FEASIBILITY STUDY TEMPLATE

1. Executive Summary

The executive summary provides an overview of the content contained in the feasibility study document. Many people write
this section after the rest of the document is completed. This section is important in that it provides a higher-level summary of
the detail contained within the rest of the document. Remember to remove the green instructional portion of the Feasibility
Study Template before making your document final.

Alan’s Best Chocolates (ABC) is a leader in the sales of chocolates and confections throughout the United States. ABC’s
products are sold from 50 stores throughout the country and maintain a reputation for superior taste and quality. While ABC’s
sales have grown over the past 10 years, the rate of growth has slowed significantly. One key factor for this slowing growth
rate is the shift in the marketplace to purchasing chocolates and confections online. While ABC maintains a web site, it is not
capable of hosting an e-commerce platform for online sales. ABC’s sales occur only in its brick and mortar facilities and the
company is losing potential customers to competitors who provide online sales. The chocolate and confections marketplace is
healthy and shows a continued growth trajectory over the next five to ten years. ABC is in a position to capitalize on this
online marketplace by leveraging existing technologies, industry best practices, and an aggressive marketing and sales
campaign to ramp up the company’s growth projections for the foreseeable future.

2. Description of Products and Services

This section of the feasibility study provides a high level description of the products and/or services which are being
considered as past of the feasibility study. The purpose of this section is to provide detailed descriptions of exactly what the
organization is considering so this information can be applied to the following sections of the document. It is important that
this description captures the most important aspects of the products and/or services that the organization is considering as
well as how it may benefit customers and the organization.

ABC is considering a move to create and provide an online platform from which to sell its existing product line. Until now
ABC has only sold its products from its chain of brick and mortar facilities and has been limited to sales within the
geographical regions where its stores reside. By doing so, ABC has not been able to capitalize on the growing trend of online
sales within the chocolate and confections marketplace. By offering its products through an online platform, ABC can market
its products to an entirely new market, increase revenue and growth projections, and allow customers to purchase our products
from the convenience of their own homes.

There are no proposed changes to ABC’s current product offerings as a result of this study. Online sales will include only
current products and any changes to this product line must be considered outside of the purpose of this document.

3. Describe Possible Solutions

In order to take this step to write a feasibility study report template, you’ll need to perform an alternatives analysis and
make a description of possible solutions for your project. For example, in your FSR template your e-commence project
might have the following solutions description:

“This project can be undertaken by the implementation of the two possible solutions: 1) Online Shop; 2) Corporate
Website. Each of the solutions is carefully analyzed, and necessary information required for making the final decision is
available for the management team.”

4. Technology Considerations

This section of the feasibility study should explain any considerations the organization must make with regards to technology.
Many new initiatives rely on technology to manage or monitor various business functions. New technology may be developed
internally or contracted through a service provider and always result in costs which must be weighed in determining the path
forward.
Upgraded technological capability will be required for ABC to move toward offering an online marketplace from which
customers may purchase our products. Customers demand a simple and easy way by which to conduct online transactions and
it is imperative that all transactions are conducted in a secure manner. While ABC maintains a web site with product lists and
descriptions, it does not currently allow for purchasing to be done online. This functionality must be integrated with our
current web site to allow for secure purchases to be made. Additionally, new online marketing functionality must be
considered in order to target existing and potential customers through methods such as e-mailing lists, promotional
advertisements, and loyalty discounts.

While ABC maintains a small information technology (IT) group, the expertise does not currently exist internally to design,
build, and implement the sort of extensive online platform required for this effort. Therefore, the recommendation is to
contract this work out to an internet marketplace provider who can work with ABC to meet its needs within the determined
timeframe and budget. It should be noted that while ABC does not have this expertise internally, the technology exists and is
in use throughout the marketplace which lowers the risk of this concept considerably.

ABC currently maintains a high speed internet connection, web server, and the latest software. With the addition of an e-
commerce portal it is expected that there will be an overall cost increase of 5-10% for web server operations and maintenance
costs.

5. Organization and Staffing

With many new products or services there may be a need for additional staffing or for an organization to restructure in order
to accommodate the change. These are important considerations as they may result in increased costs or require an
organization to change its practices and processes.

The ABC online sales campaign is not anticipated to significantly affect the organizational structure of the company. There
are, however, several staffing additions required to successfully implement the online sales campaign. All of these positions
will work within existing departments and report to department managers.

Staffing Position #1: Online Sales Manager – this full time position will lead sales staff in identifying sales opportunities and
converting these opportunities to actual sales. This person will report to ABC’s Director of Sales and will work in ABC
headquarters.

Staffing Position #2: Online Marketing Manager – this full time position will lead marketing staff in identifying target
customer groups/markets and conducting online advertising/marketing efforts to maximize traffic to ABCs online
marketplace. This person will report to ABC’s Director of Marketing and will work in ABC headquarters.

6. Schedule

This section of the feasibility study is intended to provide a high-level framework for implementation of the product or service
being considered. This section is not intended to include a detailed schedule as this would be developed during project
planning should this initiative be approved. This section may include some targeted milestones and timeframes for completion
as a guideline only.

The ABC online sales campaign is expected to take six months from project approval to launch of the e-commerce platform.
Many of the foundations for this platform, such as high-speed internet and web server capability, are already available. The
following is a high-level schedule of some significant milestones for this initiative:

Jan 1, 20xx: Initiate Project

February 1, 20xx: Project kickoff meeting
March 1, 20xx: Complete online sales site design
April 1, 20xx: Complete testing of online sales site
June 1, 20xx: Complete beta testing trials of online sales site
July 2, 20xx: Go live with site launch
Upon approval of this project a detailed schedule will be created by the assigned project team to include all tasks and
deliverables.

7. Findings and Recommendations

This section of the feasibility study template provides an area where to summarize the findings of the feasibility study and
explain why this course of action is or is not recommended. This section may include a description of pros and cons for the
initiative being considered. This section should be brief since most of the detail is included elsewhere in the document.
Additionally, it should capture the likelihood of success for the business idea being studied.

Based on the information presented in this feasibility study, it is recommended that ABC approves the online sales initiative
and begins project initiation. The findings of this feasibility study show that this initiative will be highly beneficial to the
organization and has a high probability of success. Key findings are as follows:

Technology:

• Will utilize existing technology which lowers project risk

• E commerce infrastructure will be contracted out to vendor which allows ABC to share risk
• Once in place this technology is simple to operate and maintain for a relatively low cost

Marketing:

• This initiative will allow ABC to reach large number of target groups electronically at a low cost
• ABC can expand customer base beyond geographic areas where stores are currently located
• The marketplace for online chocolate and confection sales is in a steady state of growth
• ABC is able to differentiate itself from its competitors and will utilize incentive programs to target new consumers

Organizational:

• Minimal increases to staffing are required with no changes to organizational structure

• No new facilities or capital investments are required

Financial:

• ABC will be in position to capture greater market share by maintaining both an in-store and online presence