Tattoo & Body Piercing

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

PRODUCTS & SERVICES

MARKETING & SALES

OPERATIONS

GROWTH ANALYSIS

FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

CHAPEL HILL TATTOO

410 Mountainview Rd.
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27517

Gerald Rekve

Chapel Hill Tattoo's mission is to provide top quality tattoos and body piercing using state-of-the-art equipment and highly trained staff, thus ensuring all safety methods are followed to guarantee the well-being of both clients and staff.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Business Strategy

Mike Hunter along with his wife, Geri Hunter, will open a new state-of-the-art tattoo and body piercing store located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The business will be a partnership between Mike Hunter and Geri Hunter, with each partner retaining fifty percent responsibility and ownership. We will provide body tattoos and body piercing to everyone with a minimum age of 18, as required by law. With the couple's extensive background in the industry, they will be able to provide clients with a safe and exceptional place to get their tattoos and body piercing. In the past, clients for these services have traditionally been young men of lower income levels; however, the past ten years have seen the popularity of body art expand to include female clients and clients of almost every age and socioeconomic level. The result of this change means a much larger base of clientele for businesses of this type.

The owners of this body art store have extensive education and training in art and have considerable experience in designing and applying tattoos as well as administering a wide array of available body piercing. Furthermore, they have extensive training in all aspects of safety and taking the necessary precautions to ensure the well-being of their clients.

We intend to capitalize on the demand for tattoos and body piercing by offering a clean, safe environment in which clients can be assured they will receive quality tattoos and hygienic piercing using state-of-the-art equipment. All this will be achieved without compromising the artistic value of their chosen body art.

Mission

Our mission is to provide top quality tattoos and body piercing using state-of-the-art equipment and highly trained staff, thus ensuring all safety methods are followed to guarantee the well-being of both clients and staff.

Customers

Chapel Hill, North Carolina is a strong market for our products. While there is a lot of competition in the market we are very confident that our skills in the trade will be sought after by clients who see our work. Because of our extensive experience in the field, we expect to get a significant number of referrals and repeat customers.

There are over 400,000 people in our core target market. Research has shown that, at any given time, approximately 10 percent of the total population is contemplating getting a tattoo or piercing, or is actively seeking a place to do so. This means that about 40,000 potential clients live within a 30 minute drive of our shop. Accounting for the 10 other competitors in the area, our potential market is roughly 4,000 clients at any given time.

The average amount being spent on a tattoo for one person is $200.00; piercing typically runs $100.00. Using the number of clients as predicted above, the amount of annual revenue potential for our shop is enough to sustain both the owners and possibly another two staff.

PRODUCTS & SERVICES

Types of Tattoos

American symbols
Animals
Arabic symbols
Armband tattoos
Biomechanical symbols
Black and white tattoos
Celtic knots
Chinese symbols
Christian symbols
Fantasy tattoos
Flames
Flowers
Grim reaper tattoos
Harley Davidson tattoos
Irish tattoos
Japanese symbols
Kanji tattoos
Love symbols
Moons, Stars and Sun
Music symbols
Names
Native American symbols
People
Photos
Tribal symbols

Tattoo Styles

• ''New School'' Style Tattoos—These are modern versions of the old sailor style of tattoos such as anchors and swallows. They are much brighter and more animated than their predecessors which look very flat in comparison. A lot of people—especially females—are asking for tattoos of swallows and anchors on their neck.
• Japanese Kanji Tattoos—Japanese style tattoos are popular among females who are going for ''full sleeve'' style tattoos depicting Japanese characters such as koi or carp fish.
• Floral and Love Heart Chest Tattoos—This style has a certain timeless look harkening back to the days of the 1950s.
• Star Tattoos—These have always been popular but more people are getting them done on visible places such as wrists and on the lower legs. Unsurprisingly, Hollywood stars are lining up for the tattooist's chair and demanding tattoos that reflect their lives.
• Tribal Tattoos—Tribal tattoo designs have been around for hundreds of years but are becoming more and more complex and constantly evolving and morphing into what has become known as neo tribal tattoo styles. Tribal styles can be traditional ''black work'' covering the arms or more colorful styles characterized by the ''Modern Primitive'' look covering the entire body.

Piercing

Jewellery

Sometimes the jewellery is combined in the price, other times you have to pay extra on top of a price depending on what jewellery you want. For example-getting pierced with gold will be more expensive than getting pierced with titanium and getting pierced with titanium will be more expensive than getting pierced with stainless steel. Piercing almost always cost a little less if you intend on getting pierced with a ring, rather than a barbell.

Piercing Costs

Here is a rough guide to regular piercing prices (surgical stainless steel jewellery included):

Ears

• Earlobes—$20
• Pena—$20
• Triages—$60

Nose

• Septum—$75
• Nostril—$20
• Bridge—$75

Other facial piercing

• Madonna—$60
• Eyebrow—$60
• Labret—$60
• Tongue—$25
• Cheek—$75

Body Piercing

• Navel—$50
• Nipple—$75
• Back—$75
• Nape—$75
• Web of hand—$75

Multiple piercing discounts are also available.

We will also offer the service of tattoo removal; this is an area where all of our competitors lack service and is a nice complement to our service line.

MARKETING & SALES

We will use the following methods to promote our store.

• Yellow pages
• Newspaper
• Radio
• Flyers
• Trade shows

Our main focus will be to have a Yellow Page ad the same size as our largest competitor. We will also run weekly ads in our local newspaper, and sustaining ads in two local niche fringe-type newspapers that cater to our market. Radio advertising will be employed to promote our grand opening; additional usage of this media will be determined at a later date based on the response we get from the grand opening specials we offer on the radio ads. If the response is significant and justifies the cost, we may plan to use radio advertising on an ongoing basis.

Flyers will be used on an ongoing basis. We also plan to attend ''lifestyle'' trade shows that cater to our markets.

All of our promotions will focus on quality and services and not on prices. Our profession is that like a dentist; we offer quality in service and products providing our clients with healthy services. Pricing will play a factor when our clients are deciding what product to buy, but will not be the reason why our clients come to our shop in the first place.

OPERATIONS

Location

We have already been in discussions with a strip mall positioned in a central location in Chapel Hill; it is also a mere two blocks from one of the major shopping malls in the area.

The location is 1,200 square feet. It is larger than our current needs, but the quoted rent we are paying is equivalent to other, smaller locations available on the market. The extra space afforded with this site will allow us to easily expand to a hair salon or tanning studio if we decide to at some future date.

Insurance

We will purchase enough insurance to protect ourselves from the issues we may face as a business operating in our industry.

Training and Education Requirements

Both Mike and Geri Hunter are professionally educated and trained in tattooing and piercing. Mike spent seven years working with one of Boston's largest tattoo shops. During this time Mike was accredited with tattooing certification for all aspects of tattooing and piercing.

Geri also worked with Mike at Boston's largest tattoo shop. She focused mainly on the piercing side of the business. Geri has taken some courses in tattooing but, for this business start-up, Geri will focus her efforts on piercing.

The goal will be to hire two extra staff to assist in tattooing. Both additional staff members must be accredited.

GROWTH ANALYSIS

Business Feasibility & SWOT Analysis

Viability and Long Range Plans

Research indicates that the body art industry is on a long-term growth pattern. Over the past 50 years, there has been incremental growth and acceptance in the market, expanding the potential clientele to include women and people from all socioeconomic backgrounds.

FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

Start-Up Costs