Abstract
This paper will focus on Dior Company which has producing perfumes since 1947. It will touch on the marketing strategies that the company has created and implemented in order to achieve this competence. It will, also, evaluate the market by conducting SWOT analysis, focusing on macro environment as well as the micro environment besides the 4Ps of a business. Lastly, the essay will make conclusion concerning the finding of the research and the applicable improvements that can be adopted for future marketing.
Introduction
Dior Company, which produces French-based prestigious goods, was founded in 1946 by a French designer who is known as Christian Dior (Grant, 2007). The main goods that are produced by the Dior Company include leather wears, fashionable accessories, jewellery, make-up lotions, skin nourishing products, and fragrance products among others (Grant, 2007). Currently, the company runs under the chairmanship of a famous business man who is referred to as Bernard Arnault.
Bernard is, also, the head of LMVH which is an international group producing similar luxurious good where Dior Company owns 42 percent of the total shares and has a 59 percent right of voting for agendas (Grant, 2007). Dior has employed competent personnel where it has captured innovative and professional employees including Raf Simons who is a reputable fashion designer and Gaytten. This report will focus on a marketing campaign for Dior perfumes which are produced under the sector of fragrance (Pochna, 2004).
Needs, Wants and Demands
Needs
According to research, human beings need to feel comfortable when they are among their relatives, colleagues and friends. This comfort creates confidence, composure, and high self esteem when they are interacting with their colleagues. However, physiological body processes cause the release of waste material including sweat which results to bad body odour. It makes them uncomfortable since the odour displays a bad image when people keep away from them as a result of the odour. This campaign will provide detailed means of attaining social comfort as well as respect by enlightening people on high class perfumes that can be used for this purpose.
Wants
During the campaign, it was evident that in order to satisfy the above needs, people have various wants which are conjoined to them. In this light, people want to wear reputable clothes as well as luxurious wears including skirts, blouses, trousers, and shoes among others. They go for the fashionable make-ups that are conspicuous among their colleagues in order to have unique look.
The most important want that was extremely relevant to this campaign was the fragrance perfumes which are used to fight bad odour that comes from the body after sweating. They fight the bad odour by producing particles that generate an appealing scent neutralising the stench that is produced by the sweat particles. In light of this campaign, we shall focus on perfumes that can be used to cater for these wants satisfactory.
Demands
Following the above needs that trigger the discussed wants, people demand perfumes in order to maintain an appealing scent on their bodies and feel comfortable when they are among their colleagues. However, many perfumes prevail in the market such that customers incur dilemma when choosing the right perfume. This campaign will focus on Dior perfume that is produced by Dior Company and analyze it to identify various aspects for customers. In this case, it will enlighten customers on the capability of Dior perfume to cater for their demands.
Marketing Mix
Product
Regarding the product, the company produces high quality perfumes that are named after iconic figures in the company. For example, the first perfume, which is referred to as Miss Dior Parfum, was named after Christian Dior’s sister who is known as Catherine Dior. This formed the product’s brand since she was an iconic figure who managed reputable perfume businesses in France. The perfume is preserved in an attractive clear bottle and packed in a medium size boxes. The boxes help in the transportation of large volumes of the perfume especially when the company is delivering to retailer. This delivery functionality is a vital service of their marketing strategy since the customers do not struggle in order to obtain the perfume.
Price
Dior Company uses price of the perfume to market their perfume to customers and achieve competitive advantage over their worthy competitors. During the research, it was evident that the company prices the perfume according to locality. All the company’s branches that are found in the central business districts sell the perfume at a high price since they are targeting the wealthy people. On the other hand, the price is subsidized in the lowly developed areas where the middle class live.
