Explore L’Oréal’s SWOT analysis to gain insights into its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, shaping its future in the cosmetics sector. Before the establishment of facial cosmetics, L’Oréal can be identified as a hair-color formula that has been introduced by a French chemist known as Eugene Schueller in 1907. It was then known as ”Aureole”. Poster presentation on L’oreal Luxury Cosmetic. Schueller formulated and manufactured his own products which were sold to Parisian hairdressers.
It was only in 1909 that Schueller registered his company as “Societe Francaise de Teintures Inoffensive pour Cheveux”, the future L’Oréal. Schuller began exporting his products, which was then limited to hair-coloring products. It focuses to engage in the field of Production and Marketing of concentrating on hair colors, skincare, perfumes, and fragrances, makeup, and styling products.
The Concept of L’Oréal SWOT Analysis, Why? L’Oréal is the world’s biggest cosmetics and beauty products company.
There were 3 chemists employees in 1920. In 1950, the research teams increased to 100 and reached 1,000 by 1984. Today, research teams number to 2,000 and still expect to increase shortly. Through agents and consignments, Schuller further distributed his products in the United States of America, South America, Russia, and the Far East. The L’Oréal Group is present worldwide through its subsidiaries and agents. L’Oréal started to expand its products from hair-color to other cleansing and beauty products.
The L’Oréal Group today markets over 500 brands and more than 2,000 products in the various sectors of the beauty business. Such include hair colors, permanents, styling aids, body and skin care, cleansers, and fragrances. Indeed, the L’Oréal Group has reached the peak that all cosmetic brands sought after. Many factors contribute to the success of the Company. Since L’Oréal was known to be France’s leading beauty company, it was international presence was so limited that many believed and had a conception of Parisian beauty as being expensive and high culture.
What is SWOT Analysis?
S.W.O.T. is an acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. A SWOT analysis (Dell swot) is an organized list of your business’s greatest strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Existing businesses can use a SWOT analysis, at any time, to assess a changing environment and respond proactively. In fact, I recommend conducting a strategy review meeting at least once a year that begins with a SWOT analysis.
New businesses should use a SWOT analysis as a part of their planning process. There is no “one size fits all” plan for your business, and thinking about your new business in terms of its unique “SWOTs” will put you on the right track right away, and save you from a lot of headaches later on.
SWOT Analysis for L’Oréal:
The SWOT analysis framework involves analyzing the strengths as “S” and weaknesses as “W” of the L’Oréal’s internal factors, and the opportunities as “O” and threats as “T” of its external factors of performance.
Through this analysis, the weaknesses and strengths within L’Oréal can correspond to the opportunities and threats in the business environment so that effective strategies can be developed. It follows from this, therefore, that an organization can derive an effective strategy by taking advantage of its opportunities by using its strengths and neutralize its threats by minimizing the impact of its weaknesses.
Moreover, SWOT analysis can be applied to both a whole company as well as a specific project within a company to identify new company strategies and appraise project feasibility. Here is you’ll understand the SWOT Analysis for the L’Oréal Paris cosmetic company.
Strengths of L’Oréal:
The ongoing success of the L’Oréal Group is without if not for the ingenuity of the concept of their vision as a team. L’Oréal Chairman and CEO Lindsay Owen-Jones consider passion as the key to the well-renowned accomplishment of the said Company.
The primary strength of the Company is the continuing research and innovation in the interest of beauty which assures that L’Oréal Cosmetics offers the best to their consumers.
Their dedication to their continuous research makes them the leader in the growing cosmetics industry despite the competition in the market. The strength of the L’Oréal Groups is the developed activities in the field of cosmetics as well as in the dermatological and pharmaceutical fields to put more concentration in their particular activities.
The cosmetics activities of L’Oréal divide into five groups. First is the Consumer Product Division which encompasses all the brands distributed through mass-market channels, ensuring that L’Oréal quality is available to the maximum number of consumers. The Luxury Products Division includes the prestigious international brands selectively distributed through perfumeries, department stores, and duty-free shops.
