Avon Calls on Foreign Markets - Case Study Example

62). Avon’s marketing orientations For the US market, Avon has resorted to door to door selling via saleswomen who have been marketing the products via the word of mouth and establishing personal contacts with the customers and tapping a huge customer base. Globally Avon had resorted to country specific marketing, such as naming some of its products in the local language, when taking over a local company with a goodwill Avon kept certain names unchanged. For Asian regions, as customers tend to but products which are foreign, Avon kept their foreign names and prints instructions in the local language.

It has also gone forward with the Hello Tomorrow campaign to signify a brand which is looking towards the future and also associated with breast cancer awareness (Daniels, Radebaugh, Sullivan, 2010, pp 622-624). Avon’s foreign operations The predicted growth for the company in the U.S. was low, since it had no new place to spread within the country to create a market for cosmetics, toiletries and fragrances. The number of companies manufacturing these kinds of products in the US being large, Avon was facing considerable amount of competition.

So Avon decided to expand its operations to other potential countries where it could register growth through increased sales. Also Avon’s lady representatives were the ones who sold Avon products, tapped customers and registered orders. This was cost saving for the company as this system required smaller number of employees and helped Avon to maintain low prices, a good image and a constant customer base. In the late 90’s, when US women started working in multinational companies fulltime, Avon found it difficult to get saleswomen.

When the US market dried up, Avon found new ground in countries like Brazil and Philippines, where the women are usually do not leave their home. There was sufficient number of saleswomen available to reach out to the desolate areas to sell Avon products. (Daniels, Radebaugh, Sullivan, 2010, pp 621,622) Socioeconomic and demographic changes affecting Avon Socioeconomic changes involve the way society views a product. Demographic changes include aging customers. Both of these may affect the demand.

From the socioeconomic point of view, a new type of conditioner may become important, whereas aging customers may want different age specific products according to their wants and needs. Accordingly Avon will have to come out with variants of the products and introduce new ones where necessary to maintain their customer base (Klepacki, 2005, pp 55, 56). Recession, a boom for Avon Every company and industry is affected by a recession as so many international aspects are related. The fields where Avon may feel the pinch are sales, suppliers and employees.

Surprisingly when the recession hit in 2008 and the world felt the crisis deepening, the company recruited many saleswomen and men for their sales jobs. This happened because the recession led to massive layoffs, which in turn meant that more people were now available to do Avon’s door-to-door selling. Avon also took in male representatives, so as to allow men to be secure with a job, although it was traditionally reserved only for women (Daniels, Radebaugh, Sullivan, 2010, pp 622; Pauline, 2009).

Avon’s Competitive Advantage Avon has a major competitive advantage over its competitors. It has an unparallel reputation in the beauty products market. Its main competition area had been the direct sales area,