Marketing assignment on: Consumer Behavior

 Marketing assignment on: Consumer Behavior

Content:

1. Introduction of LUSH Cosmetic Brand………………………3
2. Discussion about new product introduced…………………….3
3. Consumer target market……………………………………….4
4. Consumer issues………………………………………………6
5. Consumer responses’ analysis…………………………………9

Interviews……………………………………………………10

Implications for LUSH cosmetics……………………………12

1. Conclusion……………………………………………………14
2. Recommendations……………………………………………15
3. Reference…………………………………………………….16
4. Appendix……………………………………………………..19

                       Introduction of LUSH cosmetic Brand:

Globally, People seek out lotions, creams and powders to put their best and always glowing face forward. Therefore, throughout the centuries, the yearning for cosmetic and beauty products has grown and developed. Here, Talking about LUSH cosmetic brand of Australia, the parent company incorporated in May 1995 with its fresh launched product (Lush Australia, 2012). It sells only hand-made products by using fresh, organic, fruits & vegetables, finest essential oils and safe synthetics. Moreover, it doesn’t use any sort of chemicals in making products and doesn’t even tests them on animals. According to LUSH, testing on animals to produce cosmetic products is unethical and unjustified. Besides, LUSH cosmetics brand originates its own products and fragrances (Lush Australia, 2012).

Discussion about new product introduced:

Here in this report, a product has been introduced which LUSH can take into consideration to bring it in market. The product being chosen to recommend them is eco friendly handmade ‘natural sun protection lotion’ 45.0 g and worth $22.85. It would be consisting natural ingredients like beeswax which proposes some water resistance and on the other hand contains no chemicals. The price and quantity has been set on the basis of the existing product offered by it. Lush offers 45.0 g moisturizers (Celestial) of $26.95 and other products in same range and quantity (Lush Australia, 2012).

It has been advised to LUSH cosmetics because Australians usually have sun tanning due to its sunny environment and for this reason, most of the market can be captured by offering sun protection lotion to the people facing this problem. It can also be noticed out that Australia is known for its sunshine environment but they are facing severe problem with the over exposure to the sun. Thus, they would like to find the product that can help their skin from tanning.

In that case, it is better for LUSH to foster a sun care product in Australian market. It can be justified on the basis of Health promotion journal of Australia (2009) which states that “Australia has the highest number of skin cancer cases throughout the world. Annual health system a cost attributable to skin cancer in Australia has been estimated it around $300 million, the highest amount of expenditure for cancer (Cancer Council Australia, 2012).

The high incidence of skin care here is the reason to recommend this product.

Consumer target market:

Once, the sun care product has been advised to LUSH brand to offer in the market, the first and foremost thing is to identify the target market for a specific product. While focusing on consumer target market, consumer rooted and consumption-specific segmentation criteria should be taken into account. A following list can be outlined identifying consumer target market:

• Young adult women, age group of 12-30
• People who live close to LUSH stores
• People adhere to hand-made and natural products
• Acquaintances of LUSH’s primary target market
• Urban women in highly inhabited cities
• People who have brand loyalty to Lush

Specifically and demographically, young adult women with age group of 12-30 can be targeted as they are very much conscious

Consumer Behavior

(Source: John Wiley & Sons, 2012)

about their skin problems and don’t want to have skin tan problem. By introducing this product, women can be made aware that how hand-made sun protection lotion can replenish their skin and face.

Consumer Issues:

After identifying target market for sun care product, it is required to understand consumer perceptions, motivations and their behaviors to pick a particular product for use. In this report, two positive and two negative issues have been described that may be taken into consideration before marketing a new product.

Positive: One of the major consumer issues is their route of buying a product. They generally purchase a product online or from stores by going personally. In case of buying any skin care product, people do not trust ordering it online as they don’t get full information about the product there on site. In this case, it becomes a positive aspect for LUSH to offer sun care lotion in their located stores because by telling consumer about product’ natural ingredients and effects, acquaintances of those customers can also be targeted (Blijlevens, Creusen, and Schoormans, 2009).

