BUSINESS PLAN

Founder

Hi, my name is Ricardo, founder of DAHCOR, and I want to thank you for reading this Business Plan. 


Essentially, you will understand the overall strategy of a project that was created with the sole intent to design and develop the world’s finest tennis products. 


A huge passion for the greatest game ever played and equitable obsession with tennis technology and customization inspired me to develop a brand where every single Tennis player is empowered to create his own identity on court. 


I think brands are always looking to attach themselves to endorsed athletes, celebrities, tastemakers – whatever helps them broadcast their message to the consumer, but I believe in building this brand with likeminded people that share our direction and attitude. That’s the only concept that can completely change the industry because the usual gimmicks are not the solution. Each player has an individual style of play and each gear needs to be individualized for that player. That’s what we do at DAHCOR. 


I love to listen to people stating that “the market is closed” when I tell them what I am about to do with this project. Of course it's closed! And that’s why this project is so gratifying and rewarding! To open the market the way we want to, we need to use our Trojan horse and go to war as the Greek did in Troy. We are talking about breaking into a very mature market filled with multibillion-dollar behemoths where the biggest challenge has to be changing perceptions. We all know consumers are conditioned to one aesthetic that it can be hard to win hearts and minds. We have to stick with our point of view and build on it. If we execute this plan exactly with this mindset, people will come around, I have no doubts about it.I know that clients will respect an independent brand clashing with the heavyweights of the racquet industry. Brands that hold entire sports categories in a vice-like, to barrier entry, scaring development costs, you have to seriously know your game plan if you want to compete at this level. I have been studying this Industry since I grabbed a racket for the 1st time and I’m sure that I’ve created a unique business platform that represents a lifetime opportunity for me, and for those who join the challenge.This project is a matchless opportunity with the perfect context: I don´t know any startup that competes with “only” 5 companies in the entire world.

 

So it’s no surprise that just by breathing I am already one of the most important people in the Tennis Industry, because since DAHCOR's 1st day that it automatically earned a spot in the list of the World’s Top Tennis Brands.  


Humour aside, those “few” companies are absolute giants, but I have always been inspired by Steve Jobs saying that “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the current world are the ones who do”, and I Know I will be the person leading the project that will turn Tennis industry upside down. 


So, if you think you are the right strategic partner for the global expansion of DAHCOR, it won't be a PowerPoint with great numbers and graphics to make you enter on board of this ambitious project, and that´s why you won´t see any on this plan. I will be the reason for you to join in. So if you agree with that and feel that you want to be part of this project, we will definitely talk about a potential win-win joint venture.


I hope you enjoy reading the business plan and any question until the moment we meet, please contact.


Thanks again for your attention, 


Sincerely yours

 

Brand

DAHCOR develops high-quality racket sports equipment, for demanding players who look for their identity on their gear.


Our range of products is designed to be multifaceted so that it can accommodate any kind of player. Regardless of which features take center stage during playtime, DAHCOR has the perfect material for every requirement and every performance level. From heavy-duty training rackets to demanding professional strings, we offer a broad spectrum of products for players to use on court.


We accommodate special demands with a hybrid business model, meaning that DAHCOR’s concern is offering the highest level of performance and simultaneously, the same level of comfort using tailor-made solutions that allow players to enjoy and feel the game with their own persona.  

 

The DAHCOR design team developed innovative products with the state of the art technology. The use of premium materials and the continuous monitoring of the manufacturing and production processes will meet all necessary requirements to secure a relevant position worldwide in the near future, both in terms of market share and clearly as a concept pioneer. 

DNA

Trendsetting-oriented along with cutting-edge technologies, DAHCOR’s Brand DNA combines best-in-class design, quality and usability to help players of all levels to have the best possible racket sports playing experience, through personalized equipment. We are passionately committed to develop unique products in today’s dynamics of customization and to help our customers stay stylish on court right in their comfort zone. We know that "the devil" hides in our products designs, but we also know heaven is found in its performance. We will always prove that high performance and design are most often one and the same thing.


Driven by superior quality control and high technical standards, our products are full of life, color and creativity.


We want our products to be alive, vibrant and easier to use, to make our customers stand out, be different and be noticed! Just like everyone has different DNA, we like to think every DAHCOR product has its own unique DNA strand of individuality!

DAHCOR idea was born after seeing that there weren’t any Brands producing custom products in the racket sports industry. Seeing this opportunity and fueled by our passion for all custom products/services, we set out to develop a brand that would:

  • Always have the manufacturing capacity to produce differentiated products;
  • Provide the best technical support after and before delivering products;
  • Have Tech Specifications that make sense to every kind of customer;
  • Make custom products online easier for any user to build and order;
  • Give equal support and attention to amateur and professional players.  

IDNA

DAHCOR’s company culture incorporates a very strong commitment to developing new products and designs, releasing at least 1 new product to the market every single day. DAHCOR staff is encouraged to have fun while they work and to always strive to think creatively and independently. This working spirit, coupled with our strong focus on customer satisfaction, is strongly embraced and enjoyed by all team members.


At DAHCOR we pride ourselves on our customer service and technical support. We understand that for many of our customers, it's their first time using custom products, so we are always there to support and help them learn and succeed, by offering advice and technical support from our qualified IDNA Lab team.


Our customers benefit from our continuous investment in innovation, quality and design from our IDNA Lab, which can be seen in all our product range. 

