NIVEA:The Use of the Marketing Mix in Product Launch
NIVEAÂ® is an established name in high skin and beauty care products. It is part of a range of produced and sold by Beiersdorf. Beiersdorf, founded in 1882, has grown to be a global specialising in skin and beauty care.
In the UK, Beiersdorfâ€™s continuing is to have its products as close as possible to its , regardless of where they live. Its are to understand its consumers in its many different and delight them with innovative products for their skin and beauty care needs. This strengthens the trust and appeal of Beiersdorf brands. The business prides itself on being and this focus has helped it to grow NIVEA into one of the largest skin care brands in the world.
Beiersdorfâ€™s continuing of showed a gap in the market. This led to the launch of NIVEA VISAGEÂ® Young in 2005 as part of the NIVEA VISAGE range offering a comprehensive of products aimed at young women. It carries the strength of the NIVEA to the of girls aged 13-19.
NIVEA VISAGE Young helps girls to develop a proper skin care routine to help keep their skin looking healthy and beautiful.
and product orientation
The market can be developed by creating a good product/range and introducing it to the market ( approach) or by finding a gap in the market and developing a product to fill it ( approach).
Having identified a gap in the market, Beiersdorf launched NIVEA VISAGE Young using an effective balance of the right product, , and . This is known as the or â€˜four Psâ€™. It is vital that a company gets the balance of these four elements correct so that a product will achieve its . Beiersdorf needed to develop a mix that suited the product and the target market as well as meeting its own .
The company re-launched the NIVEA VISAGE Young range in June 2007 further optimising its in the market. Optimised means the product had a new formula, new design, new packaging and a new name.
This case study shows how a carefully balanced marketing mix provides the for launching and re-launching a brand onto the market.
The first stage in building an effective mix is to understand the . NIVEA uses to target key which identifies groups of people with the same characteristics such as age/ /attitude/lifestyle. The knowledge and understanding from the research helps in the of new products.Â NIVEA carries out its market research with consumers in a number of different ways. These include:
- using to listen to consumers directly
- gathering data from consumers through a variety of different research techniques
- product testing with consumers in different .
How research improved the product
Beiersdorfâ€™s market research identified that younger consumers wanted more specialised face care aimed at their own age group that offered a â€˜beautifyingâ€™ , rather than a to skin problems. NIVEA VISAGE Young is a skin care range at girls who do not want medicated products but want a regime for their normal skin.
Competitor products tend to be problem focussed and offer medicated . This gives NIVEA . NIVEA VISAGE Young provides a unique bridge between the teenage market and the adult market.
The company improved the product to make it more effective and more consumer-friendly.
Beiersdorf tested the improved products on a sample group from its before finalising the range for . This testing resulted in a number of changes to existing products. Improvements included:
- changing the formula of some products. For example, it removed alcohol from one product and used natural sea salts and minerals in others
- introducing two completely new products
- a new modern pack design with a flower pattern and softer colours to appeal to younger women
- changing product descriptions and introducing larger pack sizes.
Each of these changes helped to strengthen the , to better meet the needs of the market.
Some of these changes reflect NIVEAâ€™s commitment to the . Its corporate responsibility approach to:
- reduce packaging and waste – by using larger pack sizes
- use more natural products â€“ by including minerals and sea salts in the formula
- increase opportunities for – by using plastic in its containers.
Lots of factors affect the end of a product, for example, the of production or the business need to maximise or .
A productâ€™s price also needs to provide for money in the and attract consumers to buy.
There are several pricing strategies that a business can use:
- cost based pricing â€“ this can either simply cover costs or include an element of profit. It focuses on the product and does not take account of consumers
- penetration price â€“ an initial low price to ensure that there is a high volume of purchases and is quickly won. This encourages consumers to develop a habit of buying
- price skimming â€“ an initial high price for a unique product encouraging those who want to be â€˜first to buyâ€™ to pay a before a competitorâ€™ product reaches the market.price. This strategy helps a business to gain maximum
On the price for NIVEA VISAGE Young was slightly higher than previously. This reflected its new formulations, packaging and extended . However, the company also had to take into account that the was both teenage girls and mums buying the product for their daughters. This meant that the price had to offer value for money or it would be out of reach of its target market.
As NIVEA VISAGE Young is one of the leading skin care ranges meeting the beautifying needs of this market , it is the price leader. This means that it sets the price level that will follow or undercut. NIVEA needs to regularly prices should a competitor enter the market at the â€˜market growthâ€™ point of the to ensure that its pricing remains .
