of distinctions were unnecessary for the revenue analysis, so

all the segments of data had to be rolled up and combined to find the pertinent figures.

Our marketing and management team anticipates on collecting data to further our

understanding about our customers so we can gain a positive relationship with them. We

can collect data with a system based on the clicks from our customers on our webpage

where they give us their demographic information. Our marketing teams will better

understand our customers to maximize potential revenue from big data from these

regions. West will be our biggest market with 38% of our customers that log on live.

Data Analysis: E-Commerce Web Page Traffic by Regions:

Figure 4.1

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V. Location

The proposed location of Odyssey backpacks has been carefully chosen to fit our

needs and add value to the total success of the E-commerce business. Located at 2657

West Esthner, Wichita, KS 67213, our company will not be forced to pay larger sums for

shipping costs because we will be selling high volume and this package price will reduce

costs. Wholesale orders will be easily delivered to our facility. Aside from the shipping

and receiving efficiency, the building is the perfect size to house both a warehouse and

office space. The total building size is 6,000 sq ft. split up into a 1,450 sq ft office and a

1,550 sq ft warehouse for each symmetrical duplex. We will operate our company by

renting the whole building providing a total of 6,000 sq ft. 3,000 for both office and

warehouse space. The amount of space accessible and the three-year lease gives Odyssey

the utility to achieve anticipated success ultimately sufficient to meeting our needs.

This warehouse with office space is intended to do sales in an ecommerce

environment not specifying on location.

The location is perfect because there is no

need to pay expensive rent for high volume

customer shopping utility. Our IT is

responsible for making our web location at

www.OdysseyPacks.com attract high

volume traffic. The web designer is responsible for the attractiveness of the site.

The location outside of Wichita, Kansas is right next to thousands of hiking trails that our

target market is currently values. Our vision is to be located within the western culture of

Figure 5.1

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the United Stats as more people participate in outdoor activities here and appreciate the

environmental area the Western land offers.

Wichita offers a medium size city in south central Kansas with about 390,000 in

population. E-commerce will expand the market because it’s easy to access the online-

based store where customers will not need to interact with our industrial facilities. The

online store will be designed for consumer behavior, as the site will be detailed and

intriguing for our customers.

The design of the building has both a 3,000 square foot warehouse where we

anticipate over 3,500 pallets of inventory and an efficient order fulfillment area. This area

will be responsible for preparing orders for delivery and the 18’ warehouse door will be

opened to greet transporters. Certain employees will be engaged sewing on the logo and

installing the small GPS tracker onto the backpack within the west warehouse. To respect

our values and social responsibility we will be utilizing an environmental recycling

program for old backpack material within the warehouse. There are eight offices that are

included in the 3,000 square feet within which each of our employees will effectively

accomplish work. These offices will house our website design team along with the IT

professionals. It’s important to the Odyssey family that there is plenty of parking, clean

bathrooms, and respect for all employees and customers.

Price of both units is $3,025/month, a below average price among the alternative

locations that were suitable for our company in different locations. (Table 3.1) Thus, a

$36,300 investment per year must be paid to obtain the space we need to rent for the

company to succeed. Most locations with 6,000 SF average monthly rents were far

beyond $4,000 and did not offer easy access offices with warehouse space. We decided to

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rent and not buy a building because of the liability and initial investment that buying a

building requires. The three-year lease will allow us to move in without difficulty and

adapt to this office/warehouse. Leasing rather than buying is an important decision and

when making this decision taxes were in mind. Leasing is a safer and smarter agreement

whose advantages outweigh the disadvantages. We will not be forced to pay a large sum

of money to own the building nor worry about re-sale of the building.

The lease is a three-year agreement between Odyssey and Landmark Commercial

that includes many different liability, legal, and general guidelines that our company will

abide by. The initial security deposit investment to get the location is $9,000. We would

have to pay this as soon as we sign the lease. In addition to the security deposit we also

need to pay first and last months rent in full the first day of moving in. Thus, a $15,050

initial investment is required to obtain this building.

Shipping to each customer that ordered from our online store will be through

daily pick-up service from UPS. Daily pickup will ensure a UPS driver automatically

stops at our location once each business day, as scheduled, to pick up ground or air

shipments. The daily pickup customers receive UPS pickup per day at no extra charge for

packages that we can send throughout the week. This is an 11.30/weekly charge when

spending more than $75.00 or more of shipping cost per week. We will fall under this

category forecasting because we expect the majority of sales to be delivered through

trusted UPS priority delivery as the backpack are sold on our site. Our pick-up time will

be 3:30 PM daily guaranteed with the ability to track each package to its end point.

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Location Layout (Figure 5.2)

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Table 5.3 Building Selections From Office/Warehouse Location

Location Square Ft. Price/SF Rent Per Year

Lease Time

Security Deposit

Realtor

2657 W. Esthner, Wichita, KS 67213

3,000 SF Office 3,000 SF Warehouse Total 6,000

$6.50/SF/Year

$36,300 3 Years $9,000 Landmark Commercial Real Estate

18901 W 158th St, Olathe, KS 66062

3,750 SF Office and Warehouse

$8/SF/Year $30,000 2-3 Years $7,500 Prieb Property Management

14648 South 800 West, Bluffdale, UT 84065

7,800 SF 2,100 SF Office 5,700 Warehouse

$7.54 /SF/Year

$58,800 4 Years $14,700 Knight Realty Company

761 E Enterprise Dr, Saint George, UT 84790

5,537 SF 4316 SF Warehouse 1,221 SF Office

$6/SF/Year $33,222 3-4 Years $8,400 NAI Utah South Commercial Real Estate Services

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Infrastructure:

Optimizing space in our office and warehouse is a primary concern as our

inventory increases and daily work takes it place. In a highly competitive world,

especially in the backpack industry, gathering the best costs and deals for warehouse and

office supplies will significantly affect our bottom line as the equipment list can be very

large. By finding the best deals on office and warehouse equipment, we believe at

Odyssey that it will prevent us from failing as a small business, and most importantly will

make us one of the most efficient backpacking companies in our industry.

In our 3,000 square foot office space, we found it necessary to supply the eight

office spaces with cost efficient and quality supplies. Fortunately EBay will be supplying

us with a lot of our office needs, as some of the best equipment at low prices has been

found there for mass quantity deals with free shipping. We want our employees to be

efficient, so we invested in 8 L-shaped desks can be purchased for $119.99 each. The

utilization of the L-shaped desks versus a regular straight desk will give our employees

the ability to spread out their office supplies and materials accordingly, allowing them to

organize their files so no important information is lost in the process. Workdays can be

long and grueling for start up businesses, especially ours as we plan to conquer the

backpack market, so we decided to purchase comfortable office chairs. Instead of

purchasing regular ones for about $25 each, we struck a deal on EBay for 8 comfortable

chairs that support the back very well for $367.92.

We decided to spend more because we believe that the employees should work in

the perfect environment because it will promote hard work and boost their motivation.

For lighting, we used LED lights over the cheaper option of fluorescent lights for many

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reasons. Fluorescent lights are hard to recycle, which can get expensive as recycling

becomes a large problem in the world today, Fluorescent lights also give off ultraviolet

rays (UV) that can cause health problems for individuals who are affected by light

sensitivity. We decided to do this because in the hiring process you never know what type

of employee will fill the position, and since they will be working a lot with those lights

choosing the healthiest product is important to us, as well as employee satisfaction. The

most important part in this decision included the fact that Fluorescent lights can last up to

10,000 hours, where LED lights can last up to 60,000 hours, saving us money and

another order of the harmful Fluorescent lights.

At Odyssey we expect to have many clients and customers coming in to meet with

us for various business reasons. All equipment prices can be viewed on table 3.2 beneath

this section of where we will optimize the equipment. Every business office has a waiting

room, so we purchased two cheap, but comfortable couches for the waiting room. Other

office supplies that we found the best price for include a fireproof safe, calculators, a

postage meter, labeling machines so each employee can share one with another, two

whiteboards and twenty-four dry erase markers, eight paper shredders, and a photocopier.

Safety is also very important, so we found the best prices for alarm systems, fire

extinguishers, and first aid kits. We purchased a do it yourself alarm system to save

money on the maintenance costs, this alarm system includes a motion detector, wireless

alarm system, and a wireless keychain remote for the boss. Our ideas and information for

our business are valuable to us, so purchasing the $179.00 alarm system for both the

office and warehouse seemed necessary. The office supplies will end up being expensive,

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and we were expecting that because there are a lot of important necessities for a

successful business to succeed.

Our office space needs computers and hardware accessories, we also saved money

buying the desktop computer and monitor separately. Some accessories included two HP

printers, a modem, eight surge protectors, and scanner. As we manage our money,

construct a website, protect our computer systems against viruses, and account for our

own money, we spent $3,578.80 on Computer software. We used Norton Security for

our computers because most of the employees, including us, will be connecting our smart

phones to our work computers and

Norton Security protects against viruses

on both the computer and smart phone.

This is an important aspect to our

business running successfully because

with all the hacks and cloud breaches

that have occurred recently, a small

business like us could not afford to get valuable information stolen from us.

Another important software that we will use is the Inventory Management

software, which will help us, track when our inventory leaves the warehouse and

identifies if anything is missing. We decided to use Shopify as our Ecommerce software

because it has a easy to use website builder, unlimited bandwidth, and an optimized

search engine. Using Workbooks.com for $350 per month for a contact management

system, we end up saving a lot of money by choosing this product over the leading

product that costs $900 per month. We chose Workbooks off of a rating criteria website

Figure 5.4

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that identified workbooks as a higher rating that the most expensive one, rating it an 8.40

out of 10.

Communication is extremely important for the Odyssey team, in order to get the

best quality internet and telephone service we decided to use Comcast Business class for

$3,236.40 over 3 years ($89.90 a month). Comcast ensures that there will be no extra fees

and it is the best available package for businesses out there, as we would have to

purchase them separately if it was not for Comcast. The reason why we did not include

Cable in this was because our employees do not need to be watching TV at the office;

they can get their latest news source online if necessary. At Odyssey, starting as a small

business is going to be challenging because there will be thousands of clients to call, a lot

of marketing research, and managing finances can be tough, so we promoted multitasking

by purchasing eight cordless headsets for $127.92. This will allow employees to talk on

the phone while doing whatever assigned work they have at the same time, getting the

most work done as possible to set us ahead of our competitors. In order for our

employees to store information and process it, general office supplies are needed.

We found great deals for large quantity office supplies and even cleaning

supplies at Uline and Staples. These include Business cards, Envelopes, Stationery,

Printer Cartridges, CD’s, Floppy disks,

Pencils, fax paper, notepads, file folders,

staplers, and scissors, totaling to

$1,162.72. Uline and Staples helped save

us a ton of money because we were able

to buy most of these products in mass quantities for a reasonable price.