Our Lab incorporates:

  • A team of innovators who explore ways to develop new products; 
  • An engineering team that transforms concepts into reality, using new technologies; 
  • Custom designed Lab equipment to test every product to the most demanding real-world use; 
  • A showroom that allows focus groups to interact with all of our developments.

Motto

At DAHCOR we drive business seriously on delivering high quality products for racket sports players worldwide. In doing so, we will be one step closer to make DAHCOR’s spirit, live on through the next decades to become one of the greatest Racket Sports Brands ever. This mindset expresses our desire to cultivate such spirit and spread it further, extending DAHCOR’s philosophy in an unbroken line. Wherever the players’ spirit go, we will be there beside them continuing providing exclusive racket sports ammo for them, the Mod Legends.


Concept

At DAHCOR, we profoundly believe in performing to the best of our abilities to maximize players experience on court. We are committed to share and spread our passion and intensity, as well as our unparalleled customizing expertise with those who share our enthusiasm for racket sports. 


With our products, players will experience tennis passionately among friends, family or in competition, experiencing every moment and treasuring each sport-affirming memory. Simply, to strive for continuous performance improvement.


We are fully dedicated to produce racket sports products of the highest quality that allow players, of every level, to play to their full potential, whether they are weekenders, club or top competitors.

Using the most advanced technology, superior craftsmanship and the finest materials, our products are designed and hand-crafted to maximize performance no matter the player level. 


Each DAHCOR product is built with the technology and expertise previously reserved solely for the Champions. We are the ultimate introduction to an exclusive racket sports world, simply just because we love it as much as any of our clients to do.

Products

Ammo for Mod Legends. This revolutionary identity of DAHCOR's products has several unique advantages over other products currently on the market. 


After long and thorough research, DAHCOR has gathered the best manufacturers to produce high-quality products, with competition canons combined and unique design.


DAHCOR will give consumers the opportunity to be part of something different and exclusive, providing tailored equipment to those who live and breathe tennis. 


DAHCOR will deploy the latest technologies on its exclusive product range, and enable interactive browsing to create a personalized shopping/viewing experience. 


Users can drag and drop colors, fabrics, materials and other specific options on their personalized products to mix and match solutions in almost every product. This will be available online for rackets, apparel, shoes, bags, and many other ammo. 


All DAHCOR products will be showcased online with videos and images of the manufacturing process, so that our customers can see how our products are carefully made with top technology and with a design that can really inspire people. 


This first line of products provides elegant and modern designs that solve the serious and unmet problems that players all over the world have when they need to identify “their own” Brand, the self-Brand. 


Specifically, the revolutionary design that DAHCOR exclusively offers to their clients, along with customized solutions for every product, will give them a unique opportunity to have their own “self” identity while performing on the court. 


As a community, Tennis players are extremely passionate about their sports and are very receptive to innovative products that will allow them to improve their performance and enjoyment of the game. All DAHCOR products will allow players to achieve a performance level that meets or exceeds what is provided by other Brands. In addition, the brand provides other very specific advantages: customization of their rackets, apparel and other gear, with a differentiated degree of style and individuality. 


There will be customization options in most of the products for Agents, Tournaments, Events, Clubs, Academies and of course… Players that can “create” and use their own Brand on their DAHCOR products.

Tennis Rackets 


DAHCOR rackets represent more than 20 years of experience of technology research and development in the composite world, as well as in design and manufacturing. Our high tech composite materials have the combined advantage of lightweight and stiffness provided by carbon fiber’s unique quality, and the impact strength with high tension, especially from Graphene. Also, our frames are filled with High Energy Foam, from the base of the handle to the top of the hoop, to give the player maximum comfort, reducing the frame fatigue and increasing its duration. These advantages give the rackets high rigidity, more strength, wider sweet spot and lower weight, giving to the racket more Power, Control, Comfort & Maneuverability. 


So DAHCOR’s clients can expect excellence of our frames, knowing from day 1 what our rackets really represent and stand for quality, design and engineering.

Although DAHCOR offers a variety of standard products, most of our customers use our B.Y.O. system to build their own products, so that they can play the tennis they want to, with their exact custom specifications. 


So, DAHCOR wants to engage and empower players of all levels, to become active participants in the racket design and production process, with a unique level of personalization that until now, only world-class players had access to. 


Defining a customized frame, means DAHCOR’s clients get all the parameters they need to play their best game. 


DAHCOR will transform customer’s keyboard into a personalization and customization kit, allowing players to create their own autograph rackets, with the emotional factor on it: the technical racket that meets player’s needs and the psychology of walking on the court with a racket created by and for himself.

The step-by-step custom-made process is quick and user-friendly: the client starts by selecting the racket frame from the frame range we offer and then decides on the various cosmetics options. At that point, the client selects the racket’s technical specs: weight, length, balance, grip shape and size, grip type (all-leather or synthetic Comfort), string pattern (4 different), string type and tension To top it all off, clients can also have their own autograph version by naming their model, as well as having their caricature and signature, all 3 on the racket.


DAHCOR will also offer an exclusive tailor-made solution to its clients that want a cosmetic done by a designer. The only thing a customer needs to do is answer a personal online survey with questions regarding their tastes and preferences (sports, cultural and arts per example) and the proposal will be presented in less than 72 hours by a DAHCOR Designer.

