Kora Organics: Natural And Organic Skincare Products In Australia

Product Market Orientation in Kora Organics

Question:

Discuss about the Marketing Managers Use Market Segmentation.

Kora Organics is a private cosmetic organisation in Australia. The company is known for offering skin care products that are manufactured in the country and provides a mixture of natural as well as organic substances. Kora Organics was founded in 2009 in Melbourne. Miranda Kerr founded the company along with other chemists with the knowledge of working with such ingredients. In the course of time, the company have grown in popularity and have managed to sell organic products in over 400 stores across the country. The products of Kora are famous in international areas as well. The mission and vision statement of the company includes providing organic products that can help in maintaining proper skin quality of a person (Koraorganics.com 2018). The products are manufactured in a manner that provides people with an extra energy during its use. In this regard, the market orientation of the company is to focus on the desires of the customers and meeting their needs. As a result, Kora uses the product market orientation in order to satisfy customers.

The product orientation can help in developing a product in a manner so that it can satisfy customers at all level (Hollensen 2015). This is mainly because the products of Kora are famous among the worldwide and most people aim to maintain their face in a proper manner to remain attractive. Keeping this in mind, the products of Kora can be analysed. Kora offers complete vegan products. The ingredients used for the manufacturing of the products include Noni extracts that have been used in Kerr family. Kora manufactures products such as cream cleaners, foam cleanser, tinted dry cream, blemish gel and many other products that are used to maintain the skin of an individual. However, one of the important characteristics of the company is that it does not test its products on animals (Babin and Zikmund 2015).

In order to analyse the five key areas of the market, managers take up the application of the 5C’s model. This model takes into account the factors that matter the most for the success of an organisation (Armstrong et al. 2015). The five C’s of Kora is analysed:

Customer: The target of the company includes people of all ages interested in maintaining a proper face. The products of Kora help in energising the people and provide meditative treatment so that skin diseases do not occur. Sheth and Sisodia (2015) stated that customer satisfaction could be derived by identifying the needs of the people. The typical behaviour of the company denotes caring for the people and ensuring that the best skincare product is provided to them at a reasonable cost. Thus, this helps Kora to gain a competitive advantage in the market.

Company: In order to understand the strengths and weakness of a company it is necessary to conduct a SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis points the potential opportunities and threats of a company as well (McDonald and Wilson 2016). The SWOT analysis of Kora includes

The 5C’s of Kora Organics

Table 1: SWOT analysis

(Created by author)

Competitors: As observed by Baker (2014), every organisation faces competition from other organisations from similar industries. Without competition, companies cannot access their progress. In the case of Kora, the direct competition faced by the organisation proves to be a huge success. The direct competition is provided by Divine which is a cosmetic company founded by Miranda Kerr’s mother Therese. Apart from this indirect competition from reputed companies like L’Oreal also proves to provide serious competition to Kora. However, new entrants do not pose threat due to the existence of these established companies.

Collaborators: Kora collaborates with David Jones in order to distribute their products in the market. Apart from this, the products are also found online. Thus, the company direct distribution in order to gain customers. It has also been seen that Kora products can be ordered via social media sites such as Facebook. Despite this, most customers remain unaware of the products. Hence, proper suppliers in the market are required for Kora. The company can indulge in a partnership with David Jones and ensure that threats from competitions are mitigated.

Context: The external factors such as an economic condition of a country, demography and political stability may have a huge impact on the success of Kora. It has been seen that the economic condition of Australia fluctuates heavily. Hence, it is important for Kora to analyse the economic condition of the market before launching products at high price. However, the threat is not present in the legal, political and natural factors as the company uses organic ingredients for manufacturing the products (Armstrong et al. 2014).

In order to succeed in a competitive market, it is necessary for an organisation to gather information about the customers, competitors and the factors that affect the market (Ryan 2016). Such information can be gained by conducting a proper research about the marketing factors. In order to understand the needs and wants of the customers, companies conduct a marketing survey that highlights the preferences (Huang and Sarigöllü 2014). However, prior to that, it is important to identify a target market. This can be done by segmenting the market and getting specifications about the people that exist in a society. In the case of Kora Organics, the company gets to collect information about the customers via the use of social media and the official website.