Figure 5.5

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Our warehouse consists of 3,000 square feet and we will be using all of it with the

mass amounts of backpacks we will be holding in our inventory. The software we bought

will track our inventory, but in order to optimize the fastest order process, many

important warehouse necessities will be used. To get our product right on the UPS truck,

we purchased electronic doors with motion sensors for our loading dock from Global

Industrial for $1,073. The reason why we are using electronic doors is because we want

to help the UPS driver do his job at the

most efficient level and at the same time

get our product to the destination in an

orderly process.

Accessing our large inventory

will call for rolling ladders because we

are trying to optimize the most space in

our warehouse. To move heavy inventory loads, pallet jacks will

be purchased on EBay for $129. Moving inventory to specific locations in the warehouse

will require labeling and labeling machines, so we purchased four of them for $107.52.

Moving the inventory will cause the need for a stock cart, at a low price on EBay, we got

1 for $159.71. Other miscellaneous items include pry bars for $14.95 each, tape

dispensers for $9.98 each, box cutters for $10.95 each, Clipboards for $13.99 each, and

three banding dispensers for a total of $1273.50.

Figure 5.6 Warehouse Empty Layout

Figure 5.7 Corporate Partners

Figure 5.8 Corporate Partners

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Table 5.9 Odyssey’s Infrastructure

Office Equipment Quantity Total Price Computer Software Quantity Total Price

Desk 8 $1,199.92 Word processing software 1 $109.99

Off. Chair 8 $367.92 Virus protection software 1 $94.99

File cabinets 3 $89.97 Accounting software 1 $189.95 Overhead and Work lighting 10 $1,417.10

Desktop publishing software 1 $119.95

Client seating 2 $799.98 Website Software 1 $129.97

Fireproof safe 1 $269 E-commerce software 1 $2,844

Calculators 6 $22.50 Inventory Software 1 $189.95 Bookcases 2 $157.98 Office Supplies Postage meter 1 $575.64 Business cards 20 $321.20 Worktable(s) 2 $267.98 Envelopes 15 $321.20 Labeling machine 4 $107.52 Stationery 1000 $150.00 Whiteboard/Markers 2 $178.00 Printer cartridges 30 $479.70 Paper shredder 8 $199.04 Flash Drives 5 $74.95 Photocopier 1 $1,099.99 Pencils 4 51.96 Wastebasket 8 $58.40 Cd's 8 $200 Alarm system 1 $179.00 Cleaning supplies 1 $46.60 Fire extinguisher 1 $49.99 Fax paper 3 $74.97 First-aid kit 1 $42.99 Notepads 10 $84.90 Computer Equip. File folders 4 $39.96 Desktop computer 8 $3,039.92 Stapler 8 $63.92 Monitor 8 $719.92 Scissors 8 $45.76 Printer 2 $59.98 Warehouse Equip. Modem 1 $69.99 Rolling Ladders 2 $335.90 Projector 1 $2,499 Boxes 100 $530.00 Digital camera 1 $109.99 Electronic Doors 1 $1,073.00 Surge protector 8 $156.64 Pallet jacks 1 $129 Scanner 2 $259.98 Stock Carts 1 $159.75 Communications Banding Dispensers 1 424.5 Telephone line 36 $3,236.40 Box Cutters 10 $109.50 Fax machine 1 $99.99 Tape Dispensers 4 $39.92 Cordless headset 8 $127.92 Clipboards 4 $55.96 Speakerphone 8 $1,039.92 Total $26,994.02

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Financing Plan:

Financing Odyssey is an important business decision that must be made for the

future success of our business. Therefore, we need to create a solid financing plan and

decide on the correct balance between debt and equity that would best fit our company.

Since we are a small start up, selling stock isn’t an option, so selling a stake of our

business to an investor will help us raise money. Our capital structure will be made up of

65% debt financing and 35% equity financing.

We will acquire a $350,000 initial investment from investors to cover the initial

costs of purchasing and stockpiling inventory. 10% of the equity financing will come

from our families and relatives, which will total $35,000. The other $315,000 will come

from outside investors that have bought into the business plan and the viability of the

company in the long term. We will use vfinance.com to connect with potential investors.

This website has a vast directory filtering investors based on their interests in holding a

10-25 percent stake in the business. We are looking to sell a total of 31.5% of Odyssey’s

equity by giving out chunks of 10-15% equity to multiple investing individuals or groups.

Odyssey had to educate our investor on exactly how big our market is and how

we plan on expanding into different markets in the future. Venture capitalists look for

unique and different features when deciding to invest in start ups that separate them from

other current competitors in the same industry. The reason why our business was

appealing to our investor was because there are no other backpack producers out there

that have a GPS chip equipped inside the bag and that offer the online services that we

offer to our customers. Offering the GPS chip and service separates us from our

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competitors and attracts investors because we are the first company to offer this type of

product and service that comes with.

A $650,000 bank loan must be taken out to cover the operating costs for the first

year. The loan will be taken out through an accredited lending institution. The loan will

be charged a prime rate plus a spread. The prime rate at this time is 3.25% (Prime rate,

2015), and the bank will negotiate a spread that will be added on, most likely at a rate of

2% (Loan amounts, n.d.) The total annual interest on the loan will be 5.25%.

The loan will be used to cover the lease payments as well as office supplies and

employee payroll. We will need money right away to pay our IT employees that will set

up the initial e-commerce page with the additional web access to the GPS home screen.

Money that is overhead will be kept as emergency funds for unforeseen circumstances.

We forecast a profit in the first year of operations that will help pay off our large bank

loan. Even if sales projections are not met in the first year Odyssey expects revenue to

increase significantly in our second and third year.

Odyssey’s Capital Structure

65% Debt Financing

35% Equity Financing

65%

Bank Loans

Interest Rate

5.25%/Year

More Risk

25% Corporate Investers

10% Family Investers

Figure 5.10 Capital Structure

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VI. Product Plan

Odyssey offers high-quality adult and children’s backpacks. Adult packs are

designed and manufactured to perform in the toughest of conditions. The range of packs

offered allows the user to transport the essentials no matter where their adventure leads.

The GPS tracker option makes these backpacks the safest option you can buy. Hikers

and backpackers will never be lost to the wilderness again as long as they have their

Odyssey backpack with the GPS tracker technology. Friends and family, as well as

rescue teams, will be able to find the adventurer no matter where he or she wanders. Four

different backpack models allow every outdoor enthusiast to find a pack suitable to his or

her needs.

Our children’s backpacks are built to transport the school essentials while offering

parental peace of mind. The optional GPS tracker keeps the children in sight no matter

how far away they are from Mom and Dad. Never wonder in fear where your little one

has wandered when you have the ability to track their every step. Now the walk to the bus

can be done with both child independence and parental confidence. Two different color

schemes mean every child can choose an Odyssey backpack to match his or her style.

Figure 6.1

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Product Categories:

Backpacking

Product Name: Voyager

Seasonal Emphasis: Spring/Summer

This backpack is designed for those people who don’t mind carrying the world on

their back. A 60L pack will fit anything everything for a week or two in the wilderness.

The stash pockets and insulated sleeve make carrying the extra items easy. An integrated

back support system and waist straps keep the pack comfortable even after many miles of

trekking. Even though you may take it to the middle of nowhere, you can always be

found using the optional GPS tracker. This backpack can accompany you on any Voyage.

Features:• 60L capacity • Outside zippered stash

pockets • Insulated beverage

sleeve • Integrated, adjustable

back support • Waist straps with

pockets

• Multiple compartments • Rugged canvas panel

on bottom • Built-in GPS location

device • 24/7 location service

from any device

Product Name: Wanderer

Seasonal Emphasis: Spring/Summer

This backpack is made for getting away from it all. A lightweight design allows

you to fill it to the brim and still carry it for hours. The minimal strap design does its job

like nothing else on the market while maintaining a comfortable ride. The oversized

opening lets almost anything fit inside and the fleece-lined pocket cocoons even the most

Figure 6.2 Voyager

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fragile sunglasses. Taking adventurous trails you can’t find is no longer asking for

disaster because the optional GPS tracker will always keep you on the map. The 32L

capacity will carry enough no matter where you may Wanderer.

Features: • 32L capacity • Lightweight design • Minimal shoulder

straps • Oversized zippered

opening • Fleece lined

pocket

• Rugged canvas panel on bottom

• Built-in GPS location device

• 24/7 location service from any device

Snow Sports:

Product Name: Trudger

Seasonal Emphasis: Winter

The slopes are calling you, and you have to take this backpack with you. This

hybrid ski/snowboard carrier pack is designed for any snow sports athlete. There are

Velcro loops to hold your poles in place, letting your hands stay free to help scale the icy

crags. One of the shoulder straps is insulated inside, to keep your water tube from

freezing in the cold temperatures. The optional GPS tracker keeps you on the map even

when you’re off the trails, and the waterproof liner around it will keep it from getting

damaged by the snow. This pack will accompany you no matter how far you trudge.

Features: • 22L capacity • Hybrid ski/board carry

system • Velcro pole loops • Insulated shoulder

strap • Fleece goggle pocket • Secure shoulders and

waist straps


• Waterproof compartment for GPS device


Figure 6.3 Wanderer

Figure 6.4 Trudger

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Hiking:

Product Name: Rover

Seasonal Emphasis: None

If you want to escape for a few hours but need to take a few things with you, this

backpack is the perfect fit. Whether you are going for a quick jog, a hike up the trails, or

biking across town, this backpack is the do-everything multi-tasker. The ergonomic

straps ensure a comfortable fit, and the water reservoir with stash-away hose keeps you

hydrated every step of the way. Multiple pockets keep your food separated from your

windbreaker. A small mesh pocket on the strap keeps your cell phone close to hand. The

optional GPS tracker lets everyone know where you are even if you forgot to tell them

you had left. This backpack can keep up with the toughest Rover.

Features: • 15L capacity • Ergonomic,

adjustable shoulder straps

• Water reservoir with stash-away hose

• Multiple zippered pockets

• Cell phone mesh pocket on strap



Sample Advertisement:

Figure 6.5 Rover

“Track your Pack”

Figure 6.6

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Children’s Bookbags:

Product Name: Trekker

Seasonal Emphasis: Fall

Never wonder where you child has gotten off to again. This pack is perfect for

kids who are independent and walk to school or to the bus stop on their own. A large

compartment holds the books while a smaller compartment has dividers for all kinds of

pens and pencils. The extra padded straps are comfortable for any child to wear. A

variety of color schemes are available. The optional GPS tracker gives parents peace of

mind as they can track every step their child takes. This backpack is perfect for any little

Trekker that needs to be found.