Second positive issue can be psychological factor of the consumers. It can be in terms of their choice of selecting a product and their buying behavior. However, it can also be a point that consumers seek the exposure of information and it also matters that how they perceive that information. If consumer’s buying behavior and choice basically depends upon the comprehension of perceived information, it can be a positive point for the brand to expose the complete information about the product and to make a grip in the market (Maheshwaran & Shavitt, 2000).

Negative:

As consumer issues related to the facilitating that product or its barrier in promoting, more aspects can be sought. One of the issues is their perception of quality, price and product’s value in terms of its intrinsic and extrinsic attributes which are the pivotal determinant of consumers’ shopping or purchasing behavior. However, companies try to design their product in such a way that it could be understood and accepted by the consumers easily (Blijlevens, Creusen, and Schoormans, 2009).

But here in this case of natural and hand-made sun care lotion, its price, quality and attributes can differ and become a barrier to foster the product in market. Product appearance can be summarized in following two parts;

irst, when consume looks a product’s appearance, consumer perceive some physical assets that together make up a product i.e., its color, shape and texture (Orth & Malkewitz, 2008).

• Second, the overall attributes of the product provide a consumer with impression of the product and a sense of price and its quality (Barone & Jewells, 2012).

 Product attributes cognition & emotions

(Source: Lee, Ha & Widdows, 2011)

Taking sun care lotion a product of their brand, product’s attributes issues is told to take into care because while thinking of any sunscreen, consumer usually think of SPF. Though, LUSH doesn’t use any chemical range in their product, this thing can create an issue for the marketers to bring it in market forward without SPF.

Second, the environment of store where that product is available can also be counted as a negative issue for marketers. Many consumers acknowledge the importance of store environment in terms of layout, directional signage and interior & exterior of the store. While buying anything related to skin care, people look for such things which may affect their purchasing behavior. In justification, a review also has been presented on the basis of research on effects of store environment on shopping behaviors of consumers (Lam, 2001). Study of this research reveals the consumer’s perspective on store environment based on their previous experiences. This issue leads to the consumer perspective on the service provided in stores. Besides, it was pointed out that as compared to the regular consumers, new customers can rely more on the tangible indications provided by the store environment in assessing the service provided and merchandise of the store. Reason being, new consumers may have little information or experience about the other attributes of the store (Hu & Jasper, 2006).

According to consumer’s perception they like to shop more from the store where they get good service and the stores having numerous displays of graphics in order to influence with full information. In this context, it can be a barrier for LUSH to promote its new product if consumers don’t get high-personalized service from the store.

 Consumer response’s analysis:

On the basis of identifying targeted market of female age group of 12-30 in Australia and the consumer issues discussed above from both positive and negative perspectives, interviews can be conducted to assess their responses. For this, first there is a need to know what market analysis is and how it can be carried out. Market analysis is a process whereby information about a specific targeted market can be gathered, recorded and evaluated. Here in this report, analysis has been made on the basis of 4 interviews with target market consumers.

Interviews:

Four interviews held with 12-30 age groups of female consumers to get the qualitative and quantitative data concerning product’s attribute, psychological factors, route of purchasing and store environment.

On the basis of this interview, it was noticed that females were mostly satisfied with the skin care products they buy from stores. Four respondents of different age-group were interviewed to know their responses on the consumer issue.  Respondent were of 16, 19, 25 and 30 age groups. Two of the respondents selected were having skin problems.

Further, it was made a point to be noted that female consumers mostly look for branded and quality certified products. It was also viewed on the basis of questions asked that they considers the stores most efficient to buy a product from where they have numerous displays in their stores. Rather purchasing skin-care products by viewing its design, color & appearance they buy it on the basis of its quality, natural ingredients and reviews. However, product is available throughout the stores in supermarket. Consumer tends to buy it from only branded stores.

Nevertheless, on an average 86% female consumers are satisfied with the hand-made product purchased. In case of buying sunscreen they usually look for SPF level, so in that case promoting a sun-care lotion without including SPF can be a big loss for LUSH.  For this reason, more displays with full information of ingredients used in the product can be taken for help.

From the special point of view, the influence of store environment and high-level service provided by branded stores on consumers were observed on the basis of data obtained. It can be analyzed that females are used to go to those stores where they get excellent service and full information about product. So by providing high level of service to the consumer, LUSH cosmetics can retain their existing customers and can target more (Richard, 1985).

