Feasibility Studies: their nature
Principles:
Current, relevant and focused.
Every element researched and analysed is to have some impact upon the chosen organisation / business.
Whilst the property location is important, often argued to be the most important element, this is not sufficient and the business will not succeed without extensive market research.
It is critical that you establish very clearly that there is a sufficiently large market / demand for your product or service in order to be able to justify the volume of customers that you anticipate for your business.
Equally, it is critical that you establish very clearly that the profile of your customers supports your anticipated average spends – your pricing strategy.
Although some believe that the feasibility study should encompass many of the elements of the full Business Plan - financial data, personnel, the marketing plan etc - it should in fact be solely directed at establishing that there is a sufficiently large target market for the product / service that you are proposing. It therefore should follow the following structure:
1. Introduction - this should identify the purpose of the study and the methodology.
Thus it should describe your intention to prove the breadth and depth of your target
market, and how you have set about providing the supportive evidence.
2. Description of the product / service - an enthusiastic outline of the product that
identifies its unique / distinct features – that elusive U.S.P.
3. The Market - identify the target market - its nature, depth, trends, future, etc.
4. The evidence for the target market selection - conclusions drawn from your detailed market research:
- demographic
- locational
- competition
- perceptual mapping & analysis
- PESTEL
- SWOT
-...