Features: • Large compartment

with laptop holder • Small compartment

with dividers

• Comfortable padded straps

• Extra large zipper pulls

• Velcro loops for extra items

• Variety of color schemes



Manufacturer:

Xiamen Hindar Bags Industrial Co. Ltd is our company’s manufacturer that has

the experience and background to produce our product in a timely and trustworthy

manner. They have the capabilities to fill large and small orders costumed to the retailer.

Custom designs are accepted as well as possibly using their own pre-created designs.

They have a large R&D staff as well as company engineers that could assist in the design

and implementation of our specific requirements for the backpacks. they have experience

making almost every kind of bag, back pack and otherwise, and should be able to handle

Figure 6.7 Trekker

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any requests we will have for our own bags. They test the products they make for each

client, voicing any concerns with materials and/or design before mass-producing the

entire line. A 100% damage free guarantee speaks to their confidence in the quality of

each piece produced. They are based in China. This will reduce labor and production

costs.

This company also has the capabilities and knowledge to manufacture the water

reservoirs, hoses, and bite valves for the Trudger and Rover backpack models. This

system allows the user to carry and access water without hassle. The hands free design

eliminates the need to stop and open the pack to access water bottles. The 2 liter water

reservoir capacity satisfies even the thirstiest users. Purchasing this product from the

same company will cut down on costs, as the products can all be shipped together. The

confidence we have as a buyer stretches across both product lines.

Systech Limited has over 10 years of experience manufacturing and developing

numerous kinds of technology products including the one we will buy GPS systems.

They have a large Research and Development division that pursues solutions to the ever-

changing technical world. Systech supplies a number of GPS devices, both personal and

commercial. They can customize and adapt their products to meet our specific needs as

an outdoor backpack company. As a low cost supplier, they can provide the high-tech

devices necessary while still allowing us to sell our product to a wide range of

consumers. Their industry experience and reputation is enough to ensure confidence in

the quality of the product. Systech also has over 400 employees and the ability to

manufacture higher volumes of units as our business grows. They meet our specific

criteria as a high-quality, reliable manufacturer of GPS tracking devices.

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Table 6.8 Product Menu

Model Capacity Color GPS Water Pack Laptop Case Cost Retail

Voyager 60L Blue Yes No No $201.49 $399.99

60L Blue No No No $121.50 $269.99

60L Grey Yes No No $201.49 $399.99

60L Grey No No No $121.50 $269.99

Wanderer 32L Green Yes No No $156.49 $299.99

32L Green No No No $76.50 $169.99

32L Black Yes No No $156.49 $299.99

32L Black No No No $76.50 $169.99

Trudger 22L Blue Yes Yes No $142.99 $269.99

22L Blue No Yes No $63.00 $139.99

22L Red Yes Yes No $142.99 $269.99

22L Red No Yes No $63.00 $139.99

22L Orange Yes Yes No $142.99 $269.99

22L Orange No Yes No $63.00 $139.99

22L Purple Yes Yes No $142.99 $269.99

22L Purple No Yes No $63.00 $139.99

Rover 15L Blue Yes Yes No $120.49 $219.99

15L Blue No Yes No $40.50 $89.99

15L Green Yes Yes No $120.49 $219.99

15L Green No Yes No $40.50 $89.99

15L Red Yes Yes No $120.49 $219.99

15L Red No Yes No $40.50 $89.99

15L Black Yes Yes No $106.00 $219.99

Trekker n/a Blue Yes No Yes $106.99 $189.99

n/a Blue No No Yes $27.00 $59.99

n/a Green Yes No Yes $106.99 $189.99

n/a Green No No Yes $27.00 $59.99

n/a Red Yes No Yes $106.99 $189.99

n/a Red No No Yes $27.00 $59.99

n/a Orange Yes No Yes $106.99 $189.99

n/a Orange No No Yes $27.00 $59.99

n/a Purple Yes No Yes $106.99 $189.99

n/a Purple No No Yes $27.00 $59.99

n/a Pink Yes No Yes $106.99 $189.99

n/a Pink No No Yes $27.00 $59.99

n/a Black Yes No Yes $106.99 $189.99

n/a Black No No Yes $27.00 $59.99

GPS n/a Black Yes No No 79.99 $149.99

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VII. Supply Chain and Inventory Management Plan Odyssey plans to distribute our backpacks using the resources and manufacturing

of just two other companies, making our whole supply chain process somewhat simple.

At the same time, this will reduce the costs associated with getting our products to the

consumer. Between the two suppliers we have agreed to a contract purchasing agreement

that will allow us to purchase specified products for an extended amount of time.

Although we only have two suppliers there are many steps and procedures that must be

completed to ensure the customer receives a quality product. The overall process is very

information-intense and requires numerous computer-tracking systems. The shipping

from the manufacturer to the Odyssey warehouse, as well as the shipping from Odyssey

to the customer, are both crucial to financial success. The use of data collection and

tracking will help to reduce the costly mistakes that can happen when shipping products

over long distances.

Suppliers:

Xiamen Hindar Bags Industrial Co Ltd.

When deciding between outsourcing or manufacturing ourselves, we decided on

outsourcing the production and manufacturing of our backpacks from an external source

located in China who has manufactured many different kinds of bags and backpacks for

many different other competitors within the United States. By outsourcing the

manufacturing of our backpacks we are able to reduce labor and production costs due to

the low wages that exist in the Chinese industrial and manufacturing plants. Xiamen was

founded in 1998 and has a wide product range that includes 16 different production lines

and has 15 years of experience making them the best choice for the outsourcing of our

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products. Odyssey’s product line will only be using Xiamen for their hydration packs,

school bags, and daypacks. Xiamen has the capability to produce on average 400,000

pieces a month, which is more than enough to meet our individual needs. Xiamen has an

on site sampling and design center that puts together graphic designs and samples

allowing us to have them manufacturer the bag and put our company logo on there at the

same time. They also have the ability to release 70 new items monthly allowing us to

bring new innovation and new products every year to the market and can have any

samples or designs completed in just 3-5 days. When deciding to use Xiamen as our

manufacturer we looked at their outstanding quality control department and knew when

purchasing through them that we would receive a superb product at a good price.

Systech Ltd.

When determining where to purchase our GPS system from we compared the

prices and quality of several different producers and decided to go with Systech Limited

who has been developing GPS systems for over 10 years now and has the capability to

mass produce GPS systems that we will use in our products. Systech’s low prices and

high quality gave them a competitive advantage over the other producers we researched.

Systech has a fairly large R&D department to combat with the ever-evolving

technological world. Due to the R&D department at Systech we are guaranteed to have

better and better GPS systems as we continue to grow our brand in the coming years.

This gives us the security of knowing that the innovation of our GPS systems will never

go out of date and will continue to get more sophisticated as Odyssey grows. Their

experience and reputation within their industry gives us the confidence that they will be a

valuable and loyal supplier.

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Organization of SCM:

Supply Chain Management is highly important to the success of the company and

therefore Odyssey will be hiring an employee with a bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain

or Operations Management. The primary role of this employee will be to watch over and

guide the product flow, information flow, and finance flow to create the most efficient

and least costly supply chain possible. The product flow consists of the movement of a

product from the business to the customer, as well as any customer returns or service

needs. The information flow involves transmitting orders and updating delivery statuses.

Lastly, the financial flow consists of credit terms, payment schedules, and title ownership

agreements. Odyssey’s supply chain management employee will be involved with

overseeing the flow of the three areas mentioned above to create efficiency.

We intend for our company to grow rapidly in the next three years and eventually

Odyssey will need to hire several more employees who will all be responsible for

overseeing our supply chain. By having several different employees with good

credentials and background oversee the process of getting our products from the supplier

to our warehouse and then to the customer Odyssey can ensure our process is the most

efficient and cheapest possible supply chain. Supply chain managers will work with

sophisticated software systems such as planning and execution applications to ensure

successful supply chain management. Planning applications use complex algorithms to

determine the best possible way to fill an order and execution applications track the

physical status of a product, the management of materials, and financial information

involving all parties associated with the process.

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Our supply chain management applications will be based on open data models

that support the sharing of data both inside and outside our company. This shared data

will reside in data warehouses in several different sites and companies. Sharing this data

upstream and downstream will allow our applications to create value for our customers

by improving the time-to-market of products, reducing costs, and allowing all parties in

the supply chain to better manage resources and future needs. Reducing costs in our

supply chain allows Odyssey to offer our backpacks at a reasonable price.

Inventory Management:

For our inventory management strategy Odyssey needs to ensure there is enough

inventory in stock at all times. This is important to make sure our products are never on

back order and are always available to customers searching online. The supplier of the

backpacks, Xiamen Hindar, has a minimum order requirement of 1,000 pieces at a time

but has the ability to produce 300,000-500,000 pieces monthly. Placing an order at the

beginning of each month would cause problems so we have decided to determine

necessary inventory levels by season. Placing these larger orders all at once will reduce

production and shipping costs.

To control inventory Odyssey will place new orders based on how much existing

inventory is left in stock for each model and color. As we intend to grow exponentially

overtime we will increase our number of units ordered to meet our demands and growth.

Odyssey will use a first-in-first-out (FIFO) inventory method when determining which

inventory to take off the shelves. This means that the distribution of our inventory will be

based on which inventory came into our warehouse first. We will set a predetermined

level in our computer systems that will recognize when a certain product has gone under

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the inventory level and the computer will then directly send a new order to our supplier

for the specific product we need. Our predetermined rate for each individual backpack

will each be 50 units. 50 units might seem large for backpacks, but setting the rate at 50

units gives us the time to place a new order and receive that new order.

Once Xiamen has received an order from Odyssey for a specific product it will

usually takes 20-30 days for them to complete the order and get it shipped. Since Xiamen

is located in China we need to allow for at least another 20-30 days for the shipment to

reach our warehouse in Kansas, giving us an estimated total of 40 days from when we

place the order to when we physically receive the order and can store it.

There is no minimum required order of the GPS chips from Systech, therefore we

can place orders of the GPS technology based on the projected sales of our products that

come equipped with the GPS technology and service. Odyssey has estimated that around

50% of our total sales will come from products that are equipped with the GPS chip,

while the other 50% of total sales will come from the products that don’t come with the

GPS tracker.

Odyssey plans to purchase an order of 2,500 units of the GPS chip and we will

eventually increase our number of units purchased as we grow over the next several

years. By ordering 2,500 units at first we are giving our projected sales of the GPS

technology space for error by not ordering too many. We have ordered 3,000 backpacks

between the five models and purchasing 2,500 units of the GPS chip allows us to be at

the 85% mark of sales including the GPS technology. We will set a predetermined

inventory level for our GPS chip like the one in place for the products from Xiamen.

Each order during our start up phase will consist of 1,500 units and our inventory level

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where we place a new order will be set at 150 units as well. When inventory of the GPS

chip has fallen below 150 units our IT system will recognize this product has low

inventory in stock and will send an invoice for a new order directly to Systech.

