| Flower Beauty Shimmer & Strobe Highlighter Palette: First Year Promotional Plan |
| MRKT13014 Jan Lewis Word Count: 2, 236 Campus: Mackay |
| Jan Lewis 12051564 3rd of June |
| Flower Beauty Shimmer & Strobe Highlighter Palette: First Year Promotional Plan |
| MRKT13014 Jan Lewis Word Count: 2, 236 Campus: Mackay |
Executive summary
Flower Beauty’s Shimmer and Strobe Highlighting palette is in a forever changing, successful market. This means that making changes to a product based on what consumers have said in regards to certain aspects of the product is important for its ongoing growth. Competitive strategies are useful when it comes to managing a successful first-year promotional plan. These include Porter’s competitive theory, importance-performance, Boston Consulting Group and product life-cycle.
Porter’s competitive theory gives the Flower Beauty highlighter a chance to discover new and unique positions in the market that may have previously been overlooked. Research has shown that new entrants prosper when entering into the market by taking positions which competitors once had. Competitive rivalry within Porter’s theory is a driving force for the highlighter to make improvements and further their advertising while aiming to be better than competitors in the market. There is always the threat of substitutes within competitive markets but substitutes are not always better than what is already present. Lastly, buyer and supplier power has an influence over the price and quantity of the highlighter. The buyer and supplier have significant power when it comes to the amounts they sell and the price they are sold at. The importance-performance framework works to focus on how a product is performing and from that how it can improve and keep things the same. The Boston Consulting Group, BCG, is a tool that can be applied to corporations to aid in assigning properties, investments, and resource allocation decisions normally over a long period of time for growth opportunities. The product life-cycle for this highlighter is in the development and marketing stages. With these strategies, they have helped form relevant and consistent strategies to better the new product even more.
The main focus is the products first-year promotional plan. The things they need to start with, advertising in print and digital is cost ineffective but will attract the target market that they are aiming the highlighter at. Once they have spent significant time on focusing on getting the new product out there on social media and in magazines, they need to improve on how long the product lasts for when worn and how easy it is to apply since consumers have raised concerns in those areas. Finally, after the first year, a soft relaunch with more versatile colours is necessary to please an ever-growing market segment.
Contents
Executive summary i
Introduction 1
Background 2
Competitive strategy 3
Brand promotion 6
Conclusion 8
References 9
Introduction
The Flower Beauty Shimmer and Strobe Highlighting palette is a new product that is entering into an already successful market. With the help of competitive strategies that can help tie together the first year promotional plan with improvements. Focusing on the target market and how to appeal to them is something that is key to the success of the product.
Background
The tagline for Flower Beauty by Drew Barrymore is “Beauty is for everyone”, this is using Barrymore’s passion for empowering others with cruelty-free, budget-friendly products (Chaplin, 2019). The aim of this research report is for Flower Beauty to implement a successful and worthwhile promotional plan in regards to the new product concept created for the Shimmer and Strobe Highlighting Palette. This new product concept of making improvements to the Shimmer and Strobe Highlighting Palette will help create its development and business-to-consumer market relationship so they can be successful within the marketplace (Hoffman, Kopalle & Novak, 2010). When it comes to the market position of the Flower Beauty product, they are currently positioned in a way that will attract their general target segment in Australia while rolling out a first-year promotional plan.
The market segment for Flower Beauty products is almost anyone. It can be seen on the Flower Beauty social media platforms that many genders use these products. The segment is aimed at people within the age of 18 – 35 and the target market is predominantly aimed at women. However, it is now targeted to anyone with an interest in feeling empowered by the make-up they wear. Not only is the aim for their consumers to feel empowered but it is also the perfect brand for cost-aware consumers who are looking for cruelty-free drugstore brands.
Now that customers have left positive feedback regarding the formula and quality of the products, the new product concepts and further marketing will work together to please interested consumers and expand their market. Flower Beauty’s direct competitors would include other drugstore brands but due to the high quality of their products some high-end brands are also deemed to be competitors. With the expansion of products and overseas markets, it has been estimated that Flower Beauty’s annual revenue is around 7.9 million (“Flower Beauty Competitors, Revenue and Employees – Owler Company Profile”, 2018).
There are many aims for the new product’s first-year promotion plan in the Australian market. The main product in focus for this plan is the Shimmer and Strobe highlighting palette. The new promotional plan will be centred on the re-design and re-launch of this product with more advertising and changes to the product.
