Market Definition
The Ocean Beauty Center targets to serve female clients who are in need of beauty services within the region of Al-Ain. The market segment for the beauty center is further divided into high-end and low-end customers. The high-end customers consist of those in the high income bracket who are in a position to spend at least AED500 per month in beauty service centers. The high-end customers consist of business women, celebrities and clients from rich families. On the other hand, the low-end customers consist of women who spend less than AED 500 per month for beauty services. This segment forms the minority of target market, since the beauty center will be located in an up-market region.
Market Size
The beauty center has unrestricted expansion potential since the market size is unlimited. The market consists of young and old women within the Al-Ain region.
Specific Customer Needs and Wants
The previous market research shows that most of the customers prefer to pay a price between AED 200 to 500 for any services they get in a beauty center. Besides, the customers prefer customized services that match the value they get for money spent in such centers. The customers also want a convenient center where all the beauty services are offered. In addition, the customers prefer beauty services that are offered by the professionals. These needs are addressed in the marketing strategy below.
Marketing Strategy (4ps)
Marketing strategy for the Ocean Beauty Center will comprise of such marketing mix elements as product, price, place and promotion. In relation to the beauty center, the marketing mix will be organized to capture benefits, quality and features. Within the market segment, the objectives of the marketing mix strategies for the Ocean Beauty Center are to ensure that sales increase by 20% in the first year of operation.
Product Strategy
Features: The concept of the Ocean Beauty Center is an innovative idea to deliver an unparalleled experience of beauty services to the customers in an ideal location. This customization in the field of beauty services leads to providing a solution for customers who are interested in a well-organized beauty center. This objective will be achieved by offering auxiliary services as well as beauty products to suit the customers’ needs, as a part of the quality assurance strategy. The Ocean Beauty Center will allow the targeted customers to feel maximum satisfaction in terms of temperature controlled ambience, relaxed seats with sufficient leg room, availability of the refreshments, and several free services within the saloon (Bowden 68).
Benefits
The benefits of the Ocean Beauty Center include accessibility, complete relaxation and affordability of the beauty services. These benefits are discussed below.
- A fusion of varying beauty services by mobilizing and making them readily available for the customers from a single location.
- Complete entertainment package which includes movie telecast experience accompanied by refreshments during the beauty therapy sessions in the Ocean Beauty Center.
- Cost-effectiveness and easy scalability, depending upon the demand of the service, will make the Ocean Beauty Center a stand-alone service for customers around Al-Ain region.
Product design and quality
The Ocean Beauty Center will have customized beauty services that are offered in the most serene environment. The beauty services will have different packages according to the demand of each customer. The strategy for achieving product positioning will be based on increasing the visibility of the center via the social media, traditional media, and series of television advertisements (Blythe 28).
Price strategy
Although price is a key element in determining the revenue generated by a company, reasonable and effective prices are sustainable means of increasing the customer base. The pricing strategy is highly dependent on the variable of the customer’s value perception for that service. Thus, a cost-effective pricing strategy would be the best strategy to promote the Ocean Beauty Center. In the presence of increased competition, Ocean Beauty Center will ensure that its beauty products are affordable to the target market (Stokes 34). Intense competition in the industry requires that Ocean Beauty Center enhances its product differentiation through appropriate pricing. The center will adopt penetration and ‘good, better, best’ pricing strategies (Bowden 69). These are discussed below.
Good, better, best pricing strategy is a strategy in which the price of the same item increases with slight changes that are made to the product. The price can be offered in a three series with the price of each series rising above the price of the previous series. Basically, the beauty services that are priced as ‘better” and those that are priced as “best” will require more attention from the beauty attendees than those services with the “good” price tag. However, the higher prices charged for these services will be worth the extra effort. In relation to the Ocean Beauty Center, this strategy will assist the business is customizing services while remaining competitive (Stokes 31).
Penetration pricing is a strategy that is employed by business enterprises that want to break into a new market or segment of the market that was not previously served by the business. The main objective of the penetration pricing strategy is to attract and increase the market share of the beauty services (Stokes 18). Therefore, applying the penetration pricing strategy at the Ocean Beauty Center will require that the business reduces the prices to a certain minimum in order to attract customers. However, this price must be increased once the management is satisfied that the objective has been met, as this strategy reduces profit margins significantly.
For instance, the center may adopt penetration pricing for the spar service in order to win customers. The price for the spar service will be increased slightly later when perfect substitute services are established in the center. This pricing strategy achieves the objective of the quantity maximization by increasing number of items sold at low prices. At the same time, the strategy can help in revenue maximization, which results from the large numbers of purchases made.
The above pricing strategies will ensure that the Ocean Beauty Center maximizes sales. As a result, the center will be in a position to survive competition from businesses offering similar services. These pricing strategies are meant to attract and retain customers (Rhim and Lee 160).
Place strategy
Since this business operates in the sensitive beauty industry, it must be located in the ideal place to ensure convenience and privacy of the potential clients. Besides, the location of the business should be accessible to customers. Since the Ocean Beauty Center will be located in the Al-Ain region, the business will be sited in one of the up-market buildings within the main street. The business will be located in the first or second floor building that has a private lift and staircase. Location within the main street will ensure that customers can easily access the center. Besides, having a private lift and staircase will guarantee the privacy of the potential customers. In future expansion strategies, the Ocean Beauty Center will maintain the privacy and centrality in location to attract and retain customers (Rhim and Lee 160).
Since the company sells beauty products such as gels, soaps, shampoos, and hair conditioners, it is necessary to properly outline the place element in the marketing mix. To achieve this, the Ocean Beauty Center will use the local media channels to keep in touch with the target segment and inform about the location of the center.
Promotion strategy
An effective promotional strategy binds the customers with services that a business offers at the first instance. It helps in informing the customers about the effective use of services and benefits availed by the business. In relation to the Ocean Beauty Center, the beauty services will be promoted via a well-designed promotional strategy to attract customers who are looking for a beauty center where they can relax and enjoy quality services.
In order to promote the Ocean Beauty Center, the business will deploy many advertisement mechanisms such as word of mouth, visual and audio advertisements, online promotion through the social media, and local beauty magazines. Reflectively, the successes of the Ocean Beauty Center’s promotion messages will be deeply entrenched in the principle of keeping reliable and professional reputation in exchanging ideas and convincing customers. Besides, the business will offer discounts, beauty service coupons, and redeemable loyalty points to frequent customers. The use of the above media channels to promote the center was determined by the fact that most of the potential customers have an access to at least two of the channels (Cheverton 22).
Works Cited
Blythe, Jean. Essentials of marketing communications. New York, NY: FT/Prentice Hall, 2006. Print.
Bowden, John. “The Process of Customer Engagement: A Conceptual Framework.” Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice, 17.1(2009): 63-74. Print.
Cheverton, Philip. Key marketing skills: strategies, tools, and techniques for marketing success, London, UK: Kogan Page, 2004. Print.
Rhim, Hosus, and C. Lee. “Assessing potential threats to incumbent brands: new product positioning under price competition in a multi segmented markets.” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 22.1 (2005): 159-182. Print.
Stokes, Raymond. eMarketing: The essential guide to digital marketing, London, UK: Quirk eMarketing (Pty) Ltd, 2011. Print.