Tennis Strings 


DAHCOR Strings factory is the only manufacturer that uses Polypropylene in the production of strings, in addition to the more common materials. 


With Poly Ribbons, we have a revolutionary string technology which uses elastic tapes instead of the traditional fibers. We have carried out successful research on methods for the post-processing and optimization of materials, such as double heating, a thermal after-treatment which makes it possible to produce unusual state-of-the-art products like no others.


With incomparable technology, comes incomparable products like the Hybrid Strings, the 1st dynamic strings ever: two state-of-the-art strings synchronized especially with each other, as a result of an intensive R&D and the perfect match of two strings tailored microscopically.

One string mainly consists of soft Polyester Elastomer and offers an abundance of touch, speed and spin potential, while simultaneously ensuring minimal loss of tension, while the stiffness of the second string is significantly higher and ensures outstanding control, precision and durability. 


By combining the two, both types of strings offer a balanced performance and a great game of tennis. 


DAHCOR will also introduce a hybrid custom system that will improve the performance of competition players: we have the ability to accommodate the needs of each and every player by offering many types of hybrid strings to choose from, each of which has its own different features. Players can combine the mains and the crosses however they like, and the result is a highly individual tailor-made string bed. 


Moreover, a great advantage of this system is that it considerably increases the durability of the string. While the mains often break on traditionally strung rackets because their movements are stronger as they rub against the cross strings, hybrid stringing makes it possible to combine a more stable and, therefore, longer-lasting main string with an elastic cross string. This results in substantially less racket deformation and, at the same time, a longer service life for the string bed tension.

Tennis Balls 


Boasting of unrivaled versatility, DAHCOR tennis balls are not only long-lasting, but can also be used in higher altitudes and hard or soft courts, being synonymous of excellent quality. 


Our tennis balls are very similar to the premium balls that are on the market in terms of quality and playability, but with a different feeling that comes from our UK felt. 


DAHCOR tennis balls are made with UK Playne’s Woven felt and have the following characteristics:  

  • Championship quality Playne’s tennis ball cloth. 
  • A wool-rich surface fiber provides players with superb touch and feel off the racket. 
  • Proven to be durable and ensures consistent performance over product life. 
  • Excellent all round performance for all court surfaces to enhance player performance. 
  • A perfect balance of wool & nylon content in the surface fiber pad that ensures high resistance to abrasion. 

The key difference from our Tennis Ball range is the Lotus Effect technology they are made with, which makes our tennis balls extremely durable.

Tennis Bags 


Our ethos for DAHCOR Bags is no different: hand-made, versatile and smart sports bags with the outcome being the perfect set of hybrid accessories. 


All bags combine utilitarian and modern design influences to create distinctive and timeless racket sports luggage both for Men and Women. 


Superior in construction and minimalist in design, all products have craftsmanship, quality and sport functionalities as their main features. Signature details include a resistant high-tech fabric, USB charger, parallel zipper piping with contrasting pullers and DAHCOR's logo embossed details. 


Our clients can give something unique and personalized with their name, monogram, special colors, signature or logo heat-stamped and branded, or surprise someone with a perfect gift idea for any occasion with our B.Y.O software. 


DAHCOR Bags - Designed for the rackets, crafted for utter exclusivity.

Tennis Apparel 


Sustainable apparel is DAHCOR’s motto for clothing, a nod to collection’s multipurpose with an on-and-off-the-court appeal. We want our customers to step on court in style and comfort, with the possibility of designing their own custom tennis kit with our array of clothing and accessories and, at the same time, feel that the clothes they are wearing are manufactured in a sustainable way. Our apparel is designed and engineered to give players the perfect fit and feel on the court through clean lines, and luxurious recyclable fabrics.


Our collections will also be versatile sportswear just as stylish on-and-off-the-court, and will represent a lifestyle for those inspired by understated and functional elegance to keep moving, and "play all day". 


Like other products, DAHCOR will offer an exclusive tailor-made solution to clients that want their own autograph collection and a proposal will be presented in less than 72h. The ID Lab will put together luxurious fabrics, clean lines and a functional form for a complete and exclusive tailored collection. The collections include Polos, shirts, shorts, jackets, socks, bandanas, wristband, and others, all made with fitting compression fabrics for a close-fitting and great stretch, to allow comfortable wear and good lateral movement.

Tennis Shoes 


Everything produced in DAHCOR’s factories is built on our passion to make players better on court. Performance and Innovation are the heart and soul of our brand and we want to ensure players will be immensely satisfied with our products. 


DAHCOR tennis shoes are proudly handcrafted in a third-generation workshop in Portugal providing an exceptional stability, guidance and cushioning through all ranges of movement. The result is improved comfort and the increase of the player’s confidence in footwork and ball striking. 


Portuguese craftsmanship is world-renowned, most of our cobblers have been working with shoes for over 40 years passed from generation to generation continuously innovating to be on state of the art position, with incredible passion and dedication to crafting each pair of shoes. At DAHCOR we are delighted to share this passion and expert craftsmanship with our clients, and take all of this heritage and exceptional set of skills to the tennis shoes world. 


Apart from DAHCOR’s standard collections, there will also be a tailor made option through our B.Y.O. system for the open-minded customer striving to be the epitome of excellence in all aspects of the sport she/he plays. 


