Bigen Hair Colour Promotion - Case Study Example

 Bigen Hair Colour Promotion 1.0 Introduction The Beautycolor Cosmetics Co. Ltd is located in China’s Mainland and wishes to increase the quantity of its bigen hair color products sold in United Arab Emirates. Over the last five years, the increasing competition in the beauty industry in the United Arab Emirates has significantly reduced the demand of bigen hair color products manufactured by Beautycolor Cosmetics Co. Ltd. Therefore, the company decided to promote its products in order to recapture the sizeable market of the beauty industry and increase the number of new customers and retains the existing ones. Bigen hair color is a chemical product that is designed to colour someone’s head as he or she desires. It is also used to enrich the natural hair colour without damaging the hair roots and keeping the hair soft. Unlike other hair colours, bigen hair color does not contain ammonia, heavy masking odour and peroxide. It is easy to apply and cheaper to purchase. Bigen hair color is available in various colours. They can be dark auburn, chocolate, light Chestnut, medium chestnut, dark chestnut, black brown and oriental black. For promotion to be effective and generate more revenue, it is important to apply promotional tactics that increases guest traffic and frequency at all times. According to Hewet (2009), sales promotions push the customers to buy the product instantly because it helps to keep the interest on the product. Therefore, a promotion is an important strategy to induce the demand of the bigen hair color products in the United Arab Emirate market. Bigen hair color promotional activity is projected to increase the sales of the product by at least twenty-five percent during the advertising period and generate significant amount of profits to the company. 2.0 Project Management Theories Project management is important for planning, executing and managing the resources of a given project and has been practiced since the age of civilization. Every undertaking that utilise finances, assets, manpower, processes and time to attain specific goals and objectives is considered as a project. The project is temporary and has the start and end dates. The successful outcomes of various projects depend on a number of factors. Chief among them is availability of finances, accurate planning, capability of the project team and other factors that are socio-economic in nature. Every project manager must know and understand the various phases of project management to be able to be effective in managing the projects. There are five phases of project management. Taylor (2007) states that concept generation, planning, design and development; implementation and closeout are five phases of project management. 2.1 Project Concept Generation Phase Phase 1; is Concept generation and involves collection of relevant information and other incidental data related to the project at hand. The information is important in establishing the needs and scope of the project to be implemented. The information can be obtained from market research, company’s financial statements, government publications, business journals and other relevant documentations. The owners of the project use the collected information to determine the goals, objectives and feasibility of the project. In addition, it is important for identifying key stakeholders and the level of risk of the project at hand. It can also be used to generate appropriate strategy and select a team to carry out the promotional activities. This is the phase that determines the size, scope and nature of the project. Furthermore, it is a project management phase that enables the sponsors to know and understand the environment under which the project would be carried out. If concept generation and development phase is done well, then the project would have higher chances of successful completion. The project involves promotion of bigen hair color produced by China’s Beautycolor Cosmetics Co. Ltd in the United Arab Emirates. Bigen hair color sales promotion would be conducted at the retail outlets of the sixteen Spinneys Supermarkets. The promotion is needed because over the previous years, the Beautycolor Cosmetics Co. Ltd has experienced drop in its United Arab Emirates market share that has resulted to reduction in its profits in the region. Because of the above reason, the company decided to undertake sales promotions for its bigen hair color to be able to acquire its market share and grow. Spinneys Supermarket has over forty branches in the United Arab Emirates and is ideal for promoting bigen hair color because it has a lot of customers as compared to other supermarkets. Moreover, it is one of the leading supermarkets in the Arab world because customers perceive it as high quality products and services provider. The promotion would run as from 1st August 2010 to 31st August 2010. 2.1.1 Goals and objective of the promotion According to Pride et al (2009), promotions is used to attract new customers, increase sales to existing customers, reinforce advertisements, increase traffic to retail stores, steady sales patterns that are irregular and neutralize the promotional efforts of the competitors. If sales promotion is used well, it is possible to achieve increase in company’s sales and profits. The Beautycolor Cosmetics Co. Ltd identified the following goals and objective of the bigen hair color promotion project at the Spinneys Supermarkets in the United Arab Emirates. The first goal is to increase guest traffic by creating quality experience that makes guest to come back for the product. Secondly, the company aims at making its existing customers to increase the frequent use of its products. Thirdly, the company aims to expose new customers to bigen hair color products and capture the views of the customer at the time of exposure to the product. Fourth, the company intends to neutralize the promotional efforts of its competitors. Finally, the key of objective of the company is to increase it total sales by twenty five percent in all its promotional locations with the month of August. 