Professional Strengths of L’Oréal:
The Professional Products Division offers specific hair care products for use by professional hairdressers and products sold exclusively through hair salons. The Active Cosmetics Department creates and markets products for selective distribution through pharmacies and specialist health and beauty outlets. The L’Oréal Group’s dermatological activities are linked with Galderma. Which is basically a dermatological firm that contributes to the innovation of L’Oréal Group’s products.
The pharmaceutical activities of L’Oréal also handle by Sanofi-Aventis. These divisions and subdivisions ensure the quality that the L’Oréal Group offers to its customers. To further add to the enumerated strengths of the company. L’Oréal’s advertising strategy also plays a major part in its growth. Through adapting to the culture of their target market as the main tool of their advertisement. The Company brought L’Oréal products within reach of other women from different parts of the world.
Weaknesses of L’Oréal:
Perhaps one of the weaknesses that a big company faces is the decentralized organizational structure. This is also part of the difficulties that L’Oréal is facing. Due to the many subdivisions of the Company, there is also the difficulty in the control of L’Oréal. This slows down the production of the Company because of the need for giving reference to the other Board members and directors of the Company. L’Oréal will also have difficulty in finding out what division is accountable for the possible pitfalls of the Company. Another weakness that L’Oréal faces is its profit.
The profit margin of L’Oréal is comparably low than that of the other smaller rivals. While L’Oréal projects a certain rise in digits as their profit, the result does not usually meet the expectations. Perhaps, this is also due to the high-end advertising and marketing as well as the width of the Company. Finally, the coordination and the control of the activities. And, the image in the worldwide market also view as a weakness on the part of L’Oréal. Due to its worldwide marketing strategy, there are also dissimilarities brought about in the campaign of L’Oréal products as to what image they are to project.
Opportunities for L’Oréal:
The L’Oréal Company concentrates on cosmetic products that enhance women of all ages. The growing demand for beauty products allows L’Oréal to focus on their field of specialization, particularly on hairstyling and color, skincare, cosmetics, and perfumeries. Being the leading cosmetic brand gives them the edge for their well-known image.
The opportunity also emanates from their growing market that ranges from the affluent, the aging, and also the masses of the developed countries. Another opportunity that L’Oréal must take advantage of is its greater market share. Because of the numerous patents registered by the Company. This enables them to have the top-of-the-line products only to their name. Therefore would lead customers only to them for they could not find any of the said cosmetics in other brands.
Threats for L’Oréal:
A threat to the L’Oréal group is also the growing competition within the field of cosmetic brands. Due to the ongoing addition to the field of cosmetics. There is still the danger that other brands could surpass the profit of L’Oréal. Another threat to the Company is the economic downturn that is quite evident in other countries. Such could thus hurt the possibility of higher profit for the company. Most products of L’Oréal are within the reach of the citizens of developed countries. But, L’Oréal may have problems reaching out even to the average people from under-developing countries.
Also, a threat to the L’Oréal Group is the spending habits of the consumer. The economic crunch that most countries are experiencing as of present. While the L’Oréal Group may be producing the best of its line. People may find that their products are not of their basic needs and would skip buying L’Oréal products. However, with the growth of the market, the damage could be far from taking place.
L’Oréal International Marketing Strategy;L’Oréal is the world’s biggest cosmetics and beauty products company. Basically, it’s a French-based company and is headquartered in Paris. Poster presentation on L’oreal Luxury Cosmetic; It focuses on engaged in the field of Production and Marketing of concentrating on hair colors, skincare, perfumes, and fragrances, makeup, and styling products. L’Oréal products are also based on dermatological and pharmaceutical fields. Their products are made for Individual and professional customers. So, what discusses is: L’Oréal International Marketing Strategy explains their Case Study.
The Concept of L’Oréal explains their Case Study by International Marketing Strategy.
