Cosmetics Giants Segment the Global Cosmetics Market - Assignment Example

Cosmetics Giants Segment the Global Cosmetics Market Affiliation Cosmetics Giants Segment the Global Cosmetics Market Task 1 How do women’s preferences for cosmetics and beauty care vary from country to country? Women’s preferences for beauty and cosmetics vary from country to country. The predilections are greatly influenced by the culture upheld in a specific country; culture includes the values, beliefs, religion and attitudes that women hold towards certain cosmetics and beauty products. For instance, Chinese women will associate white skin with wealth (Keegan & Green, 2014). Hence, skin whitening and brightening products will be having a better market in China compared to other countries that do not hold such belief. The social class, level of income, climate of the area and the aesthetic culture of the country, also influences the preference. Understanding consumer culture is important in identifying a good market in any country; every woman has her preference in terms of quality, aspiration, cost and the results of the cosmetic and beauty care. The countries whose economy is doing well will have women affording to buy the expensive products, which they deem to translate to quality products. However, in a country like India, women will prefer to buy cheap products and so the investor must take low priced products to that market. The preference also changes with changing trends where in countries like India, women start working and thereby start affording premium priced products. In addition, it is also influenced by introduction of better means of communication for example CNN, MTV and fashion magazines. In this examples, there is increased advertisement may change the trend of product preference in some countries. Social class also affects the women preferences; those with high incomes tend to purchase products of higher value than those with lower incomes. Wealth brings choices and freedom to consume products that one can afford. In economically stable countries, women’s preference of cosmetic and beauty care diverse. Brazilian women devote more on beauty products as compared to their counterparts elsewhere (Keegan & Green, 2014, p.231) Aesthetic culture is also a determinant of women preference for cosmetics and beauty products. Those women who believe that the cosmetic products will enhance their beauty tend to spend more on the products than those women who want to remain natural. The procedures involved while using the products also affects the preferences of women; they are likely to purchase the products that suit their beauty schedule. The number of times they apply make ups, or they cleanse their faces may influence how a specific product is used. According to Keegan & Green, 2014, researchers have found that typical Japanese woman will cleanse her face twice a day; hence, they prefer the cleansers that allow that schedule. Religion influences the preferences of these products; women tend to use products that are accepted by their religious foundations, and this differs from Christianity, Muslims, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism. Women who are staunch to their religion tend to follow the teachings about beauty to the letter according to the scriptures. In most countries, there is always a dominant religion that is followed by a greater percentage of the population and this affects the preferences for cosmetics and beauty care as accepted by that religion. The place and mode of distribution also affect the preference of cosmetics and beauty care. Where door-to-door selling has been used, most women will prefer buying these products due to easy accessibility than buy from stores in towns and cities. Most of the women will also not be willing to change their products because of the new ones in the market. Hence, new investors will have to put more effort in convincing them to buy the new products. Weather also influences the type of cosmetics to use. The climate of certain countries may affect the women’s preference for cosmetics. The choice of the product will depend on the understanding of which products better suits the climate of the area they come from. A good example is where Japanese women prefer compact foundation to liquid because their country has high humidity. Women predictions will keep changing from country to country because of the differences in culture, income, communication mediums and their taste. Most women will use the products that are legally accepted in their countries, and that satisfy their needs in beauty enhancement. Task 2 Assess Estee Lauder’s strategy for China. The Estee Lauder’s strategy for China, which focuses on selling expensive, prestigious brands at a cheaper price, will make a major move in growing the company. It is an exclusive way of penetrating into the market, creating the right target groups that will forever look forward to using their products even when they use super premiums prices. Estee Lauder views china as a hundred billion dollar opportunity that has the best market for its products (Keegan & Green, 2014) Their products in China are highly valued, they have well thought out effective pricing that are not too high for consumers. They have planned and are in total control of their Chinese market because their premium brands is everything that every Chinese woman and Chinese man will want to use for prestige. Estee Lauder premium brands are considered luxurious and despite the fact that Chinese consumers