Or even copy this plan as it exists here

Table: Market Analysis

Market Analysis
		Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5
Potential Customers	Growth						CAGR
18-24 years of age	1%	28,400,000	28,684,000	28,970,840	29,260,548	29,553,153	1.00%
25-29 years of age	2%	17,900,000	18,258,000	18,623,160	18,995,623	19,375,535	2.00%
Male	2%	6,900,000	7,038,000	7,178,760	7,322,335	7,468,782	2.00%
Female	2%	9,000,000	9,180,000	9,363,600	9,550,872	9,741,889	2.00%
Total	1.55%	62,200,000	63,160,000	64,136,360	65,129,378	66,139,359	1.55%

Chart: Market Analysis (Pie)

4.4 Target Market Segment Strategy

The potential market for The College Cafe consists of 15.8 million college students enrolled in over 4,180 institutions.  For the Phase 1 launch of The College Cafe, we plan to focus our marketing effort on a subset market located in the Southeastern U.S.  We plan to expand to new markets with a phased approach focusing on a new region of the country each semester.  The Phase 1 target market segment will consist of the following universities:

University/College	Enrollment
Auburn University	21,505
Clemson University	16,396
East Carolina University	18,271
Emory University	11,300
Florida State University	30,401
Georgia State University	23,000
Georgia Tech	13,800
Miami-Dade Community College	46,834
Mississippi State University	15,628
North Carolina State	28,281
Tulane University	10,921
University of Alabama	18,342
University of Florida	45,114
University of Georgia	31,280
University of Kentucky	23,540
University of Miami	13,651
University of North Carolina	24,368
University of South Carolina	25,447
University of Tennessee	25,401
Total	419,940

Phase 2 will focus on additional colleges and universities located in the southeast with the addition of colleges and universities in the Northeast.

4.5 Competitive Anaylsis

Competitors of The College Cafe includes traditional university bookstores, online textbook retailers, textbook exchange sites, textbook price comparison sites, online auction sites and online content specific sites targeting the college student market.

4.5.1 University Bookstores

The major objective and strategy of university bookstores is to maintain competitive pricing and customer service.  The strengths of the traditional university bookstores are current customer relationships and location to the University.  The major weaknesses of university bookstores are the limited product selection and lack of value added services that can be offered online.

The National Association of College Stores estimates U.S./Canadian university bookstore sales to be $11.12 billion for the 2001-2002 academic year. 

There are approximately 4,840 college bookstores serving 4,182 institutions in the United States and 170 college stores in Canada.  Larger universities will often have several stores to serve students, smaller schools in a local area may be served by a single store, and several schools in an urban community may share multiple retail outlets.  While many college stores share a common mission, they vary widely in size, location, ownership, and customer base.

The majority of stores are owned or operated by the university they serve.  On-campus stores are mostly institutional, but they may also be contract managed, cooperatives, or student associations.  Off-campus stores are typically privately owned.

Sales volume in college stores is determined by many factors, but the major influence on sales seems most closely tied to the size of the institution served.  According to the NACS College Store Industry Financial Report 2003, average sales per college store were $6,320,556 while the median was $3,303,062.  The majority of college stores have less than $1 million in sales each year.

According to the NACS College Store Industry Financial Report 2003, college stores returned a median net income of 7.3% of net sales to their institutions.

NACS Membership by Sales Volume

Sales Volume in $$	Member Stores
Under $1 million	57.0%
$1 to $3 million	27.5 %
$3 to $7 million	9.8%
Over $7 million	5.8%

4.5.2 Online Bookstores & Retail Websites

The major objective and strategy of online competitors is to maintain brand awareness, offer value added services, product selection/availability, order fulfillment and customer service.  The strengths of existing online bookstores and retail sites are current customer relationships and brand awareness.  The major weaknesses of online competitors is barriers to entry, concern about security & fraud, shipping charges, on-time fulfillment and returns processing.

Based on the 2003 College Store Industry Financial Report, total online sales at university bookstores for 2001-2002 are estimated to be $150 million or 1.41% of total college store sales.  With a "click and mortar" strategy, the university bookstore can offer the convenience of web ordering, paired with:

• 
  Ease of returns
  
• 
  The ability to pick up items for immediate use
  
• 
  One-stop shopping
  
• 
  Accurate information on what textbooks students need for their courses
  
• 
  The trust and security of buying from a well-known source with an on-campus location
  

The following table lists some of the major independent online retailers not associated with a university bookstore:

Company	Business Model
Amazon.com	Online retailer
Barnes & Noble.com	Online retailer
Bigwords.com	Allows student to buy and sell textbooks
Collegebooksdirect.com	Buys and sells new and used textbooks
Collegeclub.com	Integrated media and ecommerce Online retail
Ebay.com	Online Auction
Ecampus.com	Discount college textbooks Merchandise Limited content
Efollett.com	Online textbook retailer Network of university bookstore for brick and mortar presences
Half.com	Online Auction
JourneyEd.com	Online student discounts on software
Lazystudents.com	Online retail – various college market merchandise Online research papers assistance
Studentmarket.com	Online retail – various college market merchandise
TextbooksDirect.com	Textbook price comparison engine
Textbooksource.net	Buys and sells used textbooks Offline buy-back Online sales
TextbooksX.com	Buys and sells new and used textbooks
Varsitybooks.com	Buys and sells new and used textbooks

5.0 Marketing Strategy

The College Cafe's customers will be the 15.8 million college students in the United States.  This segment is a niche market that has no single business entity accounting for any significant percentage of total aggregated college student purchases.

The main business model for The College Cafe relies on college students providing textbooks, auctions, classifieds and teacher evaluations available on the website.  Therefore, our focus will be on the marketing strategy to increase student traffic and usage.  In turn, visitor volume and transactions will maintain the inventory of products and services offered.

The College Cafe recognizes the key to success as an extensive promotion strategy to attract users.  Once additional funding is secured the advertising and promotion plan will be implemented.

5.1 Strategic Alliances

The College Cafe is looking to form relationships with major companies in the college student market.  Companies that we will approach included university merchandise manufacturers or resellers, specialized content suppliers, new and used textbook wholesalers and local businesses.