The pricing strategy for NIVEA is not the same as that of the . It sells products to retailers at one price. However, retailers have the freedom to use other strategies for salespromotion. These take account of the competitive nature of the high street. They may use:
- loss leader: the retailer sells for less than it cost to attract large volume of sales, for example by supermarkets
- discounting â€“ alongside other special offers, such as â€˜Buy one, get one freeâ€™ (BOGOF) or â€˜two for oneâ€™.
- how the product arrives at the . This means a business must think about what strategies it will use
- where a product is sold. This includes retail outlets like supermarkets or high street shops. It also includes other ways in which businesses make products directly available to their , for example, through or the Internet.
NIVEA VISAGE Young to use as many relevant distribution channels as possible to ensure the widest reach of its products to its target market.
The main channels for the product are retail outlets where beauty products, such as ASDA, Tesco and Sainsburyâ€™s. expect to find skin care ranges. Around 65% of NIVEA VISAGE Young are through large high street shops such as Boots and Superdrug. Superdrug is particularly important for the â€˜young-endâ€™ market. The other 35% of sales mainly comes from large grocery chains that
shows that around 20% of this younger target market buys products for themselves in the high street stores when shopping with friends.
Research also shows that the majority of purchasers are actually made by mums, buying for teenagers. Mums are more likely to buy the product from supermarkets whilst doing their grocery shopping.
NIVEA distributes through a range of outlets that are effective but that also reach the highest number of consumers. Its also consider the environmental impact of transport.
- It uses a central distribution point in the UK. Products arrive from European production plants using vehicles for for onward delivery to retail stores.
- Beiersdorf does not sell direct to smaller retailers as the volume of products sold would not be cost effective to deliver but it uses wholesalers for these smaller accounts.
- It does not sell directly through its website as the of producing small orders would be too high. However, the retailers, like Tesco, feature and sell the NIVEA products in their online stores
is how the business tells that products are available and persuades them to buy. Promotion is either above-the-line or below-the-line. is directly paid for, for example TV or newspaper advertising. Below-the-line is where the business uses other promotional methods to get the product message across.
Promotional activities include:
- Events or trade fairs help to launch a product to a wide audience. Events may be ( ) whereas trade fairs are ( ).
- can reach a large number of people but is not easy to target specific consumers – .
- (PR) includes the different ways a business can communicate with its , through, for example, newspaper . Other PR activities include of high profile events like Formula 1 or the World Cup, as well as donations to or participation in charity events.
- â€“ a strong and consistent differentiates the product and helps consumers to understand and trust the product. This to keep consumers buying the product long- .
- , for example competitions or sampling, encourage consumers to buy products in the short-term.
NIVEA chooses promotional strategies that reflect the lifestyle of its audience and the range of media available.
NIVEA realises that a â€˜one wayâ€™ message, using TV or the press, is not as effective as talking directly to its target group of consumers. Therefore NIVEA does not plan to use any above-the-line promotion for NIVEA VISAGE Young.
The promotion of NIVEA VISAGE Young is consumer-led. Using various below-the-line routes, NIVEA identifies ways of talking to teenagers (and their mums) directly.
- A key part of the is the use of product . These allow customers to touch, feel, smell and try the products. Over a million samples of NIVEA VISAGE Young products will be given away during 2008. These samples will be available through the website, samples in stores or in â€˜goody bagsâ€™ given out at VISAGE roadshows up and down the country.
- NIVEA VISAGE Young launched an interactive online magazine called FYI (Fun, Young & ) to raise awareness of the brand. The behind the magazine is to give teenage girls the confidence to become young women and to enjoy their new-found independence. Communication channels are original and engaging to enable teenagers to identify with NIVEA VISAGE Young. The magazine focuses on â€˜first timeâ€™ experiences relating to NIVEA VISAGE Young being their first skincare routine. It is promoted using the Hit40UK chart show and the TMF digital TV channel.
- In connection with FYI, NIVEA VISAGE Young has recognised the power of social network sites for this young audience and also has pages on MySpace, Facebook and Bebo. The company is using the power of as part of the mix to grow awareness amongst the .
NIVEA VISAGE Young is a skincare range in the UK designed to enhance the skin and beauty of the teenage consumer rather than being medicated to treat skin problems. As such, it has created a clear in the market. This shows that NIVEA understands its consumers and has produced this differentiated in order to meet their needs.
To bring the range to market, the business has put together a mix. This mix balances the four elements of product, , place and .
The mix uses traditional methods of place, such as through the high street, alongside more modern methods of promotion, such as through social sites. It makes sure that the message of NIVEA VISAGE Young reaches the right people in the right way.
Tags: Beautycare, Business, Consumer-Led Promotion, Corporate Responsibility, Management, Market, Market Orientation, Market Research, Marketing, Marketing mix, Nivea, Place, Price, Price Leader, Pricing Strategies, Product Orientation, Promotion, Promotional Activities, Re-Launched, Research, Young