This Slideshare presentation is a partial preview of the full business document. To view and download the full document, please go here:
http://flevy.com/browse/business-document/uk-marketing-plan-for-a-cosmetic-company-551
The proposed marketing plan has been made for a new company entering into the UK's beauty product markets. With minimal knowledge of the vast and competitive UK market the company has to undertake a thorough research about various components of the marketing plan. The first part of the plan deals with the situation analysis of the UK market. It discusses the current market situation as far as beauty products is concerned and further discusses the growth trends and main competitors. After knowing the market situation, the next step is to find the target market. This is done by customer profiling and creating sub categories of customers. Finally the most appropriate fit (target) is chosen. After this step, the marketing objectives of the company have been underlined.
Marketing objectives should be aligned to the company's long term vision in the new market. The next step is to propose any new offerings suitable to the chosen target group, which basically forms the product strategy. Having decided the product offerings it's time to decide upon the marketing mix strategy (4P's of marketing).
In the end there has to be a performance evaluation system in place that provides valuable feedback in order to know the success of the marketing strategy. Continuous monitoring and periodic feedback is very important to know whether company is going in the right direction or not.
3. 1. Introduction
With the advent of globalization and increased implementations of free trade laws many
companies are attempting to find markets outside their own countries. For any company entering
into a new market, a strong marketing plan is one of the most important steps. A marketing plan
has various components like market entry strategy, product strategy, pricing strategy, distribution
strategy and promotion strategy. A detailed marketing plan gives the company a sense of
direction by clearly mapping out the aims and objectives in that particular market.
The proposed marketing plan has been made for a new company entering into the UK’s beauty
product markets. With minimal knowledge of the vast and competitive UK market the company
has to undertake a thorough research about various components of the marketing plan. The first
part of the plan deals with the situation analysis of the UK market. It discusses the current market
situation as far as beauty products is concerned and further discusses the growth trends and main
competitors. After knowing the market situation, the next step is to find the target market. This is
done by customer profiling and creating sub categories of customers. Finally the most
appropriate fit (target) is chosen. After this step, the marketing objectives of the company have
been underlined. Marketing objectives should be aligned to the company’s long term vision in
the new market. The next step is to propose any new offerings suitable to the chosen target
group, which basically forms the product strategy. Having decided the product offerings it’s time
to decide upon the marketing mix strategy (4P’s of marketing). In the end there has to be a
performance evaluation system in place that provides valuable feedback in order to know the
success of the marketing strategy. Continuous monitoring and periodic feedback is very
important to know whether company is going in the right direction or not.
4. Proposed Company Information
Proposed Brand name – “Adorabella Inc.” meaning adored beauty in Latin
Tag Line – Adored by the Nature
Product Characteristics – Products are made with natural ingredients and no chemicals are
used in the entire process. The products are normally high priced and are targeted to only niche
customers who are ready to pay extra for the organic products. Products are mainly for women.
Focus Areas – Skin care is the main segment followed by hair care segment.
Aims & Objectives –
To find the right target market for their beauty products in the UK market
To create a brand awareness in the minds of the consumers in UK
To find the right customization for their target group
To find the appropriate marketing mix for their products
2. Market Situation Analysis
The UK cosmetics market was about Euro 11,000 Billion in 2010 and the 3rd
largest in the
European Union. The figure given below shows the comparative statistics (Santnoi, 2011)–
5. Figure: UK cosmetics Market in 2010. Source (Santnoi, 2011)
The entire market can be divided into the following categories –
The total market grew by around 3.2% from GBP 8023 million in 2009 to GBP 8281 million in
2010. The break up for each category can be seen in the figure given below –
Figure: Break-up of the UK cosmetics industry in 2009 & 2010. Source ( (Santnoi, 2011))
As per the above figure the skincare segment continues to be the most dominant segment with
26.7% share in 2010 followed by Toiletries (23.8%) and Hair care (19.6%). Skin care is showing
UK Cosmetics Market
Skin Care Hair Care
Color
Cosmetics
Toiletries Fragrances
6. a healthy growth with special creams for pregnant women and anti-aging creams being the
specialized creams on which manufacturers has increased focus.
Trends in the usage
After the economic downturn of 2009, the “Foundation Factor” replaced the “Lipstick Index”
as the new economic indicator (L'Oreal, 2010). The sales of foundation are expected to remain
strong in the coming years replacing lipstick and lip gloss as the leaders (L'Oreal, 2010).