2.1.2 Characteristic of the Project According to Schwalbe (2006: 5-7), the triple constrain model state that project time; project scope and project cost are the main constraint that influences the success of the project. Time constraint means the amount of time it takes to complete the project, while the cost means the amount of money available for the project and project scope are the actions and strategies applied to complete the project. Each of the three constrain are depended on the other two and change in a single constraint affects the other two constraints. The model suggests that success of the project depends solely on the project team competence. The promotion covers all the bigen hair color products produced by China’s Beautycolor Cosmetics Co. Ltd. The purpose of promotions is to increase the revenues by increasing customer frequency to the retail stores. The promotion is expected to last for a period of thirty days beginning August 1st. 2010 and expected to end on 31st August 2010. According to triple constrain model, the total time it take to complete the project is estimated using a variety of techniques. One way to estimate time is to identify all the tasks and efforts needed to attain project deliverables. The effort for each work is estimated and integrated into the final deliverable estimate. PMBOK suggest that that time is estimated by activity definition, sequencing of tasks and resources as well as schedule development and control. Project time is influenced by project tasks and availability of resources including the human resource. The bigen hair colour promotional event requires an estimated seven thousand two hundred and sixty hours (7260 hrs) and shall be undertaken by a team of twenty two members. Bigen hair color promotional project would have one project manager, one assistant manager and twenty promotion girls. All the team members must be eighteen years and above. Furthermore, they must be committed, outgoing, smart, energetic, loyal and with pleasant personalities. The selection criteria for the girls are stated below; The promotional girls must be able to speak both English and Arabic The promotional girls must be reliable, hardworking, confident and outgoing The looks and attitudes of promotions are very important The promotional girls should be reliable, punctual and full of initiative Promotional girls would be located at the sixteen branches of Spinneys Supermarkets and would perform the following duties. They should drive the demand of bigen hair color products by interacting with existing and potential customers at the selling points. They shall present various gifts to Beautycolor Cosmetics Co. Ltd customers as directed by the team leader. They shall collect views of the customers regarding product use, customer preference and other relevant information. They shall demonstrate the use of the product at the designated exhibition stands. Finally, they will do any other task related to promotional activities as directed by the project manager. The project manager and his or her assistant shall be appointed by the project sponsors. The manager should have at least a university degree in marketing. Furthermore, he or she must have efficient team management skills, good communication and interpersonal skills and effective problem solving skills. The project managers shall supervise and motivate the promotion team, review promotional activities on daily basis, coordinate the distribution of all promotional materials and plan for all project resources. It is the duty project’s manager to ensure that the expectations of the project are met. The assistant project manager shall assist the project manager on day to day management of promotional activities. 2.1.3 Promotional Activities Following deep analysis of the market of bigen hair color products in the United Arab Emirates and the product promotion expert, it was decided that the company would purchase certain promotional materials and apply various sales promotion strategies to maximize the impact of the promotional endeavor. The company would develop banners that would be placed at the entrance of all the supermarkets that host the promotions so as to increase marketing awareness and attract more people to the product. The management of Beautycolor Cosmetics Co. Ltd agreed to reduce the selling price for every product by 20 percent of the total selling price. Under special circumstances, loyal clients would receive further product price reduction surprises at the cashier. The company, through the promotion girls would distribute gifts with the product logo to its customers. The gift items include Pens, T-Shirts, caps, 2010 Wall Calendar, Polo Neck, Bottle opener with nail clipper and Shopping Bags. Some customers would receive free or subsidized hair colour services from the promotion girls. 