Free Marketing Plan For Moringa Gold Company (Beauty Product Company) Essay Example

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Marketing Plan for Moringa Gold (A Beauty Product Company)

Section A- Competitive Situation Analysis
Analysis of Inter- and Intra-Competition using Porter’s 5 Forces Model
The Porter’s 5 forces model is the best method which must be used to analyze the “competitive forces in the industry environment to identify opportunities and threats,” according to Charles Hill and Gareth Jones (2010, p. 42). The Porter’s 5 forces model focus on five forces which “shape competition within an industry” (Hill & Gareth, 2010, p. 42). These five forces include the following: 1) the threat from new entrants by “potential competitors”; 2) the intensity level of the rivalry which exists amongst “established companies” within an industry; 3) the bargaining power of buyers; 4) the bargaining power of suppliers; and the threat from potential substitutes to an “industry’s products” (Hill & Gareth, 2010, p. 42).
Competitive Rivalry: The competitive rivalry within the beauty industry is quite intense because there are many companies which claim to create products with potent anti-aging properties. However, there are very few companies that create beauty products that are made from the moringa seed oil and extracts from all parts of the moringa plant, like Moringa Gold Company’s products. However, there are companies that can prove to be formidable against the Moringa Gold brand, if the proper marketing strategy is not developed and effectively implemented. Some of these brands (which use the moringa seed oil and parts of the moringa plants as their main ingredients in their products) include: Natura Veda, The Body Shop Moringa Skincare line and Kosia Naturals. Natura Veda appears to be the leading competitor has it has medical grade moringa oil placed within its products as well as Sacha Inchi oil. Furthermore, all products are infused with peptides from the moringa seed oil. All of the above mentioned brands are inter-competitors since they are also a part of the beauty industry.
Threat from New Entrants: As mentioned previously, there are not many companies that create beauty products made with the moringa seed oil and all parts of the moringa plant. These new entrants can be classified as inter-competitors because they operate within the industry. However, it is still possible that new entrants can affect the ability of Moringa Gold to be competition within the industry. Natura Veda allows new and emerging companies the opportunity to use their own private labeling to use on beauty products created and developed by Natura Veda. One such company is AMG Naturally.
Threat from New Buyers: The threat of new buyers is an important threat that the Moringa Gold Company would have to consider. This is because the beauty products can be distributed widely through a variety of retailers both on- and offline. The major large retailers, such as Walmart, K-Mart, and Target are also threats which need to be considered when designing and implementing a marketing plan. Moreover, Sephora and Sally Beauty Supply stores, which are large beauty supply retailers, are threats which need be considered. This is because these large retailers have strong purchasing power which will allow them to determine how the pricing of the products created by Moringa Gold. If the products are priced too cheaply then this could affect Moringa Gold’s profit margins. The e-tailers are an even greater threat than the offline retailers. For instance, Amazon has the ability to not only purchase millions of beauty products, but they are able to sell these products from various distribution companies. Additionally, it should be noted that Walmart, Sephora, and Sally Beauty all have websites where their products could be purchased online.
Threat from Substitutes: The threat from substitutes from other products within the industry is an additional concern for the Moringa Gold Company. Customers have the option of choosing products that are made from argan, dido, marula, and camellia oils. These substitutes are in inter-competitors. However, moringa oil appears to have the most potent anti-aging properties when compared to oils from other plant sources. Substitutes outside of the beauty industries are pharmaceutical products made with the moringa plant (which can be taken internally). If the properties of the moringa plant are taken internally, then it would prove to be more beneficial to the body that if it is used externally. These substitutes can be classified as intra-competitors.

Section B- Assessment of Strengths and Weaknesses of the Moringa Gold Company

Strengths
Moringa Gold products are the only beauty products that use extracts from the entire moringa plant. This makes Moringa Gold a leading beauty company, which infuses all parts of the moringa in its chemical formulations.

The Moringa Gold Company has access to its own supply of moringa trees through its moringa farm.

Moringa Gold products are made from extracts and oil from the moringa plant as well as bee products.
Moringa Gold Company has a website with e-commerce capabilities.
Weaknesses
Moringa Gold products are not effectively and efficiently marketed via social media sites.
Moringa Gold products are not, at present, strategically placed in department stores such as Macy’s, Nordstrom’s, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Moringa Gold Company is not taking more steps to focus on the growing Hispanic market.

Section C- The Level of Impact that the Salient Macro-Environmental Issues and Trends that Could Potentially have on Moringa Gold’s Strategy

Technological Issues

Moringa Gold Company will need to continuously improve on innovative methods to improve the anti-aging and other benefits of its products. This same situation is described by Alexandra Palade in her article, “Analysis of Marketing Mix on Cosmetics Case Study: Avon Company” (2011, p. 239).

Economic Issues

The pricing of Moringa Gold’s products could prove to be an issue for some consumers. It is a premium beauty product and will be priced to reflect its quality. Some might argue that a slow economy will have an impact on the consumer being able to purchase Moringa Gold’s products. Nevertheless, research has shown that consumers are willing to pay high prices for high-end, well-made, and well-formulated beauty products. For instance, Helena Rubenstein, a pioneer in modern beauty product marketing, always kept her prices “high” and commented that some women will not buy anything unless they can “‘pay a lot’” (Tungate, 2011, p. 24). The high prices give the consumer the impression that the product is unique and has better ingredients compared to others on the market.