This company operates in over 130 countries like Asia, America, East, and West Europe through 25 international brands. The success of L’Oréal lies in the fact that the company succeeded in reaching out to the customers of different countries of the world; across different income ranges and cultural patterns; giving them the appropriate product they are worthy of. The area of expertise of L’Oréal being that it succeeded almost in every country that it entered. The strategies of L’Oréal was varied enough to help it and stop itself from restricting itself to a single country.
L’Oréal sold its product based on customer demand and country want rather than keeping the product identical across the globe. It built an ample number of brands or mammoth brands entrenched to the restricted culture and which appealed to a variety of segment of the universal market instead of generalizing the brand and edible in innumerable culture. L’Oréal went on to be a local product in every international market. The brand extension of L’Oréal also came in the same sector or the same segment of the market.
L’Oréal believed in growing its expertise in the segment it is conscious of rather than going into a completely new sector of the market.
The international marketing strategy is more in-depth and broadened in one sense of the term. It is simply a principle of marketing however on a global scale. The setup of the global marketing strategy has a lot to do with understanding the nature of the global market itself; and, most importantly the environment. The business environment across the globe has different economic, social, and political influences. Thus, it is believing that selecting a global market target for examples when strategizing is a good idea. The international marketing strategy of L’Oréal is concentrating on a cross-cultural arena spanning four market destinations.
They are namely:
1) the Asian Market.
2) European Market.
3) North America Market, and.
4) The African, Orient, and Pacific Region.
L’Oréal in Asia Market:
At present L’Oréal is one of the best companies in the whole world in the field of cosmetic products. The cosmetic products of L’Oréal are widely used; and, especially the hair color which was introduced by L’Oréal a few years ago. L’Oréal is very famous in Asia and its products in Asia are very cheaper; than the other companies and are used by the majority of people in China, Thailand, Japan, etc. It is famous and very successful because of its global marketing strategies; which are very helpful and also distinct from the strategies used by other companies in this field.
L’Oréal in Asia,
Uses the sustainable strategy that is of growing the company as the demands of cosmetic products in countries like China, Thailand, etc are in great amount. This company uses the strategy of suspicious brand management; and, they also brought the strategy of more suspicious acquisitions. The main problem that a company like L’Oréal faces in Asia is the competition given by the other companies dealing with cosmetic products. To overcome this problem in Asia these companies use the strategy of selling good quality products at cheaper rates than the other companies.
One of the best strategies of L’Oréal in Asia is the diversification of the brand; and, the main reason behind this strategy by L’Oréal is to make them palatable in the local cultures. L’Oréal in Asia aims at the management of the global brands with local variations; and, this means that their main aim is of becoming a local and not a foreign company in Asia.
For example, L’Oréal in Thailand has given local names to their stores; and, most of the employees present in this company, are local people of Thailand. It is because of all these strategies, L’Oréal is very successful in the whole of Asia.
L’Oréal in European Market:
L’Oréal’s the only company that uses the strategies which also supports the people in many ways; and, not only in providing good quality products at cheaper rates. L’Oréal used different strategies of marketing in the European market like they used the strategy of nurturing the self-esteem of the people with beauty.
In France,
L’Oréal created programs like “Beauty from the heart” for helping the people made helpless by illness or any kind of negative life experiences. In countries like the UK and Germany, many of the women and also the young people regain their confidence; and, their self-image gradually by using the cosmetics provided by L’Oréal.
In European countries,
L’Oréal also used marketing strategies like taking the calculated amount of risk etc.; but, most of the strategies are related to the growth of the people mentally and not only for beauty or fashion purposes. L’Oréal launches various innovative treatment programs for the young people of European countries; and, this company also launches free skincare and make-up workshops for women who have cancer.
For example,
In France, a program named “La Vie, de Plus Belle” offers free skincare and makeup for cancer suffering women all over France. This helps them to cope with the treatment’s side effects; and, it also helps them to retain their self-esteem which is very important for a patient.
