Internet Business
Other
Outline and Assignment
You are starting your own Internet business. You decide to form a company that will sell cookbooks online. Justcookbooks.com is scheduled to launch 6 months from today. You estimate that the annual cost of this business will be as follows:
|
Technology (Web design and maintenance) |
$5,000 |
|
Postage and handling |
$1,000 |
|
Miscellaneous |
$3,000 |
|
Inventory of cookbooks |
$2,000 |
|
Equipment |
$4,000 |
|
Overhead |
$1,000 |
Part I
Deliverable Length: 1 graph plus calculations
You must give up your full-time job, which paid $50,000 per year, and you worked part-time for half of the year.
The average retail price of the cookbooks will be $30, and their average cost will be $20.
Assume that the equation for demand is Q = 40,000 – 500P, where
Q = the number of cookbooks sold per month
P = the retail price of books.
Address the following questions:
- What is the elasticity of the demand for cookbooks bought this way?
- Is the business worth pursuing so far?
- Suppose that you expect to sell about 22,000 cookbooks per month online, and assume your overhead, technology, and equipment costs are fixed. What are your total costs?
- What are your marginal costs?
- What market structure have you entered, and why?
- What can you do to guarantee success in this market?
- What pricing strategy might you use?