In this case, people who earn high income buy highly priced goods while those who earn low income purchase lowly priced goods. The price lists include five international currencies which include the French currency, US dollar, Sterling Pound and the Euro. This ensures that foreign customers can determine the price of perfume at a glance rather than seeking for conversion. In light of marketing perfume, the company offers discount during critical days of the company including anniversaries of Christian Dior who is the founder of the company
Promotion
Dior Company conducts vibrant marketing promotion in light of earning customers for the company. Advertisement is done through mass media, social media, and pamphlets in order to sensitise the public about various brands of Miss Dior Parfum across the world. In some cases, the company organizes modelling competitions where it awards the winners with the perfumes and promotes sales during that day by lowering prices. Additionally, these competitions attain much publicity for the company locally and internationally enabling it to earn competitive advantage over other companies.
Place
The company uses technological communication channels since it makes communication easy, fast, and efficient for customers and the company. These channels include the email addresses, phone calls, social networking, and fax among others. Technology is, also, applied in keeping the inventory of goods so that availability of perfumes is monitored in real time. This system is used for ordering more perfume from manufacturing point to the selling outlets as well as communication for distribution to customers. Technology makes the company’s logistics easier, cheap and efficient (Richardson & DeFries, 2006).
Marketing Management
Production Concept
On the most significant marketing strategies that the company use is production concept which purports the massive availability and distribution of perfumes. In this case, the company has many branches all over France and other countries to ensure that customers can easily access their perfume. It has an efficient distribution system ensuring that all the branches and wholesalers get the perfumes without hustles and punctually. The perfumes are, also, sold through online platform which is popularly known as dior.com. This availability of their perfumes increases the customer’s vulnerability to purchase their perfume as compared to other companies’ perfumes (Jeannet & Hennessey, 2003).
Product Concept
Dior Perfumes are known for high quality and diversity of perfume brands which include Moisturising Milk, Blooming Bouquet, and Le Perfume among others. The high quality ensures that customers prefer their perfumes to other perfumes while the diversity aims at capturing the diverse preferences of customers in the market. Additionally, the company improves its products according to customers’ suggestions to satisfy the emerging preferences and needs of the customers.
Marketing Concept
Dior Company markets its perfumes vibrantly across the local and international market. In this case, it has a marketing department that collects feedbacks and conduct research on the needs of customers after a period of time to identify the current as well as changing needs. This ensures that the company understands the customers’ needs more that their competitors so that they capture a larger market than competitors. The combination the three concepts ensure that the company retains its customers and attracts more customers slowly (Solomon, 2003).
Market Analysis
Micro Environment Analysis
The company has a full organizational structure whose top officials include the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Directors. Other important officials who are very relevant to the marketing functions include the Public Relations Officer, Human Resource Manager, Artistic director, and the Customer Care Officer. Although the organizational leadership is very expansive, these leaders play vital role in providing directions to the employees and making critical decisions. Bernard Arnault who is the current chairman of the company has provided firm, visionary and dedicated leadership since the death of Christian Dior. In fact, this company has made proficient advancement during his time as compared to Christian’s error.
In regard to finances, the company was operating at revenue of 24 billion Euros in 2011 portraying profound financial capability. The company’s operations are based on three divisions including Christian Dior Parfums, Christian Dior Cosmetics and Dior Homme. These divisions are audited by a common accounting department that harmonizes all finances to ensure that the company’s finances are coordinated.
Suppliers are vital components of the company’s micro-environment due to the process of production and distribution. They supply chemicals for the company to manufacture perfumes, technological devices for communication, and packaging items among others. For marketing intermediaries, the company has independent whole sellers, convenient stores and retailers who sell their products so that they do not have to sell directly to customers from the company. The micro-environment, also, include competitors who include the Burberry, Gucci, and Prada among others.
They inspire the company to improve their products in order to retain competence among competitors. In the same light, the micro-environment comprise of the public which include governmental auditors, media houses that advertise their goods as well as the banks that are used during procurement. Lastly, the company is conjoined to the consumers who are the most crucial components of their micro-environment. Customers include local and international consumers who use the company’s perfume directly and indirectly.