In the European countries, L’Oréal generally uses the strategy of the management of brand by which L’Oréal had made a large number of brands that rooted in the local culture; and, which all appeals to the various segments of the global market. By using these social types of strategies for the people of Europe has helped L’Oréal in expanding their business in the whole of Europe.
L’Oréal in North American Market:
North American markets are considering as a perfect place for companies like L’Oréal, Olay, ponds, etc. The best business of L’Oréal comes from the market of the US. The reason for this much success is that L’Oréal uses very good global marketing strategies in North America and other countries like Canada etc. One of the successful strategies of L’Oréal in the US market is brand extensions; which include the extensions of the brands after doing complete research.
For example 01,
When L’Oréal launched a shampoo for kids they first made complete research; and, also debated about the new launch or for an extension. In the US and Canada L’Oréal uses the strategy of frequent advertisements and promotions. As we know in the present scenario, proper advertisements and promotions are very important for any company because people follow the promotions; and, due to which the demands of the products like hair color increases at a very rapid rate. We can clearly understand the advertisement and the promotions of L’Oréal through their media budget. L’Oréal has the twelfth largest media budget in the world which is much more than the other companies in this field.
For example 02,
In the late 1990s, the expenditure of L’Oréal advertising and promotion was jumped from 37% to around 47% of the total amount of sales. The global ad spending of L’Oréal was increased to $1.25 billion which was on par with the company named coca-cola. The best thing about this company is that they have a separate and very distinct policy of promotion in the market of the US. Matrix is the number one brand of L’Oréal in the US and the main reason behind the success of the matrix is frequent; and, distinct advertisement and promotion of cosmetic and hair products.
The people of countries like Canada like to use new products that mean they like changes in their product after some interval of time. So by keeping this thing in mind, L’Oréal uses the strategies of modifications which means they modify their existing products according to the latest tastes and fashion of the local people. According to the latest surveys of the people of L’Oréal company; the majority of the profits of this company is because of the US and these perfect strategies used by this company in the US is the reason behind this type of success especially in the North American market (Helping vulnerable people).
L’Oréal in Africa, Orient and Pacific Region:
Like other countries in the world, L’Oréal is also very successful and equally famous in Africa and the Pacific region. L’Oréal entered into the market of India in the year 1997 and at that; there was not much awareness about the sniff of structure in the industry of hairdressing.
In countries like the UAE and Australia, proper and organized education was totally absent; and, perfect and well-trained hairdressers were also not present at that time. Despite all these problems, L’Oréal in India made some of the strategies; and, one of the best strategies of L’Oréal that they launch various technical training centers; and, they even opened a club of only the hairdressers.
In the UAE,
L’Oréal products which were professional began selling through Parisienne salons; while the other companies have begun retailing their range of hair color to power growth. L’Oréal uses a global marketing strategy for launching its successful brands all around the world.
For example in February of this year only, L’Oréal announced the arrival of the matrix which is the number one brand of L’Oréal in the US to India, UAE, etc with a reason for adding the range of hair products to their existing products at affordable prices. The main thing about this company is that they make strategies according to the local culture of different countries and not uses the same strategies in every country. Because of all these strategies, L’Oréal gains a huge profit from Europe every year.
The success of L’Oréal:
The success story can continue further because even today products of L’Oréal touch the cultural values instilled in the potential customer’s mind. L’Oréal just doesn’t sell the product it makes the customer buy the idea of dreaming big but remaining rooted to the core cultural values. it has carefully devised its global marketing strategy and customized it to the local needs; and, that’s the reason people from Africa to Europe and America to Australia are using the L’Oréal products.
The same reward schemes, motivational methods, desired working environments, etc; also cannot be the same for different employees working for the company in different nations; and, thus it also needs the understanding of different aspects of the impacts of the cultural differences. Proper analysis of the Macro and the Micro Environmental factors should do to study how much technological and economical; and, politically that country is sound to carry out a trade with them.