DAHCOR delivers on its signature style by unleashing players' creative genius. The concept of creating made to order tennis shoes that are utterly authentic, is at the heart and soul of our motto. We are committed to share our craftsmanship with the tennis and racket world, giving you the license to step into the driving seat when it comes to every imaginable detail of design, initiating each Man into the time-honored art of shoemaking.

All our Tennis shoes are made with high tech soles for All Court and Clay Court, with gel insoles in all standard models for Custom Fit, Comfort and Performance. DAHCOR shoes are designed to increase support, reducing excess movement, increasing efficiency during the start-stop motion and quick turns common in tennis. 


Our clients can have something unique and personalized with their name, custom patterns, special colors and signature, or surprise someone with a perfect gift idea for any occasion. With the B.Y.O. configurator anyone can project online their design ideas, check the result immediately and share it online in the social media. 


In a world where everyone is trying to fit in, the only way to be truly unique is to be yourself.


Online

DAHCOR.COM 


DAHCOR’s website, like any e-commerce website, has as its main goal to retain visitors’ attention and lead them to buy our products, giving them an enjoyable navigation experience. 


In order to do that, DAHCOR has developed a visually pleasing and dynamic website, with a clean design and symmetrical balance of content. 


The wide horizontal grids, with constant contrasts between black and white backgrounds, are a design technic to harmoniously divide content, giving the visitor a clear sense of its distribution through the website pages.

The use of black space in all products’ pages is a central feature in our website design, as the spatial piece of the pages highlights the products themselves, which are ultimately the essence of the website. 


The consistency of the website’s use of colors, range of fonts and icons, backgrounds, etc., aligned with the natural design interaction of the different website elements, give DAHCOR an edge over our competitors’ online presence. 


Until this date, our website has an average of 31 updates per day. We love to create new content every day and spread it through our social media, but our ultimate digital goal is having a social website that also offers an interactive shopping experience. 


Key features of the website:


  • Unique shopping / viewing experience: our website provides a unique visual experience for the consumer while browsing through our contents. We will use the latest technology to provide our viewers with a personalized 3D animated experience in all our product range. 
  • Highly customizable: dahcor.com will be highly interactive and customizable for viewing and shopping. The more frequent our consumers use the website, the richer their interactive experience becomes, as with the data collected we will be able to offer selections that match each customer’s personal tastes. 
  • Easy to use: our website was built specifically for the sporting consumer and is extremely easy to navigate and purchase. 
  • Qualified buyers: The site will target and capture behavioral and demographic data from our consumers, as well as other marketing information.

DAHCOR TV 


DAHCOR TV will be the first online Tennis sports Entertainment Network offering sports contents from the world to the world, providing a comprehensive set of valued added consumer services that will be specifically catered to our target. 


These services include: 


  • Content / Programming: Users of the site will experience interactive programming and editorials focused in the areas of racket sports equipment and apparel.

  • Experience: Users of the site will be encouraged to take part in our community experience, using message boards, chat rooms and email. This builds an ongoing profile of our customers that will provide added value for marketing purposes. 
  • Personalization: Each customer is authenticated, thus our programming, products and content will be specifically targeted to our customers buying and viewing habits, to increase their loyalty and repeat usage just like DAHCOR products. 
  • Unique content: Our content will inspire our consumers to explore articles and videos and encourage repeat visits to our TV in order to discover new and exciting “insider” information on Tennis, but also on DAHCOR’s gear, apparel and other equipment information. 
  • Community: dahcor.tv will build a strong community of people who have similar interests in our programming and content. This direct communication between dahcor.com, sports celebrities and consumers will allow for the exchange of information, fostering customer loyalty and repeat site use. 
  • Culture-specific: The site will cater to the specific needs of various cultures around the world reflecting specific tastes and needs. 
  • Unique integration of content & product advertising: Our content will integrate products offers from dahcor.com so our viewer will never see the videos being interrupted by any ads. 
  • Global distribution: Our unique Internet viewing experience will provide DAHCOR and its agents/distributors with a cost-effective method of marketing their products to a global audience.

DAHCOR Social Network 


DAHCOR will develop a social network amongst all its stakeholders: Distributors, Ambassadors, Mod Legends and Regular Customers, allowing them to come together and share ideas, opinions, photos and videos in a social environment with the guarantee that all the participants have DAHCOR in common. 


This will allow people to be involved with DAHCOR in an embedded dimension, as they will have access to their fellow tennis players’ experiences. 


By being part of this community, people will feel a sense of belonging and proximity towards the brand, which will lead to a greater customer’s loyalty and ultimately more sales. This proximity will also allow the brand to have a deeper awareness on what are the customer’s needs.

The content shared in this social network will help to promote the brand, not only among this community, but also to potential customers through DAHCOR’s social media pages. 


The goal is to create a virtual community, connecting people from all around the world with the same passion: Tennis. 


With this step, DAHCOR will have, for sure, the biggest content provider in the world, and completely free.

Mobile APP 


As in all our digital platforms, DAHCOR’s mobile app will focus on giving a rich experience to its users, having customization and personalization as its major features. 


Through the user’s current location, online behavior or purchase history, DAHCOR will be able to customize, such as notify the user when the Racket of the Day is based on an object of interest to the person in question, or alert if an event is being held close to the user’s location, among many others. 


DAHCOR’s app will have simplicity and intuitive navigation as its pillars.

