1.
Himalayan Handicraft House
(Handicraft goods from Nepal, India and Tibet)

2.
1.0 Company Profile
Business Overview
'Himalayan Handicraft House' Is the place where one can find traditional handmade products
from Nepal, India and Tibet such as handmade paper, woolen, garments, wooden crafts,
pashmina, jewelry, antics and herbal products. Himalayan Handicraft House was established on
15/01/2013
Himalayan Handicraft House has been promoting the Handicraft and Handloom products
produced by the cottage and small-scale industries of the remote Himalayan parts of the country
providing job for the hundreds. Expressing the spirit of many cultures, an important part of our
motivation for our business is to aid in the development of economic alternatives, cultural
exchange and education about our world. Fair trade helps more than aid. We purchase as much
as possible from small producers and ethical traders that share our ideals. Purchasing
handmade products helps ensure that traditional arts and crafts have a future and that they
contribute to a family’s income and therefore improve people’s lives.
Himalayan Handicraft House is a product business. Traditionally hand crafted product such
as ...handmade garments, jewelry, paper, antics, pashmina, Tanka art, wooden crafts, tea,
woolen products etc. which will provide the local communities a test of Himalayan cultural and
its unique products.
Company History
I had the same business back home in Kathmandu, Nepal for ten years (Thapa print and craft
shop). My business was based on exporting handmade goods to various countries in the world
and had a retail store in Thamel. A tourist hub in Kathmandu. Ever since I moved to Canada I
had plan to have my own business. I'm in good contact with my buyers in Canada and suppliers
back home. I sold few items that I brought with me from home to some friends and all of them
told me that they like to buy more from me. They encourage me all the time and
Management
I myself will be the person running the business in Canada. Some of my family members back
home who are still in the business will be helping me with the product selection and for the
shipment process. On top of that I personally myself will be visiting production location to
promote the productivity of those products which I sell the most.
Location
Himalayan Handicraft House will be store front. Himalayan Handicraft House will be located at
Inglewood, Calgary; AB. Established in 1875 Inglewood is the Calgary's original main street. A
far cry from a trip to the mall, Inglewood is home to hundreds of thousands of great buys, unique
gift ideas, one-of-a-kind treasures and the best local shopping experience in the city!. It is best
location where shoppers both local and tourist come to join together to experience the verity of
shops and products from around the world.
Legal Structure
Himalayan Handicraft House will operate as a sole proprietorship for the foreseeable future.
This is the norm for start-ups in this industry. Insurance will provide protection against any
liability. Himalayan Handicraft House is interested in securing not at this time.

3.
2.0 Market Research
Industry Profile & Outlook
Himalayan Handicraft House operates primarily in the Retail industry.
Handicrafts products from the Himalayas... Target Customer; local consumers and local tourist.
Major arrival/ competition Manana Imports 1132, Kensington RD, NW, Calgary. Goal of
Himalayan Handicraft House would be to explore and bring new and unique items other than
that are being sold in similar stores and provide consumers with a different test in the market.
One of the main goals of Himalayan Handicraft House is to provide local consumers with a test
of different hand made products inspired by the local religion and culture without having to travel
half a way across the world. Being born in that part of the world myself it would be an
opportunity for the locals to buy the goods with the exact and fact based information from the
Himalayan born Immigrant. Himalayan Handicraft House's key marketing strategy will be to
expand awareness of the products beyond their existing customers. To achieve this, Himalayan
Handicraft House will secure a booth at the Calgary Farmer’s Market and has identified three
local tourist stores they will be approaching to trial their product lines in their retail location. A
secondary strategy will be to promote brand awareness and traffic to the other Himalayan stores
in Canada especially with Himalayan store Toronto (ON) and Himalayan touch Victoria (BC).
Himalayan Handicraft House and store room will be located at 9th Avenue, SE, Calgary.
Business owners insurance, a starting materials inventory, and an online ecommerce store will
be needed. To generate initial revenue and develop demand in the local market, Himalayan
Handicraft house will rent a booth at Calgary Farmer’s Market. However, after year one this
strategy will be reviewed to determine if transitioning to an ecommerce model supported by third
party retailers is possible. Himalayan Handicraft House will encourage frequent feedback
through online surveys on the product’s feature and quality as well as the overall customer
experience.
Local Market
Himalayan handicraft house will continue to see increases in its various unique product sale
overall due to the rising disposable incomes and changing lifestyles. The industry is set to
experience strong growth over the coming years. With the diversity of products available and
the proliferation of potential sources, creating a niche will be important. Himalayan handicraft
house is targeting local communities, visitors, tourists and young professionals with household
incomes of $50,000 - $65,000.