Whether it’s an Asian Market, European market, North American Market, or the Pacific Region, everywhere the culture differs in terms of varied factors. So it becomes the responsibility of the Company to do proper scanning of these factors to have their long stay in the region so that they can attain a Topmost Competitive position by adapting to various region’s cultural factors in their Global Marketing Strategies.
Therefore the major things that should keep in mind for L’Oréal while doing International business are to form an effective global strategy team for defining the trading policies to work in any country. The strategy of Globalization should encompass major factors like cultural differences, economic policies of the country, etc. moreover the varying lifestyles of the peoples and the rapidly changing economies even should also be kept in mind.
L’Oréal International Marketing Strategy explains their Case Study!
L’Oréal Global Branding Strategy; The L’Oréal group has been the market leader of cosmetics and the beauty industry. The products it mainly sells are in the fields of cosmetics including, hair color, makeup products, skincare products, perfumes, etc. Poster presentation on L’oreal Luxury Cosmetic; The company has also launched several products in the field of dermatology and pharmacy. The sales and profits maintain through its wide range of professional consumer luxury; and, active products showing a strong through it. So, what discusses is: L’Oréal Global Branding Strategy explains What? their Case Study.
The Concept of the study explains the Case Study of L’Oréal Global Branding Strategy.
It was founded in 1909 by Eugene Schueller and soon it grew into the world’s largest company in the industry. The turnover of the company has grown over 19 billion euros with over 11 percent of growth; which considerably indicates the success of marketing strategies of the L’Oréal group. The company market over 70 international brands along with several local brands made specifically for the country it is marketing with the same international standards; and, flexibility according to the local needs and requirements that are to sell to both men and women in over 150 countries.
The company has shown enough growth in the continents of North America and Western Europe with its outstanding performance of twice the market trend growth of the markets of Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. The global marketing efforts of the company with its smart selling efforts brought a tremendous amount of success for it. The differences between the different cultures and the needs of the native people of those different cultures have been quite successfully understood by the company’s marketing personals.
Explain 01:
To understand and to answer the cosmetic requirement of the different types of people in the world the company has set up its five worldwide research; and, development center which establishes in different continents like 2 in France, 1 in the US, and 1 in Japan and 1 in China, to make the manufacturing of the product; managed according to the needs of a different culture. L’Oréal group has successfully projected itself as a nice example of a good multinational corporation that manages its profit with considerable success through the competitions in the market’s surrounded by the various geographical, social, economic, and cultural risks.
The company reached out to a variety of customers with different economic status and cultural background in overall different perception through its fine global branding strategies. Through its selling of different products, the company sold different genres of products like Italian elegance, New York street smarts, French beauty, etc through different global branding methods.
L’Oréal’s global branding strategy that’s doing wonders has been actively spearheaded by Owen Jones himself. Lindsey Owen Jones has been the CEO of L’Oréal for nearly two decades and an “Honorary President” now, and under his leadership; L’Oréal has really fine-tuned its global branding strategy. Interestingly some press reports tell us that he has been seen roaming around streets in foreign markets to understand the new and existing trends.
Explain 02:
And without any doubt, his interesting work style seems to work wonders. The branding strategy of L’Oréal has such an impact that L’Oréal seems to be the only global leader in every segment of the cosmetics industry; the right positioning of its products seems to be the key. Whatever it is trying to sell the French elegance or street smartness of America; is getting good response throughout the world and L’Oréal has been able to reach its consumers across the national and cultural boundaries. Owen Jones says: “We have this great strategy back in the head office of how we are going to do it worldwide.
But when you go out and look at what is happening, is there a big gap between your projections and the reality of what you see and hear? It is so important to have a world vision because otherwise decentralized consumer goods companies with many brands can fracture into as many little parts if somebody isn’t pulling it back the other way the whole time with a central vision.” This really explains why he prefers roaming in the streets for his strategy-making rather than sitting in the boardroom. Having said all that it’s quite evident that the global branding strategy of L’Oréal has paid huge dividends to the company overall.
