Ex Nihilo is launching a luxury perfume brand that offers customized fragrances. It will initially sell online in France, targeting customers aged 25 and older interested in niche fragrances. The company will offer limited edition perfume collections developed by new talents, as well as a fully customized perfume option where customers select ingredients. It seeks €200,000 in financing to launch and expects to break even within a year.

1. IFA Paris & Shanghai – Post Graduate Department
Vivek Sharma
MBA: Luxury Brand Management
Course: Business Planning
Professor: Sandy Bontout

2. Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary
2. Business overview
3. Marketing & Sales strategy
4. Management team and
Personnel
5. Key financial information
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3
4-7
8-17
18-21
23-24

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Our brand Ex Nihilo is a company which aims at making quality luxurious
perfumes by and for the people. By offering a total customization experience on
the perfumes, we strive to give our customers an experience which has been
long forgotten by the new fast paced world.
At the initial stage we will be selling our perfumes to the French market and we
hope to expand ourselves globally after the period of 1 year, after acquiring the
maximum knowledge of the market and growth of out product offering. We
hope to build a reputation among the niche fragrance market and are more
concerned about the quality of this Market.
With this business plan, we seek to gather a loan amount of €200,000 from the
bank and we aim to make the repayments as soon as we hit break-even on our
financials.
Executive Summary

4. • A brand away from the regular mass
produced luxury products.
• Dream to push the creative and Avant
Garde spirit by providing an Alternative
perfume scope.
• Bespoke Luxury Fragrance.
• Putting innovation and creativity first
to make a perfume with a soul of its
own
Who are we?
What are we Selling?
• Assortment of customised perfumes of
highest quality, mixed and matched to
get the best out of the fragrance
world.
• Combinations developed by not one
but different perfumers with new
talent with years of experience and
innovative approach.
• A promise of niche world with limited
personalised pieces just for the
customer. 4
Business overview

5. Why perfume?
• Introducing the classic French perfumery with the
twist of innovation.
• Deriving inspiration from the dissidents and free
thinkers from the perfume industry.
• Building new bridges between perfumery,
technology and artistic eye.
• The founders form a team that is perfect for their
Business plan :
Olivier – Experience in Finance and Business
administration
Sylvie – Engineer by Trade with a keen inclination
towards Perfumery with the right connections in
the Manufacturing industry of Perfumes.
Benoit – Impeccable olfactory senses and an
appreciation to be in constant company of new
talented personalities in the perfume industry.
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6. Who are we Targeting?
• For men and women from the age of 25 and above.
• Fragrance enthusiasts who have the attention to details of the fragrance universe.
• A person who wants to experience something new with a combination of traditional
approach.
• Online shopping space.
• Deliveries to all over France.
• Prospective launch of a Store in Paris after online establishment.
6
Where are we Selling?

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Key Employees
OLIVIER ROYÈRE
CO-FOUNDER
Born in Stockholm to a Swedish
mother and a French father, Olivier
has experienced the best of both
worlds and has grasped the
differences in culture by travelling
around the world. His involvement
in fragrances fuelled by his family.
Acquiring the knowledge of finance
while working in a bank and finally
applying it to start his own business
is something of advantage to us.
The passion for collection of rich
heritage and creative field would be
one of the reasons of contribution
to this fragrance business model.
SYLVIE LODAY
CEO
Born in United States to French
parents, she has had the touch of
varied lifestyle and her penchant for
travelling has led to more
discoveries and encounters which
nourished her and helped in
discovering herself.
Her involvement as business analyst
and engagement manager in
Mckinsey & Company helped her to
develop a good knowledge of the
market around the globe. Also after
her venture with Givaudan, she
managed to grasp the maximum
knowledge both in Olfactory as well
as business sense.
Her passion to create perfumes and
the products she dreamt of has led
her to take this leap in the fragrance
industry.
BERNOIT VERDIER
BRAND STRATEGIST
Born in the city of fragrances,
Provence. He has spent his
childhood being around varying
fragrances of the Mediterranean
coast.
His impeccable olfactive memory
leads him to be involved in this
world of fragrances. After working
with companies in the innovation
and strategic sector. He has
managed to make a lot of contact in
this respective field and continues to
exchange ideas with new emerging
talents.
The company’s vision of providing
new talent a chance in this industry
is backed by his inclination towards
promoting innovation.

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Marketing and sales strategy
• The women’s fragrance market in 2016 was valued at close to €1.3 billion, a positive
rise over the previous years.
• It is noted that almost 30% of women who use fragrance, do it to express themselves
and who they are as a person. Perfumes are a way to showcase their image and
personality in the society.
• The purchase of high end product has been the most dominating market with almost
70% of the sales driven by them in this industry.
• People now think more of perfumes as being more Unisex, thus eliminating the trend
of Gender Labelling. Perfumes are now more targeted at ones own personality.
• The age group of 25-34 are more experimental with fragrances. Age 25-34 represent a
growing opportunity for the fragrance market. This group is estimated to grow by 12-
15% by the end of 2016.
The Perfume market : Key points
Trends in Frequency of usage

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• Manufacturers fear that online marketing is not a proper means of selling
emotional products but the younger age group of the customers are more
concentrated in the Online platform for shopping.
• About 20 % of 25-34 year old customers buy fragrances over the internet
• The purchasing habit are
changing and it projects that
buyers now are more
interested in authenticity,
quality, Value and exclusivity
rather than just the image.
That is the reason why
people are now inclining
more towards niche brands
so as to stay away from being
a part of the crowd.