Market research report published in 2010 from Loreal has shown the following trends in the UK
cosmetics market after the economic downturn years (L'Oreal, 2010)–
Color Cosmetics – During the economic downturn period women are more likely to use natural
colors than the brighter colors. Consumers are more likely to choose trusted brands that would
provide value for money
Fragrances – In the fragrance segment, prestige brands are giving rise to a new trend where
people buy premium fragrances to feel high status
Skin care – Key innovations in the skin care segment like stem cell research, role of genes in
research and role of proteins.Another area of research would be the anti-aging cream segment
Hair Care – Key innovations like odorless color and oil delivery system would continue to
dominate the hair care market. A report shows that in 2009 there was a 43% increase in the
number of women wanting to color their hair.
Consumer Demographics in UK
Ageing Population – One of the differentiating points for the UK market as compared to other
European markets is that UK has higher average age for women. Older women are supposed to
have higher disposable income and would spend more on premium products. Hence this is a
good market for skin care products especially anti-ageing creams (Glamface, 2010).
7. Growing ethnic minorities and their preferences – UK has a very high population of various
ethnicities and hence they can’t be ignored as consumers. For e.g. one of the largest ethnic
communities is the Indian community and the women prefer creams that make their skin look
fairer (Glamface, 2010).
Make-up Spending Trends – As far as the makeup market is concerned a report shows that
British women are likely to spend more than their counterparts in countries like Spain, Germany
or France (Mintel, 2010).
Key Opportunities & Threats
The following table highlights the key opportunities and threats for a new entrant in the UK
beauty products market. Majority of the new opportunities mainly arise from new products
introduction, but there are some that also involve some distribution and retail opportunities
(Euromonitor International, 2010)
Key Opportunities
Celebrity advertising and promotions a key trend due to which the market grew by 3.5%
in 2008 in spite of the economic downturn
Due to busy lifestyles there is a need for products that provide all in one feature and have
ease of application
Men’s cosmetic products are also showing a positive growth trend
Natural ingredients have become the new driving force in the industry. Due to allergy and
other skin problems arising due to chemical usage in the products consumers are moving
towards organic products.
Recycling is another trend that is catching up among the customers and products with
features like bio-plastic packaging are gaining momentum
8. Key Threats
In the post economic downturn period, the premium brands have lost some share to the
low cost brands giving popularity to mass brands
The market is saturated and highly competitive with well-established competitors in all
categories and this fact is a huge deterrent for any new company wanting to enter the UK
market
Private labels are another threat with companies like Tesco coming out with their own
mass products
Supermarkets and hypermarkets are commanding high amount of margin leaving little
profits for the manufacturers.
Table: Key Opportunities & Threats in the UK Beauty products market. Source (Euromonitor
International, 2010)
3. Segmentation Analysis
Market segmentation is an essential step and can make a huge impact on the success of the
marketing plan. It allows the companies to focus on specific set of consumers, those who are
most likely to purchase their offering (Businessplans.org, 2008). Segmentation also helps in
getting the maximum return out of the marketing plan.
Markets can be segmented mainly on two broad categories – 1) Descriptive characteristics like
Geographic, Demographic and Psychographic or 2) Behavioral characteristics. Regardless of the
segmentation scheme to be employed, the key is that the marketing plan can be profitably
adjusted to recognize customer differences (Kotler & Keller, 2006)
9. Geographic Segmentation – It mainly involves creating different geographical units to focus on
individual areas. In our case it can be done by dividing UK into – a) Metropolitan areas b)
Smaller cities
Demographic Segmentation–This segmentation is important as the consumer needs, usage rates
and product and brand preferences are often associated with demographic variables like age,
income, gender, social class etc. In our case the products are mainly directed towards women.
Psychographic Segmentation–In this type of segmentation consumers are divided mainly on
personality traits, lifestyle or values. People within the same demography can have different
psychographic profiles.
Behavioral Segmentation– In this type of segmentation researchers look for behavioral
considerations such as responses to benefits, product knowledge, brands or occasions.
Considering the above types of segmentation and the latest trends seen in the previous chapter
we can identify below 4 sets of customers in the UK market for Adorabella Inc. Although there
are different ways of classifying segments few main variables like Income, Product knowledge,
Brand consciousness, Lifestyle etc have been used.
Segment Characteristics
Mass Marketers Dream Mass market consumers with low to medium income.
Simple lifestyle
They always look for value for money
Choice in selected brands (high brand attachment)
Go with the flow Always ready to try a new brand
Low product knowledge