For this marketing plan, consider a company whose operations is primarily hair and nail services, and is the subsidiary of a parent e-commerce company providing assortments of products within the beauty industry. Founded by two technical individuals, the parent company is a leading provider of cheap quality razors to a membership pool that agrees and commits to a subscription package. Having a virtual platform, the company boasts of having tapped into 7.5 percent of the shaving industry’s market share and is confident of much growth room. Data indicates that in its four years of existence, the company has accumulated profits worth close to $150 million, a far-reaching milestone within an industry worth$3 billion in estimation (Botero, 1). As an enterprise, the parent company focuses on monthly membership services that deliver new stainless-steel blades and other personal products used for grooming, according to the client’s specification.
The vision for the subsidiary company, which is the focus of this paper, is to foster a productive, harmonious, and eventually profitable grooming environment. Moreover, this vision extends to the merging of the business as a retail center for specialized products. Consequently, the approach of the mission statement for the company is direct and conspicuous: the combination of passion, art, science, and technology to provide quality grooming standards and contemporary bathroom settings. The company offers products and services that focus on the improvement of grooming standards among its clientele. These services include women and men haircut, hair coloring and relaxing, basic manicure and pedicure with quality polishes, and essential oils manicure and pedicure among others. Moreover, they have exceptional rates and professional tips on maintaining the perfect grooming values. The company is the epitome of a favorable and professional environment, thereby, providing an adequate value/price relationship
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Introduction to the Market Opportunity
The company plans to exploit untapped markets using a strategy that hinges on quality and efficiency. In the course of business history, the majority of business entities typically relied on competition as the most dominant force pushing marketing activities to the point of needinggreater market shares within an industry. While competition may have worked in the past, present times require more disruptive thinking in terms of business setup and market analysis and entrants. Eskandri, Miri, & Allahyary indicate that a blue ocean strategy does not focus on competition; rather, the strategy focuses on innovation, growth, and opportunities to realize profitability for a company (2).
Further, they analogize the strategy to a cake, in that, a red ocean strategy – essentially the opposite of a blue ocean one – focuses on getting a slice of the cake, while a blue ocean one focuses on enlarging the cake, thereby, creating more opportunities for business expansion. As such, this company’s market entrant strategy focuses on quality over quantity, efficiency, and professionalism in the dispensation of services and the sale of pertinent products. Malhotra and Seth reaffirm this strategy’s way of making the competition irrelevant through the introduction of untapped market spaces, thereby, creating a demand for the product or service (3). The Dollar Shave Parlor uses its unique supply chain coupled with its values to achieve this.
The marketing goals of the company are to capture a significant market share and change market strategy to incorporate more women by the end of 2018. The marketing strategy for the company is simple: client satisfaction. Research indicates that word of mouth references are usually the best for advertising in the hair and nail salon industry. Therefore, the primary strategy of integrating quality into the products and services of the company is through incorporating a n unforgettable service, which leaves a mark of customer satisfaction that spearheads marketing efforts.
Ways to Measure Short-Term and Long-Term Goals
The company’s goals can be measured through the characteristics of the target market, which primarily include middle-income residents with higher purchasing power parity. This purchasing power is evident through a decent median household income. Present population statistics further indicate the growing rate of adults compared to children. Such statistical information concerning the market is indispensable during the making of decisions. Competitive advantage is also another factor. Since the company is a joint venture, it has an established supply line that ensures proper consistency.
Instead of relying on an analogous discrete system composed of independent procedures such as marketing, product development, manufacturing and eventual distribution, the company integrates these systems and introduces partial transparency, thereby, creating a completely new supply chain ecosystem, which fosters marketing in all business operation stages. To measure these goals also, since the company’s fundamental operational structure is digitized, metrics such as the tracking of website content downloads and website visitors, increases in market share, customer value, new product/service adoption rates, retention, rate of growth compared to competition and the market, margin, and customer engagement are viable.
Environmental Analysis
Within the industry, current trends are seeing an evolution, primarily, an expanded products and services array (Panteva, 4). Such diversification within the industry has boosted total revenues bringing about the capitalization of an augmented customer discretionary income level. Overall, industry performance has brought about increasing profits that have remained strong over the last five years (Oliver, 5). Attributable to resilient companies within this industry, revenue growth has stimulated an increase in the number of establishments to 1.3 million as of 2017 (Oliver, 5).