Explain 03:
To understand this splendid growth story, we need to see how exactly L’Oréal applied their strategy to the countries that were entirely distinct as far as the lifestyle, spending pattern, and culture concern. L’Oréal was started in France, has a good brand value in the united states of America, is reaping good dividends from India, and has a remarkable presence in Japan. These are different complex societies with different needs; so how exactly L’Oréal managed to be equally successful in all these places? This question needs some fact-finding to be done based on country-specific products; and, strategies adopted by the cosmetics conglomerate.
That’s what exactly we will try doing in the next section of this case study. In India, 4 billion 7.5 ml sachets sell every year and that’s a staggering 66% of total shampoo consumption in India. Most of the urban Indian women (96%) use shampoo, however only 46% use foundation. For hair care, a huge 74% population of Indian women still rely on home remedies, 42% use henna, and 94% use hair oil, as far as L’Oréal’s sale per person in India concern is just 10 cents compared to 28 Euros per person in France. In India skin lightening creams (fairness creams) constitute more than 50% of the skincare market people seem to be crazy about getting fairer.
Explain 04:
These facts are self-explanatory about the nature of the Indian market; and, it’s clearly stating that the strategy used in the USA or any other European countries is not going to work in India. the USA is a mature market as far as cosmetics consumption concerns India is an emerging economy with most of the population below 35 years of age and a huge aspiring middle class. The cosmetics market is growing approximately at an annual rate of 16% in India, still a long way to go. The youth in urban centers very concern about the image but the larger section is still off the fashion map.
Interestingly even after the success story of corporate India, apparently it’s still a country that is very much community-oriented. The great Indian middle class is aspiring but still has the community-driven cultural values intact. L’Oréal has taken this fact very much into consideration while preparing the marketing strategy for India. A very good example would be the launch of Garnier Fructis shampoo in India. The concept was to rely on the idea rather than relying on advertising a brand. The idea of getting five times stronger hair was the central point that created the hype, through “word of mouth” or network marketing.
Initially, it was positioned as a product for young and teenagers; once the product was established in the market it tried to change or rather increase the target base by shifting gears. In a recent advertisement for Garnier hair color, a daughter is shown advising her mother to try the Garnier product and explaining the benefits. Again it relies on the concept of the idea getting spread by “word of mouth” to another customer segment. This is the best example of marketing in a closed &community driven society.
Explain 05:
There is one more remarkable thing about this entire campaign the catchline “take care”. It shifts the focus from the product to the core value of Indian society “caring about others”; and, the entire advertisement becomes more of good advice rather than publicity. China is the world’s most populated country in the world and that makes it very clear that it has the potential of being the biggest consumer market. These days Chinese women are spending an average of 10 to 15% of their income on cosmetics products, and urban Chinese ladies would use 2.2 cosmetics products on average every morning.
Evidently, most of them want to be fashionable and the L’Oréal punch line – ‘if you want to be fashionable, just choose Maybelline’, really seems to work. Masses are made to believe that this is something that represents America and it ought to be trendy. Maybelline is the product line for the masses and L’Oréal really uses the tendency of masses to look towards the USA that’s why the Maybelline products display against the backdrop of the shiny skyline of New York City Chinese women prefer skincare and beauty products.
Explain 06:
According to research by L’Oréal in China, women concern about the radiance of their skin; and, prefer skin nourishing lotions that protect their skin from skin-drying winters. Unlike us customers most Chinese women like skin whiteners rather than tanning products. It’s a sign of beauty for Chinese women. Also, the texture of Chinese hair is thicker and more course than typical US Caucasian hair. This requires different products, and really different skill set to effectively sell and get these products moving in China.
