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For the growth of any business, it is important to spread the word about products or services to the customers. Marketing is an important and impactful strategy that will help the organisation to spread word about the ventures. Marketing is also associated with various strategies to enhance the function of marketing. In this report, marketing segments of a market will be identified. At the same time, the positioning strategy of a product will be addressed. Here, the Laneige sleeping mask is taken as the reference product. In the meantime, four elements of product anatomy will be discussed. Limitations of the product life cycle will be mentioned as well. Consumer perception of the product will be made clear here.
Question 1
Characteristics of the market segment of Laneige sleeping mask
Laneige is a South-Korea based cosmetic brand that is willing to market its sleeping mask. Generally, skincare products target women mainly. In this case, Laneige has the vision to enhance beauty through its products and boost confidence among the young generation. Multiple segmentation of the consumer market is given importance as demographic, lifestyle, and behavioural data are required. Laneige also targets women while marketing its products. Mainly the women who are in their late twenties and early thirties are the potential customers of the brand. In 2019, the Korean skincare market generated 10.2 billion USD and in 2027, it will generate 13.9 billion USD. Being a part of this industry, the company’s revenue also grew by 9.7 percent. To increase sales, the company is now looking forward to this segment of the market. Women in their late twenties and early thirties are socially active. They are on various social media like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. This segment of the market is well aware of the competitors of Laneige. They also buy products that have essential ingredients like water, minerals, seed extract, antioxidants, skin brightening agents, etc. Women in their late twenties and early thirties are in need of moisturisation after a hectic day of work. They need antioxidants and skin brightening agents more. So by this product, mainly, the women in this particular age group are targeted using proper marketing strategies. The market segment is quite substantial (Dolnicar et al., 2018).
Targeting strategy of Laneige
The targeting strategy of Laneige is undifferentiated, targeting the entire market with one product. The company formulated the sleeping mask in a way that women can not resist. The product is a sleeping mask, which is supposed to apply at night. It will provide a cooling effect while moisturising the skin. Here comes the targeting strategy of Laneige. Women in their late twenties and early thirties are generally working women. They work the entire day and at the end of the day, this soothing sleeping mask will help them to relax. At the same time, moisturisation will be provided. To enhance the quality of the mask, the company added antioxidants like Ascorbyl Glucoside, humectants like glycerol, skin-soothing agents like Beta Glucan, etc. Antioxidants are very good for the skin. Humectants will provide enough moisturisation for the skin. Soothing agents will soothe the skin after a long. Ascorbyl Glucoside also works as a skin brightening agent. Manufacturing of the product with the right ingredients also falls in the targeting strategy of the product. At the same time, the sleeping mask is promoted by various celebrities like Kendall Jenner, Nina Dobrev, etc. These reviews by celebrities are also a targeting strategy of the company. On Sephora, there are 14,500 reviews about the sleeping mask of Laneige which is also endorsing the product to women (Dolnicar, 2020).
Effectiveness of positioning strategy for a sleeping mask
A positioning strategy is basically a strategy that will make the owners understand the position of the business in a relevant market. While applying the positioning strategy for Laneige, it is seen that the product is a differentiator. The company is the first one to bring the concept of a sleeping mask. At the same time, a hydrating sleeping mask is quite a new concept on the market. There are some other small level competitors but the company now serves the best sleeping mask. The product is an edgy modern product on the higher side of the price. The users are very much satisfied with the product and the product is used in various countries. Even celebrities, supermodels, and social influencers are huge fans of this product. The packaging, promotion, product, and price everything screams about the excellence of the company. The positioning strategy has put the product in such a position that the users automatically think of the product whenever they want to buy any sleeping mask. At the same time, the positioning strategy has given the company a huge range of customers (Dolnicar, 2019). The positioning strategy will put the product and company in such a place that automatically people will not go anywhere else. The product will be chosen without worrying about the price at all.
