QUESTION

NIVEA is an established name in high quality skin and beauty care products. It is portion of a range of brands produced and sold by Beiersdof, founded in 1882, has grown to be a global company specialising in skin and beauty care. In the UK, Beiersdof's continuing goal is to have its products as close as possible to its consumers, regardless of where they live. Its targets are to understand its consumers in its many different markets and delight them with innovative products for their skin and beauty care needs. This strengthens the trust as well as appeal of Beiersdof brands.
The business prides itself on being consumer - led and this focus has helped it to grow NIVEA into one of the largest skin care brands in the world.

Beiersdof's continuing programme of market research showed a gap in the market. This led to the launch of NIVEA VISAGE Young in 2005 as part of the NIVEA VISAGE range offering a comprehensive selection of products aimed at young women. It transmits the strength of the NIVEA brand image to the target market 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. The market can be developed by creating a good product/range and introducing it to the market (product - orientated approach) or by finding a gap in the market and developing a product to fill it (market - orientated approach). Having identified a gap in the market, Beiersdof launched NIVEA VISAGE Young using on effective balance of the right product, price, promotion and place. It is vital that a company gets the balance of these four elements correct so that a product will achieve its critical success factors. Beiersdof required to develop a mix that suited the product and the target market as well as meeting its own business objectives.

The first stage in building an operative mix is to understand the market. NIVEA uses market research to target key market segments which identifies groups of people with the same characteristics. The knowledge as well as understanding from the research helps in the development of new products. Beiersdof's market research identified that younger consumers wanted more specialised face care aimed at their own age group that offered ‘beautifying' advantage, somewhat than a solution to skin problems.

NIVEA VISAGE Young is a skin care range targeted 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 solutions. This gives NIVEA competitive advantage. NIVEA VISAGE Young offers a unique bridge between the teenage market and the adult market. The company better the product to make it more effective and more consumer- friendly. Beiersdof tested the improved products on a sample group form its target audience before finalising the range for re-launch.

Lots of factors affect the end price of a product, for example, the costs of the production or the business need to maximise profits or sales. A product's price also needs to provide value for money in the market and attract consumers to buy. On relaunch the price for NIVEA VISAGE Young was slightly higher than previously. This imitated its new formulations, packaging and extended product range. Nevertheless the company also had to take into account that the target was both teenage girls and mums buying the product for their daughters. This refers that the price had to offer value for money or it would be out of reach of its target market.

On re-launch the price for NIVEA VISAGE Young was slightly higher than previously. This reflected its fresh formulations, packaging and extended product range. However, the company also had to take into account that the target market was both teenage girls and mums buying the product for their daughters. This refers 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 segment it is efficiently the price leader. This refers that it sets the price level that competitors will follow or undercut. NIVEA requirements to regularly review prices should a competitor enter the market at the ‘market growth' point of the product life cycle to ensure that its pricing remains competitive.

NIVEA VISAGE Young

(a) NIVEA has been able to provide NIVEA VISAGE Young in 2005 after thorough market research. Using the market research process explain how NIVEA has applied those steps

(b) Discuss what is meant by ‘brand' in relation to the Beiersdof products. Provide relevant examples to support your answer

(c) The first stage in building an effective mix is to understand the market states the case- study.

(i) In relation to the above statement identify the main market, of NIVEA VISAGE.

(ii) Other than the traditional 4P's, what other marketing mix components would you suggest NIVEA to adopt and why?

(d) Using paragraph 6 which starts with

Lots of factors affect the end This meant that price had to offer value for money or it would be out of reach of its target market deliberate the main internal factors affecting price at NIVEA. Answers should be in relation to the provided paragraph.