4.
Key Competitors / SWOT Analysis
Competi
tor
Strength
s
Weakne
ss
Opportu
nities
Threats
Manana
export
Well
establishe
d with
local
communit
y Online
presence
Limited
selection
No
exposure
to product
creation
process
Provide
history of
product to
create
emotional
connectio
n
lacking in
consumer
s change
of
demand
and
preferenc
e
Himalaya
n
Handicraft
House
Well-
constructe
d products
from
found
materials
Familiar
with the
local
communit
y and their
choices
preferred
Not well-
known in
the
marketpla
ce
Create
pieces
that reflect
local
communit
y without
being
‘nautical
themed'
price
would be
little
higher
because
of the
import
cost
Target Market
Himalayan Handicraft House is focused on selling to Consumers (B2C).
1. Kids, Men, Women ( young, old) from all age background. 2. College or University Students,
recent graduates or young professionals (demographics) 3. Household income: $50,000 -
$65,000 (demographics) 4.Consumers that look to support local businesses and the community
(behavior) Consumers desiring products that provide quality and value as well as reflect the
history of Alberta 5.Tourists visiting Calgary, specially during the Stamped and in other local
occasion who are looking for a unique souvenir to commemorate their trip 6.Neighbors
comprising the downtown core of Calgary and the surrounding areas etc.
3.0 Sales & Marketing
Pricing Strategy
Pricing in the Handicrafts product industry varies dramatically due to the variety of materials
used manufacture the product. The amount of work done and time factor also plays an
important role on the pricing of the final product.
In reviewing competitors online across Canada that are selling products mostly handicrafts from
in and around the world prices range from $5 - $400, from small gift items to large decorative

5.
antics items. * Competition: $28 - $250 per product * Himalayan handicraft house : $10 -
$300per product
Himalayan handicraft house target market is the local community, visitors, tourist- products for
all from 5 years old to 90's old therefore the discretionary income available to those segments is
varied. In order to appeal to the younger and the kid's, less established market they will have a
starting point of $28. However, they want Himalayan handicraft house to be a brand that grows
with them as they become more established in their career and therefore will offer more variety
of selections with greater complexity and reasonable price. Their pricing strategy also lends
itself to spontaneous purchases by tourists looking to commemorate their visit to Alberta.
Marketing Strategy
Marketing Strategy Markets Creating awareness of the Himalayan handicraft house products is
critical to the success of the business. Himalayan Handicraft house has established a direct
sales channel by securing a booth at the Calgary Farmer’s Market, a “must see” stop for locals
and tourists alike. Strategic Alliances As part of their overall awareness strategy, Himalayan
handicraft house will focus on establishing strategic alliances with local tourist boutiques to
carry their product lines. Although the profit margin on these sales will be lower, Himalayan
handicraft house will succeed in generating greater exposure without having to hire additional
staff. Social Media: Pinterest A secondary strategy will be to generate online traffic to Himalayan
handicraft house Etsy site from Pinterest. According to research, Pinterest shoppers are 10%
more likely to make a purchase than those arriving from other social sites and traffic from
Pinterest spends double the average from Facebook traffic. Himalayan handicraft house will
only have a physical presence at the Calgary Farmer’s once a week therefore an Etsy store will
be established to sell products online. The Etsy store will support both physical and online
awareness activities by providing interested customers with another method to purchase
products beyond the limited physical locations. When setting up the Etsy store Himalayan
handicraft house will adhere to suggested practices in Etsy’s Seller’s Handbook
(http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/the-seller-handbook/) to provide guidance on how to
optimize the store copy for search optimization.
Primary Marketing Activity Himalayan handicraft house primary marketing activity will be the
booth at the Calgary Farmer’s Market for the summer although, Himalayan handicraft house is
looking for seasonal events to attend in the winter months. Representatives will be
professionally dressed yet casual at all times and wearing Himalayan products. Himalayan
booth will be comprised of sample and open display cases for handicraft product lines. These
will consist of a wooden shutter converted to an jewelry stand, three wooden library card
drawers and long wooden stand for garments, woolen products, handmade paper products,
antics and other will be put on display. All items will be displayed on a collapsible wooden table
covered with a white table cloth and crocheted overlay. will use chalkboards to call out the tie to
each product origin and history to display price ranges for each product type. Each product will
be displayed with its story and price visible. Mirror will be available for the customer at the
center, encouraging users to see how products look on them. Each week, Himalayan handicraft
house will transport a collection of 300 products from across all the product lines from jewelry,
antics, herbal to garments. The support materials on hand will be business cards promoting the
Etsy store and business cards of the local tourist boutiques selling the HHH product lines.
Business cards will be made by HHH in batches of 500 using recycled paper luggage tags and
a custom made stamp, at a cost of $100. HHH representatives will be engaged with shoppers
and encourage them to uncover the unique story behind each product, but not do a “hard sell”.
Refer to the sales process for specifics of this interaction. The weekly costs will range from $65
to $100 a week with expected product loss due to transport damage or theft as 1 product/week.