2.1.4 Risk assessment Just like any other project, the bigen hair color promotional project faces risks that may obscure achievement of projects goals and objectives. Figure 1- the project risks, risk level, likelihood of experience and mitigation strategy. Risk Risk level Likelihood of event Mitigation strategy Person hours 7260 man hours certain Engage a project manager, consultant, develop communication plan and utilize comprehensive project management approach. Project estimated period 30 days certain Develop a total project timeline and frequent reviews The size of the team 22 members certain Communication plan, regular meeting and tight project supervision Number of branches 15 branches certain Allocate equal promotion time for each branch and develop comprehensive communication plan Project financing 150,000 available certain Request additional monies if circumstances demands Project costs uncertain The team members would stick to the budget Availability of promotion space 10 supermarkets confirmed uncertain Identify exhibition stands that are near the supermarket Product perception Good certain Enhance the benefits of the product and improved its display 2.1.5 Project requirements Bigen hair color promotional project requires a number of resources, materials, labour and skills to be able to be undertaken successful. The sales promotion needs twenty two team members to work for 7260 hours to be able to achieve the goals and objectives of the project. In addition, the promotion project requires 114,910 dirham to finance all its activities. The promotional team requires promotion uniforms and items, stationary, wages and exhibition stands to carry out their mandate. 2.1.6 Stakeholders There are many stakeholders of the promotional undertaking. The first is the company its self that aims at gaining some profits form the proceeds following promotions. The second is Spinneys supermarkets and it sixteen branches Al Ghurair Centre, Bin Sougat Centre, Dubai Marina, Jumeira, Mazaya Centre, Mercato, Mirdiff, Ramada, Trade Centre Road, Umm Suqeim, Fine Fair, aGhubaib, King Faisal, Sahara Centre and Dana Plaza. The Spinneys supermarket would earn some profit from the venture. Thirdly, the team members are also key stakeholder because they offer their promotional services in exchange for wages. The consumer is the fourth stakeholder. He or she consumes the services and the products of Beautycolor Cosmetics Co. Ltd. Consumers are the reasons of existence of all other stakeholders. 2.1.7 Feasibility It is only prudent to undertake projects that add value to the company and other stakeholders. The quicker way of charging the feasibility is to carry out cost-benefit analysis of the undertaking. The data was obtained from the company’s financial statements and by examining socioeconomic factors that influence the consumer to purchase the product under consideration. Socioeconomic factors include the purchasing power of the people in the United Arab Emirates, the fashion trends in the beauty industry and the competitors. 2.1.8 Feasibility study Figure 2- Promotional Project Appraisal   Quantity Amount in Dirham Estimated sales with promotion 96000 2188800 Less estimated sales for period without promotion 72000 1641600 Increased estimated sales due to promotion 24000 547200 Cost of sales   246240 Gross profit   300960 Total none promotional expenses   109440 Uniforms   5000 The total cost of promotion   108910 Net profits   65010 The above table shows the amount of sales and profits to be generated after promoting bigen hair color product. 2.2 Project Planning Phase Phase two of project management is planning. Planning is very important in managing any type of projects because it makes implementation easy and predictable. It guides the project manager and team member on the actions to be taken in order to achieve the objectives that have been set. At this phase, objectives are clearly defined, work breakdown structure is established, budget is developed, project schedule (Gantt Chart) is developed, and team members are appointed and organized, quality standards established and resources as well as corresponding project activities are established. Furthermore, policies and procedures that promote successful implementation of the project are established. The purpose of planning stage is to plan manpower, time, costs and resources to increase the chances of project successes. After developing the plan to guide the execution of the project, a formal approval is sort. The triple constrain model suggest that the scheduling, development and control of the project can be estimated using resource calendars, project management plan, critical path method and critical chain method. 2.2.1 The work schedule The month of June and August 2010 Figure 3- The Work Schedule Activities Originating and developing the bigen hair color products promotional idea Developing bigen hair color products promotional materials Advertising for promoters’ vacancy in the local news papers in United Arab Emirates First Interview project manager Second interview company management and approval Selection of the twenty girls who will carry out the bigen hair color product promotions Training the selected girls on bigen hair color product specifications Distributing the promotional girls to various promotional points in the United Arab Emirates Supervision of all promotional girls Branches Al Ghurair Centre Bin Sougat Centre Dubai Marina Mazaya Centre Names Merlyn Goveas Aisha Farouq Reem Jurdi Tania Banu Rima Saleh Nouna Olleik Somayeh Attari Ruqaya Fatoom Sophai Martini Reshma Chaudry Chaza Khan Mey Elizabeth Aliyah Yahyai Roza Bidar Dana Abdullah Eliqa Shaza Nazanin Hadi Suroor Armeda Maliha Mirza Elli