Diagram 7.1 Slotting Space

Rack A: Rack B:

Diagram 7.1 is how we will organize our inventory within our warehouse. This

rack does not represent the actual size of the racks we will have in our warehouse, but

they have 4 shelves, which is how many shelves will be on our racks at our location.

The Rover and Trekker model will be organized in the same way as seen from above.

The Rover model will be placed on rack C, and the Trekker model will be placed on rack

D, while our GPS units will be placed on rack E. Each rack has 4 shelves and are

Shelf:1a Voyager (Blue)

Shelf: 2a Voyager (Grey)

Shelf: 3a Wanderer (Green)

Shelf: 4a Wanderer (Black)

Shelf: 1b Trudger (Blue)

Shelf: 2b Trudger (Red) Shelf: 3b

Trudger (Orange)

Shelf: 4b Trudger (Purple)

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differentiated by labeling them shelves 1,2,3,4. When an employee receives an order he

or she can locate the exact shelve the products the customer ordered are at. So if the

customer ordered a Trudger model in Red the employee would then go to shelf 2b where

this product is located within our warehouse.

Receiving and Storing Processes:

When our warehouse receives an order from a supplier we will first make sure

that the order consists of exactly what we ordered and nothing less. If there is a problem

with the order we will then contact the supplier and explain to them the problem in order

to get it resolved as quickly as possible. If there is no noticeable problem with an order,

we will then sort the products and place them on the specified shelves. By separating the

different backpacks based on model and color we are able to organize our inventory of

backpacks in the most efficient manner. At Odyssey, our employees will have memorized

which models and color go on which shelves. Organizing our inventory of backpacks in

this manner makes it easier on our employees because they will know exactly where to

find the exact product in each customer’s order.

When we receive orders of the GPS tracker from Systech we will utilize a very

similar process. When we first receive the order in the warehouse we will examine the

order to ensure there are no problems or defective GPS chips. If there are no problems

with the order we will then begin the storing process of the GPS chips. The GPS chips

will be assigned to their own shelf to allow for easier access of the inventory for our

employees. The GPS chip inventory will be placed in boxes that have separators within

the box that can hold up to 50 GPS devices in each box.

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When a customer makes a purchase online through our website we will then have

an IT system that sends an invoice of the order to the employees in charge of assembling,

boxing, and shipping each individual order. If an order consists of a model with the GPS

chip the employee will then select the model from our inventory using a first in-first out

method and then select a GPS device from the shelve using the same inventory method.

They will then put the GPS device into the designated pocket inside the backpack and

box up the order and send it to UPS to be shipped to the customer.

Delivery Schedule:

At Odyssey, the majority of products we offer are geared more towards fall,

summer, and spring use rather than winter use. We will have to determine necessary

shipments of inventory so that they best suit the seasonal demands of our products. Since

the majority of products we offer are geared towards the seasons mentioned above, we

will have to account for that and place orders that suit the current season. The supplier

will ship the orders to the UPS in Wichita, KS, and from there it will be delivered to

Odyssey’s warehouse. Obviously there will be a much greater volume of inventory

entering and leaving the warehouse during the busiest seasons, which will be different for

each product that Odyssey offers, as detailed below. Table 7.2 and Table 7.3 detail the

minimum inventory levels as well as the quantity for each restocking order.

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Trekker:

The Trekker model, designed for children, is the only children’s book bag we

currently offer that comes in two different types

and four different colors. Through research,

Odyssey determined that when parents purchase a

school bag for their children they usually do so in

the months right before their school year starts.

We found that parents rarely purchase a new

backpack for their children during the school year

unless their current backpack is lost or broke. This

tells us that the majority of sales from our Trekker

model will come in the months of July, August

and September. To account for the seasonal

demand of the Trekker, we will need to order a

greater amount in the emphasized months.

During these months we will purchase 500 units of each color, which is 300 more

units than we would usually order to account for the increased demand. If we are still in

the prime months for the Trekker model and inventory gets below 100 units, we will then

base the amount of units purchased for the next order on how many weeks are left within

the months of July, August, and September. This allows us to have enough inventories in

stock to meet the increased demand. In the months after the start of each school year,

Odyssey will resort back to the regular order number of 200 units of each color and will

place a new order when the inventory level reaches below 50 units.

Minimum Inventory Level Table 7.2 Total GPS chip 600 Fall 150 Spring 150 Summer 150 Winter 150

Rover 100 Fall 25 Spring 25 Summer 25 Winter 25

Trekker 250 Fall 100

Spring 50 Summer 50 Winter 50

Trudger 125 Fall 25 Spring 25 Summer 25 Winter 50

Voyager 150 Fall 25 Spring 50 Summer 50 Winter 25

Wanderer 150 Fall 25 Spring 50 Summer 50 Winter 25

Grand Total 1375

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Voyager, Wanderer, Trudger, and Rover:

The large capacity Voyager and Wanderer

backpacks are designed for outdoor activities that usually

occur in the spring or summer. This means that these

three product models will generate the most revenue in

summer months, and less in the typical winter months. To

account for the lower demand during the winter months,

we will order fewer inventories. When the winter does

come, the ski/snowboard specific Trudger will be more in

demand. During the winter months Odyssey will order

300 units of the Trudger model in each color, which is

double what we would usually order and will place new

orders when the inventory falls below 50 units. In the

spring and summer, the Voyager and Wanderer order will be 300 units of each color,

which is also double what we would usually order, and new orders will be placed when

inventory falls below 50 units. The Rover model is an all around model that needs to

maintain a consistent inventory level throughout the year. After the seasons of emphasis

for each model, Odyssey will resort back to our regular order number for each. We will

then place our delivery schedule around remaining inventory.

GPS Chip:

The delivery schedule for the GPS trackers will also be based off of existing

inventory left in the warehouse. At Odyssey, we believe that basing our delivery schedule

of our GPS trackers on a weekly or monthly basis is not the most efficient way. We

Units Odered for Restock Table 7.3 Total Wanderer 900 Fall 150 Spring 300 Summer 300 Winter 150

Voyager 900 Fall 150 Spring 300 Summer 300 Winter 150

Trudger 750 Fall 150 Spring 150 Summer 150 Winter 300

Trekker 1100 Fall 500 Spring 200 Summer 200 Winter 200

Rover 600 Fall 150 Spring 150 Summer 150 Winter 150

GPS chip 6000 Fall 1500 Spring 1500 Summer 1500 Winter 1500

Grand Total 10250

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believe that our new orders shouldn’t be made on a regular timetable, but rather how

much inventory is still in stock in our warehouse. By managing our delivery schedule in

this way we are making sure that there will never be a surplus or shortage of our GPS

trackers. Our shipments from Systech during the first year will consist of 1,500 units of

the GPS chip and new orders will be placed when inventory falls below 150 units.

Systech ships each order to the local UPS, just like Xiamen does. This makes the process

fairly simple because we don’t have to travel to several different companies to get our

different orders. When UPS has received the order, they will then process it and deliver it

to our warehouse where it will be stored.

Important KPI:

At Odyssey, we are responsible for increasing productivity and bringing new

innovation every year to the backpack world. This can be achieved through effective

application of key business processes, as well as improving our current processes and

products, and measuring this through units/time and growth. One of our most important

goals here at Odyssey is always making sure our employees are satisfied and enjoy

working for our company. We measure employee satisfaction and employee turnover rate

consistently to identify areas that need improvement. Another goal is to making sure we

establishing a strong brand name and achieve financial success from the sales of our

products. We can realize this by generating revenue, controlling costs, and increasing our

profit margins, as well as making strong business decisions and having good business

ethics. Lastly, an important goal at Odyssey is having outstanding customer satisfaction,

which can be achieved by providing outstanding, consistent customer service for any

customer who has an issue with the products or services Odyssey provides.

Odyssey LLC. Final

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VIII. Human Resources Staffing Plan and Cost Analysis

At Odyssey, employing the best person and correct number of employees for each

job is important to us because it is a costly part of our business. Through various

job-testing selection methods, such as integrity, personality, knowledge, and drug testing,

we will be able to find the best employees who meet our specific standards. Through

external recruiting, newspaper ads, and employee referrals we will attract a large number

of applicants for the Management, Marketing, Customer Support, Technical Support,

Supply Management, and Warehouse positions.

Table 8.1 Staff Breakdown

Table 8.1 displays the number of employees we employ per job and how much it

costs to fill the positions. For Management, we will require two managers to run both our

warehouse and our office independently, each working thirty-five hours a week each for

$25.5 an hour. Our Warehouse manager will need to have the appropriate leadership and

motivation skills to ensure that our workers are working at the most efficient rate as our

demand increases. The Office Manager will be assigned to distributing projects and job

Odyssey LLC. Final

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assignments to employees working at the desks. Marketing our product will be difficult

for our small business because we do not have the sufficient funds to advertise on TV, so

we hired three marketing managers working twenty-five hours a week for $22.75 an

hour. For our preliminary process of marketing our product, we grouped a team of three

employees with marketing backgrounds to utilize social media in the best way. We

specifically hired two young employees with marketing majors out of college because

they understand the current social trends in marketing, especially on social media sites,

guided by one veteran marketing employee to direct them in the right way. With this

group, this allows us to combine experience with new age technology thinkers in order to

market our product, lead by the knowledge on past trends, creating a competitive

advantage in our specific target markets.

Our Customer and Technical Support teams will have two employees each, who

will be stationed at the phone for forty hours a week at ten dollars an hour. At Odyssey

LLC, we understand that there are going to be technical problems with our product

because it has a GPS tracker in it. With the GPS tracker being used for one of the main

purposes of our product, a system failure of the GPS would require the device to not

function properly. With technology these days, anything can happen to a product as it can

never be made to run to perfection, so we will use a Proactive Support scheme to ensure

availability to our customer at all times. Proactive support scheme entails health

diagnostics on the GPS tracker, which would make it easier and faster to diagnose the

problem of the GPS tracker if it were to fail. Being able to constantly check the health of

our customers GPS trackers not only ensures that the tracker will work properly for the

entirety of its usage, but it ensures safety to the customer because if the GPS were to

Odyssey LLC. Final

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dysfunction when a hiker is using our product his safety may be compromised. Odyssey

will strive to ensure this will not happen to any of its customers.

The first type of technical support is the crowd sourced technical support, which

is the usage of online discussion boards on our website for different customers to post

what they liked about our product and what troubleshooting errors they ran into. This will

not only allow us to respond with help, but it will give us a main idea of what exactly

could be going wrong with our product if any similar problems come up, giving us the

advantage to go back into the development process of the backpack and make necessary

changes regarding our customers main problems.

The Warehouse Manager will oversee the three employees who work on the

warehouse floor. These three employees will be responsible for receiving, unpacking, and

sorting incoming shipments from our suppliers. Also, when a customer order is received,

they will assemble the backpack, put it in the correct spot, and box them up for delivery.