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Target market
▪ Primary
- Age 25 and above.
- Wealthy with an eye for rarity.
- Knows everything about the world, be it
brands or everything else.
- Perfumes are important part of their life.
- Highly motivated to wear something that
is rare and just another person on the
street doesn’t wear.
- Purchasing power is high and they can
afford any scent they like.
▪ Secondary
- Age 25 and younger.
- Established millennials looking
for freshness.
- Know about the market offerings
and want to experiment with
new brands.
- Loyal to the product but not the
brand.
- Looking for experience from high
end brands.
- Purchasing power is flexible.

11. • Direct Competitors
• British luxury interiors and perfume company.
Utmost Craftsmanship.
• Passion for transforming the expected into the
extraordinary.
• Uniquely complex and expertly crafted with the
rarest, most precious ingredients.
• Products
Fragrances – Men and Women
Limited editions
• Price range
130-600 Euros
Clive Christian
The direct competitors listed below are considered according to their being ‘niche’
in the market and the kind of customers that they attract towards them.
They are the established brands with certain level of creativeness and elegance
attached to them.
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12. Annick Goutal
• Products
Fragrances – Men and Women
Limited editions
Bath and Beauty
Skincare
Home products
• Price range of Perfumes
90-250 Euros
• Commenced business
in Paris with the
creative insight of
Annick Goutal in a
sophisticated
atmosphere matching
the brand’s values.
• Contains the rarest and
noblest essences with
raw materials chosen
with extreme precision
to achieve the perfect
harmony.
Frederic Malle
• Introduced by Frederic
Malle who
collaborated with top
perfumers, giving them
complete freedom on
production and
materials and ensured
to make their names
appear on the bottle.
• Combining and
creating the avant-
garde spirit of timeless
elegance in perfumes.
• Products
Fragrances – Men and Women
Body line products
Skincare
Candles & home scents
Accessories for perfumes
• Price range of Perfumes
100-1200 Euros
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13. Indirect competitors
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The indirect competitors are considered on the basis of the Availability and Retention
in the market among the customers. These brands although being highly priced their
positioning are more prevalent among the customers.
This being said, these are the brands which are more accessible and used by mass
market as well, thus contradicting directly with our target customer base who want an
altogether niche and rare brand experience.
Dior YSL Chanel Tom Ford
Product range
50 – 200 Euros
Product range
20 – 150 Euros
Product range
60 – 220 Euros
Product range
40 – 595 Euros

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HERITAGE
PRESTIGE PRICE
EXCLUSIVE
MASS
MARKET
AFFORDABLE
LUXURY

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THE PRODUCT
In the medieval times the identity of perfumes were unrestricted by gender, as
people’s choice of fragrances represented them and what they were as a person.
It was about celebrating sheer sensual pleasure above all else and was not the
other way around.
But with the more commercialised market today, companies try to sell the
perfumes based on Male and Female preferences, done more so that they can
have a Brand ambassador (preferably a celebrity) to whom the customers look up
to.
It is our Vision to promote an offering which brings back the expectation of the
customer for the same kind of experience and lets them be themselves.
We don’t want people to be alienated if they do not follow the traditional
masculinity or femininity. (For the people who prefer scent from the ‘Different
sex’
It is important to us to provide our customers with superior ingredients and
artistry .

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Model
Limited Edition perfumes
We will provide customers with the Collection perfumes made by experienced new
talents.
These perfume offerings change every 3 months by providing new fresh fragrances.
Price Ranges from € 180 - € 400

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Customized Collection
This is the offering which is our main
USP.
Here the customers will be able to
make their own Fragrance by taking
reference from the information that
we will provide on our website.
They will be provided with the basic
information (Their origin, best
combinations, density, etc.) about the
various ingredients
After deciding their combinations,
they will be provided an option of
getting samples of at most 3
Combinations. If satisfied they can
order for the preferred combination
and the delivery process will follow suit
after that.
Price Ranges from € 300 - € 600

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Product Distribution : Online purchase till delivery
Customer goes
online
Has the option between:
• Prepared Fragrances
• Totally personalised
perfume by the
customer
Instant selection and checkout for the preferred
location. ( Free Delivery  Days of delivery
according to the location)
Customer enters a
new tab with
Fragrance chart and
description for each
ingredient.
After obtaining the
exact knowledge
about the ingredient
they place order for
selected sample.
The same process follow
for ordering the desired
personalised perfume
for the delivery of the
required samples.