Renata   Branches Mercato Mirdiff Ramada Trade Centre Road Names Merlyn Goveas Aisha Farouq Reem Jurdi Tania Banu Rima Saleh Nouna Olleik Somayeh Attari Ruqaya Fatoom Sophai Martini Reshma Chaudry Chaza Khan Mey Elizabeth Aliyah Yahyai Roza Bidar Dana Abdullah Eliqa Shaza Nazanin Hadi Suroor Armeda Maliha Mirza Elli Renata   Branches Umm Suqeim Fine Fair aGhubaib King Faisal Names Merlyn Goveas Aisha Farouq Reem Jurdi Tania Banu Rima Saleh Nouna Olleik Somayeh Attari Ruqaya Fatoom Sophai Martini Reshma Chaudry Chaza Khan Mey Elizabeth Aliyah Yahyai Roza Bidar Dana Abdullah Eliqa Shaza Nazanin Hadi Suroor Armeda Maliha Mirza Elli Renata   Branches Sahara Centre Dana Plaza Abu Dhabi Khalidiya Names Merlyn Goveas Aisha Farouq Reem Jurdi Tania Banu Rima Saleh Nouna Olleik Somayeh Attari Ruqaya Fatoom Sophai Martini Reshma Chaudry Chaza Khan Mey Elizabeth Aliyah Yahyai Roza Bidar Dana Abdullah Eliqa Shaza Nazanin Hadi Suroor Armeda Maliha Mirza Elli Renata   Activity Closing out bigen hair color products promotional project The above table shows the dates, branches and the allocation of promotion girls to various Spinneys supermarket branches. Table 4- Gantt chart Week 1 and 2 Week 3 and 4 Week 5 and 6 Duration 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 Idea creation 2 2 Identification and selection of project leaders 4 2 2 Identification and selection of promotion girls 4 2 2 Development and preparing promotion materials 4 2 2 Training promotion team on bigen hair colour 4 2 Reporting to various promotional points 2 2 Promotion point A; 8 2 2 2 2 Promotion point B; 8 2 2 2 2 Promotion point C: 7 2 2 2 1 Promotion point D: 7 1 2 2 2 Adjourning the team 1 1 Project closeout 1 1 During the promotion of the bigen hair color products, five promotion girls are going to be located at each branch. The promotions will be undertaken for a period of between eight to seven days in each branch so that the sixteen branches of Spinney supermarket are adequately covered. 2.2.2 The budget The triple constrain model also suggests that project costs can be estimated using labour rates, variable costs, direct and indirect costs as well as the economic costs. When estimating costs it is important to consider all resources needed, tools are resource cost rates as well as cost of quality analysis. Figure 5- Promotion Budget Amount in Dirham Salaries and wages 11,400 Transportation 15,000 Job advert 4,000 Banners, fliers and Brochures 4,600 Gift Packs 25,000 Stationeries and Photocopying 1,500 Communication 1,250 Exhibition stands 12,000 Cost of selection 960 Uniforms 5,000 Price reductions 34,200 Total 114,910 The above table shows items and corresponding cost. The total cost of monies needed to run the promotion is Dirham (UAE) 114,910. 2.3 Project Design and Development Phase Project design and development stage involves preparation of the project’s blue print. At this phase, the project manager collects relevant information from data, relevant experts and any other source to be able to create project design documents. Once the project’s blue print has been created and documented by the project manager, it is reviewed by the project manager, relevant experts and other key stakeholders. After the review, the sponsors and other relevant agencies and individuals must approve the plan or the blue print before the project is executed. The deliverables of the project are started and developed in this phase. Furthermore, the baseline of the project is measured and control strategies are identified and executed to ensure that the actual activities in the project are practical. The project manager at this stage set up the organization, develop comprehensive communication plan, motivates the team members, detail project requirements and establish the work packages for the whole project team. Furthermore, they set up adequate and appropriate information systems, procure necessary goods and services. 2.4 Project Implementation Phase The fourth phase of project management is implementation. This involves executing project and achieving its goals and objectives by coordinating the people and the resources. The project must be managed according to the comprehensive management plan. At this phase, the project manager direct and monitor the project at every stage. The manager compares the actual performances with the planned. Any discrepancies are dealt with on time so as to prevent wide diversion from the predetermined goals and objectives. In this phase the project manager together with his or her team adopt and implement strategies that will put the project on course. 2.4.1Tracking the expenditures Figure 6- Tracking expenditures at the course of the project Actual expenditures Planned expenditures in Dirham Variances Causes of variances Remedial measures Salaries and wages 11,400 Transportation 15,000 Job advert 4,000 Fliers and Brochures 3,600 Gift Packs 25,000 Stationeries and Photocopying 1,500 Communication 1,250 Exhibition stands 12,000 Cost of selection 960 Uniforms 5,000 Price reductions 34,200 Total 103,910 2.4.2 Tracking the goals and objectives set Under the PMBOK, the variables being monitored include scope, schedule, budget, risk, resources and the quality of the output. Figure 7- Tracking the goals and objective of the promotion project The goals and objective were achieved Yes No Increase guest traffic Increase the frequent use of the products Expose new customers to bigen hair color products and capture the views of the customers Neutralize the promotional efforts of competitors Increase sales by twenty five