Being managed by one effective manager should ensure that they would do the best job,

as they will be closely monitored based on production. We will be assigning a production

0

1

2

3

4

5

Managmenet Marketing Technical/Customer Support Warehouse Finance

Num

ber o

f Em

ploy

ees

Staffing Colum Table 8.2!

Odyssey LLC. Final

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count system to each employee to track how many backpacks they assemble a day and

how fast it takes them to go through the process. This will give us vital data to determine

if the systems in place are the most efficient and accurate ways to send and receive.

We plan on using all of our departments 5 days a week (Monday-Friday), and

adding additional days to the Supply Chain manager, Warehouse Manager, and

Warehouse employees if necessary. A time where we would

add Saturday or Sunday work days would be during our busiest times of the year, as

people buy backpacks based on different seasons. We will always make sure we have

part time warehouse employees available to add to our workforce. This helps satisfy

unexpected demand and ensures that if an employee becomes sick, part-time employees

are ready to fill in.

During our hiring process, we first have to run a Job Analysis, which is creating

the description of all of our jobs and what qualifications are required. In our Job

Analysis, especially for the marketing and management jobs, we require that all our

Managers and Marketers areas of emphasis in education or experience match the job

descriptions. With this qualification it can help ensure that our Marketers and Managers

have been through the full learning experience, knowing that they chose that area of

emphasis because they had a passion for it, which in turn helps promote interest in their

jobs. After developing a pool of candidates for each position, we must run an internal

search on our business to recognize if any employee is ready to be promoted. This helps

promote employee commitment and motivation by giving them the mind set that Odyssey

recognizes good work and will act on it through promotions, compensation packages, and

being flexible with vacation days. We will not hire anyone before interviewing them 2

Odyssey LLC. Final

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different times and having them go through personality, knowledge, integrity, and drug

testing. Following this we will be prepared to hire an employee, after going through the

rigorous elimination process from our pool of candidates.

IX. Non-Human Resources

Odyssey will encounter other operational elements and costs that will account for

non-human resources costs within our company. This section includes warehouse and

office space cost analysis, shipping, insurance, utility, and property taxes. At Odyssey a

company objective is to reduce waste and eventually become a Leeds certified building

for leadership in energy and environmental design. To accomplish this we must use

energy effectively and responsibly by being efficient with our non-human resource costs.

Warehouse and Office Space

One of Odyssey’s missions is to protect our staff from any dangerous situations at

work. Our office and warehouse space will be cleaned twice a month by Merry Maids

Wichita that charges a fixed cost of $200/Month. The service provided by Merry Maid

will satisfy our employees to ultimately increase motivation. Odyssey will have Eco

L.E.D lighting that will guarantee the brightest workspace for our employees to stay

awake and see what they are doing within the building. As illustrated, warehouse

manager will stock the shelves with inventory organized by season and the high demand

backpacks are located closer to staff to reduce wasted time looking for the products.

There is an employee kitchen within one office to once again satisfy our employees with

a place to keep their lunch and make it without leaving the building.

Figure 9.1 Environment Impact

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Shipping

Odyssey uses a third party business to handle shipping, thus hiring a driver and

making a delivery plan would be counterproductive. Using UPS is an easy way to get our

products that customers will order online to be distributed across the nation. This decision

was made because our market stretches way beyond Kansas. A customer’s order from our

online store will be boxed and picked up that same day. Daily pickup will ensure a UPS

driver automatically stops at our location once each business day, as scheduled, to pick

up ground or air shipments. The daily pickup customers receive UPS pickup per day at no

extra charge for packages that we can send throughout the week. This is an 11.30/weekly

charge when spending more than $75.00 or more of shipping cost per week. Customers

will automatically get their online code to access their GPS as soon as the box is ready to

be shipped so they can track their bag throughout the shipping process on our webpage.

Insurance

While forecasting different insurance costs and situations, we have

decided to be covered by The Hartford Insurance Group, which

insures over 1,000,000 small businesses yearly. Odyssey received an

insurance quote of $1500/Year including business income coverage,

employee benefits, data breach coverage, property and liability and workers

compensation. Overall insurance will reduce risk and liability, while on this plan Odyssey

will be protected from any drastic unforeseen costs.

Property Taxes

The property owner will pay for any and all property taxes for the Odyssey

warehouse in Kansas. Landmark Commercial Real Estate owns the land and building,

Figure 9.2 Insurance Provider

Odyssey LLC. Final

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and will be responsible for communicating with and paying any taxes due to the IRS, as

defined in the lease contract, 9.2% in KS. Odyssey’s lease payments are structured to

include a portion of the property tax, as the current resident inside the warehouse.

However, no property taxes will be included in Odyssey’s financial accounting records.

Utilities

The utility cost will change seasonally being located in Wichita, KS it will consist

of heating/cooling, water usage, gas, lighting, computer usage, cable and finally an other

category accounting for overhead and additional utility costs. Odyssey’s energy use for

all of our utilities is broken down seasonally represented in Pie charts 9.3 & 9.4.

Over the winter months most of our utility expenses go to heating the warehouse

and office, thus a cost saving when it’s the summer months because the weather will be

comfortable.

Midwest Energy Inc. provides Odyssey of all of its electricity but we hope to

eventually implement solar panels to reduce costs while becoming green. Quantitatively

forecasting our electricity bill within the winter months to total $349.50/Month while

only $265.79/Month in the summer. The city of Wichita supplies us with our public water

that we use within our firm; we estimate the cost of water around $200/Month all year. In

addition, our monthly gas charge will be lower than expected, coming in at $80/Month.

Comcast will provide the necessary cable and phone service for the company.

34%

15% 18%

13% 4%

16% Space Heating & Cooling Water

Electricity & Lighting Computers & Electronics Cable & Phone

Other

16%

21%

19% 16%

6% 22%

Space Heating & Cooling Water

Electricity & Lighting Computers & Electronics Cable & Phone

Other

Odyssey’s Winter Months Utility Usage October 3rd-‐March 3rd

Odyssey’s Summer Months Utility Usage March 4th-‐October 2ed

Pie Chart 9.3

Pie Chart 9.4

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X. Revenue Analysis

Odyssey’s inventory will need to be identified, sorted, and tracked. Odyssey will

use individual seven-digit SKU numbers that are assigned to each unique product and

stored in the inventory system. The first two numbers of each SKU will identify the

department for each item. Odyssey only has three departments, adult backpacks, kids

backpacks, and the GPS trackers. This may change as the company grows, but for now

these two broad departments will contain all

of Odyssey’s products. The second pair of

numbers in the SKU will identify the model of

the backpack. The next two numbers of the

SKU will indicate the color of the backpack.

The final number in the SKU will designate whether the backpack will include the GPS

tracker or not. For a breakdown of the SKU number, see Figure 10.1. To see the

individual SKU for each item, see Figure 10.2.

The individual SKU numbers will allow the inventory system to keep track of the

current levels of each product as units enter and exit the warehouse. When an order is

submitted to the manufacturer, the order sheet will contain the SKU of the item

requested, as well as the quantity needed. The same process will be used when a

customer places an order with Odyssey. The computer system will submit the customer’s

order with the SKU of the item(s) as well as the quantity. By using an individual SKU

number as the item descriptor instead of just words, it will eliminate confusion or

mistakes. Each SKU refers to one specific item and one item only, which will help to

eradicate the possibility of the wrong item being ordered.

Figure 10.1

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The SKU numbers will also tell the

system the cost and retail price of

each item. Each item will be

individually stickered when it arrives

at the Odyssey warehouse with a

SKU sticker. This sticker will then be

scanned so the inventory system

knows that the item is now stored in

the warehouse. When a customer

order is fulfilled, the sticker will

again be scanned. This will achieve a

triple purpose. First, the SKU will tell

the accounting system what the

backpack cost Odyssey, so that value

can be added to the Cost of Goods

Sold for the accounting period.

Second, the SKU will tell the

accounting system how much it needs

to charge the customer for the

backpack her or she has ordered.

Finally, the inventory system will

know that it needs to reduce the

Model Color SKU # GPS Cost Retail Price

Voyager Blue 4310011 Yes $201.49 $399.99 Blue 4310010 No $121.50 $269.99 Grey 4310021 Yes $201.49 $399.99 Grey 4310020 No $121.50 $269.99 Wanderer Red 4311031 Yes $156.49 $299.99 Red 4311030 No $76.50 $169.99 Green 4311041 Yes $156.49 $299.99 Green 4311040 No $76.50 $169.99 Black 4311051 Yes $156.49 $299.99 Black 4311050 No $76.50 $169.99 Trudger Blue 4312011 Yes $142.99 $269.99 Blue 4312010 No $63.00 $139.99 Red 4312031 Yes $142.99 $269.99 Red 4312030 No $63.00 $139.99 Orange 4312061 Yes $142.99 $269.99 Orange 4312060 No $63.00 $139.99 Purple 4312071 Yes $142.99 $269.99 Purple 4312070 No $63.00 $139.99 Rover Blue 4313011 Yes $120.49 $219.99 Blue 4313010 No $40.50 $89.99 Green 4313041 Yes $120.49 $219.99 Green 4313040 No $40.50 $89.99 Red 4313031 Yes $120.49 $219.99 Red 4313030 No $40.50 $89.99 Orange 4313061 Yes $120.49 $219.99 Orange 4313060 No $40.50 $89.99 Black 4313051 Yes $120.49 $219.99 Black 4313050 No $40.50 $89.99 Trekker Blue 4210011 Yes $106.99 $189.99 Blue 4210010 No $27.00 $59.99 Green 4210041 Yes $106.99 $189.99 Green 4210040 No $27.00 $59.99 Red 4210031 Yes $106.99 $189.99 Red 4210030 No $27.00 $59.99 Orange 4210061 Yes $106.99 $189.99 Orange 4210060 No $27.00 $59.99 Purple 4210071 Yes $106.99 $189.99 Purple 4210070 No $27.00 $59.99 Pink 4210081 Yes $106.99 $189.99 Pink 4210080 No $27.00 $59.99 Camo 4210091 Yes $106.99 $189.99 Camo 4210090 No $27.00 $59.99 Black 4210051 Yes $106.99 $189.99 Black 4210050 No $27.00 $59.99 GPS Tracker

Black 4110051 Yes 79.99 $149.99

Figure 20.2

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quantity of that item to show it is no longer present in the warehouse. A full list of the costs

and retail prices of each individual backpack can be found in Figure 10.2

Odyssey’s revenue projections are complicated because of the variety of products

offered. Each of the backpacks will have seasonal periods in which sales are very high,

and seasonal periods in which sales will be much lower. For example, the Trekker

children’s backpack will sell many more units in the fall season, right before school

starts, and fewer units in the winter and spring seasons. Seasons of emphasis for all

products were previously detailed in the Product List section. (Page 65)

Another factor that will affect Odyssey’s sales is the fact that the market for

backpacks is already well established. Competitors in the marketplace have been

operating and selling similar products for much longer. Odyssey offers a quality product

with a GPS functionality that is not offered by anyone else in the industry, but it still must

take a market share away from existing competitors. The market share that Odyssey will

occupy will be small at first as it penetrates the market for the first time, but should grow

rapidly.