More and more people try to minimize clicks and actions and are easily annoyed if the app seems like too much work. So, to optimize the app, DAHCOR will develop a rather minimalistic design with clear and fast paths to the function the user pretends to access. 


This is of crucial importance in the checkout part of the app, as a long or messy checkout process results in poor conversion rates. To avoid that, DAHCOR will minimize its fields and will take every opportunity to autofill information, including saving user information for future sales. 


This mobile app will be an important channel to engage with our customers as it will let them easily share their content with their friends or DAHCOR’s community, through our social network.

Strengths

DAHCOR will become the dominant innovative Racket Sports Brand and maintain its position due to the following differentiation, segmentation competitive advantages and barriers to entry:  


  • Relationships: DAHCOR is continuously dealing with “A-list” of former racket sports figures, opinion makers and executives who control and influence their respective industries. This gives DAHCOR a critical and powerful strategic advantage. 
  • Management, speed, flexibility: The brand is built on a high-quality management team, having experience in online business, technology and sports industries. 
  • Visionary, founder-led management team: We are led by our founder, Ricardo Da Rocha, who has a unique combination of knowledge and passion for the tennis industry and a deep understanding of technology. Our management team’s clear sense of mission, long-term focus, commitment to our core cultural values and focus on transforming the tennis industry, through technology and customization, are central to our success. 
  • First/early mover advantage: DAHCOR will be the first racket sports site to achieve a high degree of brand awareness through a combination of integrated content/product offerings, public relations, and strategic relationships. 
  • First mover in technology: DAHCOR will employ cutting edge technology to provide a high level of personalized products and services to customers through the best digital platform. 
  • Maximize operating efficiencies: DAHCOR will leverage its investment in technology to realize cost savings and efficiencies in marketing, infrastructure, and management resources, as well as minimizing working capital requirements and CAPEX investments. Our business model will be structured with a policy of fixed costs and long term inflexible assets minimization 
  • Online Technology: DAHCOR continuously develops modern and innovated layouts and designs that are user-friendly, in its different platforms – website and social media pages - which are essential to be successful in transforming first-time visitors to loyal customers. The platforms encompass the sophistication and identification of the DAHCOR Brand’s DNA and offer customers value-added features to build a real interactive client community. 
  • Constantly Innovating: We have a project that will disrupt the Tennis products industry due to the innovation it brings. However, to have long term competitive edge and advantage, innovation will have to be at the core of our daily activities. The light organizational structure and the highly professional team of creatives will ensure that the brand doesn’t get behind innovation wise.

Due to the extremely competitive nature of the Tennis equipment market, DAHCOR recognizes the vital need to create sustainable competitive advantages. 


This will be accomplished through securing intellectual property protection for the company's proprietary technology and trademarks and bringing new, aggressive and innovative sales and marketing techniques to the mature and conservative racket sports market, thereby quickly establishing DAHCOR, and building a sense of community amongst DAHCOR's customers/community members.

Objectives

  • Attract, integrate, retain, and motivate the highest quality management, personnel, agents and investors. 
  • Develop the highest quality programming and content to attract and retain a global audience through the Internet that generates repeated sales. 
  • Secure sustained partnership relationships with our distributors.
  • Successfully execute our business strategies. 
  • Refer to suppliers' partnerships.
  • Exponential sales growth
  • Compete with established brands
  • Create a compelling value proposition for consumers through a strong brand value recognition.
  • Build an efficient, strong and transparent distribution chain and channels.
  • Develop key industry relationships with actual and former pro racket sports figures.
  • Provide a compelling presentation of content and products to encourage repeat visits.
  • Leverage our technology investments to create a measurable marketing and e-commerce platform that enables measurability, personalization and integration with our agents/distributors.• Provide a high level of personalized service.
  • Build a strong brand in the Tennis market that represents quality, performance, exclusivity and innovation. A strong reputation in the Tennis products industry will not only help the company seek out additional technologies and solutions, but also enter new business segments.
  • Strongly pursue junior, women, and senior tennis players with products specific to them and their preferences. These markets have been the fastest-growing tennis segments since 2010.
  • Develop new solutions for players and racket sports enthusiasts. DAHCOR will expand its portfolio of technologies and expand its product mix within the wide-ranging sports equipment industry.
  • Develop new products on a regular basis.
  • Continuously expand the company's sales and distribution internationally in a cost-effective and financially sustainable way.
  • Develop key strategic alliances with major key industry organizations and companies that will help bring credibility and notoriety, as well as traffic to the online platforms. These alliances will result in extensive co-marketing by both organizations to drive traffic and awareness of the other company's products and services, and organizations like ITF, ATP, WPT and others who will provide publicity, marketing and technology assistance. 

Marketing

DAHCOR's marketing efforts and focus will be directed towards executing the company's strategies of building awareness and driving traffic to the site and its social platforms. The combination of strong creative marketing partnerships with traffic generating sites is expected to result in many visitors.


DAHCOR expects to use a variety of marketing tools: 

Community Building, Customer Engagement & CRM 


It’s necessary to build a DAHCOR community and appropriately engage with our customers through a rock solid CRM aggregating customer information with all the data points they’ve given us when making an order.All DAHCOR’s representatives must build a continuous and effective communication with our customers through different platforms in order to increase its engagement and conversion. To do so, it is important that every distributor develops a system with all the history of the customer with our brand (when we last change e-mails and what it was about, the purchase history of the customer, order statuses and so forth).With customer engagement in mind, we will use subtle but clear on-site messaging to alert customers to a variety of customer engagement tools, including: reviews, chat and rewards. This trio of customer engagement tactics allow customers to see and leave reviews, talk to someone for help and join the rewards program.