Question 2
Four elements of product anatomy and its application
Fig 1: Product anatomy
(Source: Goryushkina et al.,2019)
Product anatomy is basically an analysis of the product according to various benefits offered by the product. Core, tangible, augmented, and promised are the four elements of product anatomy. Product anatomy is important to check the tangible and intangible qualities of a product before investing money in it. At the same time, production, marketing, and distribution of a product require product anatomy to understand the chances of the product in a market. To understand, the tangible and intangible qualities of a product, Brassington and Pettitt’s 4-level model is applied (Goryushkina et al.,2019).
Core product
The core product has the basic reason behind the existence and purchase of the product. This product may have functional or psychological benefits for purchase. It will influence a market segment to arise because of the product.
Tangible product
Definition of the core product also influences tangible products. These products are made in a way that marketers can emphasize core products by adding more features. It will communicate the basic offer of the core products to the customers. At the same time, product features, branding level, packaging, etc can be useful tools to make a product tangible for the market (Wilson, 2021).
Augmented product
Augmented products are those products that are used to provide attractiveness and benefits of the products. The qualities do not make any intrinsic product themselves. By attaching with a good product these make a product more desirable. Cheap financing, extra guarantee, insurance, etc can make a product augmented for the market.
Promised product
Promised products are those products that have some strategic nature while entering the market. The previous layers evolve and make a product promised to the market. These products generally use all the characteristics and experiences of the previously mentioned elements before entering a market (Bian et al., 2019).
Brassington/Pettitt 4 levels
Brassington and Pettitt's 4 levels is a model to define tangible and intangible attributes of a product while doing product anatomy. Each product has a different purpose for different buyers. The basic objective of the Brassington and Pettitt 4-level model is to find these purposes to enhance the quality of the product and to capture a proper market for the product (Wilson, 2021).
Importance of tangible products to marketers
As per the Brassington and Pettitt 4 levels model, tangible products are made while updating the features of the core products. Marketers generally put more emphasis on various other features of the products which make them desirable to the customers. At the same time, the designs of the products, features, quality of the product, branding, and packaging play a key role in the marketing of these products. For example, while a car is sold, not only the car but the key features are given similar importance by the marketers. This enhances the attractiveness of the product. Design, engine, leather interior, in-built USB, etc are the added features that make the car more desirable (Srinivas et al., 2021).
Importance of augmented products to marketers
As per the Brassington and Pettitt 4 levels model, augmented products not only focuses on the intrinsic models of the products. At the same time, other add-on extras like insurance, installation, after-sale services etc are given equal importance. The augmented products have these attributes which marketers also use to make the product more desirable in the market. For example, with the car and its feature, marketers provide a warranty, insurance, installation benefits etc. These eventually help the model to become more attractive and customers tend to invest in such products as well. Augmented products generally provide some benefits to the customers and they do not have to think about the product anymore. These add-ons often decrease the burden on the shoulders of the customers and this is why marketers give this element so much importance (Granato et al., 2020).
Question 3
Benefits of product life cycle
Fig 2: Product Life cycle
(Source: Zhao and Sriramesh, 2019)
Product life cycle or PLC is basically a graph that represents the identifiable stages of a product throughout its existence. Each product has a limited lifetime. Product life cycle or PLC can be divided into four stages an introductory stage, growth stage, maturity stage, and decline stage.
Introductory stage
During the introductory stage, the price per customer can be kept a bit high. Awareness can be spread about the product. At the same time, this stage will provide a basic product. The main benefit is that the customers will get to know more about the actual product. Whoever is buying the product will become a loyal customer. This stage is basically for the trials and errors. Another advantage is that the company will get enough opportunities to do market research. At the same time, they can make changes to the product as per the requirements of the customers (Zhao and Sriramesh, 2019).
Growth stage
This stage is for the growth of the product. Sales will be rising rapidly during this stage. The marketing and distribution process will be successful enough as the sales will be rising enough. The cost per customer will be average. Profits will be rising for this reason. At the same time, market share will be maximum because of increased sales of the product. The price will be good enough to penetrate a potential market. A potential customer base will be targeted by the company for the betterment of sales. Due to proper awareness, more customers will show interest in the product during the growth stage of the product (Hoe and Mansori, 2018).