Within this industry, present regulations have a focus on the safety of customers. Chiefly, industry regulations are a pressing and core factor that have carried on the banner of non-toxic and eco-friendly products. As such, these regulations are intent on the removal of harmful chemicals from products that reach nail salon shelves. A good example here is OPI, one of the largest and most notable nail-product providers, which removed certain chemicals from their products. Such controversial chemicals include dibutyl phthalate, noted by researchers to be a prime causative agent of birth anomalies; toluene, observed to cause dizziness, headaches, and nausea; and formaldehyde, a known carcinogenic within the scientific world (Goldman, 6) .
Moreover, within the industry, patents and copyrights are a pressing issue often overlooked. While this is the case, various patents and copyrights remain essential just like the engineer of the Barber Pencil, a clipper using electric sources, capable of designing art conveniently. As such, the industry’s environment has the potential of accruing favorable business implementation conditions capable of sustaining long-term business perspectives. The technological environment is robust and resilient. On a daily basis, innovations are the drivers of enterprise footprints in terms of design, reliability, and durability among others. Such attributes are increasingly being optimized using technology, which resultantly has huge impacts on other operational aspects of the company.
SWOT Analysis
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Pricing is integral in determining the reception of a business idea. This business venture will thrive on the strength of price affordability. This is because the services offered are part of everyday human activities. Hence, they need not be expensive for the customers to afford. The business structure is established on professionalism from the parent company, which is an aspect of attracting a bigger market niche. The costs associated with the operational and advertising activities of the business are relatively low. The grooming services offered are diversified for different persons in the market so that they can choose or prefer any service among many. The quality of the products and services is phenomenal for counteracting competitor markets, which implies convenience to the customers. |
The weaknesses anticipated with the business project indicate that funding will be insufficient especially for the advertising docket. In this respect, advertisements made through the social media will negate a portion of customers and clients who lack access to the media platforms, and those who miss the advertisements’ prime time. Another weakness of the venture is the reliance on national trade agreements to formalize the distribution strategy. These provisions may delay the distribution process or even hinder it entirely, which is significantly detrimental to the product delivery process. |
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The beauty industry is robust due to the diversity entailed in the operational procedures. The market for products and services is vast enabling business to thrive at the point of entry, which is also to mean that the virtual platform is a great blend of the business strategy to counteract the obviousness of the beauty industry. The beauty industry is fragmented which insinuates low influence on the price levels. Consequentially, this enables DSC to work on a disruptive business model to optimize the markets. More opportunities are projected in the beauty markets owing to the rise of the grooming culture and middle-class composition. Therefore, there is the anticipation of product expansion as the venture grows, which indicates a wider scope of investments. Finally, there is substantial parity on the purchasing power among customers of different dynamics by virtue of the affordability and variety of the products and services. |
Notable threats of the business venture base on the social trends that attribute negativity on cosmetic beauty and the therapies involved in the industry. In such cases, the aggregate impact on the business productivity could be insurmountable. Being a lucrative and productive industry, more organizations may replicate the business model hence fostering market competition. Furthermore, free-market structures let investors in and out of the market at free will. Finally, the venture is prone to jurisdictional provisions whereby national trade agreements hinder the effectiveness of the product delivery. |
Sources
Botero, P. (2016). Online retailing and the Dollar Shave Club – Technology and Operations Management. Retrieved from https://rctom.hbs.org/submission/online-retailing-and-the-dollar-shave-club/
Eskandari, M., Miri, M., & Allahyary, A. (2015). Thinking of the blue ocean - strategy beyond the competition. Asian Journal of Research In Business Economics And Management, 5(8), 134. http://dx.doi.org/10.5958/2249-7307.2015.00166.8
Malhotra, D., & Seth, S. (2014). The Rise of Blue Ocean Strategy and Leadership. International Journal of Business & Management, 2(9), 248-253. Retrieved from http://www.theijbm.com/force_download.php?file_path=wp-content/uploads/2014/10/36.BM1409-068.pdf&id=667
Panteva, N. (2011). Cosmetic & Beauty Products Manufacturing in the US. Los Angeles, CA: IBIS World. Retrieved from https://colgate-palmolive.wikispaces.com/file/view/32562_Cosmetic_%26_Beauty_Products_Manufacturing_in_the_US_Industry_Report%5B1%5D+(1).pdf
Oliver, K. (2017). IBIS World Industry Report 81211 Hair & Nail Salons in the US. Los Angeles, CA: IBIS World. Retrieved from https://www.codlrc.org/sites/default/files/IBIS_HairNailSalonsUS_IndustryReport.pdf
Goldman, A. (2007). OPI removes carcinogen from nail care products. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2007/mar/30/business/fi-nails30
