Global Marketing Objectives and Strategy of the Body Shop - Essay Example

? Project Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Executive Summary 3 Introduction 4 Situational analysis 5 Global Marketing Objectives 6 Global Marketing Strategy 8 Marketing Mix Recommendations 10 Issues and challenges 11 Reference 12 Executive Summary It is of considerable importance to highlight the fact that the process of doing business is getting highly complicated in today’s largely connected business world. The emergence of the internet plays a major role in regards to providing strong lines of connectivity between the market places of the developing as well as the developed worlds. Because of this strong line of connectivity, it can be said that the flow of information between the developed as well as the developing economies has become easier and faster, thereby eradicating the challenges associated with the existence of geographical region and location specific borders and boundaries. Because of this free flow of information, it has to be said that there has been a tremendous rise of competition in the global market place. As of the recent times, many companies are focusing on entering many new markets for the purpose of clocking significant business growth opportunities. It has to be said that this particular project discusses about the internationally acclaimed ethical cosmetic and beauty product offering company Body Shop and its efforts related to entering the market of China. Introduction The world of the 21st century is moving at a rapid pace. The tremendous momentum of the pace is being spearheaded on the basis of fast growth and rapid development. It is of considerable importance to mention that the rapid growth of the telecommunication technology has acted as a major catalyst in promoting tremendous growth for the emergence of high speed internet technology. It is largely relevant to mention that the faster penetration of the internet has resulted in a tremendous spike of acceptance of Smartphones in the markets of both the developed as well as developing economies. Because of the smooth and seamless integration of the developed world with the developing economies on the lines of the technology medium, it has to be said that the world in itself has transformed into a single and well connected entity. It has to be said that the globally connected entity has resulted in the process of the faster diffusion of various kinds of globalized trends in both the emerging as well as the developed economies. It has been often realized that the process of globalization has played a major role in creating the demand in the developing economies for various products and services that are currently available exclusively in the developed nations. This increase in demand for various products and services from the upcoming economies has resulted in the development of significant business opportunities. Faced by stumbled growth prospects in the markets of the West, it needs to be said that many of the companies who are the legitimate manufacturers and providers of various kinds of branded products and services are increasingly trying to cater to the growing needs of the developing economies. This has resulted in the increase in competition in the market place. However, it has to be stated that because of the high levels of penetration of the communication technology, there has been a slow and steady shift in the balance of power in the market. It needs to be mentioned that the current trends in the market indicates that the presence of multiple players in the market, who are providing homogeneous range of products has resulted in the increase in the power of substitutes. Hence, it can be said that nowadays, the market power is being dominated by the consumers rather than the sellers. While talking on these lines, it also needs to be mentioned that the ethically aware consumers of today demands more accountability and responsibility from the organizations, whose products and services, they continue to acquire in the long run. This has resulted in the rise of many ethical based organizations like Body shop. Situational analysis It can be said that the situational analysis gives a small overview of the various scenarios, issues and challenges faced by the organization in the process of doing business on a daily basis. It can be said that the situational analysis for the organization Body Shop International can be drawn from the outline of the company’s assessment of strength, weakness, opportunities and threats. Talking in regards to the internal advantages of the multinational company, it can be said that the company has a highly diversified range of beauty and cosmetic lines, which has been manufactured on the lines of high ethicality. Also the product offering of the company is high on innovation, which thereby provides a unique competitive advantage to the company. The fact that the company shares an association with the globally popular L’Oreal can also be seen as a positive advantage. Finally, it needs to be highlighted that the company operates and runs its business processes on high degrees of ethical standards like avoiding animal testing, believing on the policy of transparent and fair standards which further added up to the company’s strong points (BodyShop.in, n.d.). While talking about the company’s internal negative points, it needs to be highlighted that the company provides an extremely low focus on advertising and promotion. Also, the ability of distributing the company’s products based offering is highly restricted because of the small channel of distribution which is present only in a few select cities and countries. Another major internal natured challenge of