Because Odyssey is a new company that operates exclusively as an online retailer,

it will have very little market exposure in its first three years. Only about 5% of potential

customers will know Odyssey backpacks exist as one of their options when choosing to

buy a backpack. This awareness percentage will vary for each individual model as well.

This small number of customers who are aware of Odyssey products will need to be

accounted for in the revenue projections.

Because of the competitiveness of the backpack market as a whole, Odyssey will

only be able to capture a small amount of market share in its first three years of operation.

Odyssey LLC. Final

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According to Ranker.com’s list of the best backpack brands (Brandes, n.d.), there are at

least 56 companies currently selling products in the United States. As such, Odyssey

projects that it will be able to hold a 2% market share in its first year of operations. This

is an optimistic projection, due to the size and scope of the competitive marketplace.

Odyssey also projects a consistent 25% growth in market share over the next two years of

operations. That would result in a 2.5% market share in year two, and then a 3.125%

market share in year three, as seen in Figure 10.3. Once again, these projections are

optimistic and are also contingent on Odyssey producing, marketing, and selling a

successful and popular product.

Management is confident

these projections should be met or

surpassed, based on the National

Retail Federation’s forecasts of steady growth in the retail industry. The NRF is

predicting that overall retail sales will increase 4.1% in 2015, with non-store sales

increasing by as much as 7-10 percent (Grannis, 2015). Odyssey does not expect to see

growth at those same levels, but the overall upward trend in retail is a good indicator that

Odyssey’s sales will increase each year.

Because Odyssey does not have any sales at this point, the company is in the

product development stage. With no historical sales data for Odyssey itself, historical and

competitive comparisons will be needed. The revenue projections will be quantitative,

utilizing data from a wide range of sources. The projections for each backpack type will

require separate research, due to the uniqueness of each product. For example, using

yearly camping data will work for the Wanderer backpack, but not for the Trekker.

Figure 10.3

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The primary method for determining yearly sales for Odyssey will be a calculation of the

total yearly sales for each product from every brand. Then it can be calculated how much

of that total revenue can be attributed to Odyssey, based on the projected market share.

The target market for Odyssey backpacks consists of mainly outdoor enthusiasts,

as well as parents of elementary students. Due to the relatively high price tag for an

Odyssey backpack, the target demographic is people who have a yearly income of

$50,000 or more. US household income levels are presented in Figure 10.4. The number

of US households that have an annual

income of $50,000 or more makes up

51.1% of total US households, as

reported in the Congressional Research

Service’s report on Household income

Distribution (Elwell, 2014). This

number will be useful for determining the amount of Americans who will be interested in

the Odyssey product.

Each backpack model has two options, one that includes the GPS tracker and one

that does not. Even though the model that includes the GPS tracker is more expensive, we

project that it will make up a large majority of sales for every model. The main reason to

choose an Odyssey backpack over a competitor is the location service offered with the

inclusion of the GPS tracker. For that reason, Odyssey projects that 85% of all backpack

sales for the adult models will include the GPS tracker. Customers will choose to include

the GPS tracker with the children’s Trekker model 95% of the time. Parents will be

Figure 10.4

Odyssey LLC. Final

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purchasing this Odyssey product specifically because it has the GPS functionality more

than any other feature.

Voyager and Wanderer Projections:

Sales of the Voyager and Wanderer backpacks will consist almost exclusively of

consumers who camp and backpack regularly. People who carry large amounts of gear

each time they go on a trip will need the large volume of these packs to suit their needs.

The Voyager pack has a 60L volume and is more commonly used for long backpacking

trips, while the Wanderer pack is a 32L pack and is used mainly for camping. According

to Statista.com, about 74.47 million total people went backpacking/hiking in the Fall of

2013 and spring of 2014 (Number of hikers and backpackers, 2015). Also from Statista,

about 90.4 million people went camping during same time period (Number of campers,

2015). According to these numbers, about 55% of the total 164.87 people choose to

camp, and would choose the Wanderer pack. The other 45% would choose the larger

Voyager pack.

Each of these people uses a backpack to transport their supplies on the trip.

Reasonably, it can be expected that 90% of these people own a backpack that will not

need to be replaced, and therefore will not be purchasing an Odyssey pack. The other

10% will either need a new pack or a replacement, and may choose to purchase an

Odyssey product. 51.1% of that group will fall into the target income level for Odyssey’s

products. Out of this pool of consumers, it can be assumed that 5% will have been

exposed to Odyssey in some form and will consider purchasing a Voyager or Wanderer

pack. Figure 10.5 details the process for projecting the number of unit sales for the

Voyager and Wanderer backpacks.

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Sales of the Voyager and Wanderer packs will fluctuate due to a seasonal

emphasis on when camping and backpacking trips most commonly happen. Sales of these

packs will be much higher during the Spring and Fall seasons because the majority of

people enjoy taking trips during these seasons. For this reason, 80% of annual sales of

Voyager and Wanderer packs will happen in the Spring and Fall, split evenly between the

two. The other 20% will be split between the off seasons of Winter and Summer. Unit

sales broken down by season are detailed in Figure 10.9.

During the first year of operations, Odyssey is projected to sell 3,789 units of the

Voyager Backpack. 3,221 units will include the GPS tracker, which at a retail cost of

$399.99 will result in $1,288,227.79 of revenue. The other 568 units will not include the

tracker and will result in $153,448.82 of revenue at the retail cost of $269.99. The GPS

Voyager costs Odyssey $201.49 per unit to acquire, so the total COGS for that item

Figure 10.5

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would be $648,928.77, while the non-GPS Voyager costs $121.50, for a total COGS of

$69,054.53. After the subtracting COGS from revenue, the GPS Voyager has a total

contribution margin of $639,299.03, while the non-GPS model’s total margin is

$84,394.29. These revenue details are presented in Figure 10.10.


Wanderer Backpack. 3,936 units will include the GPS tracker, which at a retail cost of


tracker and will result in $118,083.55 of revenue at the retail cost of $169.99. The GPS

Wanderer costs Odyssey $156.49 per unit to acquire, so the total COGS for that item

would be $615,999.41, while the non-GPS Wanderer costs $76.50, for a total COGS of

$53,140.73. After subtracting COGS from revenue, the GPS Wanderer has a total



Moving forward, Odyssey will acquire a larger market share as the business

grows and will sell more units of each model. During the second year, Odyssey will sell

4,736 units of the Voyager backpack, and 5,789 units of the Wanderer. This represents

about a 25% increase in unit sales for both models. Unit sales will increase again in the

third year of operations, as Odyssey is able to control a larger market share. Unit sales,

revenues, COGS, and contribution margins for years 2 and 3 are detailed in figure 10.11.

Rover Projection:

Odyssey markets the Rover backpack as versatile and cross-functional. It is

designed to work for a variety of activities, including but not limited to: biking, hiking,

running, climbing, commuting, and exercising. The Rover is geared toward an active

Odyssey LLC. Final

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person, due to the water reservoir. Visitors to the United States’ National Parks are

usually active and enjoy exercising outdoors, doing activities that necessitate carrying

water and other supplies. These types of consumers would be drawn to the Rover

backpack model. According to the National Park Service, there were about 293 million

visitors to the National Parks in 2014 (Annual Visitation Summary Report, 2015). Out of

this total, roughly 12% will be in the market for a new versatile active backpack. To

determine the number of customers that will end up purchasing the Rover pack,

adjustments must be made for income level, brand awareness, and market share. Income

level remains at 51.1%, brand awareness is 5% and market share is 2%, the same as the

other backpack models. Figure 10.6 details the process of projecting annual unit sales for

the Rover backpack.

Figure 10.6

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The Rover backpack sales will prove to be more consistent throughout the year

due to the many ways it can be used. Therefore it will not have a seasonal fluctuation in

sales. The total number of units sold will be divided roughly equally between all four

seasons. Unit sales broken down by season are detailed in Figure 10.9.


Rover Backpack. 15,271 units will include the GPS tracker, which at a retail cost of

$219.99 will result in $3,359,489.29 of revenue. The other 2,695 units will not include

the tracker and will produce $242,514.05 of revenue at the retail cost of $89.99. The GPS

Rover costs Odyssey $120.49 per unit to acquire, so the total COGS for that item would

be $1,840,014.84, while the non-GPS Rover costs $40.50, for a total COGS of

$109,143.45. After subtracting COGS from revenue, the GPS Rover has a total

contribution margin of $1,519,474.45, while the non-GPS model’s total margin is




22,458 units of the Rover backpack. This represents about a 25% increase in unit sales

for the model. Unit sales will increase again in the third year of operations, as Odyssey is

able to control a larger market share. Unit sales, revenue, COGS, and contribution margin

for years 2 and 3 are detailed in figure 10.11.

Trudger Projection:

The Trudger backpack is designed specifically for people who participate in snow

sports. Skiers and snowboarders use this pack to carry all the gear they need while on the

mountain, as well as their actual skis or board. SIA (Snowsports Industries America)

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reports that there were 56.5 million skier visits to US ski resorts in the 2013/14 seasons

(2015 SIA Snow Sports Fact Sheet, 2014). Breaking the data down further, 37.3 million

visits happened in the Rockies, Midwest, or Pacific regions, areas in which Odyssey has a

much stronger ability to market and sell the Trudger backpack.

Out of that group, only about 2% will have a need to purchase a new snow sport

backpack. Further analysis requires consideration of the income level, brand awareness,

and market share percentages. Due to the regional proximity and usefulness of A GPS

tracker in a snow sport pack, Odyssey will have 15% brand awareness among the skier

and snowboarder population. Income level and market share percentages will remain

constant. Figure 10.7 details the revenue analysis projection process for the Trudger

Pack.

Figure 10.7

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The Trudger backpack is designed almost exclusively for use with winter snow

sports. Therefore, the concentration of sales will be in the Winter season, roughly 70% of

total unit sales. 25% of total unit sales will happen during the Fall season, as customers

prepare for the ski season. The other 5% will be split between the Spring and Summer

seasons. Unit sales broken down by season are detailed in Figure 10.9.


Trudger Backpack. 972 units will include the GPS tracker, which at a retail cost of

$269.99 will result in $262,538.28 of revenue. The other 172 units will not include the

tracker and will produce $24,022.28 of revenue at the retail cost of $139.99. The GPS

Trudger costs Odyssey $142.99 per unit to acquire, so the total COGS for that item would

be $139,043.48, while the non-GPS Trudger costs $63.00, for a total COGS of

$10,810.80. After subtracting COGS from revenue, the GPS Trudger has a total





1,430 units of the Trudger backpack. This represents about a 25% increase in unit sales



for years 2 and 3 are detailed in figure 10.11.

