PIPER PRINCESS, MD
MBAH 10B
PRANAV
Pranav New York was envisioned by Mark Orbos and Karlo Nisce who are MBA students at the Asian Institute of Management as the first male spa in the Philippines together with its integrated grooming and wellness for men. This opened in Robinson's Galleria in October/November 2004 but after 3 months of operation, it sustained losses.
Having set up the business, they initially did a market analysis but only scrutinizing generalities in data just like data of registered hair establishments, exploratory interview with Industry experts, exploratory focused group discussion involving co-students aged 24-30 years old who are young professionals which gave the investors a background of what the limited population would want. They also had immersion with different salons, spas and barbershop which reaffirmed their preliminary thoughts of what a spa/salon should have. They created the vision and mission of their business venture; but with limited time, to comply with their school requirements and hoping that the opening of their shop be in December where most people are into shopping and fashion, the creation of Pranav New York was completed. With this limitation, only Robinson's Galleria had an opening in July 2004. With their jumping into the opportunity without much location analysis, then the start of the problem came in. Foot traffic was focused more in the ground floor and their area was located away from most of the patrons of Galleria. Customer dynamics, location analysis where their leased space was 154 sqm and micromarket analysis were analysed later limiting their choice to relocate. On top of all, their funds to sustain the shop were dwindling. This forced the entrepreneurs to reanalyse their market. This would mean comparing their salon to other barbershops which had more clients and type of clientele in the Galleria area. With this review and analysis, they realized that most of the traffic in the area were females who was not conscious in their spending manners, most especially in the grooming services. Since, majority of the crowd would range from 13 to 40 years and at the same time are mostly young professionals; price consciousness was also an issue. Development of loyalty among customers was also recognized as key factors into building up the business along with the inclusion of females in the service. Having analysed their data, the entrepreneurs realized that their male clienteles focused more into patronizing traditional services like barber cut instead of the spa which are harder and more expensive to sustain. This would mean not limiting their service to only male clients but opening their doors to female clients, discontinuing the spa which was harder to sustain and maintaining only the salon operations. This prompted the business partners to incur more positive returns than maintaining unnecessary costs and losses. Thus, their original concept was refurbished to cater to the realities of the micro market and at the same time, realign themselves into their mission and vision.
In conclusion, entering a business is no simple task. All entrepreneurs aim to have a return of investment at the soonest possible time. Aside from having a clear mission and vision of the company which all employees are asked to adhere to, a thorough study of the market clientele, business location, and target profits should be studied in depth before actually starting the business. In all likelihood, profits will start to pour in, however to sustain these profits involves another business model; uniqueness of the business, client centeredness, and personal touch.
