An Empirical Study on Competitive Marketing Strategies for Skin Care Cosmetics of Organized Retail Sector

This report is to provide a marketing plan and analysis of entering in uk market for lush cosmetic’s products over the next three years.

In order to collect useful data, a research about the brand was made, including its place in the market in comparison to other brands. By this, identifying a competitor brand, analyzing it’s marketing mix and SWOT analysis in order to help develop the research’s own. This procedure was a guidance to find the identical ideas, strengths and differences between the two brands, allowing the brand in research’s marketing mix to improve and hopefully become dominant in the market. By preforming a research about the USDA and their certified brands and the whole organic/natural cosmetic products market, will be an approach to the marketing mix with a more stable and predetermined target. Throughout two interviews that were held, another portion of favorable information could be obtained, both interviews provided precise and factual details about two different cosmetics brands, as well as some advice on how to identify the features and other relevant business factors. One of

Strategy is a set of complicated tactics formulated by the executives of a company directed towards the achievement of company’s goal (Salmela, 2002). It is about all the path ways that a company would follow to reach its ultimate goal. It is a company’s strategy which helps to identify what it does better than the other companies in the industries, which may be different from what it does best. For successful strategy formulation and implementation, a company should know the needs of customers and should have knowledge of its competitors. Through a good strategy a company would identify that opportunity which makes it different from the others (Thompson, 2005).

What is marketing strategy? The process of matching the organisation’s strengths to the customer needs, with the aim of achieving a competitive advantage in the market. The combination of product, price, distribution and promotion most suited to a particular group of consumers. • Goal: the create a sustainable competitive advantage in the market • All the elements of the marketing strategy that lead to the development of the competitive advantage require good understanding of consumer behaviour Marketing strategy process: • 1. Segment: understand consumers a. Determine the dimensions (age, geography, subculture) b. Determine the heterogeneity c. Define the needs & goals 2. Target: choose consumers a. Evaluate each segment in

A marketing strategy is the combination of the target market, or the customers the marketing is intended to reach, and the marketing mix. Product, price, place, and promotion are components of the marketing mix, or the four p’s, which create a value for the customer (Perreault, Cannon, & McCarthy, 2009). For this reason, the customer, who is not part of the marketing mix, is the center of the target, surrounded by the elements of the marketing mix. The ultimate goal of a marketing strategy is to create value for the customer, which allows the organization to increase customer satisfaction and results in repeat customers and additional equity for the organization (Armstrong &

Marketing strategy is an explanation of what you want to achieve with your marketing efforts and investments. It must go hand in hand with your business goals. A key component of marketing strategy is keeping your strategy in line with your company’s overarching mission statement which Thomsons ITM work extremely hard at.

There is a famous saying that ‘cosmetics are not selling product but beauty.’ Therefore, it is important to keep planning and developing product to meet the needs of customers who pursue beauty. In line

Young girls are more concerned about acnes and blackheads while mature women are looking for anti-aging and anti-wrinkle products. Genders do affect the choice of skin care products. In the past, skin care products only belong to the girls’ world. Nevertheless, in recent years, men are increasingly becoming more and more concerned about skin care. With a view to this latest trend, various brands have started developing men’s line. Income level directly affects the purchasing power of customers. Skin care products take up a wide range of price levels from far less than a hundred dollars to more than a thousand. Young girls who do not have any income cannot afford the expensive skin care products while mature women with higher purchasing power focus more on quality and effectiveness. Occupations also determine the need for skin care products. Models and artists generally have a higher consciousness on skin care than people with less exposure to the public.

Marketing strategy is a method of focusing an organization's energies and resources on a course of action which can lead to increased sales and dominance of a targeted market niche. A marketing strategy combines product development, promotion, distribution, pricing, relationship management and other elements; identifies the firm's marketing goals, and explains how they will be achieved, ideally within a stated timeframe. Marketing strategy determines the choice of target market segments, positioning, marketing mix, and allocation of resources. It is most effective when it is an integral component of overall firm strategy, defining how the organization will successfully engage customers, prospects, and competitors in

Every organization needs to have a marketing strategy so that they know who are their competitors, which market they need to target, do they have resources to compete in that market and what strategies they need to adopt to gain competitive position in the industry. The most important thing is with the help of marketing, company is able to make people aware of its product.

Marketing strategy is the goal of the increasing sales and achieving the sustainable competitive advantages. Marketing strategy includes all the basic and long-term activities in the field of the marketing that deal with the analysis of the strategic initial situation of the company and the formulation, evaluation and selection of the market-oriented strategies and therefore it contributes to the goals of the company and its marketing objectives.

“Competitive strategy involves positioning a business to maximize the value of the capabilities that distinguish it from its competitor’s” (Porter 1980:47). A successful business plan requires first and foremost the formation of an appropriate strategy. Through the implementation of a suitable strategy, the company is able to obtain its own industry niche and gain an understanding of its customers (Porter 1985). Whichever strategy is adopted it must be adequately integrated within the firms goals and missions to achieve a competitive advantage (Parker and Helms 1992).

A strategy is said to be a plan that is made for the long term success of a product or brand. It is extremely important to have a strategy in order to figure out a direction towards which any company is able to focus all its resources efficiently and achieve desired outcomes. Formulating effective strategies is a considerably long process in itself that combines analysing several factors, situations and issues that are already present in a company and looking to improve on them alongside trying to implement various innovations and ideas to collectively create a direction towards which they can move and direct the resources available to them.

The Indian retail industry is divided into organized and unorganized sectors. Organised retailing refers to trading activities undertaken by licensed retailers, that is, those who are registered for sales tax, income tax, etc. Unorganised retailing, on the other hand, refers to the traditional formats of low-cost retailing, for example, the local kirna shops, owner manned general stores, paan/beedi shops, convenience stores, hand cart and pavement vendors, etc. The emergence of organized retailing in India has more to do with the increasing purchasing power of buyers, specially post liberalization, increase in product variety, and the increasing economics of scale, with the aid of modern supply and distribution management solutions. The current retailing revolution has been provided impetus from multiple sources. These revolutionaries include: (1) Conventional stores upgrading themselves to modern retailing (2) Companies in competitive

India’s retail sector has grown enormously from ‘Haat’, ‘Weekly Bazaars’ to posh, sophisticated and swanky shopping malls. A few years back our mothers used to go to ‘kirana ki dukan’ to buy grocery which now is available in grocery stores. In small towns, cities and even in metros and big cities ‘kirana shops’ still dominate and fulfil the daily needs of a family. Though the dynamic transformation is going on but definitely retail stores and malls have been transforming the retail industry from unorganized to organized. Still a way to go as organized retail sector is just 5% of the total retail sector in India.