Social Media 


Social media advertising and customer interaction will be the #1 channel for DAHCOR strategy to run campaigns, drive traffic and close sales.


DAHCOR social media marketing strategy is:

  • Engaging with our consumers where they are – in social media – and not just using social media as an advertisement, but as THE way to truly engage with and celebrate our fans 
  • The use of all DAHCOR’s social network members content in our social media will help DAHCOR provide a more authentic engagement experience for consumers 
  • Leveraging micro-influencers in a broad and authentic way to expose our content to new DAHCOR clients. 
  • Dynamic Product Ads to retarget site visitors based on what they viewed.Building a culture around DAHCOR brand will be the only way to compete and thrive in this marketplace.

CRO & Data-Driven Optimizations 


We collect and utilize a broad range of data from our website visitors, from search queries and purchase historical data to social behavior on social media. This allows us to identify audience segments that are highly engaged in tennis content and merchandise, which enables us to focus both on brand and performance marketing campaigns on those we believe have a high propensity to purchase. 


Furthermore, conversion rate optimization will allow DAHCOR to run tests to determine which various designs or type of communication or other components of the brand are the ones that get a better market response. 


Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) to DAHCOR will be priority 1, 2, and 3. 

 Here are a few key best practices and tools DAHCOR will continue to use for CRO and testing.

  • DAHCOR will use heat mapping to understand how a shopper uses our website. This type of information is extremely informative, especially when coupled with additional metrics regarding DAHCOR online store, like in-store search and website exit rates. 
  • DAHCOR will also use its in-store search analytics to help determine what shoppers are looking for, then bring those categories front and center. 

All DAHCOR representatives are highly encouraged to keep track of the activity on their different online platforms, and to share with DAHCOR head office, so that we analyze the data from different sources and come to conclusions regarding targeting strategies for driving sales. The greater the amount of customers and potential customer’s information we have, the more robust our conclusions regarding the matter are, which beneficiates the brand and every member in DAHCOR’s distribution chain.

Email Marketing 


Email marketing is an important channel to reach potential customers and to drive loyalty from current ones, with no costs. We will always try to communicate with our network of people in a personalized way, such as sending out a personal email signed from the GM of the company to promote an event or a product specifically to a DAHCOR consumer. The personalization when reaching out to customers is key in DAHCOR’s communication strategy. 


Apart from that, Email marketing is easily measurable, and will give a good understanding of how engaged DAHCOR’s audience is (or isn’t). 


When communicating with the customers, we will always be honest, open and transparent.

Influencer Marketing 


Influencer marketing is the most effective strategy in the Tennis World, as tennis consumers are overwhelmingly driven by influencers, from their tennis idol to their coach. This marketing tool is essential to DAHCOR’s Marketing Plan. 


DAHCOR will not pay an insane amount of money to make Influencer Marketing work for us. Instead, the Brand will empower a group of micro-influencers to create a groundswell of support that isn’t expensive to maintain and that feels more natural, community-driven and honest than large payouts to big names: this micro-influencers have a dedicated program to them that we call Ambassadors Program. 


Word of mouth is powerful – and today, word of mouth doesn’t have to happen face to face. Instead, it can happen on Instagram post to Instagram Post or YouTube Video to YouTube Video.

 

Innovation

DAHCOR will be a disruptive force in the industry and will introduce innovation on a daily basis in a market where its players lost a sense of innovation urgency and are accommodated, as their market share has not been challenged for decades. 


DAHCOR will overcome its competition through service innovation, the quality of the materials used and the variety and exclusivity of its designs. 


Our products will be revolutionary. 


DAHCOR aims at becoming the most innovative brand of the industry, and in order to accomplish it, we have developed a robust framework around innovation as a way to prioritize our efforts and focus on potential opportunities that are consistent with our mission. 


Our organizational structure promotes innovation, as the path between having an idea and implementing it has no organizational barriers. This structures provides an environment that inspires and encourages ideas from all DAHCOR’s team members and ensures the best are elevated and come to fruition, with an immediate execution drive. Meritocracy will rule staff promotion.

Our team innovates on a daily basis, constantly producing content and developing new business growing ideas. An example of that is the “Racket of the Day”, which is a racket design celebrating the day in question, and is only sold in that specific day. Only this initiative will make DAHCOR develop 365 different designs per year, which outshines all competition together for way more than 10 times. 


When adding this to the hundreds of thousands of different possible designs in our B.Y.O platform, and the 588 possible racket technical specifications (still growing), we reach billions of possible different rackets. 


What we mean is, the comparison to other tennis brands business model, innovation wise, does not make sense at all. It’s a fact. 


As the company grows, a sense of community between our consumers will arise, and the creation of content will not only be in the hands of DAHCOR’s team but in all our brand’s ambassadors spread all over the world. This will also enforce brand loyalty. 


Every member of DAHCOR’s team, have to be very proactive in the creation of content for the brand’s promotion.    

This means, being dynamic in our internal social network, permanently exposing day to day DAHCOR activities, challenging the status quo in promotion activities, being original the Brand can expose it to the world. 


