General Background Information
Company:
TRX candle manufacturer is a totally new candle manufacturer, located in New Bedford, MA. TRX candle manufacturer has two primary products, which are pillars and container candles. According to National Candle Association’s surveys, container candles and pillars are currently the most popular types of candles with American consumers (Facts & Figures), so we choose to produce these two products. Our customers are people who want to have a better comfortable room by using candles. Manufacturer surveys show that women purchase 90% of all candles (Facts & Figures), so our target markets are women between ages of 20-50, which are younger target markets, comparing to the Yankee candles’ target markets (25yrs-54yrs). We think it is appropriate because our candles are cheaper and stylish, which may attract young people more.
There are three main competitive advantages of TRX candle manufacturer in the market. Firstly, our company promise that all candles are made of natural beeswax, which is much expensive than paraffin and can offer customers a more comfortable feeling. Due to nine out of ten candle users say they use candles to make a room feel comfortable or cozy, we believe it is a good competitive advantages for us. Besides, candle industry research indicates that the most important factors affecting candle sales are scent, color, cost and shape (Facts & Figures). However, we found that almost all the candle manufacturers offer customers all different kind of color and scents. Therefore, we decide to win them on price. We believe low price can give us a competitive advantage and attract more young people. Thirdly, TRX candle manufacturer is located in New Bedford, MA. In American’s opinion, made in USA means a better quality than made in China or Thailand or any other developing countries. Made in USA is our third competitive advantage.
TRX candle manufacturer has two short-term objectives. First of all, we want people realize that there is a candle brand called TRX, which sells all natural high-quality candles in a low price. In this short period of time, we may lose some money due to the high rental cost of factory and warehouse, but we do believe once people know and accept our brand, we can earn money in the future. Secondly, we need to build a good relationship with good retailers, such as, CVS and Wal-Mart by sharing some profit with them. If they put our candles in a good position in the store, sales of our candles will increase a lot. Our long-term objectives are as following. Firstly, we want to expand our brand into all big online and retail stores in 2 years. For example, CVS, Wal-Mart for retail store and Amazon for online selling. Secondly, we want to open our own online store and retail store in 3 years. Thirdly, if everything goes well, we want to build more factories in urban area of west coast in 5 years. When we expand our brand to west coast, we can save a lot of transportation cost by building a new factory there.
The strengths of our company is that The weakness of our company is that we are new to the market. Customer may get used to using other brands’ candles. It is kind of hard for us to take over others’ market share. Besides, as we just get started, we are not as big as other competitors.
There are lots of machines to buy and high rental cost to cover, so we cannot afford all of these. We decide to take loans from the banks.
There are several departments that we need. There is no doubt we need production and sales department. Besides, we also need accounting department to help us analyze our cost and make a better decision. Moreover, there is lots of labor involved in our factory, so human resources department is necessary. At last, we need financing department to take loans from the banks.
Industry:
As we are planning to develop our company, there are also several main competitors that we will face with. Most true candle lovers would
