Sunless tanning is BOOMING! Make no mistake, it's not going anywhere anytime soon.
1. Good Potential Market: Great, healthy growing market. No solid domination yet!
2. Keyword Research: High search volume, low competition
3. Physical Research- talking to owners of tanning salons and their feedback of self tanners: Consensus is that sunless tanning is on the rise
4. Revenue generated from market: 5 billion in 2011- this includes the whole tanning industry. Increasing growth trend.
Demographics: 18-30 females in US
Mission Statement: To provide women with multiple options for purchasing Tan In A Can online. The prices will range from drugstore prices up into luxury spa prices. It will include the basics of Tan In A Can, and Tan In A Can with innovative additives.
Each Tan In A Can will be personally tested by the staff of Tan In A Can to ensure it passes rigorous performance standards for our clients. We will offer a money-back guarantee if a client is not satisfied with Tan In A Can for any reason.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Founder has 12 years of spa experience, 2 years of sunless tanning experience, and 5 years of technology experience.
No manufacturing costs.
Purchase on a needed basis from manufacturer
Very little overhead.
No real estate costs.
Team has good working knowledge of SEO, landing pages, and social media.
High profit margins.
Analysis on Google Trends suggests that sunless tanning is an increasingly sought-after product online.
High search volume, low competition.
Founder has the ability to create videos to market product.
Weaknesses
Little start-up capital/self-funded.
Busy schedule.
Poor plan for shipping and warehouse logistics.
No UPS account or sellers permit.
Little content for website and social media.
Little online branding.
Lack of company infrastructure. Need contracts, terms and conditions, shareholder agreements, etc.
Need legal and accounting advice.
Name not trademarked.
Will be competing with current job at SunFX by selling their product retail online.
Need staff for shipping.
Domain name has little age.
Oppportunities
Highly sought-after product by normal Internet consumer as well as celebrities, publicists, spa owners, boutique owners, etc.
New regulations on tanning beds will increase sales of sunless tanning
Seek options to work with Skin Cancer Society and profit sharing model
Purchase 2 more years for domain
Talented pool of writers to write copy for Hubpages, ezine articles, wikis
Threats
Still a fair amount of competition online, most notably Sephora
Bigger more funded competition coming after my market share
Potential deficiency with stock levels of manufacturers
What the market looks like
Tanning Salons Market Research Report | NAICS 81219c | Jul 2011
The burning issue: Revenue will grow despite increasing health concerns about UV tanning services
The Tanning Salons market research report provides key industry analysis and industry statistics, measures market size, analyzes current and future industry trends and shows market share for the industrys largest companies. IBISWorld publishes the largest collection of industry reports so you can see an industrys supply chain, economic drivers and key buyers and markets.
Market Share of Companies
Industry Statistics & Market Size
Revenue
$5bn Annual Growth 06-11
-1.2% Annual Growth 11-16
Profit Employment
101,031 Businesses
18,981
Industry Analysis & Industry Trends
Health and safety a burning issue
Concerns about the health risks associated with UV tanning are resulting in increasingly stringent regulation of this industry. Spray tans are therefore becoming more popular as a safe alternative. Operating in a highly competitive environment, the industry is being forced to consolidate, with franchises dominating. Larger operators are also expanding their range of skin, health and beauty services in a bid to improve market share.... purchase to read more
Industry Report - Industry Investment Chapter
The Tanning Salons industry has a medium level of capital intensity. In 2011, for every $1.00 spent on labor, the average tanning salon invested $0.22 in capital investment. This is similar to 2006, when tanning salons spent an average of $0.21 in capital investment for every $1.00 spent on labor. Capital investment in mainly in UV tanning booths or beds, spray-tanning booths and airbrush systems. UV tanning beds cost about $4,000, though they can run up to $30,000 a piece. UV tanning booths are slightly more expensive and average about $8,000. Spray-tan booths cost about $12,000, while airbrush systems cost several hundred dollars each. As a personal service industry, labor expenses are typically high for industry operators and average 28.3% of expenses...