With innovation playing such a big role in this project, generating content in all types and forms is of increased importance, so everyone involved with DAHCOR will have to be part of this creative force.

Distribution

Distribution Plan 


DAHCOR’s Distribution Plan will depend on integrating successfully three features: a well-organized customization process, a high skilled network of tennis professionals and a strong online presence. 


DAHCOR selling strategy will always have customization and personalization as its core feature. It is only through a well-oiled customization process, that DAHCOR will be able to become a global versatile brand, capable of fulfilling the variety of requirements and demands of multiple players across the globe, both in terms of design and technical specifications. 


It is essential for DAHCOR's prospects to become a global disruptive force to have high-skilled tennis professionals and technicians, with deep knowledge of their market, working alongside with DAHCOR’s management team to create brand awareness, and to sell not only the excellent and customized products, but also a sense of brand’s proximity, that will be crucial to turn customers into our very first brand ambassadors. 


Modern and user-friendly designs in our different platforms, along with a super dynamic and innovative strategy in social media are key to our communication strategy and will have a crucial role in customer’s retention. 


Adding to that, a wide online presence will enable DAHCOR to capitalize the main weakness of the big players in the market: technology shyness, and to establish the brand as the most innovative in the market.

The Distribution Chain 


It is of the utmost importance to create a strong, transparent and coordinated distribution chain. 


There are 2 possible scenarios in the different national distributions chains at the launch: a chain with a DAHCOR National Representative and another without a DAHCOR National Representative. 


A DAHCOR National Representative is composed by a team of tennis professionals, who not only have a profound knowledge over the national tennis market, but are a certified team by DAHCOR, who knows every detail of DAHCOR modus operandi, and are able to help in anyway all the members of the national network, from Mod Legends to Ambassadors and from Tennis Clubs to Pro Shops. 


With that in mind, when there is a DAHCOR National Representative in the market you are operating, all the commercial subjects that arise should be dealt directly with DAHCOR National Representative, as this Chart illustrates.

When there isn’t a DAHCOR National Representor in the market you are operating, all the commercial subjects that arise will be dealt with DAHCOR Headquarters, as the following Chart illustrates:

DAHCOR Flagship Store 


A Flagship Store is a name given to a store in a prominent location, being usually the most well-known store of the brand in each country. With our Flagship Store concept, we will lead the transformation of tennis retail — offering the best of DAHCOR products, services and experiences under one roof. With this store, we can realize the promise of personalized performance, powered by in-store experts elevating every player's potential. By connecting DAHCOR's experience-focused approach with its flagship store we aim to create an activity center where shopping and playing can be seen hand-to-hand. The flagship store objective is being a retail destination above all else, that is optimized to encourage shoppers to try out the products on sale in energetic, spirited, and, most importantly, personalized way, through on sight testing gear.


The in-store tech is designed so that customers can personalize all the products they want to buy, but also gain insights into their racket performances using our smart court(s), where cameras are set up to record the action from multiple angles, along with Kinect sensors that capture body movements and display them on real-time to any device with internet. 


Our Equipment experts will prepare fitting sessions for customers to test different racket setups and then, using this technology’s level of detail, will prepare a “Performance Report” with the results’ comparison amongst the different frames and/or strings.

The report will include clear charts and mappings regarding different performance features such as accuracy, power or spin and will have a final suggestion on the best all-around racket set up for each client.But, more than that, the store will be completely connected with all the facilities through RFID technology with the intention to bridge the gap between digital and brick-and-mortar experiences. Clients don’t have to be physically on the shop to be shopping, they just need to be inside of the DAHCOR TENNIS CENTER to automatically receive a voucher or the latest product announced. For instance, customers can later access all footage recorded of them through their app – and even share it on social media if they wish. The app, indeed, is smart, and uses data collected when shoppers are using the in-store equipment to better tailor the experience the next time they come in – not only will it know the customer’s stride and the last time they played in the smart court, but remember which shoes they tried on, which racket they wished to have, and make new recommendations accordingly.

Experience 


DAHCOR's flagship store will offer unique experiences that customers can’t get online, for example testing out the new products in real court – Play before Pay. But most importantly, the store will also serve to bolster DAHCOR's digital strategy. Fully connected and integrated with the app, if customers walk out without making a purchase, their data will be stored with easy access to a path for future purchases can be efficiently built.

Products & Services

- BYO rackets 

 - Collections rackets 

 - Junior rackets 

 - Racket customization 

 - Strings 

 - Stringing service 

 - Balls 

 - Grips 

 - Apparel 

 - Bags 

 - Shoes 

 - All accessories 

 - Fitting session

In sum, DAHCOR Flagship Stores will be a statement of our commitment to be a disruptive, global tennis brand with an innovative store concept, capable of engaging with all Tennis Lovers.

Industry

Overview of the tennis market: The global tennis equipment manufacturing market is expected to reach an estimated $845.7 million by 2022 and is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 2.4% from 2017 to 2022. The major growth drivers for this market are an increasing number of tennis events, growing participation among the youth segment, and the growth of tennis as a fitness sport.


Tendencies of the Market: There are several trends that are converging to make DAHCOR the ideal marketing solution for the Racket Sports industry.


Merging Partners: eTailers and online content-oriented companies are merging and partnering together to strengthen offerings.


Pro Sports Online: Sports Celebrities are increasingly using Internet as a communications medium to exploit new product offerings while promoting their name and personal value.