L’Oréal has dedicated research facilities for these and other issues and followed up with more innovations to suit the needs and preferences of Chinese consumers. There is one more very interesting fact about the Chinese cosmetics industry; Chinese women are very concerned about the ingesting of lipsticks. This is the most interesting food attitude about Chinese women.
Now following its global strategy L’Oréal even considered this and developed lipsticks containing vitamins; as soon as this was told to the women they were more comfortable in using the product. European countries are mostly developed, here L’Oréal has the liberty of publicizing the brand value rather than focusing on pricing, the benefit to L’Oréal in these markets is that it already well establish and the brand well knows so it can concentrate on grabbing the attention of individualistic feminist women.
Explain 07:
Pricing is not a concern in these markets so L’Oréal can afford to have punchlines like-“I am worth it” because these punchlines justify the high pricing of the products and fulfill the feeling of exclusivity of high-end clientele. Now let’s take another example from the European and our markets, L’Oréal brands in these markets are quite well established. L’Oréal products have been used there for few generations now; once young consumer of the L’Oréal brand has started aging and the same street-smart products could not position to them, they have started becoming the mature citizens; now their priorities have changed.
A recent market report suggests that the new target segment in the cosmetics industry is 40 plus women who once used teenage cosmetics products. The thrust is on anti-aging products because it not only adds the new customer base but retains the once teenage customer also. The customer from the baby boom generation reaches the retirement age and tries to maintain a healthy and youthful look and finds out that their favorite cosmetics brand is still making products for them. L’Oréal capitalized on their desire to look youthful and started marketing its anti-aging products, it has signed sixty-year-old Diane Keaton to represent the Age Perfect Pro-Calcium skincare line.
Explain 08:
Also, L’Oréal has signed Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz, Eva Longoria, and Beyoncé Knowles to promote specific cosmetics lines according to the age groups. Now this tells us how L’Oréal used the desire of customers to position its products. The French conglomerate believes that only two different cultures as far as fashion concerns are dominant, represent by two flagship brands L’Oréal Paris and Maybelline New York. L’Oréal has been projected as a French origin with elegance, high-end presentation, and obviously high pricing.
Whereas the Maybelline product line represents the street-smart American babe who is looking for the value of the money. America seems to be the growth engine of the world, in the cosmetics industry as well. L’Oréal has understood this and they made a strategy based on the trends in the USA and that’s how Maybelline came into existence. Maybelline currently is the second-largest brand in the share of unit sales of cosmetics products and number one in makeup brands. It claims to be totally consistent with today’s confident woman. Maybelline products targets three customer segments; youngster (16 to 25), office lady (26-35), and career women (35 plus).
Explain 09:
The marketing mix for the Maybelline line of products consists of two main strategies; foreign consumer cultural positioning; and, symbolic New York City imagery that women can relate to everywhere. Maybelline promotion includes the different way of grabbing attention including promotional coupons; online advertising; sponsorship of fashion shows; signing fashion icons as spokesperson of the product; free makeup consultancy and providing scholarships, etc.; we can see as American cosmetic market is a mature market so L’Oréal tries to rely on mature marketing tactics. In the early 20th century, even American society was not very much open to makeup and skincare products.
People thought that only sinful women should wear makeup; but, eventually with the economic independence that the American women gained; makeup and cosmetics started coming into the mainstream. Cosmetics apparently became the symbol of new self-belief that the American women were beaming with; and remember even Maybelline claims to be totally consistent with today’s women; there are several other punchlines like ‘maybe she’s born with it’, ‘maybe it’s Maybelline’; all the punchlines keep the self-confidence of women in the center as if its not the makeup but its the attitude that has to be worn.
Explain 10:
That’s why women of every nationality and culture started identifying themselves with the product; and, this became the symbol of the 21st-century woman. The mindset and the lifestyle of the customer heavily impacted by the culture. Culture defines by different norms, values, interactions, language, and other personal components shared by groups of people across the world. It is a social phenomenon that defines people’s interests, thoughts, and other behaviors they may exhibit in social life.
