BluBoxes Business Plan


Andover Business Club 
Phillips Academy 
BluBoxes Business Plan 

Background Information  
BluBoxes was designed to be an on-campus delivery service at Andover, selling student necessities at discounted prices. Launched in 2018, BluBoxes fulfilled a month’s worth of orders to Andover students looking for a competitive price on school supplies, snacks, and toiletries. The Andover Business Club board temporarily terminated BluBoxes operations in early 2019 due to excessive time commitment requirements, a lack of efficiency in the delivery process to student dorms, and a greater amount of energy spent fulfilling orders than profits reaped. Entering the 2019-2020 school year, the board has made renovations.  

Mission 
For students who seek to buy school supplies, snacks, and drinks at discounted prices, ABC offers BluBoxes, a bi-weekly $1 flash-sale so that students save time and money buying things they want at the convenience of a trip to the dining hall.1 

Management Team 
Ava Long ’21, President and Founder of Andover Business Club 
Ava pioneered BluBoxes in 2018 along with the Board of ABC. She will continue to head BluBoxes into the 2019-2020 year, implementing new changes in logistics. She recognized the flash-sale model at the end of the 2019 school year during ABC’s attempt to rid of extra stock in the form of a $1 flash sale. She spearheaded this opportunity as the minimum viable product for BluBoxes future business model. She seeks to make BluBoxes a service that meets both a demand amongst students and the time limitations of ABC’s club members.  
Alex Fleury ’20, VP of Andover Business Club 
Alex has been working with Ava since the founding of ABC. He worked in operations and packaging with BluBoxes in 2018.  
Edward Rogers ’21, Board member, Operations 
Edward realized the lack of efficiency of dorm deliveries. He worked closely with Ava in spearheading the new business model. His early recognition of the speed of profitability of a flash sale and the reduced time requirement from eliminating delivery makes him a strong leader amongst the Board.  

Operations 
All items will be purchased by ABC from Costco and Jet in bulk for under a dollar per unit a week prior to the sale. Purchases will be made on Costco.com or Jet.com by Mr. Hurley, ABC’s club advisor. All goods will be picked up at Central Services and brought to the club storage room in George Washington Hall. The night of the flash-sale, club members will retrieve the items from the storage room and bring it to Commons for set up. At the end of the dinner, all items that are not sold will be brought back to the storage room until the next sale. 

At the table, all items will be sold for $1. Payments will be accepted by blue card or by cash. Tables will be setup in Commons during dinner (5-7PM) on a Thursday night, with at least 2 ABC members operating. Students in the dining hall will have easy access to the table, where they will receive the items immediately upon purchase (eliminates delivery from 2018-2019).  


Marketing and Sales 
The ABC Instagram (@andoverbusinessclub) will be the primary marketing tool. ABC seeks to have sales on a regular bi-weekly basis so that students can eventually anticipate sales without having to rely on social media. ABC will market BluBoxes as an opportunity to save money, time, at exceptional convenience.   

The Weekender ads are critical at the beginning. We will run the same advertisement each week there is a flash sale in the “Upcoming Events” box. Puru ’20 is in charge of communicating with Ms. Cormier to ensure ads make it into the Weekender bi-weekly.  

Financial Projections 
ABC will purchase items from Costco and Jet in bulk with club funds. All individual units must cost under $1. All items will be sold individually for $1. The cost to run each flash sale totals roughly $60. Assuming all items purchased are sold at each sale, Andover Business Club expects to make a profit margin of 51%.2 All items that are not sold will be brought back to the storage room until the next sale. This will affect the amount of stock that needs to be purchased for the following sale.  



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