Marketing Performance of Olay in the UAE - Essay Example

? Marketing Report Olay in the United Arab Emirates Insert Insert Grade Insert 25 May Introduction Olay is an American company that manufactures skin care products. Procter & Gamble owns the firm. It was founded in South Africa by Graham Wuff in 1999 who sold lanolin branded as oil of Olay (Olay, 2012). Wulf developed the oil of Olay at home and used his wife and friends to experiment on the oil. He marketed the oil of Olay product with his friend Lowe without any branding, successfully and later marketed the oil of Olay under the company Adams National Industries (ANI) (Olay, 2012). They successfully entered the international markets but later sold their company to Richard Merell Inc who expanded the skin care products (Patrick, 2012). With increased marketing and advertising, the company drastically increased their sales volume. Procter & Gamble bought the company in 1985 and diversified a range of skin care products line up (Patrick, 2012). They unified the brand name to Olay worldwide, except in Germany and Italy where it is branded under the name Olaz. The Olay brand markets a wide range of products and is highly successful all over the world. The Marketing Environment This refers to all factors and forces that determine a company’s ability to interact and develop mutually beneficial relationships with their customers (Lancaster, 2012). The factors may be internal whereby the company can be able to control these factors to its advantage and external where the company has no control over these forces (Lancaster, 2012). The United Arab Emirates offers a superb marketing environment to foreign and local businesses because of few legal hurdles (alClick Advertising Network, 2009). The Micro Environment To be a leader in skin care products, Procter & Gamble Olay’s has developed and maintained a good micro marketing environment enabling it to serve women and men from all over the world. Olay has been able to control its micro environment through focusing on customer satisfaction. This has resulted in high quality products and numerous innovative new products through manipulation of the following factors. Products Range Olay has a product for every woman and prides itself in meeting and exceeding its customer needs. The company brand offers an extensive product line including facial moisturizers, body lotions, beauty bars, toners, facial cleansers, UV products combined with specialty products and formulations that caters for the needs of a majority of women all over the world (Patrick, 2012). These products have the high quality standards and are reasonably low priced for their quality (Fitness health, 2012). The company has received numerous awards on quality, innovation and advertisements making it a leader in the skin care category (Arabian Gazette, 2012; Olay, 2012). Pricing Policy Olay products are reasonably low priced for quality and are affordable to most people, facilitating noble sales volume all year round. The company offers numerous discounts and benefits when customers purchase products from online stores; making their products easily affordable to most consumers. Place Procter and Gamble has expanded all over the world with numerous distribution channels and outlets. It has partnered with the online drugstore.com. The company offers free shipping for some of its stuff in the US (Fitness health, 2012). By offering their customers convenient point of purchases, they make their products move faster. Promotion of Sales The company promotes the sales of its skin care products through strategic advertisement and astute marketing, which has enabled the brand to become the most popular skin and beauty product brand all over the world. The company invests in television marketing, internet marketing and has various coupons, cash back reward systems, and various rotating promotions that help market its brands (Olay, 2012). Employees and Staff The firm hires highly competent and skilled staff in all its sections dedicated to the provision of the highest product and service quality standards possible. They have a dedicated 24 hour customer support program that interact and assist customers in all their queries ensuring that they have excellent customer feedback. The Macro Environment The macro environment consist all external factors that affect a company’s performance, which it has no control. These factors include. Political and Legal Environment The UAE is a remarkably stable country and offers a favourable environment for business investments. Politics seldom affect business investments in the country. The world’s Economic Environment Changing economic trends and foreign currency influence the company operations. This affects the demand, costs, and prices of its products. Increase in raw products prices impact on the company’s profitability, which necessitates adjustment of prices to offset the increased costs. Socio Cultural Environment Despite unequal literacy levels in the past. The UAE has invested and succeeded in obtaining high literacy levels for both men and women ensuring that a significant percent of women work in the government and private sector (Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, 2009). The social cultural environment does not hinder women using beauty and skin care products. The Supply Channels Most Olay products can be bought online and delivered to their customers. Olay has a dedicated website specifically for women (and in Arabic) ensuring that their customer has access to any product they want. Retail supermarkets and pharmacies vend Olay products over the counters. Technology Olay has invested in technology, and research to ensure that its products meet the required red safety and quality standards (Fitness health, 2012). This enables the company to have a competitive edge over its competitors. Segmentation Different women seek different benefits from skin care products. Olay brands contain both intensive skin treatments and less intensive basic skin care