6.
E Expected sales resulting from the Calgary Farmer’s Market are expected to average 200
products/each weekend with a follow up of 50-100 products sold online every two weeks.
Marketing Objectives Goal #1 - To generate 150 sales each weekend at the Calgary Farmer’s
Market along with retail sale of 500 product sale each week on a store in Inglewood market area.
Goal #2 - To curate 5 new pins each week to each of Pinterest HHH boards (8 totals). Goal #3 -
To have 1000 page views/month to the Etsy store 6 months after launching. Positioning
Statement at HHH, each piece is original with its own history and connection to ancient Buddhist
and Hindu culture from Southern Asian continents, bringing owners a story along with beautiful
handicraft products from different cultural backgrounds without having to travel by them self to
those faraway nations.
4.0 Operations
Location(s)
Location(s) Himalayan handicraft house weekend booth will be located at the 510 77th Avenue
SE, Calgary, AB. This is at the heart of downtown Calgary so it generates a large amount of foot
traffic during the summer months from both locals enjoying the summer weather and from
tourists visiting Calgary.Himalayan handicraft house main store location will be at Inglewood,
9th Avenue SE Calgary in the heart of down town Calgary's Inglewood market.
Himalayan Handicraft House website will launch/launched on 15/11/2014.
Since the increase in traffic to the home will be minimal Himalayan handicraft house is not in
jeopardy of breaking any city by-laws. Himalayan handicraft house website will launch/launched
on 15/11/2014. HHH website will operate as an ecommerce store on Etsy. It will not have a
standalone website outside of this store front. HHH realizes this limits features of the site to
those offered by Etsy, but the benefit is that the platform is heavily used by online shoppers and
there is no cost to setup a store.
Himalayan handicraft house will not require a web developer or designer for their Etsy site. They
will design the store banner and look themselves utilizing the owner’s degree in Interdisciplinary
design. The store will launch with the standard features of an Etsy store. It is recommended in
the Etsy “Seller’s Handbook” to have products professional photographed. HHH will invest in
having all products professional shot by a local photographer before listing them on the Etsy
store. This additional step will result in the store taking approximately 1 month to setup in order
to coordinate the photographing of all products. HHH will pay the $0.20/item listing fee for each
product added to the Etsy store as well as 3.5% as a commission fee to Etsy on each sale
based on the final price before tax.
Legal Issues
Himalayan Handicraft House anticipates the following legal issues:
business licenses
location & zoning by-laws 
import/export 



