Why do we need an Households by Income Class Analysis in a business plan for Central Plumbing & Heating Inc.

As a business you cannot sell your goods or services if the local market in Mecklenburg County does not have he financial ability to buy what you are selling! Thus it is fairly obvious that in order for consumers in Mecklenburg County to buy goods and services they first need to have substantial amount of income coming into their households. In order to understand just how many folks in Mecklenburg County have the income demographics that you need your consumers to have you must conduct an analysis of this type.

The benefits of understanding income distribution in Mecklenburg County

The classes that we have created to measure the income distribution of the Mecklenburg County target market range from less than ten thousand dollars of income to more than two hundred thousand. The purpose of course is to distribute all the income into its appropriate income category for Mecklenburg County . Once done, we now have created a table that shows the percentage of income distribution which will total 100% for all the income classes. From there we can now get a very clear understanding of just how much folks in Mecklenburg County are earning and how many of them are earning the income that you need your clientele to have. This becomes the basis for your pricing and marketing strategy for Central Plumbing & Heating Inc.

We have used the following classifications to break down the Households of the target market of Mecklenburg County by income class:

1. Percentage of Households in Mecklenburg County and North Carolina earning less than $50k annually.
2. Percentage of Households in Mecklenburg County and North Carolina earning between $50k and 99k annually.
3. Percentage of Households in Mecklenburg County and North Carolina earning between $100k and 149k annually.
4. Percentage of Households in Mecklenburg County and North Carolina earning between $150k and 199k annually.
5. Percentage of Households in Mecklenburg County and North Carolina earning between $200k and 299k annually.
6. Percentage of Households in Mecklenburg County and North Carolina earning between $300k and 499k annually.
7. Percentage of Households in Mecklenburg County and North Carolina earning between $500k and 999k annually.
8. Percentage of Households in Mecklenburg County and North Carolina earning more than $1 mil annually.

Positioning and Pricing for Central Plumbing & Heating Inc.

If you are a business owner that is looking to position and pitch your goods or services to the higher end of your target market and you find that most of your clients earn a middle income, you will have a a tough time generating a high volume of sales. You will have to understand that your sales turnover will be slow and you must price yourself accordingly. On the oher hand if you are looking to sell very low cost goods or services and most of your target market is affluent, you will have just an equally tough time since the buying patterns of the affluent are different from those in the middle income. A great measure of how to pitch yourself as a business, marketing to consumers is to look at which big box retailers have a presence in your target market. For example, if you only see high end shops and boutiques in the target market you an safely conclude after looking at the income distribution table that your target market is affluent and you will need to offer goods and services accordingly.

Do Income Classes change?

What is the definition of household in the households by income class table that we have for Central Plumbing & Heating Inc.?

A household as defined by us in our tables, includes all the people who occupy any particular housing unit being sampled in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. A housing unit is a house, an apartment, a mobile home, a group of rooms, or a single room that is occupied (or if vacant is intended for occupancy) as separate living quarters in Mecklenburg County. Separate living quarters are those in which the occupants live separately from any other people in the building and which have direct access from the outside of the building from any other building or through a common hall. The occupants may be a single family, one person living alone, two or more families living together, or any other group of related or unrelated people who share living arrangements.

What about the income number in the households by income section of the business plan for Plumbing and Heating Contractor? What does that mean?

The data on income in our table of households by income class for the Central Plumbing & Heating Inc. business plan is the the total income reported separately for wage or salary income; net self-employment income; interest, dividends, or net rental or royalty income or income from estates and trusts; Social Security or railroad retirement income; Supplemental Security Income (SSI); public assistance or welfare payments; retirement, survivor, or disability pensions; and all other income.

Receipts from the following sources are not included as income: capital gains, money received from the sale of the property (unless the recipient was engaged in the business of selling such property); the value of income 'in kind' from food stamps; public housing subsidies, medical care, employer contributions for individuals, etc.; withdrawal of bank deposits; money borrowed; tax refunds; exchange of money between relatives living in he same household; gifts and lump-sum inheritances; insurance payments, and other types of lump-sum receipts.

When we consider the income for households in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, we include the income of the householder and all other individuals 15 years old and over in the household, whether they are related to the householder or not. Because many households consist of only one person, average household income is usually less than average family income in Mecklenburg County. Income from households does not include amounts received by individuals who were members of the household during all or part of the past 12 months if these individuals no longer resided in the household at the time of the survey being conducted.

Quick Links:

1. Go to the Corresponding Template section for this industry.
2. Go to the Corresponding Business Plan section for this industry.