the company is to provide limited experience to the upcoming and growing market of China. However, it needs to be highlighted that the company faces significant opportunities of growth in regards to the issues of high growth of the Chinese economy as well as the rise in consumption power of China. It also needs to be highlighted that the tremendous growth opportunities for the cosmetic market in China also provides significant amount of business opportunities. Global Marketing Objectives It needs to be mentioned that the global marketing objectives of a company highlights the strategic implications associated with the process of communicating the values of a product in an international market. It can be said that the global marketing objectives of the company is often considered as a part of the company’s new market or business development strategy. It needs to be focused that during the process of developing the global marketing objectives of the company, the focus should be on the basis of SMART objectives. Talking in a little detailed manner about the SMART objectives, it can be said that the framework is developed on the lines of specific, measurable, agreed, realistic and timed factors (Stone, 2001, p. 15). It also needs to be highlighted that while focusing on outlining the global marketing objectives on the basis of SMART objectives, the strategy will also combine a mix of objectives which are of both qualitative and quantitative nature (Gelder and Woodcock, 2003, p. 15). Hence forth, the desired global marketing objectives for the international cosmetic company for entering the market of China, which has been outlined while using the SMART objectives, are as follows: 1. Gaining entry in the market of China in the upcoming 12 months 2. Focusing on developing a distribution network for the company’s medium and high range cosmetic product in the top 3 Tier I Chinese cities. 3. Entering into collaboration with a local China based cosmetic company for developing the desired distribution channels in the new markets. 4. Securing a chain of domestic suppliers and manufactures who will be able to produce the company’s products, while maintaining the same lines of ethicality and process based practices followed by the company. 5. Developing the brand of the Body Shop line of cosmetics and beauty products in the Chinese markets 6. Attaining a 5% market share in the Chinese cosmetic market over the period of upcoming 24 months since the time of entering the new market. It is of considerable interest to highlight that the newly outlined global marketing objectives of Body Shop can be plotted on the basis of an Ansoff’s Growth Matrix. Talking in theoretical terms, it needs to be highlighted that the Ansoff’s matrix plots the dynamics of the product and the market on four quadrants. The growth matrix of Ansoff talks about the issues related to market penetration, product development, market development as well as diversification (Kumar, 2010, p. 175). While plotting the recently drawn global marketing objectives on the lines of Ansoff’s matrix, it can be said that the steps associated with entering the Chinese market as well as setting up the channels of distribution can be seen as an effort of market development. The process of entering into collaboration with a local Chinese cosmetic company along with the fact of the setting up local sourcing of the company’s product can be classified as process of market penetration. Finally, it also needs to be highlighted that the process of developing the brand of Body Shop in the Chinese market can be categorized as endeavours related to product as well as market development. Global Marketing Strategy It is of considerable importance to highlight the fact that for the purpose of effective communication and delivery of value of products and services, in the international markets, having a well designed and carefully planned marketing strategy of global dimension is of significant importance. It needs to be mentioned that the companies should always focus on taking into account multiple views, before deciding on the process of opting for a marketing strategy of global nature. It has to be discussed in broad light that the process of designing for a global marketing strategy is often multi tiered in nature. On a primary note, companies need to take note of the multiple patterns of internationalization as well as the diverse range of opportunities and challenges that remains embedded with it. The very next step will be to develop a well planned strategy of expanding into new markets, so that the global reach of the company gets enhanced. The final step of the global marketing strategy is to decide on the target audience as well as their concerned area of geographic spread (Jeannet and Hennessey, 2005, p. 252). In this particular case, it has already been drawn into focus that that the international cosmetic company Body Shop is trying to enter the market of China. The reason for entering the new market is basically because of the purpose to capitalize on significant opportunities of business growth that are associated with the multiple factors like strong economic growth of China, growing consumption power of the Chinese masses as well as rising opportunities in the cosmetic market of China. While talking in regards to entering the new market of China, considerable amount of focus has to be given on the issues related to proper segmentation, targeting and positioning. Talking about the process of STP, it needs to be highlighted that it is a three staged process. While discussing market segmentation, it can be said it is the elaborate procedure of dividing markets of heterogeneous nature, into multiple smaller markets so that the process