are price sensitive, they still purchase the expensive products because they have luxurious aspirations. It has an upper hand for the company as their premium brands keep on selling because of prestige value attached to them. Estee Lauder has focused their marketing efforts on people who have the potential to purchase their products and enable them make the right profit margins. A company spokesperson explained that More of Estee Lauder’s growth is anticipated to originate from awareness building and expansion in tier-two, and three cities as tier-one cities begin to mature (Keegan& Green, 2014). The strategy of targeting new cities is effective in targeting the higher social class people who can afford their products. Its strategy for China, however, has its limitations. They are targeting few cities in china and hence its expansion and growth in the whole country will be slow and might not be too beneficial in the future. I think the idea of the research analyst that the company should reposition and launch mass marketing is better for their long-term goals (Keegan &Green, 2014). Low –price mass marketing strategy will ensure that they will have a ready market in the whole country even if a competitor with luxurious products as theirs gets to Chinese market. Task 3 What is the best positioning strategy for Shiseido as the company expands in Asia? Positioning a brand or product to distinguish it in the minds of major customers can be achieved in various ways. The various ways include positioning by excellence or benefit, positioning by superiority/ price, positioning by use or user, and positioning by competition. Other strategic options used in global marketing include global consumer culture positioning (GCCP), foreign consumer culture positioning (FCCP), and local consumer culture positioning (LCCP) (Keegan& Green, 2014 p 227). Shiseido is second largest cosmetic company in Japan that has realized the need to globalize their company in Asia. The company’s growth in the country is slow as they expect it grow about 2 percent annually (Keegan & Green, 2014). Despite the fact that the domestic sales are not doing so well, their products are widely accepted by the Asian women as they suit their skin needs. The company has also made a strong repute for its continued ability to research about skin products such as anti-aging products. The result is the promotion of their sales as they can know the target market and its market potential after the researches and can hence invest in the locations where better outcomes are sure. The company is already established in china, and they have an effective selling strategy that involves a beauty counselor who advises the customers on their products. The customers are given a chance to understand how the cosmetic and beauty care products works and can make a decision of which product will give them the satisfaction they desire. It ensures they locate a brand in the consumer’s minds over and against the competitors in terms of the attributes and benefits of the product. Consumers will opt for the products that have good knowledge about. As Shiseido expands their market in other parts of Asia, adoption of a global consumer culture positioning will help identify their products as a symbol of Japan’s global culture. The result will be an effectiveness if they use both high tech and high touch products. The high-tech strategy will provide customers with the latest products in the market that are highly effective and efficient in providing the desired results. It is ensured by the advanced research done by Shiseido on various cosmetic and beauty products required by different consumers. The high-touch strategy, on the other hand, will ensure that customers mind have the correct information due to the close relationship between the beauty counselor and the customer. High touch positioning will also be able to curb any misconceptions against some of their product and convince the customers to continue using their products. High touch products like luxury perfumes have an emotional connection that shows the personality of the customer, when this strategy is used correctly it has the strength to keep the customer buying the product. References Cayla, J. & Arnould, E. J. (2008). A Cultural Approach to Branding in the Global Marketplace. Journal of International Marketing, 16(4), 86-112. Cui, G., Chan T., & Joy, A. (2008). Consumers’ Attitudes toward Marketing: A cross cultural study of china and Canada. Journal of International Consumer Marketing 20(3), 81-93 Gaski, J.F., and Etzel, M.J. (2005). National aggregate consumer sentiment toward marketing: A thirty-year retrospective and analysis. Journal of Consumer Re-search, 31(4), 859–867. Keegan, W. J. & Green, M. C. (2014). Cosmetics Giants Segment the Global Cosmetics Markets. Global Marketing 8th edition, (230-231) Liu, R.R., and McClure, P. (2001) Recognizing cross-cultural differences in consumer complaint behavior and intentions: An empirical examination. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 18(1), 54-75. Tadajewski, M. & Hewer, P. (2012). Global Contributions to Marketing Management. Journal of Marketing Management, 28(9/10), 1015-1020. Yau, O. H. M. (1988). Chinese cultural values: Their dimensions and marketing implications. European Journal of Marketing, 22(5): 44–57 Yung, K. C., & Schellhase R. (2014). Exploring globalization and marketing performance at the 2012 Global Marketing Conference at Seoul. Journal of Business Research, 67(10), 2053-2055. Read More