PART I
Item 1. Business
Company Overview
We were incorporated as Bespoke Tricycles Inc. on August 8, 2011 in the State of Nevada for the purpose of designing, manufacturing, and selling vending tricycles for commercial customers. We operate through our wholly-owned subsidiary, Bespoke Tricycles, Ltd., a company organized under the Laws of England and Wales. On August 10, 2011, we purchased all of the issued and outstanding shares of Bespoke Tricycles, Ltd. from our current officer and director, John Goodhew, in exchange for 5,000,000 shares of our common stock.
Our operating subsidiary has been manufacturing vending tricycles for the past 2 years. We have fabricated and sold 136 units to date. The majority of sales have been through third party e-commerce sites such as EBay, Gumtree and Amazon. Limited funding has restricted our supply levels to date.
We have acquired a patent in the United Kingdom for ‘a collapsible front loading vending tricycle’ Intellectual Property Office patent number GB1002964.3. Because of the unique design of our collapsible tricycles, we benefit from reduced packaging and shipping costs, enabling us to access a global market. We believe our ability to ship our products internationally with relative low cost is one of our competitive advantages.
Our overall aim is to manufacture a professional vending tricycle that is ideal for small start up businesses to trade from and for larger companies for marketing or promotional reasons. Our goal is to provide customers with quality tricycles that will help them turn a healthy profit in a time where other career paths are restricted and more people are looking to set up their own businesses.
Products & Services
We design and manufacture vending tricycles. Although the traditional use for these tricycles is often remembered as the traditional ‘stop me and buy one’ ice cream tricycles, the number of uses for these eco-friendly mobile retailing units is wide ranging. They can be used as mobile retailing units that are self contained and able to operate in a fixed or portable position. Previously, our clients have used our tricycles for mobile vending, street cleaning, parcel delivery, and eco friendly transport. Sales have been made to Germany, Spain, Ireland, and the US.
Our tricycles can be used by individuals and established businesses to sell a range of products, from ice cream to hot dogs and from jewelry to flowers. These tricycles have also been acquired by large communication companies and water companies to promote their product at particular events or occasions.
We incorporate a unique patented design that allows the tricycle to be collapsed and folded flat for efficient delivery, transportation and storage. Below is a picture of one of our collapsible tricycles.
This design has allowed us to expand sales both nationally and internationally. We are currently scaling up the number of components that are being fabricated by third parties. We believe this will ensure professional finishes to the product and help to increase our sales revenues. This in combination with our planned online marketing strategy we hope will ensure our ability to grow and to deliver to a worldwide market.
Market Analysis
Our founder, John Goodhew, has been making vending tricycles for over 2 years and has successfully marketed and sold tricycles internationally.
Our tricycles are a cheaper alternative ($1,200/$1,500) to other tricycle manufacturers. As well as being cheaper than other competitors tricycles, e.g., Pashley $4,000-$6,000, Bespoke Tricycles incorporates a unique patented design, which is the product’s unique selling point (“USP”), which allows the tricycle to be collapsed and folded flat for efficient delivery, transportation and storage. This USP has also allowed Bespoke Tricycles Inc. to expand sales both national and internationally.
We believe these two competitive advantages (effective pricing and the collapsible design) places Bespoke Tricycle Inc. in a good position for expansion.
The majority of our sales have come in the summer months from clients in Europe and the Americas (UK, France, Germany, Spain, Ireland and the US.) Despite this trend we are seeing increased interest globally and more particularly from the southern hemisphere. Most of our sales have been through third party ecommerce sites such as eBay, Gumtree and Amazon. However, we anticipate an increase in direct sales through our website (http://www.bespoketricycles.com/). We believe that the cost and size of our vending tricycles will be appealing for people currently wishing to start their own small business.
Vending tricycles can be a mobile or fixed position retail unit that clearly shows and displays its products in a unique and eye catching manner. We hope to target people setting up their own small scale businesses. We believe that this as the ideal environment to sell our products, as for many it is a solution to financial hardship.
Manufacturing
We have a small workshop that serves as our manufacturing facility. We have a number of components for our tricycles that have been contracted out to other fabricators. We assemble these components at our facility, which is capable enough at the present time for our needs. As demand for our tricycles increases, however, we will need a larger workshop to assemble our products. We are currently investigating suitable premises and calculating the required square footage that will be necessary to further develop and increase production. We are also considering outsourcing the assembly of our products depending on the cost of having a third party perform that function.
Marketing
As our company grows, we plan to expand our facility and create a professional product that undercuts our competitors in terms of price and features. The growth of our assembly workshop and the contracted fabrication work is a strategy that we think is the safest and most effective method. We aim to soften the seasonal sway in sales by developing additional ‘boxes’ that can be bought from our website that allow a range of pre established products to be sold from the tricycles. This flexibility will allow customers as well as Bespoke Tricycle Inc to stay atop trends or changes in desires from customers. We also aim to launch an eco-friendly marketing campaign which will illustrate some of the many uses available for our products. In addition to selling tricycles we also intend to provide potential customers with start up business ideas and guidance on how to start-up a small business. We aim to do this through information packs available when purchasing. We also intend to expand the business and offer add-ons for our products, such as specifically designed fridges, cooking surfaces or general storage boxes in addition to custom paint.