of placing and promoting the products and services to the relevant target audience becomes comparatively easy (Kotler and et.al, 2010, p. 162). It also needs to be highlighted that the process of targeting deals with the issues related to customizing and manipulating the various variables of the marketing mix as per the requirements of the selected and highly specific target audience. Finally it has to be said that the factors of positioning deals with the issues related to the perception of the product and service offerings of the organization by the desired target market (Botha and et.al, 2006, p. 61). Hence, it will be utterly relevant to state that the process of segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) for the international cosmetic and beauty product company Body Shop will have a multi tiered approach. Talking about segmentation, it can be said that the international company Body Shop will be focusing on the consumers, who are located mostly in the top three tier I cities of China. Talking about the endeavours associated with targeting of the products of Body Shop, it can be said that the products will be targeted mostly towards the ethically aware upper class consumer of China. Talking in more specific terms, it can be said that the focus is largely on the consumer who fall in the age group of 26 to 32 years. Finally talking in regards to the positioning of the product, it can be highlighted that the product will be positioned in specific pockets of Tier I Chinese markets, where consumers have an increasingly liberating attitude towards Western products. While positioning the products, considerable attention would be given to the consumers so that the lines of thinking of the consumers of tier I cities of China share a symbiotic relationship with the combined western and ethical lines of thought. Marketing Mix Recommendations From the theoretical point of view, it can be highlighted that the marketing mix represents the combination of multiple variables like product, place, promotion and price which can be suitably utilized for the purpose of fulfilling the needs and requirements of the desired target audience (Lamb and et.al, 2008, p. 44). It needs to be mentioned that for entering the market of China, the international beauty and cosmetic product company Body Shop needs to have a series of marketing mix recommendations which has to be customized to the extreme level so that they perfectly meet the requirements and needs of the consumers of the specific market. Talking in regards to product offering for the Chinese market, it has to be highlighted that the international and highly ethical company Body shop should focus on the process of promoting limited number of products of few selected verticals. It has to be stated that the product offering verticals of the company is highly diversified and ranges from bath to fragrances to even men’s products as well as gift ideas. Hence, to enter the market of China, the company should promote few products from the product vertical of makeup, hair and skincare. Talking in regards to place which can be related to area of product distribution, it needs to be highlighted that the process should be multi layered in nature. In the first layer, the focus should be on selected outlets in the top three tier I cities of China. At a later stage, the company can opt for market development by increasing the number of distribution outlets in the tier I cities as well as by entering newer markets within the region of China. For the purpose of promoting the company’s products in the selected Tier I cities of China, it can be said that the focus should be largely on the lines of high quality, as well as westernized nature of the products. Also, it is of high importance to feature that the company needs to highlight on the issues of ethical manufacturing of the company’s products so as to garner additional goodwill from the consumers. While discussing the pricing strategy of the products, it needs to be highlighted that the products should be positioned in the premium range so as to attract the attention as well as the well affluent upper class consumers of the selected Tier I cities of China. Issues and challenges It needs to be highlighted that the implementation strategy for Body Shop for entering the market of China has been designed in such a way that it bypasses the threats related to high import duties of products as well as potential change in policy. However, it can be said that several issues may still crop up in the course of doing business. Issues might arise in regards to developing the collaboration with a local Chinese company for strengthening the product distribution lines. Also, significant issues might arise from the local suppliers and manufactures in regards to compliance of the policy of ethics, which is a strong pillar of strength for the company. Reference Stone, P., 2001. Make Marketing Work for You: Boost Your Profits with Proven Marketing Techniques. UK: How To Books Ltd. Lamb, C.W., and et.al, 2008. Marketing. UK:Cengage Learning. Gelder, D. and Woodcock, P., 2003.Marketing and Promotional Strategy. UK: Nelson Thomes Ltd. Botha, J. and et.al, 2006. Introduction to Marketing. South Africa: Juta and Co. Ltd. Kumar, D., 2010. Enterprise Growth Strategy. USA: Ashgate Publishing Company Kotler, P. and et.al., 2010. Principles Of Marketing: A South Asian Perspective, 13/E. India: Dorling Kindersley Pvt. Ltd. BodyShop.in, n.d. Our Company. [Online] Available at: http://www.thebodyshop.in/about-us-2/our-company [Accessed 22 April, 2013] Jeannet, J.P., and Hennessey, H.D., 2005. Global Marketing Strategies (6Th Ed.) USA: Houghton Mifflin Co. 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