Competitive strategy
There are four main competitive strategies that could be useful in managing a successful first-year promotional plan. Promotions can provide strategic direction in guiding, targeting and positioning decisions, and can help to develop and maintain a competitive advantage
(Davies, 1992). The competitive strategies include Porter’s competitive theory, importance-performance framework, BCG matrix, and product life-cycle.
Porter’s competitive strategies were created by Michael Porter in the 80s and has been a popular market scope since (Porter, 1980). Within Porter’s competitive framework there are five components to be considered. New entrants are one of these components. New entrants, like Flower Beauty, often discover unique positions that may have previously been available in the market but have been overlooked (Porter, 2008). In 2017, the Global Cosmetics Products Market was valued at $765.82 billion and is expected to continue with its rapid growth in the next four years (Orbis, 2019). With this market being highly profitable, it tends to attract new entrants. Unfortunately for products already on the market, there is a greater chance that their profitability will begin to fall. New entrants tend to prosper when entering into the market by inhabiting the positions which their competitor once held (Renée A. Mauborgne., W. Chan Kim., James C. Collins., Michael E. Porter. & Harvard Business Review, 2018). This could very well be the case for the Flower Beauty highlighter.
The next component is competitive rivalry, which is something that is quite big within the beauty industry. It is to be assumed that the main driver of competitors is the number and capability of others in the market (“Porter’s Five Forces of Competitive Position Analysis”, 2013). In some cases, rivalry becomes so intense that competitors will limit profits and engage in price cutting, increase advertising or even make improvements to products (Newman, 2019). The competitors in the drugstore make-up market would be considered as the driving force to push Flower Beauty to make improvements and further advertising for their products.
The threat of substitutes heavily relates to competitive rivalry. The threat of substitute products alarms competitors since these substitutes can displace their own products. Substitutes do not only include better products but it also includes more attractive prices within a price-performance trade-off (Newman, 2019). This being said, substitutes may not always be the highest quality compared to this product (E. Dobbs, 2014).
The last two components of Porter’s competitive framework are buyer and supplier power. Consumers, buyers, have the power to influence the price and quantity of the products they sell. Buyers are also important factors when it comes to switching costs and substitute products within the market (Newman, 2019). Brands and organisations are driven by the number of buyers on the market, each buyer is important to the organisation and so is the cost of the buyer switching products (“Porter’s Five Forces of Competitive Position Analysis”, 2013). Meanwhile, suppliers also have the power to influence how the price fluctuates or decrease in regards to the availability of resources. Companies are dependent on suppliers and cannot switch due to higher prices or the lack of alternatives that are of similar quality (Newman, 2019). Buyer and supplier power has a relatively large influence on new products within an ever growing market. All of these frameworks from Porter will help the Flower Beauty highlighter wedge its way into a profitable market and, hopefully, continue to be successful.
Importance-performance frameworks are a way to compare products to see how they are performing. Importance-performance frameworks are a method of evaluating and improving service quality (Martilla & James, 1977). The role of competition has almost never been examined in the context of importance-performance analysis (Dolinsky, A. L. 1991). However, after the creation of two importance-performance matrixes with competing brands, it can be evident that there are differences that make them strong competitors. Since the main purpose of an importance-performance framework is to improve and make the product or service better than the original, it is a crucial part of a successful promotional plan.
A BCG portfolio matrix analysis is created by the Boston Consulting Group. The BCG matrix is a popular strategic analytical tool that can be applied to multinational corporations to aid in assigning properties, investment and resource allocation decisions (Barksdale & Harris, 1982). The BCG matrix is a four-cell matrix that uses relative market share and industry growth rates in terms of success (Slatter, 1980; Henderson, 1979). The main purpose of a BCG matrix is to help with strategic planning over a period of time, usually long-term. The matrix helps with the growth opportunities by reviewing the products to decide where to invest, discontinue or develop further (Hanlon, 2018). In the case of the Flower Beauty highlighter, this product needs to be developed in order to grow.
Figure 1: BCG for Flower Beauty, Maybelline and Urban Decay with assumed market share. The Flower Beauty Shimmer and Strobe Highlighting palette is sitting between the Stars and Question Mark quadrants. The Star represents that it operates in a high growth industry. The Question Mark represents that the brand requires closer consider.