Macro-Environment Analysis
The company has four essential components of the macro-environment which include demographic, economic, political, and technological environment. Regarding demographic environment, it is mostly concerned with women since they are their greatest consumers in the market. However, they Christian Homme and Baby Dior cater for men and children respectively. In the economic field, the company has segmented its market in accordance to the customers’ level of income where the highly paid customers get costly and quality perfume while the rest get cheap perfumes. This implies that the economic structure of the market has affected the prices and segmentation.
The company pays applicable taxes to the government in the local and international jurisdictions. Political environment is concerned with the legal frameworks that govern the operation of this company. It follows the French legitimacy for local branches as well as international corporate laws that govern their branches in foreign countries. Additionally, technological environment is another important aspect of its macro environment since the company has computerized its inventory, payment systems, and communication channels among others sectors.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
The company has various strengths that define its competence among its competitors in the market (Dealtry, 2001). First, it has a deep history which runs from 1947 implying that it has established a firm market segment. It has a wide market that comprise of local and international consumers where the company is referred to as a multinational company. This wide market segment enables the company to compete favourably with its competitors. Additionally, the company has a strong leadership under the chairmanship of Bernard. He has a deep experience which has helped this company to progress at a very high rate after he took over from his predecessor.
Weaknesses
Despite the company’s success, it has various weaknesses including the overreliance on women as the main consumers. This has created a misconception that makes the general public to consider the company as an entity that dwell on women alone. Although they have men and children products, they have not popularized them properly.
Opportunities
The company has an essential opportunity that it has not exploited concerning its perfume brand. In this case, it has dwelled on producing separate brands for men, women and children. However, the company can make a product which can suit all the three consumers simultaneously. Women could attract more men to purchase perfume and remove the misconception which makes the company to appear as if it concentrates on women alone.
Threats
In this light, the company has strong competitors who have been in the industry producing perfume. Other companies are being established recently meaning that the market will be flooded soon.
Conclusion
This campaign has evaluated the needs, wants, and demands of consumers in accordance to their social life especially in the glooming sector. It has identified Dior Perfume and evaluated the marketing strategies that are used by the company in order to determine improvements. It is evident that the company has used the 4Ps, which include price, promotion, place and product, in marketing their perfume appropriately (Gummesson, 2002). Additionally, it is noticeable that the company’s micro is mainly based on customers, competitors, suppliers and internal leadership. On the other hand, macro environments are based political, technological, and demographic environment.
In regard to the SWOT analysis, it is undisputable that the company has more strengths than weaknesses (Fine, 2009). This implies that the company should use its strengths to cope up with the few weaknesses that have been cited. Additionally, the marketing strategies that are used by the company are satisfactory since they are built on pertinent ideologies which include production and product concepts. Lastly, it is important to note that the company should put extra effort in order to focus on all genders and ages so that it does not have a biased market segment.
References
Dealtry, T. (2001). Dynamic SWOT analysis: developer’s guide : when looking to the future look for the opportunities and threats and consider your strengths and weaknesses. Birmingham (Prince’s Corner, Harborne Park Road, Harborne, Birmingham. B17 0DE): Dynamic SWOT Associates.
Fine, L. (2009). The SWOT analysis: using your strength to overcome weaknesses, using opportunities to overcome threats. S.l.: Kick It.
Grant, T. (2007). International directory of company histories. Chicago: St. James Press.
Gummesson, E. (2002). Total relationship marketing marketing strategy moving from the 4Ps–product, price, promotion, place–of traditional marketing management to the 30Rs–the thirty relationships–of a new marketing paradigm (2nd ed.). Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Jeannet, J., & Hennessey, H. (2003). Global marketing strategies (3rd ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Pochna, M. (2004). Dior. New York: Assouline.
Richardson, J., & DeFries, M. (2006). Intelligent systems in business: integrating the technology. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex.
Solomon, M. (2003). Conquering consumerspace marketing strategies for a branded world. New York: AMACOM.