Trekker Projection:

The Trekker backpack is marketed towards parents of elementary and middle

school age children. The GPS tracker allows for parent’s peace of mind when they are

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separated from their kids. This particular Odyssey model will be the most marketable,

because of parent’s willingness to spend a little extra money to ensure the safety of their

children. The National Center for Education Statistics reports 35.1 million children will

attend grades preK – 8 in public schools in 2015. Another 3.7 million students will attend

private schools in the same grades (Table 105.20, n.d.).

Odyssey will market the safety features of the Trekker to the parents of those 38.8

million children. Offering this GPS tracking service will help to differentiate the Odyssey

product from the multitude of children’s backpacks that are already on the market.

Reasonably, about 15% of the 38.8 million children will need to purchase a new

backpack for the coming school year. Brand awareness among consumers will be the

highest for the Trekker out of all the Odyssey products because of the increased

marketing efforts. Out of the potential customer pool, 30% of parents will recognize the

benefits of the Trekker backpack and choose to purchase it for their children. The income

level parameter will remain at 51.1%. Figure 10.8 details the revenue analysis projection

process for the Trekker backpack.

Figure 10.8

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The Trekker backpack will sell the most units during the Fall season, as families

prepare to go back to school. It is estimated that about 70% of Trekker sales will happen

in that Fall Season, with another 15% happening in the Winter season, as backpacks are

replaced during the school year. The remaining 15% of overall Trekker sales will be split

evenly between the Spring and Summer seasons. Unit sales broken down by season are

detailed in Figure 10.9.


Trekker Backpack. 16,952 units will include the GPS tracker, which at a retail cost of


tracker and will produce $53,523.08 of revenue at the retail cost of $59.99. The GPS

Trekker costs Odyssey $106.99 per unit to acquire, so the total COGS for that item would

be $1,813,673.08, while the non-GPS Trekker costs $27.00, for a total COGS of

$24,089.40. After subtracting COGS from revenue, the GPS Trekker has a total

contribution margin of $1,406,999.40, while the non-GPS model’s total margin is




22,305 units of the Trekker backpack. This represents about a 25% increase in unit sales



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Figures 10.9

Figure 10.10

Figure 10.11

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Overall Revenue Summary:

These projections for unit sales and revenues are predictive calculations based on

third party research. These figures will not match the actual numbers for Odyssey’s first

year of business. Projecting revenues is useful for determining if the business is viable

and can be profitable in the marketplace. It is possible that actual sales could fall far short

of the projected totals, or possibly even exceed the projections. Odyssey’s performance as

a company will depend on a variety of factors, many of which are not accounted for in

the revenue analysis. The competitive marketplace, product performance, customer

satisfaction, marketing effectiveness, and other variables will have an impact on

Odyssey’s ability to successfully sell backpacks.

The sales projections for Odyssey’s first three years show results of high levels of

unit sales, revenue, and gross profit. This is unusual for a start-up business, and therefore

should be approached with caution. Despite the projected levels of profit, Odyssey must

be sure to scale its expansion reasonably and prudently. Every number in the sales

projection is based on research and has a reputable source, but that does not mean the

number swill be perfectly accurate. The use of qualitative as well as quantitative analysis

helps to ensure that the revenue analysis will be as precise as possible. Odyssey has not

yet entered the marketplace, and so cannot perfectly predict how the consumer will react

to its product. If the sales projections are even close to accurate, Odyssey will be

successful and continue to grow. However, there is a chance that the actual sales will fall

far short of the projections. Precautions should be taken accordingly, so that Odyssey can

survive whatever obstacles the market presents in its first three years of operations.

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As a start-up company in a crowded and competitive retail environment, Odyssey

will have to work hard to gain customer trust and awareness. A starting market share of

2% is both ambitious and generous. Odyssey is producing a unique product that has

functionality distinct from the competitors’ products. This should allow for such an

impressive early market share. This is only a projection however, and the actual market

share could be much less. Odyssey will focus on minimizing costs of operations so that

the business will not be ruined if yearly sales do not meet the revenue projections.

Another piece of the sales projections is a business’s growth from year to year.

Odyssey hopes to increase its market share by 25% for each year of operations. This

value is optimistic and is contingent on a successful business year for the company. It is

possible that Odyssey may find it difficult to grow its market share at such a high rate,

especially as competing businesses adjust to the newcomer in the market. Odyssey will

also learn and adapt to the marketplace, and increase its efforts in areas of emphasis or

need. The marketing strategy will need to expand and change to ensure the continual

growth of Odyssey’s market share. It is worth noting that the projected growth rates are

not guaranteed, and future business operations may have to change to adjust to the level

of sales that Odyssey is able to achieve.

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XI. Three Year Financial Analysis Balance Sheet: Odyssey

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 ASSETS Current Assets Cash $510,687.00 $1,760,527.27 $3,776,834.86 Merchandise Inventory $376,021.00 $752,042.00 $1,128,063.00 Prepaid Expenses $84,600.00 $84,600.00 $84,600.00 Fixed Assets Furniture and Fixtures $26,994.00 $26,994.00 $26,994.00 Equipment $1,698.00 $1,698.00 $1,698.00 (Less Depreciation) $177.00 $177.00 $177.00 TOTAL ASSETS $1,000,000.00 $2,625,861.27 $5,018,189.86 LIABILITIES Current Liabilities Wages Payable $- $- $- Long term Liabilities Long-term note payable $650,000.00 $325,000.00 $- TOTAL LIABILITIES $650,000.00 $325,000.00 $- EQUITY Capital Owner Equity $35,000.00 $1,985,861.27 $4,703,189.86 Investments $315,000.00 $315,000.00 $315,000.00 TOTAL EQUITY $350,000.00 $2,300,861.27 $5,018,189.86

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Income Statement: Income Statement Income Fiscal Year 1 Fiscal Year 2 Fiscal Year 3 Gross Sales $9,903,385.26 $12,379,306.82 $15,473,992.53 Cost of Goods Sold $5,323,898.48 $6,654,916.09 $8,318,571.99 Gross Profit $4,579,486.78 $5,724,390.73 $7,155,420.54 Expenses Depreciation $177.50 $177.50 $177.50 Insurance $1,500.00 $1,500.00 $1,500.00 Maintenance and Repairs $1,200.00 $900.00 $1,000.00 Office Supplies $26,994.02 $14,946.86 $14,946.68 Rent $51,300.00 $36,300.00 $36,300.00 Salaries $984,115.00 $984,115.00 $984,115.00 Utilities $6,800.60 $6,800.60 $6,800.60 Advertising $25,000.00 $53,000.00 $86,800.00 Interest Expense $34,125.00 $17,062.00 $0.00 Total Expenses $1,131,212.12 $1,114,801.96 $1,131,639.78 EBIT $3,448,274.67 $4,609,588.78 $6,023,780.77 Taxes (34%) $1,172,413.39 $1,567,260.18 $2,048,085.46

Net Income $2,275,861.28 $3,042,328.59 $3,975,695.30

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XII. Process Maps

Shipping Flow Chart:

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Relationship Map: Distribution Channels

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Receiving and Storing Inventory Flow Chart:

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XIII. Final Summaries

Loren’s Final Summary

Overall, this project has provided me with skills and newly learned concepts that

my group members and I have had to apply to complete this project. For this project we

had the choice of choosing our own group members. I firmly believe that by allowing us

to choose our own group it was easier to get along with our group members and allowed

everyone in each group to perform to best of their ability. Throughout the project, our

team was responsible for providing a complete business plan that provided the plans for

the financing, product, supply chain, human resources, and much more. In our project,

our group provides all the major details and plans for how we planned to create and grow

our e-commerce business.

Before the start of the project I was a little concerned with getting together a good

group of individuals who I knew would take on roles and help to complete the

assignment. Like I mentioned before, by allowing us to create our own groups, instead of

getting assigned to one, I was able to pick students who I knew would put in the effort to

get this assignment completed and done well. At certain times, working with a group on a

designing a business plan became a little frustrating and hard when we would have

different visions. Between the four of us there was sometimes conflict between our

different visions of how we wanted to complete the project. These problems we faced as

a group were mainly in the beginning phase when we were choosing between what kind

of e-commerce business we wanted to be, as well as the target market, products we were

going to offer, and especially how we were going to differentiate our products against

competitor products. Even when times got tough throughout the completion of the project

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our group was able to pull it together and make collaborative decisions that allowed us to

get the project completed in a way we all wanted.

Working with data in this project was something that I had never done before and

is an aspect of business I really didn’t know much about before completing this project.

To complete a project like this there was a lot of time devoted to research and finding the

resources needed to create our business. Finding the information and resources needed

for our business taught me how to use data to find and gather the necessary information

for this project. Besides just learning about and using data sources and contents, I also

learned about data analysis and the different step-by-step data analysis methods. Working

and designing process maps was also something I had never done before completing this

project. I was individually assigned to creating our process maps for the project and this

taught me about the different types of processes and the differences between them, as

well as when to use each one. I learned the different symbols of a flow chart and what

each symbol meant. The number one thing that I found most beneficial by working with

process maps is that I learned how to show different models of work for different things

such as shipping, customer order fulfillments, and much more by using the concept of

process maps that I knew very little about before finishing the project.

Completing this project on time required a substantial amount of time

management between each individual submission. Throughout my life I have been

substantially good at managing my time so this was nothing new to me that gave me

difficulty when getting this project completed. Completing this project also required

massive amounts of planning and helped to improve my project management skills as a

whole. For future BCOR 2500 students, I would like to suggest two simple things that

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help in getting this large project done and completed in time. First, I would suggest to any

future students that take this class to make sure you choose your team members wisely

and early on in the semester to ensure you get a solid group of individuals who all

provide equal utility to the group. Secondly, and most importantly, the biggest suggestion

I would give to future BCOR 2500 students is to make sure everyone in the group has the

same vision for the project and to manage your time efficiently so that everyone’s part is

completed a few days before the actual due date to ensure the plan is polished, edited, and

thorough before each submission.

Tucker’s Final Summary

Working in a group trying to accomplish a semester long goal has been very

challenging because having to work around three others school, work, and extracurricular

schedules can be hard at times. Working through these challenges have gone very well

working in a group with three other members, figuring out the best time on weekends that

we can all meet together to compile information and edit our project. Besides the

challenges of availability, working in a group has been a great learning experience. For

me, I have never experienced perfecting a 100 page project over the course of a semester

with a group, so the constant demand to get my piece of the project in for each project

submission has taught me how to progressively work on a long piece on a 3-week span.