There are five components in a product life-cycle. According to Dhillon (1989), the original stages to a product life-cycle are development, marketing, growth, maturity, and decline. These stages last for different amounts of time depending on the product or service. The Flower Beauty Shimmer and Strobe highlighting palette is currently in the development and marketing stages of the product life-cycle. This means that it is being developed by early adopters in the Australian market and throughout its first-year promotional plan it will be marketed to the key target market while constantly improving the product after the IPA analysis.
Overall, all of these competitive strategies can be effective when it comes to the Flower Beauty Shimmer and Strobe highlighter. It is important for all of them to be considered in their first-year promotional plan to make sure that their products are being marketing and produced at their highest quality.
Brand promotion
The brand promotion includes the necessary promotional objectives for the first-year entry plan of the Flower Beauty Shimmer and Strobe Highlighting palette. It will also include things the brand needs to improve after the first year, if successful. The main thing Flower Beauty needs to focus on during their first year in the Australian market is advertising since the quality of the products were put first.
When it comes to advertising for make-up products there are many avenues to be considered. The current advertising for Flower Beauty is simplistic and minimalistic. Incorporating more print advertising into magazines and catalogues is a step they need to take before expanding the advertising further. Mittal (1994) found that consumers feelings towards print advertising is more positive than TV advertising. Brand positioning is important since it determines the framework of visual and communication-related performance (Fuchs & Diamantopoulos, 2010). The ads being placed in magazines such as Women’s Weekly and InStyle, and catalogues such as Chemist Warehouse that will appeal to their target market is essential.
People from younger generations have the possibility to be more influenced by trends, such as highlighter, due to media exposure. Advertising holds a central role in developing a brand image. Brand image helps to inform consumers of the capabilities that the brand has while filling the brand with symbolic values and meanings towards the target market (Meenaghan, 1995). With the right advertising, from print to digital, strong brand equity can be created. Strong brand equity is important for a successful product. A way to strengthen the brand equity for Flower Beauty, besides traditional advertising, is through social media.
Flower Beauty should consider creating Flower Beauty social media accounts for Australia, for example, ‘@flowerbeautyau’. Social media platforms, such as Instagram, use targeted ads within an algorithm. In 2018, over 95% of 18 – 35-year-olds discovered brands by following them on social media platforms (LaMontagne, 2015). This is the target market that Flower Beauty is directing their highlighter to. By using targeted paid ads to interested consumers there is a chance to attract not only the specific target market and their demographics but possibly a wider range of consumers who are not traditionally within this market. With 3.2 billion active social media users per day, making sales through social media has become easy with most platforms having a component that is essentially a shop or by just clicking on a tag for a product it will lead you to the product on the official webpage. Having social media platforms and a website to purchase the highlighter means that this product is being subject to global marketing which is extremely useful when it comes to getting influencers involved.
Having featured make-up artists using the products and making posts on the Instagram account or even a tutorial on YouTube in partnership with the brand’s highlighter, will engage not only the followers of Flower Beauty but the artist involved. Research has found that posts with collaborations or tagged users have a significantly higher engagement rate (Hainla, 2018). This is exactly what is needed for the Shimmer and Strobe Highlighter to gain more attention.
Brand performance is often based on the opinions and perceptions of consumers during use or in post. Brand performance can be deemed as better than average if the brand is sustainable and focuses on constantly improving from what consumers have raised concerns about. The Shimmer and Strobe Highlighter palettes are cruelty-free but this is something that is not heavily advertised or well known. Having the cruelty free symbol in the corner of all of the advertisements for the highlighter is an easy way to let consumers know.
All of the components of the first year promotional plan will help to control the value that is to be determined by a consumer’s perception of and experiences with the Flower Beauty highlighter. Brand equity works in a way that when people think highly of a brand, it creates an opportunity for it to have more positive brand equity (Keller, 2003).
Hopefully, by the sixth-month mark, the highlighter is making Flower Beauty a profit on the highlighter so they can work on improving the product in the areas of application and longevity. While continuing to advertising the product through all channels mentioned, the product can be tested and improved again to be launched again in a soft launch to point out the product now is easy to apply and will last the entirety of the day. After the first year, something that needs to be changed is how POC inclusive the shades are in the highlighting palette. When these changes have been made, this is another avenue of advertising that could use models of colour testing and wearing the updated product in a video on YouTube or Instagram giving their testimonies. The first year promotional plan in the Australian market should lead to successful sales for the Shimmer and Strobe Highlighting palette.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are many ways for the new product to be successful through the many competitive strategies along with a well-targeted promotional plan. With all of these strategies and theories combined, the Flower Beauty Shimmer and Strobe Highlighting palette should have no problems with becoming a highly rated and successful product.
