Swot Analysis Of Ulta Beauty

This report is based on the ‘L’Oreal: Expansion in China’ case study. L’Oreal is a successful French cosmetic company that involved into many different international markets. This report will discuss how L’Oreal gets into the Chinese cosmetic Market and the strategic to develop their brand in the Chinese market. L’Oreal acquires two famous Chinese cosmetic brands which are Yue-Sai and Mininurse. It is in order to entrance the market quickly and sales the most suitable products. The aim of this report is to define the challenge L’Oreal has been faced. Then it describes how L’Oreal managing their strategic in Chinese market. In addition, it gives an accommodation which could help L’Oreal overcoming these challenges.

I chose ULTA because it is the nation’s largest beauty retailer. By carrying over 20,000 products, from top of the line to drugstores brands, therefore, it is accessible to a variety of people’s incomes. Stated in “Zacks Equity Research”, ULTA has put up a historical EPS growth rate of 38.69%, investors should really focus on the projected growth. Here, ULTA is looking to grow at a rate of 16.10%, thoroughly crushing the industry average which calls for EPS growth of just 10.91% in comparison. Additionally, ULTA is 3x larger than its closest competitor, Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. Furthermore, the demand for beauty product continues to thrive even in these slow-growth environments. In other words, consumers will cut back on big ticket items but allow themselves to satisfy their hard earned money on products that provide style and appeasement, which is what ULTA provides.

The beauty industry is very large and continues to grow; according to Euromonitor International and IBIS World Inc., the industry represents about $127 million in sales from beauty products and salon services, as stated in Ulta’s 2015 annual report (Ulta Beauty, 2016 p. 5). Ulta Beauty currently competes with highly regarded department stores, salons, and even Amazon. Despite this, Ulta Beauty has maintained its place among leaders within the beauty industry, according to Elaine Low for Investors.com (Low, 2016).

This report evaluates and analyzes the potential investment toward Ulta Beauty. To determine if Ulta is the right fit, I have reviewed their financial statement, analyzed researched articles, and compared it to their competitors. Based on the research, Ulta Beauty has exhibit three main strategies that will determine if Tech Shield should or should not invest in. The three strategies consist of the following:

I have worked for Ulta Beauty for about two years now, and during my employment with the company I have noticed a few areas they could improve on. I work as a cashier and retail sales associate and I often encounter customers who are from other countries. These customers often inform me that they do not have any store similar to Ulta where they live. Currently, Ulta has over 1000 retail stores, however they are only within the United States. Unlike their competitor, Sephora, Ulta has yet to expand their retail locations outside of the U.S. It was just this past year that Ulta finally started to offer shipping to Canada. It is because of these reasons, I feel that Ulta Beauty would benefit from implementing a globalization strategy.

ULTA Beauty utilizes comprehensive marketing strategy to increase brand awareness, attract current and new customers to their retail stores and website, increase customer loyalty, and increase shopping frequency. The company uses a broad advertising approach to attract customers through a variety of tactics. These tactics include mass direct mail, digital communication through e-mail, in-store events, and rewards programs (Piaget, 2013). The company’s primary form of marketing is through direct mail of their catalogs. Catalogs are mass mailed to local households and highlight the variety of products offered in stores and online. The company also hosts in-store events and grand openings as a way of increasing foot traffic (Annual Report, 2015).

The first functional plan entails facilities planning. Ulta Beauty has produced a shop that is designed to fulfil all of the cosmetic needs of its customers. Each location across the country stock a distinctive blend of more than 20,000 esteemed cosmetic products prearranged by classification in a bright, open-space environment. Additionally, products are organized in a self-service exhibit. Each location also has full-service boutiques that encourages customers to appreciate learning different products and services. Ulta Beauty continues to strive at delivering the most extensive variety of mass cosmetics, fragrance, haircare, skincare, bath and body products and salon styling tools. Lastly each location offers a full-service professional salon and a salon haircare products.

The company’s strengths include strong brand identity, properly established within the United States, well known celebrity endorsers, iconic style that is tailored for the modern corporate woman, and it promotes confidence and style among customers. Ann Taylor’s major weaknesses are related to the fixed image of its brand in people’s minds that would be difficult to change, and solely focuses on the classic American style, a problem that may be tricky for the international market. The company’s opportunities include the ability of its brand to branch out to other countries like the United Kingdom. Ann Taylor can also increase market range for its products and introduce some lower priced items that will attract new customers. The main threat of Ann Taylor is a highly competitive specialty market that may affect its sales suppose it tries to expand to other countries. Currently, Ann Taylor lacks strategic control and can take advantage of its strengths and opportunities to improve on its areas of weakness and fight

When examining Lululemon Athletica Inc., there was more to the critical issues than addressing them. There was also the necessity to go beyond this and provide key alternatives that lululemon should consider in order to tackle these issues. Issues related to marketing, market structure for both consumers and products, quality control/supply chain, and major markets are difficult to change, but our group is confident in the alternatives we have identified and believe they can serve as a tool for Lululemon Athletica Inc. to grow and expand in the industry.

What are the advantages to a consumer in the remote Amazon of buying a beauty product from a direct sales representative, over buying the product from a retail store in the nearest town?

The significant factors that caused Under Armour’s slow and declining sales growth as well as the company’s rising expenses were the inability to expand the market online and in traditional stores as well as the lack of marketing in not only the target demographics but also the struggling demographics that the company was trying to reach. In the case presentation, Under Armour was entering the market as an underdog under athletic powerhouses Nike and Adidas, so the company needed to not only create but sustain a viable marketing strategy that imposes on existing markets and captures new audiences consistently to continually increase sales. While a portion of this strategy was done during the company’s early years, recent numbers show a continuous decline in sales and market share to not only the industry powerhouses, but also to international companies as well. Under Armour has great and innovative products, but falls short in presenting those products to a broad and general audience, in area where competitors are most successful and

There are two weaknesses that appeared recently. The first one is a quarter of its stores have under-used space, by which means that it has reach its potential capacity and is not productive enough. The second one is that apparently Sainsburys needs to regain its reputation again because it is suspected that Sainsburys had led the Big 4 to a collusion; Consequently, lt will lose its customers’ trust and therefore, their loyality.

I believe that “The Campaign for Real Beauty” is a highly valuable strategy in not only keeping loyal customer but also gaining new ones. Furthermore the establishment of this campaign not only increases revenue for the company but also shows a seeming validity of social responsibility in the eyes of the public. The positive consequence of repositioning the Dove brand increased the market share in the beauty industry. There are no viable alternatives that is of equal value to what Dunleavy and company has achieved.

The five forces analysis shows that lululemon is confronted by moderate or low competitive forces.

Avon, started its journey in the early 1886 is now the oldest and the largest marketers and manufactures of the beauty products. The advertisements from “Ding dong, Avon Calling” to “Hello Tomorrow” and from “You never looked so good” to the latest one “The Company For Women”, always helped Avon to improve its image and enhance the marketing strategies to serve the purpose. One of the amazing facts about Avon includes that it’s headquarter is situated in USA but major portion of its sales comes from outside North America. Avon has captured a huge market all over the world and its distributing the beauty solutions to almost all parts of the world. With Avon being a part of 112 countries, the company has