Implications for LUSH cosmetics:

Taking this market survey, implications can be suggested for LUSH to make a strategy before entering with new product. Firstly, it should take SPF aspect into consideration; for that it can dictate the benefits of fresh and natural ingredient beeswax’s used in place of SPF.

As it is already a branded store, it can work on its store’s physical environment and services it offers. Further, it can bring a concept of suggestion department in stores so that skin problem facing females can be targeted in huge numbers (Hu 7 Jasper, 2006).

More focus can be made on the comfort and well-being of consumers in their surroundings. Besides, they can impress female consumers by offering them product based on their attitudes and purchasing behavior. When consumers plan to buy a skin-care product they search relevant information on brand’s websites (Azar, 2011).

Therefore, LUSH can provide almost more than half of the information of the products on their websites so that consumers could be able to get a general about the product. It is fruitful in case of drawing attention of consumers those look for design & appearance before purchasing (Jensen, 2001).

Furthermore, LUSH can open its convenience stores that constitute an effective and successful format in developed markets. As per one of the researches, demand for convenience shopping replicates various social trends, such as high level of incomes, technological advancement, increasing number of women workforce and competition (Constanza, 2009). Thus, LUSH brand is suggested to enter with convenience stores as their main target market is Women age group of 12-30.

 Conclusion:

The entire report talks about introduction of a new product, its target market, segmentation and consumer behavior analysis. On the basis of the report a new product has been introduced by LUSH cosmetics which deal into natural product only and don’t use any chemical or non-organic ingredient. It has planned to offer a natural sunscreen lotion consisting beeswax and doesn’t have any SPF or chemical. This product should be offered in Australia by LUSH because mostly Australians have skin cancer face tanning problems. For that they want to apply a trustworthy brand’s sunscreen in order to be safe from these diseases.

Further, the target market it has identified for this particular product on the basis of consumer-rooted and consumption-specific criteria is women of age group of 12-30. Further part of report discuss about consumer issues from both positive and negative perspective. Four major issues, route of purchasing, psychological factor, their perception of quality, price & attributes and last store environment & service provided. Afterwards, to know consumer behavior and to evaluate the responses of consumer on these issues, interviews were held with four people from target market group. The respondent interviewed were different age group of females and two of them having skin problem.

 To start this process a questionnaire has been outlined including 16 questions for the evaluation. Analysis depicted that only 86% of the consumers rely on hand-made natural products and their quality. It also presented the data on their level of satisfaction with the products they buy and attributes like brand and ingredients they look for most. On the basis of the analysis, implications have been made for LUSH to facilitate its new sun care lotion in the market and to serve it effectively. Besides, report represented the need to open convenience stores as it is demanded in current context. As per the target market selected by LUSH, a strategic plan can be implemented to open those convenient stores mainly focusing the working women.

Recommendations:

If an already existing brand plan to launch a new product in the market, it surveys the market, issues, consumer behavior. On the basis of result of primary data collection obtained by interviews, following recommendations can be made for LUSH.

• People of several backgrounds purchase skin care lines and it is seen that different customer has different needs. So it is first and foremost for LUSH to understand the needs of its target customers in order to know what exactly they want. It can vary person to person according to their skin problems and need.
• It was observed in interviews that most of the females are adhering to ingredients a product consists. Therefore, it can highlight active ingredients because beauty and skin care product consumers want to know how a particular product can help them improve their skin. For this, ingredients that help smooth fine lines, reduces tan, cleanses the skin, protects skin from sun and reduces uneven skin tones can be pointed out. Additionally, brand can provide concrete facts and can show the certified quality about the ingredients and their effect (Azar, 2011).
• In addition, Lush can implement marketing campaign through which consumers can be provided product’s full information and method to apply.
• It can make its product more effective by working on its designing, packaging and appearance and letting the consumers test it. Finally, it can set many displays showing each graphics of the product launched and can provide high-personalized service to them (Orth & Malkewitz, 2008).

The strategy of LUSH is quite in line with 7Ps of the marketing mix because it has targeted its market on the basis of place, price, product, promotion, people, process and physical environmental as well.

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