Social Issues

Moringa Gold Company must also be mindful of the social issues related to beauty product advertising. For instance, Ann Marie Briton explains that “photo-shopped and computer-enhanced models in advertisements” have created “impossible standards of beauty” which led to women feeling inadequate and battling with self-esteem issues (2012, p. 4). Moringa Gold Company could adapt a similar strategy used by Dove (another beauty in its advertising campaign by including average people who have used Moringa Gold’s products as well as celebrity endorsements. Froehlich notes that in Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty advertising campaign, Dove used a “good-looking ordinary pale” woman who was transformed by computer alterations to conform to the “‘global standard of beauty’” (2009, para. 5). The advertisement then ends with two sentences about the importance of allowing girls and women to feel beautiful just the way they are (Froehlich, 2009). Moringa Gold Company will use before and after photos of average women showing the effectiveness of the products.

Legal Issues

There are many companies on the market which sell products related to the moringa plant which have names similar to the Moringa Gold Company’s name. Therefore, it is important that the brand of the Moringa Gold Company be properly trademarked and registered so as to prevent the duplication of the company’s products.

Section E – Tactics and Action Plan for Implementing Marketing Strategy Product Action Plan

Moringa Gold Company’s beauty products needed to be created using the most innovative technological advancements available in biochemistry. The packaging should also be glossy and very sophisticated, as indicated by Palade who indicated that high end beauty products are not only packaged in very sophisticated packaging, but also use the most advanced technological advancements available (2011, p. 237). The labeling should also be written in Spanish so as to appeal to the Hispanic population. Rubenstein was also the first person to use this marketing approach, as highlighted by Tungate (2011). Rubenstein also used celebrity endorsements to sell her products (Tungate 2011). In order to attract celebrity endorsements, it is important that a very high quality product is made using the best ingredients and the best biochemical technological advancements available.

Price Action Plan

It would be best to conduct surveys by phone, in-person (such as at shopping malls) or online using Survey Monkey to determine how much customers are willing to pay for high end beauty products. Customers are will to pay high prices for a very good beauty product; however, Moringa Gold Company should not make the prices too exorbitant so that persons will decide not to buy it.

Product Placement Action Plan

Moringa Gold Company’s beauty products need to be strategically placed in key department stores, such as Nordstrom, Macy’s, Barney’s Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus and on their websites. It is important that sales representatives be trained to interact with the public that they can be taught how to used Moringa Gold Company’s products in the most efficient manner possible. This idea is informed by Helen Rubenstein’s marketing strategies which involved the use of strategic placement of her beauty products in department stores and training her salespersons to sell her products (Tungate, 2011). Moringa Gold Company could also build well-designed and appropriately decorated spas and salons where products can be strategically placed. Rubenstein also employed this strategy (Tungate, 2011). Net-A-Porter and Sephora websites are also key online sites that can be used to strategically place Moringa Gold products. These sites also allow companies to place tutorial videos instructing customers on how to use their products, which will be instrumental in Moringa Gold Company’s marketing strategy.

Promotion Action Plan

Online video demonstrations will work best when considering options for social media. This is because these video demonstrations will provide step-by-step instructions as to how to use Moringa Gold’s beauty products. These best social media sites to use are YouTube, Vimeo, and Metcafe. Burberry used this approach in promoting its makeup line, as indicated by Yu et al (2014). These videos could include a well-known celebrity endorsing the products and showing consumers how to use them. These videos should be done in both English and Spanish.
Another social media tool that can be used to promote the Moringa Gold beauty product is the use on photos online. This is because photos rank highly on the search engines (just below videos) and people think in pictures rather than words. This means that persons will be more able to mentally connect to these images rather text.

Monitoring Procedures

Performance Standards
The two performance standards that would focus on will be quality and safety. Quality is an important performance standard to test for because it is important that Moringa Gold Company creates products that provide the customer value for money. The other performance standard will be safety. It is important that the products created by Moringa Gold Company use all-natural and organically-certified ingredients.

Financial Controls

The two financial controls that I will choose are bank reconciliations and purchase order authorization. Bank reconciliation is an important financial control because it ensures that physical cash transactions are correctly recorded during a certain time frame. This helps to identify any fraudulent activity. Purchase order authorization ensures that a manager or other authorized person signs all purchase orders so as to prevent over-ordering.

References

Bilotti, Katie (2011). Emotional Brand Attachment: Marketing Strategies for Successful Generation. CMC Senior Theses. Paper 273. <http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/273>.
Britton, Ann Marie (2012). The Beauty Industry’s Influence on Women in Society. Honors Theses. Paper 86.
Froehlich, K. (2009). Dove: Changing the Face of Beauty. Fresh Ink: Essays from Boston College's First Year Writing Seminar, 12(2). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from <http://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/freshink/article/view/1093/1063>
Palade, A. (2011). Analysis of Marketing Mix on Cosmetics Case Study: Avon Company. Annals of the University of Petrosoni, Economics, 11(4), 233-244.
Tungate, M. (2011). Branded beauty how marketing changed the way we look. Philadelphia, PA: Kogan Page.
Yu, C., Wanlin, L., Shuang, J., Ruozhu, W., & Jing, Y. (2014). Marketing Research Report of Burberry Cosmetics. London: Burberry.