References
Chaplin, L. (2019). Everything you need to know about the Australian launch of Drew Barrymore’s Flower Beauty line | Finder. Retrieved from https://www.finder.com.au/drew-barrymore-flower-beauty-cosmetics-australian-launch
Dhillon, B.S. (1989). Life Cycle Costing Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, 349 s. ISBN 2-88124-302-9
Dolinsky, A. L. (1991). Considering the Competition in Strategy Development: An Extension of Importance–Performance Analysis. Journal of Health Care Marketing, 11(1), 31–36. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=bsu&AN=9604194341&scope=site
E. Dobbs, M. (2014). Guidelines for applying Porter’s five forces framework: a set of industry analysis templates. Competitiveness Review, 24(1), 32-45. doi: 10.1108/cr-06-2013-0059
Flower Beauty Competitors, Revenue and Employees – Owler Company Profile. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.owler.com/company/flowerbeauty
Fuchs, C., & Diamantopoulos, A. (2010). Evaluating the effectiveness of brand-positioning strategies from a consumer perspective. European Journal of Marketing, 44(11/12), 1763-1786.
Hainla, L. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.dreamgrow.com/21-social-media-marketing-statistics/
Hanlon, A. (2018). How to use the BCG Matrix – Smart Insights Digital Marketing. Retrieved from https://www.smartinsights.com/marketing-planning/marketing-models/use-bcg-matrix/
Henderson, B. D. (1979). The product portfolio: growth share matrix of the Boston Consulting Group. The strategy process: Concepts, contexts, cases, 678-680.
Hoffman, D., Kopalle, P., & Novak, T. (2010). The “Right” Consumers for Better Concepts: Identifying Consumers High in Emergent Nature to Develop New Product Concepts. Journal Of Marketing Research, 47(5), 854-865. doi: 10.1509/jmkr.47.5.854
Keller, K. (2003). Brand Synthesis: The Multidimensionality of Brand Knowledge. Journal Of Consumer Research, 29(4), 595-600. doi: 10.1086/346254
LaMontagne, L. (2015). MarketingSherpa Consumer Purchase Preference Survey: Demographics of customer reasons to follow brands’ social accounts. Retrieved from https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/chart/demographics-why-customer-follow-brands-social-media
Mark Davies, (1992) “Sales Promotions as a Competitive Strategy”, Management Decision, Vol. 30 Issue: 7, https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000000114
Martilla, J. A., & James, J. C. (1977). Importance-performance analysis. Journal of Marketing, 41(1), 77–79.
Meenaghan, T. (1995). The role of advertising in brand image development. Journal Of Product & Brand Management, 4(4), 23-34. doi: 10.1108/10610429510097672
MITTAL, BANWARI. “Public Assessment of TV Advertising: Faint Praise and Harsh Criticism.” Journal of Advertising Research 34, 1 (1994): 35-53.
Newman. (2019). Research Guides: Porter’s Five Forces Analysis. Retrieved from https://guides.newman.baruch.cuny.edu/c.php?g=188285&p=1244307
Orbis. (2019). Global Cosmetics Products Market-Analysis of Growth, Trends and Forecasts (2018-2023) | Orbis Research. Retrieved from https://orbisresearch.com/reports/index/global-cosmetics-products-market-analysis-of-growth-trends-and-forecasts-2018-2023
Porter, M. (1980). Competitive strategy. Toronto: Free Press.
Porter, M. E. (2008). The five competitive forces that shape strategy. Harvard business review, 86(1), 25-40.
Porter’s Five Forces of Competitive Position Analysis. (2013). Retrieved from https://www.cgma.org/resources/tools/essential-tools/porters-five-forces.html
Renée A. Mauborgne., W. Chan Kim., James C. Collins., Michael E. Porter., & Harvard Business Review. (2018). HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Strategy for Healthcare (featuring Articles by Michael E. Porter and Thomas H. Lee, MD). Harvard Business Review.
Slatter, S. (1980). Common pitfalls in using the BCG Portfolio Matrix. London Business School Journal, 18-22.
The post Flower Beauty’s Shimmer and Strobe appeared first on My Assignment Online.