7.
1. Business licenses Himalayan handicraft house will registered HST number with Revenue
Canada Agency.
2. Location and Zoning by-laws Himalayan handicraft house will register with Service Alberta
and Municipal Relations Registry of Joint Stock Companies as a sole proprietorship to receive
the confirmation of their business number. They will have to renewal annual for $66 to keep
their business name registered.
3. Import/Export Himalayan handicraft house will obtain import/export number along with
business license number
Insurance Issues
Himalayan Handicraft House requires insurance for business property and earnings.
Human Resources
Himalayan Handicraft House will have 1 - 10 full time staff.
Himalayan Handicraft House will have 0 part time staff.
Himalayan handicraft house will start with the owner as the only employee. HHH will hire a part-
time independent contractor to work the Calgary farmer's Market booth once a week alongside
the owner to ensure the booth is always staffed. Plans to hire additional staff to increase the
sales and import quantity Adornya require insurance for business property and earnings.
Human Resources Adornya will have 1 - 10 full time staff. Adornya will have 0 part time staff.
Adornya will start with the owner as the only employee. Adornya will hire a part-time
independent contractor to work the Halifax Seaport Farmer’s Market booth on Friday – Sunday
alongside the owner to ensure the booth is always staffed. Plans to hire additional staff to
manufacture pieces will be considered in Year 2 depending upon the demand of the product.
Process/Production
Himalayan handicraft house Process will be:
1. Import of the product lines will start with the purchase of handicrafts from HHH primary
source in thamel, Kathmandu, Nepal such as Everest Fashion, Yeti handicraft PVT LTD and
Himalayan tea and spices with the help of Mandala international Cargo for the shipment to
Canada.
2. Items will be tagged with their history for future incorporation into marketing materials.
3. Items will be sorted and stored at the home primary studio before bringing at the main store
location at Inglewood, Calgary,AB.
4. Creation of new product and the plans of adding other handicrafts from different Asian
nations will begin with product illustrations, consumers demand and season wise. The product
that sales the most will be scanned and stored in an online database as a running inventory and
will put in place for multiple orders to have enough in stock.
5. Construction of individual pieces, new design, change of fashion, new demand consideration
will take placein the studio. This will require 25 hours of dedicated time from Monday –
Thursday each week.
6. Product selection, quality inspection, pricing and attractive decoration requires huge amount
of time and dedication. In order to meet the summer demand of the Calgary Farmer’s Market,
Himalayan handicraft house will increase construction s time to 40 hours/week from January –
March and again from September – December.
7. The final step will require the construction of the Himalayan handicraft house label this will
include a 10cm x 20cm cardstock piece hand stamped with the logo with the item’s history,
product line and name via an Inkjet printer onto the card.
8. Each label will be sprayed with hairspray to ensure the ink doesn’t run or smear post printing.
9. Products will be packaged in a clear plastic bag that stores the label and product.

8.
10. Upon receiving the product in Canada from Nepal each product will be entered into HHH
store as drafts as this will act as the inventory management system.
11. New products are pooled together weekly and photographed at the studio. Images are
supplied as high resolution JPGs within 2 business days to Himalayan handicraft house.
12. Each item on Etsy will have a front, side and model photo uploaded as part of their listing.
Once these have been completed, the product will be listed on the Etsy store for the public.
13. At time of purchase the product will be selected from the Etsy store and payment will be
processed through the store by either PayPal or Credit Card.
14. After three months, clients who have supplied their email address at purchase will be sent a
follow up survey to collect feedback. Along with this information a release to use their feedback
in promotional materials will be included to post positive feedback on the Etsy website.
15. Customers whose survey results are in the ‘highly satisfied’ category will be approached to
provide testimonials for the Etsy website and to be used in future promotional materials.
Risk Assessment
Himalayan handicraft house will spend the majority of its efforts increasing awareness of
handicraft products from Nepal, India and Tibet and to the locals and tourist in Calgary through
its booth at Calgary farmer's market. And To pass the information's such as how the products
are being made, which raw materials are being used to produce the goods, product significance
to the local cultural and their religion, the importance of their work to their own need, to keep the
ancient tradition alive and for their nations, HHH will coordinate with its strategic alliances and
with local tourist boutiques. However, should these results not generate the residual sales
expected; HHH will invest in Etsy Search Ads to increase their relevancy to potential customers
browsing the Etsy marketplace. To accompany this, HHH will also look at investing in a Search
Engine Optimization strategy supplied by a third party to increase the effectiveness of their shop
description, product descriptions, tags, and keywords entered on Etsy.
Himalayan handicraft house is reliant on finding a continual supply of interesting materials with
known origins from Nepal to fulfill their material supply budget of $3000 a month or roughly 350
items in various quantities. If after two months, HHH is unable to fill their inventory purchase,
they will move to purchasing products from online wholesale suppliers of handicraft goods from
Nepal in the U.S. The impact is an increase in material costs of approximately 30% but at the
same time reducing the shipment cost by 75%. In addition, since HHH is own and operated by
Mr. Manoj Kumar Thapa as the sole employee, a contingency plan will be created that includes
Etsy store, Bank account and PayPal passwords in the case something were to happen to Mr.
Thapa making it impossible to continue to work in the business. The Etsy store will be put in
“Vacation” mode to alert customers to potential delays and provide instructions to a designated
family member on how to process refunds and fulfill orders in progress.
If after a full year of business, sales are less than $50000 Himalayan handicraft house would
need to close its doors and shut down its Etsy site. Existing product inventory would remain on
the Etsy store until the four month listing period had expired or until the following November
when it will be sold at a ‘warehouse’ sale in Calgary at Inglewood market area at 50% off to
capitalize on increase holiday retail market.