percent The project manager also monitors the work schedule, the goals and objectives, team performances, resource allocation, the quantities of bigen hair color products sold, time spent as well as the scope of the project to ensure that they are performing according to the plan. To ensure that the team members performed their duties to the required levels, the project manager ensures that every person involved in executing the project becomes a team player. According to (Haas 2007:57), for every project, a team must be created through the five steps of group formation and nurtured to advance the objectives of the project. During group formation and maintenance, Tuckman’s Group development theory becomes useful. The first task of the manager is to assemble and build his or her team on the Tuckman’s Group development theory. At the group formation stage, every person in the team is asked to be impersonal and concentrate with their busy routines. The members of the team learn to work with other members on the project. They meet and learn about the project’s opportunities and threats. The second stage of group formation is storming. At this stage, every team member is encouraged to present ideas and strategies concerning the project to the team. The team members identify and discuss competing ideas related to the project and try to solve various problems facing them. However, the team must be very cautious not to spend all the time on minute issues that might not be useful in undertaking the project. The members agree on the number and type of goals to be pursued in line with those set by the project sponsors. The next stage of group formation is norming. At this stage, all the members of the group agree on some aspects relating to the project. Members of the team distribute roles, responsibilities and authority among themselves. There is openness among the members and every member develops sense of belonging to the group. The team develops common goals, common objectives as well as common spirit. All the members of the team think and act in similar ways. This is a stage when some members must give up selfish ideas and agree with other members of what needs to be done. The team must move from idea stage to implementation stage. The team undertakes all the task of the project as a unit. People working together for a purpose as a unit are able to achieve above expectation. At the performing stage, members are motivated, knowledgeable, autonomous and competent to make key project decisions. Furthermore, supervisors become participants to the group activities. The last stage of group formation is adjourning stage. It is a stage when the team members disintegrate after completing the project or regroup to form a new team. It is an emotional phase of project management because team members are forced to move to different places. 2.5 Closeout stage The final stage of project management is close out. This is the most difficult stage in project management because the team disintegrates upon completion of the project. It is an important stage because it is a time the client receives what he or she planned for longtime ago. At this stage, the project manager and other team members conduct reviews to determine whether what was planned has been achieved as promised and delivered to the client as agreed. The customer may agree or disagree with the deliverables depending on whether his or her needs has been met and satisfied as promised by the project manager. The project manager and team members document the lessons learned during project origination, planning, development and implementation. The final output of the products is also documented. Close out phase involves ending all administrative duties, settling the final accounts, releasing project resources or reassigning project team and transferring product responsibility. 2.51 Project feedback Once the project is completed, the project manager is supposed to document all the lessons learned during the time of executing the projects. The lessons may be varied depending on the prevailing conditions at the period when the project was executed. The project manager gives his or her on views concerning the completed project. The feedback is important because it lays down the foundation for making decisions about future promotion. It also shades lights on the product under consideration and how it should be improved to enhance its competitiveness. 2.5.2 Limitation of project Based on the past experiences it is possible to identify it limitation. It was only possible to undertake the project at the sixteen branches of Spinneys supermarkets. It would have been very appropriate to undertake promotion on bigen hair colour at all supermarkets in the United Arab Emirates. However, financial resources are limited to undertake extensive promotion activities on the project. 3.0 References Haas, M 2007, The formation process of SME-Networks: A comparative case analysis of social processes in Austria, Belgium and Turkey, DUV, Germany. Hewet 2009, FCS: Advertising & Promotions L4, Pearson South Africa, South Africa. Hiebing, GR & Cooper, WS 2004, The one-day marketing plan: organizing and completing a plan that works. 3rd edn,: McGraw-Hill Professional, New York. James C. Taylor, CJ 2007, Project Scheduling and Cost Control: Planning, Monitoring and Controlling the Baseline, J. Ross Publishing, Florida. Pride, MW, Hughes, JR & Kapoor, RJ 2009, Business. 10th edn, Cengage Learning, New York. Schwalbe, K 2006, Introduction to project management, Cengage Learning, New York. Read More