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Promotion and Brand Engagement
1. The introduction of the Company will be made official online by providing
banner about its opening event online and sales will go on immediately after
the opening event in Paris. The guest list will include:
• Established bloggers from web platforms and social media platforms
• Connoisseurs of perfume industry
• Connections from the perfume manufacturing industry.
• Local and international Press for maximum coverage.
2. Email marketing:
After the opening event, collection of automated email campaign designed
specifically for generating more buzz will be surfaced to the contacts and their
knowns generated through the event. Provision of shopping incentives and
more offers will be circulated through this
3. Affiliate programs:
Special URL will be created for every person with whom we will deal with so
that customers can directly see the reviews and product knowledge. This
includes selected bloggers on web and social media platforms. The sales can
be tracked due to dedicated URLs to compensate every person dealt with.

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4. Referral Marketing:
The Most important technique since the beginning of times. Provision of
impeccable customer service thus generating a reputation that follows word
of mouth coverage.
5. Pop – up store:
Another approach of Pop – up store that has been in vogue to generate more
customers through introduction and trial method. This drives new customer
traffic by providing them a taste of the experience of our brand and its values.
The following techniques are some of the examples which we as a company would
take up to create more awareness about the brand. They will be introduced as the
brand grows.
A Series of promotional events will be surfaced around the city of Paris to create
more brand retention among the buyers. As our company is more about
customisation, physical events and store are a thing that we will consider to get our
hands on.

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Management team and Personnel
Staffing
• Website design
• SEO
• Post Purchase mail engagement
• Content Marketing (Social media engagement)
Marketing/Business development
This department is one of the most important for a business to succeed.
It includes the basic things that helps us to communicate with the customer and
tell them our story in the best way possible. This will be with the way we design
our site’s outlook, our visibility on Social media and how our customer service is
planned like.
Once the customers are on our site, we need to keep them there and compel
them to buy from us by using different tools.
Bernoit Verdier would be working as the Chief Brand Strategist making the
scientific approach for better organization, optimization and the effectiveness of
your eCommerce site.
The department will have one employee with good knowledge in IT working with
Bernoit

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Finance and administration
For the operational functions, we will not be managing the areas of payments,
payroll and basic accounting activities.
Our main aim here in the initial stage is to grow the business by focusing on Sales,
Marketing and Customer service. Outsourcing these aspects of administration will
help maintaining our business instead of paying salary to Internal Audit.
Better communication of our goals in the organisation is key while preparing such a
system, hence the employees here will be prepared for as and when our company
decides to have our own financial team on board.
Managed by Sylvie and Olivier because of their experience in the financial field
assisted by one more employee dealing the financial and legal issues.
Services and logistics
• On site customer queries (Sales assistance online)
• After sale Customer support
• Inventory (Sales analyst)
• Delivery
This department includes everything from communicating with customer for correct
purchase decision to retaining them as a future customer.
It is a vital department as selling is one aspect but having the same customer on our
site again takes a lot of effort and on the other hand, getting an new customer is
even more taxing on the company in terms of both money and efforts.

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Includes 2 employees managing everything with Bernoit.
The inventory decisions will also be made by this department for the first year as the
function of Sales analyst will be made by this department only.
For logistics, our company will be making arrangements with local distributor (The best
in the country as some global Logistics companies don’t do good in each countries) on
the basis of monthly payments so as to assure the products are delivered on time with
efficiency.
Warehousing:
The need for our business is to maintain a warehouse to contain all the perfumes and
combinations at hand for delivery.
It is thought out reasonably that in the beginning the storage of collection perfumes will
be done where the office will be, so that proper concentration can be made on the
packaging and safe delivery of products.
The personalised perfumes from the customers will directly be shipped from the place of
manufacturing and the quality standards will be communicated directly to the
manufacturing team.

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Financials : Key Information
• 2 Categories of products divided into six sections – 4 Limited edition perfumes
changing in every quarter to offer different fragrances and changed on the basis
of response by the market. The performance of perfume 3 (Limited Edition 3),
evaluated over the time and due to better response is kept the same by the end
of the year.
• Expenses include Insurance which is paid monthly for the Packages delivered to
the customer through logistics.
• Sampling charges are accounted for according to the demand of the customised
fragrances. Per package initial cost is high but as the year progresses, due to
high orders, per package cost reduce. Thus landing to less cost overall.
• Financial services provided by external audit. They are paid monthly for the
upkeep of the journals. (The financials are proposed to be taken over by
company after one year of operations by the Internal audit that will be
employed)
• Salaries for 4 employees :
• One for Marketing/ Business development
• One for finance and administration
• Two for logistics and services
These employees will be working under the guidance of the founders who are
handling their respective departments as per their expertise.

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• Promotion & Advertising: Includes the overall charges for SEO management,
Promotional activities, Pop-Up store (Twice during the year at selected
destinations),
• Website will be developed and a separate cost is accounted for during the year
for its maintenance and upkeep with required revamp changes. Any further cost
for future changes and development will be managed from the operating profit
before taxes.
• Break even point:
Contribution margin per unit = 70%
Fixed expenses for the year = € 102686
Break even point = € 102686 / 70%
= € 1,46,694
As per these projections the company will start making profits by the end of
the 4 month of sales and will be able to generate enough operating profit to
pay off the amount of loan taken.

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Thank You