*http://www.ibisworld.com/industry/default.aspx?indid=1721
What the competitors look like:
On a level 1 to 10, how hard it will be to compete
Sephora 10
Selling ModelCo Tan In A Can: Bronzers and Self Tanners (Category)
2% conversion rate
1st Place- 42% of traffic=
100,000-G hits/month 2,000 sales/month/ White Out is $13/unit my cost= selling for $30. Our margin is $17/unit= $34,000/= Gross Profit profits if sold on global landscape.
30,000-L 600/units- $10,200
The Skin Cancer Foundation- Tan In A Can- Tanning (Category) 7
The Skin Cancer Foundation is not selling a product. However, with their high PR ranking and very long-standing domain, they poise a competition on ranking on Google SEM metrics.
ModelCo (Tan In A Can- Youtube) (Video) 6
ModelCo is the most fierce competitor. We understand videos rank high in search metrics, so we will create a marketing campaign and invest marketing dollars accordingly.
Tan In A Can on Youtube (CBS News Video) 5
News video from CBS will not be hard to replace. Once we complete a fully specd out video marketing campaign.
Bahama Bronze - A Spray On Tan In A Can for sunless tanning 4
Not going to be hard to knock off, very busy brand, awfully designed website. The most challenging aspect of the competitor will be the number of years in business.
Images for Tan In A Can (Google Images) - Pay attention to all tags on all images used in the campaign 4
N/A
Salonweb.com - Spray Tan In A Can - Sunless Tanning at Home (Category) 6
Will be tough to knock off due to the high volume of indexed pages within site and large number of inbound links. However, by focusing solely on the term Tan IN A Can and Spray tan in a can it will offer us decent potential.
Stylebakery.com - Top 10 Sunless Tanners + Ten Foolproof Tips For... 6
Great idea!! Lets make a competitive chart, follow the same model they use, and optimize for a similar page.
Bostonglobe - Tan In A Can: Why Are We So Obsessed? 5
Try to offer Boston Globe an affiliate commission for putting a link on their article.
Tan In A Can.com Professional Instant Self-Tanning- Homepage - Tan... 4
Another direct competitor, however, I believe we can do business with Jerry as he has already contacted me and made me aware competitor is using our video. Offer his tan in a can as an alternative to other tan in a cans on the site.
May 2011- OCT 2011 they sold 956 units and they are the 5th place on Google
Sally Hansen/ Airbrush Legs 5
Similar to Tan In A Can.com. See if we can sell their products as an affiliate.
What can I do better than my competitors
Better designed website- easier to use, easier to check out, prettier brand
More robust SEO campaign
More videos
More testimonials
Offer greater variety of product
Offer product suggestions on page
Blogs
External blogs- Hubpages, Lens pages, Squidoo, Stumble, Digg
Affiliate programs
In addition to Internet marketing, we will take a ground floor approach utilizing trade shows, magazine press, syndicated network broadcast shows, Tilands connections in the spa industry, sales people to sell to boutiques, supporting charity events, supporting local events, teaming up with perpendicular industries
Offer a strong brand that is easy to identify with
Create culture around brand- SoCal Tan is a lifestyle, not just a Tan In A Can. It signifies a healthy alternative to the sun while still beautifying your appearance.
How am I going to do better than my competitors/How am I going to sustain my competitive advantages and add additional competitve advantages
Initially offer to resell competitor products.
After 200 sales, will ramp up to get funding to create own SoCal Tan Tan In A Can. Each version will include an upgraded addition such as shimmery properties, sun protection, antiaging properties, smell good properties, streak free properties. These versions will not come out all together, but will eventually evolve over time. Need to create timeline biannually to launch new version of Tan In A Can.
More online videos
More contests
More interactivity on social media
More incentives to buy
More in-person promotions/offline promotions
Manage stock inventory correctly
Newsletter to keep up with our contacts
Call or send a thank you to find out how its working for them
Offer referral incentives. Buy one for you, buy one for your friend at 50%
Quality landing pages. We will split-test multiple landing pages to find out best conversion rates. Well drive traffic through Facebook and Google ads, and begin to gauge with valuable metrics.
Date Listed: 07/25/12