Instead of doing my entire part the week the submission was due, working in little bits on

it throughout three weeks helped me successfully map out the project to ensure that I was

able to keep up with my other classes.

For the First submission I completed the Infrastructure part, so I had to keep track

of everything we were buying in an excel document with its price and quantity. For the

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Second submission I did the Human Resources planning, so I had to keep track of the

salary per employee and how much it costs each year. Working these two parts gave me

great experience with collecting data because I had to constantly record the website I

found the price on, project how much of each product we would need, and record the

official name of the product. With this data on each the Infrastructure part and the Human

Resources part, I was able to map out how much we were spending on each category,

making up most of our expenses for the company.

Working with Process Maps was a great experience because not only was I

allowed to use rulers for drawing shapes for the first time in a while, but being able to

visualize how we process and product in our company was a very interesting aspect.

Drawing the Process Map gave us a different visualization of our company because we

were not just looking at how the numbers made our company look or the summary each

part of our organizations process, we were looking at the full step by step procedure of

how the process was being accomplished. The Process Maps were a great way to help me

look at our company in a different way. As far as time management went, we were able

to succeed in following our own deadlines for each submission. For each submission I

gave myself a report of what I needed to do and by what date I had to have my task done

by. I would breakdown what I needed to research, record, and type and then assign each

task for when they needed to be done. By splitting this up I was able to assign bits and

pieces of the project for every time I worked on it, not just doing the entire part of the

project in one work session. We never had any problems for completing all of our parts

on time, usually when we completed our parts we would meet together and edit each of

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our parts for each other. After this we would put the project together as one and carefully

edit out the excess information.

Some suggestions I would give for future OPIM students would be to always

maintain a great group relationship. Sometimes members would not be able to work on it

when everyone else was, which might cause tension in the group, but by understanding

everyone’s busy schedule and not singling out a group member the group works well

with one another. With a great relationship, productivity increases a ton because realizing

that each member is depending on one another to get the project done and to get a good

grade helps motivate each member to work harder. In terms of researching, making sure

you save every website you use is very important because going back in your history to

determine what information you used for the bibliography can take a while. All together

working as a group was a great learning experience for me because it will help prepare

me for the future group projects that I will be working on in my real job one day.

Peter’s Final Summary

This project proved to be everything I thought it would be, and then some. The

extent of the research and knowledge needed to accomplish the goals outlined for this

project goes well beyond the scope of this course, and it takes a highly motivated team to

create and present good work. That being said, this project really teaches you so much

about what it takes to create a business model. I learned that the pieces do not just fall

into place for you, and it takes a concentrated group effort to collect, organize, and write

the entire project.

I honestly cannot imagine succeeding on this enormous task without having a

strong team. I was fortunate to find a group of people who were as motivated as I was for

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this project. We all held each accountable and checked in on each often. It wasn’t

nagging, but making sure that we were all contributing so each deadline could be met

without much stress. The group dynamic as a whole worked out phenomenally. Everyone

contributed a vast amount of work, and also helped out with another person’s work

whenever necessary. Splitting up the work sections was painless; no one ever complained

and just buckled down and got the work done.

Personally I enjoyed working with all the data, especially for the revenue analysis.

Compiling the data was the hardest part, as it came from a large variety of sources that

were not always easy to find. Once that was accomplished however, the data

manipulation was enjoyable. Drilling down to find specific data segments or rolling up to

make sure the entire population was counted were both key tools in projecting the

revenues for our company. This project required an enormous amount of research across

the board. Nearly every section contained some requirement that necessitated a research

source to fill in the knowledge gap. This resulted in a lot of work, but also a lot of

learning, as we were exposed to so much.

Process mapping was a valuable experience for the group because it forced us to

examine the way our business would achieve the end goals. Looking at a seemingly

simple process and breaking it down into smaller and smaller steps reveals the true extent

of the logistics necessary. Honestly the process maps may have revealed more about real

life business processes and operations than any other part of the project.

Time management was our one weakness as a team. All of us had very busy

schedules, and we did what we could throughout the weeks, and then put everything aside

when the deadline loomed too large. In my opinion, our time management could have

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been a huge problem, but it wasn’t because we were all willing to work hard enough to

make up for lost time. My advice to you would be to make a separate group deadline,

sometime before the actual one, so that your group is always operating ahead of schedule.

My biggest suggestion for future students is to get a really solid group. Sounds

easy, but its not. This will make your life, and your group members lives, so much easier

if everyone is willing to work hard the whole semester. That being said, you have to be

willing to help out whenever necessary. Ask your group members how it’s going, and if

you can help them with anything. The better your team, the easier this incredibly

expansive project will be for you.

Corey’s Final Summary

Concluding this project, I have learned a significant amount about

components of a start up business and more importantly group working skills.

Working with a group of students that I have never talked to before this recitation

class was rather tricky and complicated at times. We first started with the

brainstorming aspect of our project thus, our group quickly adapted to the storming

group working stage of this project. We asked each other, how the heck are we going

to do this? We were all indecisive on where to start and how to successfully

complete this semester intensive project. The forming stage took over Odyssey’s

team, as we came together thinking of unique ideas diversifying ourselves from any

other team as well as the true marketplace. Next, it was our job to perform to make

this project the best possible tangible company plan within the class. Data is what

gave our project credibility, although I thought Microsoft suites worked with

Murphy’s Law, data speaks for itself and through the hours of formatting we

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finished our final tables. Adding labels to these tables really emphasizes how to

follow and understand how to read these graphs.

Process mapping was a new topic for me so in my opinion the trickiest part

about this project as a whole. Originally, assigning process maps to one individual

seem like the right idea, but I was soon mistaken as everyone in the Odyssey team

needed to contribute to the maps. We all had ideas that we were brainstorming,

when compiling this information, a detailed map formed that we all participated in

and it represented the most accurate flow. This process flow was intended to reduce

inefficiencies within Odyssey having a detailed map of the operations.

Being apart of the Odyssey team required consistent consulting with each

other, assigning each part individually. Everyone decided weekly updates with

everyone having a smart phone are the best decision; we used a mobile app to

communicate frequently. We all agreed that meeting in person is far more effective

to our company’s outputs, so we planned to meet twice a week since the semester

project began adapting to everyone schedule. Our timing has been impeccable

throughout, not once have we been racing the final day to get it printed off. We plan

to have our project due before the actual date to make edits and plan for any

barriers such as page layout. Final editing happens during this time to ensure

consistence throughout each part collaborating with one another. Everyone in the

group stepped up to become a project manager within their own section,

maximizing success by specializing in each of our majors and strengths.

My suggestion to future BCOR 2500 students would be don’t procrastinate

each summation, contribute a little part of this project each week to reduce the work

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on the final week its due. Many of my friends in other sections of this class wait until

the last week to complete each part of the project this caused them to become

extremely disorganized not even knowing their teams schedule that week. Waiting

until the last day, being overtaken by procrastination will have you stressing and

your final product will not be considered as a top project.

Thank you Annie for reading through Odyssey’s business plan as we thank

you for teaching us the knowledge to put such a wonderful peace of work together.

We are all eager to share this project with many important people within our lives,

including future employers.

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XIV. References

Bibliography Annual Visitation Summary Report for: 2014. (2015, January 1). Retrieved April 20, 2015, from https://irma.nps.gov/Stats/SSRSReports/National Reports/Annual Visitation Summary Report (1979 - Last Calendar Year) Benefits of Creating an LLC. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20, 2015, from http://www.bizfilings.com/learn/creating-llc.aspx Bonsor, K. (2001, May 17). Tracking Technology. Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/everyday-tech/location-tracking1.htm Brandes, W. (n.d.). The Best Backpack Brands. Retrieved April 20, 2015, from http://www.ranker.com/list/best-backpack-brands/werner-brandes Bryne, J. (2014, April 24). Start Preventing Fires: How to Implement Proactive Customer Support. Retrieved March 20, 2015, from https://zapier.com/blog/proactive-reactive-customer-support/ Comcast in Kansas. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2015, from http://www.comcast.com/Corporate/shop/Products/local/kansas.cspx Company Snapshot. (2015, January 26). Retrieved February 11, 2015, from http://hindar.manufacturer.globalsources.com/si/6008821282483/Homepage.htm?source=CoyName_TP&pkg=P6&_ga=1.161280253.1396829068.1423688681 ELECTRIC LIGHT & POWER COMPANIES Business Directory. (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://www.wichitacounty.org/businesses/business-directory/wpbdm-category/electric-light-power-companies Elwell, C. (2014, March 10). The Distribution of Household Income and the Middle Class. Retrieved April 20, 2015, from https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS20811.pdf Grannis, K. (2015, February 12). NRF Forecasts Retail Sales to Increase 4.1% Over Last Year. Retrieved April 20, 2015, from https://nrf.com/media/press-releases/nrf-forecasts-retail-sales-increase-41-over-last-year Hinshaw, D. (2012, June 4). In Nigeria, Rising Dreams of Web Commerce. The Wall Street Journal, p. 3. Inventory Basics - All About Inventory Management. (n.d.). Retrieved March 20, 2015, from http://www.clearlyinventory.com/inventory-basics Job Analysis: Overview. (n.d.). Retrieved March 20, 2015, from http://www.jobanalysis.net/G000.htm Reh, F. (n.d.). Key Performance Indicators or KPI. Retrieved March 20, 2015, from http://management.about.com/cs/generalmanagement/a/keyperfindic.htm Milroy, S. (2004, October 31). Location Based Services - MapPoint Location Server and Global Positioning System (GPS). Retrieved February 16, 2015, from http://www.directionsmag.com/entry/location-based-services-mappoint-location-server-and-global-positioning-sys/123626 Number of campers in the USA, 2014. (2015, January 1). Retrieved April 20, 2015, from http://www.statista.com/statistics/227417/number-of-campers-usa/

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Prime rate, federal funds rate, COFI. (2015, January 1). Retrieved April 22, 2015, from http://www.bankrate.com/rates/interest-rates/prime-rate.aspx Loan Amounts, Fees & Interest Rates. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2015, fromhttps://www.sba.gov/content/7a-loan-amounts-fees-interest-rates Search Properties For Lease. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2015, from http://www.loopnet.com/forlease/more/?LinkCode=19590 Supply Chain Management (SCM) Definition | Investopedia. (2003, November March 20, 2015, from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/scm.asp Systech Limited. (2015, February 11). Retrieved February 16, 2015, from http://sysembed.manufacturer.globalsources.com/si/6008848391648/CompanyProfile.htm What Are the Advantages of B2B & B2C to Conduct Business Using the Internet? (n.d.). Retrieved February 20, 2015, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-b2b-b2c-conduct-business-using-internet-50884.html Zikmund, N. (2015). The Revolution Is Just Beginning. In BCOR 2500 E-Commerce. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions.

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