One of the key benefits of Bespoke Tricycles Inc’s tricycles is that they reduce the user’s dependency on fossil fuels. Particularly in high density urban areas as they serve as a green solution is important to individuals and businesses needing a mobile unit for retail, delivery or servicing needs. It is hoped that Bespoke Tricycles Inc will not only supply individuals and business in the setting up and running of green enterprises, but will also do its bit for the environment as well.
Tricycles are also useful for drivers that need to keep a close eye on their cargo or need quick access to it without having to get off of their trike. This makes them ideal from food vendors to pedi-cab drivers as they have frequent interaction with customers.
Below are some sustainable applications Bespoke Tricycles Inc aims to develop:
Mail/cargo/Parcel Delivery Service:
We hope to be able to target postal companies that need cargo tricycles in congested urban traffic areas.
Currently larger international courier companies are using tricycles in order to make their way through congested parts of large cities to deliver parcels quietly and efficiently.
Bespoke Tricycles Inc believes this method of delivery is a great alternative for any business that needs to make local deliveries in crowded urban areas. Tricycles can also be considered to be economically suitable and sustainable option for urban delivery companies.
General Applications
Our plan is to position Bespoke Tricycles Inc as a reputable tricycle manufacturer that offers affordable and quality tricycles. We have developed a website (http://www.bespoketricycles.com/) which has cost $7,157 to develop. Currently we have limited access to a world market due to the lack of funding that such a drive would require. We have designed and researched a strategy for this but have limited funds to introduce it. With the growth that we are planning we hope to focus more on this.
Internet Strategy
Our plan is to position Bespoke Tricycles Inc as a reputable tricycle manufacturer that offers affordable and quality tricycles. To do this, we would like to put a great amount of time and resources into developing a premiere website. Currently we have limited access to a world market due to the lack of funding that such a drive would require. We have designed and researched a strategy for this but have limited funds to introduce it. With the growth that we are planning we hope to focus more on this.
In addition to describing our product and illustrating the design capabilities on our website (http://www.bespoketricycles.com/), we will also feature numerous success stories and images of small businesses and products we have assisted. Our site will also include variations or ‘extras’ that can be added to the tricycles at different times of the year to sell different items or to promote other products. It is hoped that profit will come from this additional channel of business. Our vision is to create a website that will become an integral part of our marketing, sales and daily operations. In addition to further technical development of the website we will need to keep in touch with existing customers to catalogue their experiences and successes. We will also need to develop new products and market those to existing customer such as freezers/refrigerators to sell drinks and ice-creams in the summer months. We also intend to provide customers with a template business plan that they can tailor to suit their needs and business. To achieve this we will need to instruct a business consultant to draft such a business plan. We anticipate these changes can all be made for $5,000 and would take two months to implement. We are still currently trying to ascertain the level of demand for these services among existing customers.
Marketing Strategy
We recognize the critical importance of marketing. We will require a properly designed and executed marketing plan to ensure market penetration and business success. We intend to develop and establish our own website and fully commit to our online strategy in due course.
Our marketing plan will include advertisement on the internet and sites that are already a popular place for potential customers. We also aim to develop cost effective marketing through online social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Currently the website is only available in English but we plan to make it accessible in a range of languages in order to reach worldwide sales.
There are also a number of publications in the area of entrepreneurialism that Bespoke Tricycles Inc would like to advertise in, such publications are common place in the UK, Europe and the United States and would therefore be a more strategic and cost effective marketing approach.
Sales Strategy
Bespoke Tricycles Inc will continue to build its sales based on online orders, both through third party e-commerce sites and its own website. The strategy will begin with fulfilling the current demand from the United Kingdom before branching out to Europe and the United States. As the reach of our sales grows, more funding will be directed to marketing and sales strategy.
Under the direction of the executive management, we may target larger events, organizations or businesses to highlight the beneficial features our products could bring to these companies. The recent London Olympics proved a good opportunity to showcase our products. We have already made sales to Selfridges & Co (a chain of high end department stores in the United Kingdom) who have purchased several of our tricycles and have customized them using a vinyl graphic wrap. The tricycles have been on display in all Selfridges’ stores the summer of 2012 and were being used to distribute Champagne and cold drinks to its’ customers.
There are also a number of business-to-business websites that we would like to advertise our products. Interest in these areas may give rise to orders and sales as the people interested tend to relate to medium to large sized businesses.
Competition
We are currently cheaper than other competitor’s tricycles (Pashley $4000-$6000, Morrison $3,000, Business on Wheels $3,200). We have also incorporated a unique patented design that allows the tricycle to be collapsed and folded flat for efficient delivery, transportation and storage. This unique selling point has also allowed us to expand our sales both national and internationally, as we are able to deliver abroad in a standard adult bike box—thus saving the significant transportation costs that other tricycles brands such as Pashley may incur.
Such commercial tricycles tend to be expensive costing between $3,000 and $6,000, they are also bulky and oversized with no easily detachable components to allow the operator to quickly and easily reduce the dimensions of the tricycle down to more appropriate dimension for storage or transportation purposes.
Our competitive advantage is mainly in two parts—cost effectiveness ($1,200-$1,500 per unit) which undercuts our nearest competitors by approximately $2,000 with a profit on approximately $700 on each unit. Also due to the patented design we are able to reach international demand by providing a relatively small shipping cost. A further competitive advantage that we hope to develop is our website, which currently hosts suggestions for current and potential customers on what can be retailed from our tricycles both seasonally and yearly. We will also provide all the necessary equipment to set up and run an effective vending business thus utilizing our own experiences of selling a wide range of products from these units.