products. Olay has capitalized on this by providing skin care products for both young and old women. It has anti ageing skin care products and basic skin care products for younger women illustrated by its wide range of products. It offers specialty products for women requiring special treatments. Segmentation of the target market occurs with the same product being offered at different prices with slight variations in brand name to cater for different economic capabilities of women. Current Product Description Olay range of products makes women look younger because of their high quality. They cater for all skin care needs of women. These products are lowly priced and packed in convenient easy to use eco friendly packages. Target Market Olay targets women of all ages with most of its products targeting older women with aging skin (Patrick, 2012). The target market includes women who require intensive skin products like anti aging and wrinkle-release skin care products; and younger women who seek less intensive skin care products. The brand targets both price conscious and non price conscious women and those who prefer herbal and non herbal products. Description of the Marketing Opportunity The product targets both men and women suffering from acne. Findings from the research showed that a majority of men (67% of the respondents) suffer from acne for periods ranging from 1 - 9 years. The current acne products in the market have various limitations, which can be effectively addressed by the new acne product introduction. 58% of the target market is ready to try new products. Hence, the new acne product will have a good chance of penetrating and succeeding in the market. Proposed product Product launch Olay has developed Olay acne skin care product and will launch it in the UAE market to complement the already existing Olay brands in this market. The three levels of the product will be The core Acne Olay skin product will treat and manage acne in people. The Actual Product Acne Olay product will be cream in colour with a faint medicinal smell packed in convenient easy to use plastic tubes. Augmented Product Olay acne product will have different varieties to cater for individual skin characteristics of the customer. There will be Olay acne products for dry and oily skins. Marketing Analysis The United Arab Emirates medicated skin care product market has witnessed remarkable growth recently following increasing health and wellness concerns (Acne, 2011). With 67% of the people interviewed suffering from acne, this indicates that a significant percent of society suffers from acne and would be ready to use medicated skin care products that actually works. The existing acne products in the market do not satisfy the customers who have varied concerns, which provide Olay acne products a chance in the market. Provision of high quality products and segmentation will cater for price considerations for all people. Proposed Pricing Presently, acne products in the market are highly priced. By introducing low priced high quality acne skin care products, Olay can have a tremendous competitive edge. Majority of the respondents spend around AED 50-150 and AED 151-250 per month with the smallest percent spending AED 251-350 per month. The new Olay acne product would require to be segmented to cater for all the three groups. This is with a slightly lowered introductory price to immediately capture the attention of the three segments. Proposed Distribution Process The bulk of the new acne product would be distributed through supermarkets and pharmacies as majority of the acne sufferers buy their skin care products from this retail stores. The product would also be distributed in beauty shops and offered in online drug stores to cater for customers who prefer buying from these sites. The distribution strategy would be focused in providing convenience of access to all customers requiring Olay acne products in UAE. Promotion Mix To reach the entire target markets, the Olay acne product would be advertised through mass television advertising to reach a majority of the market. It would also utilize Internet Marketing to reach the technologically savvy women and men. The company will establish a dedicated 24 hour customer support forum where professional dermatologist will address all customer queries, through emails and telephone calls. References Acne, M., 2011. Medicated Skin Care in a United Arab Emirates. [Online] Available at: http://muradacnetreatment.info/new-market-research-report-medicated-skin-care-in-the-united-arab-emirates.html (Accessed 25th May 2012). alClick Advertising Network, 2009. UAE Marketing. [Online] Available at: http://www.uae-marketing.com/ (Accessed 25th May 2012). Arabian Gazette, 2012. OLAY is the Most Valuable Beauty Brand in the World [Online] Available at: http://arabiangazette.com/olay-valuable-beauty-brand-world/ (Accessed 25th May 2012). Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, 2009. UAE – US Relations. [Online] Available at: http://www.uae-embassy.org/uae-us-relations/social-cultural (Accessed 25th May 2012). Fitness health, 2012. Oil of Olay Skin Care Review. [Online] Available at: http://www.fitnesshealth101.com/review/skin-beauty/oil-of-olay (Accessed 25th May 2012). Lancaster, G., 2012. Marketing and the Organization’s Micro- and Macro-Environments. [Online] Available at: http://www.da-group.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31%3Amicro-and-macro-environments&catid=2%3Amarketing-lectures&Itemid=3 (Accessed 25th May 2012). Olay 2012. Awards and Press. [Online] Available at: http://www.olay.com/Pages/AwardsPress.aspx (Accessed 25th May 2012). Olay, 2012. Samples and Special Offers. [Online] Available at: http://www.olay.com/olay-coupons (Accessed 25th May 2012). Olay, 2012. The Olay Story. [Online] Available at: http://www.olay.com/Pages/HistoryofOlayOlay.aspx (Accessed 25th May 2012). Patrick, M., 2012. Oil of Olay. [Online] Available at: http://skincare.lovetoknow.com/Oil_of_Olay (Accessed 25th May 2012). Read More