Technology-shy: The racket sports industry is notorious for being technology-shy - DAHCOR will take this as an opportunity to make changes within an evolving industry. 


Success of online sports sites: The success of other e-commerce sports websites have demonstrated that people value an online shopping experience, so racket sports can have the same success. 


Significant growth of WWW consumers: According to International Data Corporation there are approximately more 4 billion people world wide online today and of those, around 1.7 billion purchased a good or service online in 2016. 


Tennis Rackets’ market: According to a Technavio report released in the beginning of 2016 the global tennis racket market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 2% between 2016 and 2020 crossing the 525$ million by 2020. 


In a different report, developed in 2017 by QYResearch is stated that in the overall market an estimated 6.7 million rackets were sold in 2017. 


In the US alone, the tennis racket market is expected to grow from nearly 81.6$ million in 2017 to nearly 105$ million in 2022, which represents a CAGR of 4.9% in the forecast period and goes against the negative trend verified since 2014. Here is a snapshot of the evolution of the American tennis market.

Consumer Analysis: The total participation of people in the U.S is 17.68 million in 2017, or around 5,5% of the American population. This percentage is similar to most wealthy countries such as the UK with a rate of participation of 6%, Japan and Germany with 5%, and The Netherlands with 4%. 


Participation analysis by attendance: Of the 17.68 million people who played tennis in America, 54% are “core” tennis participants (participants that play at least 10 times a year), and they account for 93% of all tennis play occasions and 80% of the total spend in the U.S tennis’ economy. Both total participation and “core participation” has decreased slightly in 2017, but the trend over the last years has remained fairly consistent. 


This trend is similar in the western countries, where “core” players account for around half of the total players.

Player analysis by gender: Tennis is one of the most gender equal sports in the world. The graph below shows the distribution of players between genders in several countries by 2016. Note for the fact, that although tennis is perceived as a male sport, there are more women playing it in the UK, Australia and Japan. 


Player analysis by age: Tennis is a sport where there is no big disparity across group ages. 


In the U.S, the age group with more tennis players is the 25-34 years old with 21% of the total American players in 2016, and the number of players among the groups of under 18 and over 45 is fairly similar (around 24%). 


The disparity begins if we look at the “core” players, whereas older players are in greater number than youngsters, with almost 40% of regular players belonging to the age group of over 45.

Competition

Tennis Brands


DAHCOR will compete with several established brands in a highly competitive industry. All of our company's competitors have greater brand name recognition, more extensive engineering, manufacturing and marketing budgets (not capabilities), and greater financial, technological, and personnel resources than us.


The company's primary competitors include Wilson, Babolat, Head and Yonex, with estimated worldwide market shares of more than 90 percent. However, these Brands boast all products with exclusivity and quality even though they look all the same.


Despite the fiercely competitive nature of the market, DAHCOR based upon the product quality, personalization and customization, innovation, specifications and design, worldwide on-time deliveries, customer relationships and brand name recognition, is expected to gain significant market acceptance.

For those and other reasons they don't have even 10% of the social media followers and online awareness they could have (hundreds of thousands when they easily could have millions of followers).


DAHCOR believes that it can move strategically into the integrated content and retailing space and capture a large market share from the big brands, like many other new players, from other sports, have been doing for more than a decade with strong success.


This industry is generally characterized by rapid and widespread imitation of popular technologies, designs, and product concepts and so DAHCOR may face competition from manufacturers introducing new or innovative products, while successfully promoting products that achieve market acceptance.


Therefore, in order to compete effectively in the long-term, DAHCOR must continue introducing innovative concepts, products and designs, differentiate itself in the marketplace, and create lasting competitive advantages.


These differences from the Biggest Brands combined with the innovative sales and marketing techniques that the company will apply, definitely verifies the necessary conditions to assure DAHCOR's success in the Tennis overall market.


E-commerce Distributors 


There are well over a thousand online eTailers on the Internet today focused on selling and fulfilling product to a specific product category. 


The tennis e-commerce segment is characterized by having a wide range of product diversity, with offers from the main retailers and manufacturers of the industry. 


The biggest companies in this segment are Tennis Warehouse and Tennis Point. 


Because these companies are solely online retailers without customization and personalization features, they lack content capable to retain customers as they don’t provide an entertaining experience to their website visitors. Adding to that, their poor social media presence and not providing a sense of community among its customers (not the case of Tennis Warehouse) are other limitations that DAHCOR will capitalize into competitive advantages. 


While these companies sell an enormous amount of products on a basic level, it is prevalent that a significant piece of this business is moving towards an integrated content and shopping model, where quality of content takes precedence over volume of product offered. 


The core value proposition for most online competitors is either shopping or content, successfully combining both competencies has not been implemented successfully. Way far from that.


  • Online-content oriented companies lack celebrity public figures for branding and identification purposes, thus failing to provide an entertainment experience and sense of community. 

  • Traditional markets are saturated with companies spending millions to drive traffic. Most sites have made huge investments in marketing to build traffic and a critical mass of viewers, versus investing in technology and experienced management in an effort to provide the most rewarding customer experience. 

  • The Big racket sports Brands didn’t figure the Internet out yet. DAHCOR expects a number of those companies to start changing their online strategy but converging initially on either e-commerce transactions or content, limiting their opportunity to create “true value,” as for example DAHCOR’s shopping experience.