From one country to another, humans have evolved and developed different types of expressions, beliefs, and behavior; which can be difficult to understand for someone who does not belong to the same culture. Culture is the way how the members of a particular group interact with each other on the sharing of the available means; now that determines what is going to be the need for a particular product in that society; that also decides whether a particular advertising strategy will work or not; and, how exactly that will interpret by the target customers.
Explain 11:
In different markets, consumer requirements and consumer behavior may vary. Cultural aspects deeply impact consumer behavior; the impact may be direct or indirect. The cultural distinction creates the consumer behavior difference, as it can notice between the Asian and European continents where the culture and the behaviors are very different. Being a global organization L’Oréal certainly needs to understand the cultural differences and position its products; accordingly, otherwise, the results may be far more different than they are at this moment. The thrust has to be on hitting the right customer with the right product.
This can be possible only if one has a deep knowledge of local culture and beliefs. A very interesting example would be lipstick use in China; according to research, only 3% of women use lipstick for makeup. The reason that was supposed to be behind this low percentage of lipstick use is even weirder; women in China have concerns about ingesting lipstick. L’Oréal surveyed to see whether this is just an age-old saying or it holds some truth; based on the findings it came up with a lipstick that had vitamins in it, and in turn, the demand for L’Oréal vitamin lipsticks increased. Another example could be really handy; in India long hair consider necessary for a woman to consider beautiful.
Explain 12:
L’Oréal considered this fact while launching its shampoo product in India; and, it focused on publicizing the fact that using the Garnier Fructis shampoo helps in getting long and strong hair. This strategy made the product very popular in India. In China or India, people like to have a fair complexion. In Asia, women take special care of their skin. People want radiant skins and lotions that can nourish their skin against the sun; whereas in the United States people would rather buy tanning cream.
On basis of this knowledge, L’Oréal can position their whitening creams in India; and, the interesting part is the way the advertisements could interpret; the way the advertisements for the fairness creams make in Asian countries can interpret as racial advertisements in the USA; but, in Asian countries that seem to be quite usual. Now that’s where the knowledge of the culture and beliefs comes in handy and helps to avoid unnecessary problems. From a business point of view; companies have to adapt themselves to the culture of each country in which they want to have a business. Because of the differences in culture between countries; companies need to adjust their products and services according to local demands.
This will help them to create and develop a brand image across the globe bases on a large number of globally-recognized products. L’Oréal was able to be successful in these markets; because it adapted to the ground realities of the particular market yet it followed a standardized strategy. If we consider the marketing mix of Maybelline, it has a two-pronged strategy; one for the foreign markets is the global street-smart image of the American chic.
Explain 13:
The global street-smart image of New York chick can admire in almost all the urban centers, be it India, China, or Brazil. However, there has to be the right mix of local flavor as well. The most important part of L’Oréal’s strategic plan is to opportunity hunting or the marketing of its products worldwide. From the initial days, it already started catering to the demands of women worldwide. To do that efficiently, they were expected to be well aware of the diversities of women across the globe.
Once they knew the diversities their job was to come up with a different line of products suitable to women from all parts of the world. Innovation has been the keyword for L’Oréal and this was made possible through constant research and development over the years. The group has already covered most parts of the world and still striving to cover more. To do so, the L’Oréal group has to keep respecting other people’s identity, ideas, and culture. L’Oréal has to keep valuing different cultures and nationalities to get their brand value up; and, it seems that they have been doing it really well.
The success story can continue further because even today products of L’Oréal touch the cultural values instilled in the potential customer’s mind. L’Oréal just doesn’t sell the product it makes the customer buy the idea of dreaming big; but, remaining rooted in the core cultural values. It has carefully devised its global marketing strategy and customized it to the local needs; and, that’s the reason people from Africa to Europe and America to Australia are using the L’Oréal products.
L’Oréal Global Branding Strategy explains What? their Case Study. Image credit from L’Oréal.
