What’s Inside the Business Plan?

1) Executive Summary

A clear overview of your Halloween costume shop concept, selling season, and where you’ll operate (pop-up lease, mall inline, kiosk, or online + retail). It defines your revenue drivers across costumes, accessories, makeup, décor, and bundle upsells, with realistic seasonal targets. The funding request aligns to initial inventory buys, fixtures, POS setup, marketing, and working capital for the peak rush. This section reads like a lender-credible seasonal retail pitch, not a generic store intro.

2) Market Overview

A U.S. demand breakdown tied to local population density, family demographics, school/event calendars, and foot-traffic corridors. You’ll show how customers shop by theme and urgency (last-minute buyers vs. early planners) and how that impacts inventory timing. Competition covers major chains, big-box seasonal aisles, and online sellers, plus why your location and assortment can win. The goal is to prove predictable seasonal demand in your specific area.

3) Products, Merchandising & Pricing

Detailed product lanes for adult/kids costumes, character sets, masks, wigs, makeup, props, décor, and add-on accessories. Pricing logic shows target margins by category and how bundles raise average basket size. You’ll outline sizing depth, replenishment rules, and display strategy to keep best-sellers front-of-store. Lenders use this to validate that your unit economics fit seasonal retail reality.

4) Seasonal Operations Plan

A start-to-finish operational timeline: lease signing, build-out, receiving windows, floor set, peak-week staffing, and shut-down. It includes shrink controls, cash-handling SOPs, POS workflows, and nightly recovery during high-traffic weekends. You’ll map vendor lead times and contingency plans for late shipments or fast sell-outs. This shows banks and landlords you can execute a tight seasonal run smoothly.

5) Marketing & Peak-Season Calendar

A marketing countdown from late summer through Halloween weekend, with channel priorities by week. You’ll plan social ads, influencer promos, school/event tie-ins, email/SMS drops, and local SEO for “Halloween costumes near me.” The plan explains how you’ll drive early traffic, then switch to urgency campaigns as the holiday nears. Every tactic is tuned to maximize sales in a short window.

6) Management, Staffing & Controls

A staffing model built around traffic spikes, weekend rushes, and last-10-days surge hiring. You’ll define roles for manager, lead cashier, floor associates, and stock/receiving, plus training checklists for sizing and upsells. KPIs include conversion rate, average basket size, sell-through by category, and markdown recovery. This proves you can manage the season profitably and repeat it year over year.

7) Financial Model (36-Month)

A realistic 3-year forecast with seasonal sales curves, inventory cash timing, rent windows, payroll ramps, and marketing spikes. Margins are modeled by product lane, with liquidation assumptions for leftover stock after Halloween. You can adjust unit volume, basket size, ad spend, freight, and staffing hours for your market. Output includes lender-clean P&L, cash flow, and break-even.