9.
5.0 Financials
Start-Up Costs & Break Even
Himalayan Handicraft House’s start-up cost table can be found in the attached financial
spreadsheet that has been included as a separate document in the Appendix.
Breakeven analysis
Fixed costs for the year are $23,000 (includes telephone, booth rental, utilities, reward club, and
contract employee) / (Average sale price is $50/piece Average production cost is $18.80/piece
(material, labour, commission – Etsy or local tourist boutique, VISA/MasterCard service fees,
and listing) - Break –even point: $23,000 = $23,000 = 693 units $50 - $16.80 33.20 ) = 0
Sales Forecast
Key Assumptions for Himalayan handicraft house: * May – August will be the highest sales
months due to the booth rental at the Calgary Farmer’s Market * Average sale will be $50 * No
online sales for first three months * Product sales broken out as 90% from market and 10%
through local retailers * Each customer will purchase one products Year One Sales Forecast
(Including Assumptions) March - $0 Launch of business online and start of Pinterest posting
campaign. April - $4140 60 sales at Calgary Farmer’s Market. No direct online sales generated.
Agreement reached with one local tourist boutique to carry 30 products across all product lines,
sold for 30% off. The negotiated reduced price allows the store to collect a 30% commission on
each item they sell while keeping the boutique prices aligned with buying direct from HHH. May
- $12000 240 sales at Calgary Farmer’s Market. No direct online sales generated. Increase in
sales due to increase in foot traffic visiting the market with the warmer weather and Stamped
season. June - $15000 300 sales at Calgary Farmer’s Market. No direct online sales generated.
Increase in sales due to there being 5 weekends in the calendar month. July - $14250 280 sales
at Calgary Farmer’s Market. Market opens on Canada Day, July 1 resulting in approximately 20
additional sales. 5 online sales from Pinterest referral traffic.
Year One Sales Forecast (Including Assumptions)
Year Two Sales Forecast
Cashflow
Himalayan Handicraft House’s detailed cashflow for year 1 and year 2 can be found in the
attached financial spreadsheet that has been included as a separate document in the Appendix.

10.
Start-Up Cost Sheet
Item Cost of Item Owner Contributed Loan A (i.e.CYBF)
Buildingsupplies 2000 1000 1000
BusinessLicense 150 150
Computer,printer,fax machine 2000 2000
Firstand lastmonthrent 3500 3500
Insurance 500 500
Inventory 5000 5000
Labour 1500 1500
Legal feestoreviewcontracts 500 500
Legal feestoreviewlease 500 500
Marketing 2500 2500
Office Furniture (desk,filing cabinet) 3000 3000
Office Supplies 1500 1500
Website 2000 2000
SUBTOTAL 18150 101500 145001
Cash
Workingcapital 45000 5000 40000
TOTALS 0 0
Percentage Contribution #DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0!
Income Statement
Himalayan Handicraft House’s income statement can be found in the attached financial
spreadsheet that has been included as a separate document in the Appendix.