Maturity stage
The maturity stage is the witness the peak of the sales. At the same time, the products will achieve a maximum number of customers and more modifications will be on the market. Cost per customer will be decreasing during this stage. Profits will be high enough due to this fact. At the same time, the company will try to diversify the product. More versions of the products will be available in the market. Price will be selected in a way that it can compete with other relevant companies in the same industry. In the meantime, the brand will be more distributed among the customers (He et al., 2019).
Decline stage
The last stage or decline stage is an important stage for the product. Sales will be declining gradually. At the same time, profits will be declining as the cost per customer will decrease as well. The expenditure on the product will be reduced by the company itself. The company will try to promote other products in the meantime. During this phase, only selected outlets will be promoting and selling the products. The product will get an exclusive status. This way the loyal customers will only come to these outlets to buy products (Ali et al., 2019).
Limitations of the product life cycle
Only various forms of the products can apply the theory of product life cycle or PLC. Classes of products or specific brands can not use this theory. At the same time, it may help the marketers about the lifetime of a product but in reality, it is just a prediction. Marketers may miscalculate the opportunities and profits gained from the product eventually. It can only predict the success or failure of the product. In reality, the picture can be different as well. The behaviour of the product can not be judged using some strategy like this.
In this case our product, Laniege sleeping mask is at the growth stage. The product is still under development as many more other variations are coming into the market. For example, the company has introduced berry, apple lime, and grapefruit flavoured sleeping masks. At the same time, sales are rising rapidly. The marketing and distribution process of the product is successful enough as the sales are rising enough. The cost per customer is average. Profits are rising for this reason. At the same time, the market share of the product is maximum because of increased sales of the product and there are no other competitors. Price is good enough to penetrate a potential market. A potential customer base is targeted by Laneige. Due to proper awareness and good marketing strategies more customers are interested in the product (Rasouli and Fazel Bakhsheshi, 2018).
Question 4
Consumers’ perception of the product
Fig 3: Perceptual mapping
(Source: Gigauri, 2019)
Consumers’ perceptions of the product can be known if the perceptual mapping is used. Perceptual mapping is done to understand the point of view of the customer about the company and the products. The perceptual mapping of the product will have four quadrants for low cost, high cost, low quality, and high quality. A few other South Korean skincare brands will be used to compare the perception of Laneige. At the same time, going through the feedback and questionnaire, the product of Laneige will be placed in the perfect quadrant. As per the idea, the product will be going in the top-right most quadrant. This quadrant will signify the quality and cost of the sleeping mask. Both of them are high for the Laneige product. In the questionnaire, people will be asked about the product, its quality, cost, after effects, etc. According to their answers, the product will be put into the top-right most quadrant (Gigauri, 2019).
Data collection method
The data collection method for this research is qualitative. As we know, qualitative data will provide more knowledge after analysis of the problem. The problems and solutions can be explored while using qualitative methods. This can be done by providing questionnaires to the customers and asking for more feedback. At the same time, quantitative methods require quantifying the data. Instead of exploring, this method tends to use statistical forms of data. Polling can be done to gather quantitative data but more information can not be gathered using this technique. So for this research purpose, I used qualitative data using small amounts of data. This helped me to understand the problem before coming to any conclusion. Exploring the solution was more helpful in this context. It helped me to understand the questions and find the answers (Khoshnaw et al., 2020).
Conclusion
Marketing of the products or services is very much essential for any organisation. Marketing strategies are mainly used to spread the word about the products and services amongst potential clients. The main objective of the report is to understand the importance of marketing strategies for any product. Here, Laneige sleeping mask is taken as the reference product. Segmentation of the market is addressed in this report. At the same time, the positioning strategy of the product is addressed here. Product anatomy and its elements are discussed at the same time. On the other hand, consumer perception is discussed here as well.
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