A Report On Local Businesses Analysis

I have chosen two local businesses. One of the businesses is Crow’s Nest Golf Club. The other is Little Shop of Soaps. I have chosen these businesses because they are both local. This means I can investigate them. There websites are informative and easy to access for research purposes. I have an interest in what they sell meaning I enjoy the research.

Both the Crow’s Nest Golf Club and Little Shop of Soaps have websites online that I can use easily for research. I can also ring or email them for any further details needed. As they are both local businesses, I could visit them if necessary. This means that they are both researchable businesses.

Crow’s Nest Golf Club is a small business with 18 members of staff. It was founded in 1995 by Richard Harrison. It is a private limited company and has a board of unknown directors running it. Their aim is to provide a good experience and they wish to be one of the best nine-hole golf courses in north England. They offer a nine-hole golf course and a driving range. As well as this there is a bar and restaurant and a function room for hire. They also have a shop where they sell goods such as golfing clothes and equipment. They have a large car park, which exceeds the size of some of the other local golf clubs making them unique. The function room is also an extra, making them different. They have not won any Awards to date but were listed as one of the best nine-hole golf courses in the world by Golf World Magazine in March 2010. They are a physical shop based in Hove Edge, Brighouse. It is near Lightcliffe, Bailiff Bridge and Hipperholme.

Their five main competitors are as follows: Lightcliffe Golf Club, Willow Valley Golf, Castlefields Golf Club, Brighouse Bay Golf Club and Halifax Golf Club. These are all other local golf clubs that could be classed as competitors. The most significant is Lightcliffe Golf Club as it is the nearest and it is very close. This is the biggest threat to Crow’s Nest Golf Club out of the clubs listed. Willow Valley Golf is also a very local club meaning they are a similar threat. These two competitors could easily take away some of Crow’s Nest Golf Club’s customers. Halifax Golf Club is much further away so therefore less of a threat. They all offer similar services.

Little Shop of Soaps was founded in February 2014. It is a micro business. The owner began making soaps for her family and it slowly expanded into a family business. They are based in Bradford. They offer a range of soaps, bath bombs, candles and more products similar. They have five – nine members of staff. This number depends on the season or on a special occasion which will attract more customers. They have not won any awards as of now but have a unique selling point in that all their face masks are handmade in the UK, cruelty free and approved by the vegetarian society. They have a small shop from which they sell their products. They are also online, and have their own website you can order from. Their shop is based in the centre of Bradford, which is a good idea because there are multiple other shops there. There are a few shopping centres nearby as well such as Broadway and Forster Square. This means a lot of people will walk past their shop and possibly go in. The other, bigger shops draw customers to the area.

I have picked out five other businesses who could all be classed as a competitor for Little Shop of Soaps: Mitchells Wool Fat Soap Ltd, Soap Delicious, Yorkshire Soap Company, Lush Fresh Hand-made Cosmetics UK and Flicker and Fizz. The biggest threat is Mitchells Wool Fat Soap Ltd because they are the closest. Soap Delicious is also very close so it is a threat and could possibly take customers off of Little Shop of Soaps. Yorkshire Soap Company and Lush Fresh Hand-made Cosmetics UK are both much bigger businesses with multiple stores. They are a big competitor because of their size but are not located quite as near as some of the others. Flicker and Fizz is the least competitive because they are much further away compared to other competitors. They will probably not take any customers away from Little Shop of Soaps

. The three business sectors are primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary business sector is the first stage. It includes getting things from nature such as wood from trees and fish from the sea. The secondary business sector is taking things from the primary sector and producing them. This means making them into a product. It is the second stage. The tertiary business sector is the last stage. It takes the products produced in the secondary sector and sells them on to the customer. Businesses are often part of two or three business sectors, rather than just the one.

Crow’s Nest Golf Club is in the secondary and tertiary sectors. It produces its own meals to sell in the restaurant. It also sells on the final product of the finished meal. It also sells golfing goods in its shop and offers the service of using the driving range amongst other things. These points put this business in the tertiary sector as well as the secondary.

Little Shop of Soaps is also in both the secondary and tertiary business sectors. They produce their own soaps and other goods putting them in the secondary sector. They also order some goods from suppliers. These goods and the ones they make themselves are sold in their shop and online from their website. This puts them in the tertiary sector as well.

The purpose of a business is what the business is all about. It is why a business exists. It shows their general thoughts and what that business represents. The aim of a business is the direction they want to go in. It often includes how they can make sure they fulfil their purpose. An objective of a business is different to an aim. An objective is a more specific target or goal a business wants to reach. This could include improving sales or reducing costs. The objective will help a business to get to their aims and fulfil their purpose. It is important for a business to have a purpose. It gives the business a reason. It could motivate the owners in taking their business to the next level. A purpose gives the business a direction. With a clear, definite purpose, a business should be able to progress and fulfil that. Without a purpose a business will struggle to set their aim and know what objectives, goals and targets they need to meet. This highlights the importance a purpose has to a business and the chain effect it has when a purpose is missing.

I think the purpose of Crow’s Nest Golf Club is to make money. This is often a purpose of a business as without it they will not survive. Crow’s Nest also says that they want to be one of the best nine-hole golf courses in the north of England. They will meet their purpose by following their aims. Their aims will include providing a good experience to customers so that they will return often. They will want to sell good quality goods to make money. These aims will be achieved by Crow’s Nest’s objectives. I assume their objectives are to do quality checks on their products and run through with staff how to treat their customers well and with respect. This will ensure that customers are happy and will use their services and buy their goods. This makes the business money and fulfils its main purpose.

Little Shop of Soap’s purpose is to survive. This is the case with many micro businesses. They will also want to make money and provide a good service. The aims of Little Shop of Soaps will help them to fulfil their purposes. Their aims are probably to sell well made products and to bring in money. To do this they will need to set appropriate objectives. Their objectives could include speaking to their suppliers to clarify what they want in their products and make significant progress in terms of sales so they can expand but still keep the quality. Once again these objectives link to the aims and most importantly to the purpose.

Crow’s Nest Golf Club are currently meeting their aims. They have been open since 1995 and have eighteen members of staff so they must be making money. This is meeting their first aim. They provide a good experience to customers. The proof for this is in their reviews online like the one shown below. This shows that they are doing well to meet their aims and fulfil their purposes.

Little Shop of Soaps are also meeting some of their aims. At only four years old, they have not been open as long as some other businesses but they are surviving. They have not met all their aims as they downsized from their shop to just an online business with a delivery service. They do have good reviews online, such as the one below, proving their good customer service and quality of their responsibly sourced products.