According to Solomon (2014), customers provide feedback about the type of products that are required in order to maintain skin culture. At the same time, conditions of the skin are provided so that effective solutions about the correct use of products can be received. Such informative attitudes of the customers help the company to innovate new products that can be used by many people. Hence, it can be said that the social media is the best medium of collecting information about the target market. The threats imposed by companies are also analysed with the help of social media. This is because customers tend to compare products of two or more companies in order to undermine one another. It is established that Kora faces competition both directly and indirectly. Companies like L’Oreal are world famous and people tend to compare the products of Kora with the company. Kora managers can use this as a benchmark to improve their products.

SWOT Analysis of Kora Organics

After the analysis of the contexts that affect business, it can be said that the business market changes at a regular interval. This is because, with the rise of threats and competition, organisations tend to change their approach to conducting a business. A company cannot control some of the factors like the economic change; however, measurements can be taken in order to suffer a huge loss in the case of such crisis. Kora has also seen rapid changes in the market of Australia. The introduction of organic chemicals for treating the facial condition brought about changes in the tastes and preferences of customers. Hence, the consistency regarding the use of such products needs to be maintained in order to get a competitive advantage. Cross, Belich and Rudelius (2015) stated that the role of collaborators is important in gathering information.

Suppliers can provide proper details and information about the type of products that are being sold through them. This is because suppliers tend to gain a huge bonus in salary with the increased number of products distributed. Hence, it is important for Kora to maintain a good supply chain in order to gain information about the products of the customers. Apart from this, collaboration with David Jones needs to be better so that the location of the company can be changed. It has been seen that Kora is located at the back of David Jones that makes it difficult for customers to gain access to the store (McDonald and Wilson 2016). Hence, such collaboration needs to be changed in order to attain success in the market.

In order to develop a proper marketing strategy, it is important for every organisation to establish a target market upon which the products can be aimed at. The target market is established by taking into consideration various factors that affect the tastes and preferences of the customers (Howell 2015). In this regard, it can be said that the target market of Kora can be determined by the analysis of these factors. The factors include:

Table 2: Market segmentation

(Created by author)

After analysing the market segmentation strategy undertaken by Kora, a change in the target market can be recommended. The company need to be more specific about the people that are being targeted in order to get the desired recognition in the market. Hence, it can be stated that Kora needs to target females within the age of 18-35 years in order to increase sales. The geographical target needs to be the females residing in the urban areas so that even with the excess price of the products it can be affordable (Andaleeb 2016). In this regard, the value proposition of the target market can be determined.

The value proposition for the target markets can include the reason behind the purchase of a product. In the case of Kora, the products are manufactured in an organic manner that is said to provide energy to the people. It helps in eradicating the issues of the skin and ensures that the skin remains as per the requirement of the customers. Information such as this can help in attracting customers to the product.

Competitors of Kora Organics

The positioning statement needs to include the target market and the manner in which customers can be convinced to purchase a product (Katsikeas et al. 2016). It can be said that based on the positioning statement the customers tend to purchase a particular product. In the case of Kora the positioning statement, need to provide the ingredients used for the manufacturing of the product and the reason behind the purchase of the products. With the face of Miranda Kerr as the owner of the company, it can be an advantage for the company to attract the target market.

To develop a proper marketing tactic it is necessary that Kora adopt the use of the marketing mix. The elements in the marketing mix can help in the further development of the choice of a target market and provide ways to address their needs. The elements include:

Product: The product of companies can be offered as an exchange of money for a company. According to Lusch and Vargo (2014), the products need to have detailed information about its characteristics. Kora also needs to provide such information to the customers in order to attract their attention. This is particularly important in this case, as most females remain concerned with their skin. Kora targets the females of the society and as a result, they need to ensure that the products are well maintained with innovative sizes.

Price: The price of the product needs to be fixed in a manner so that it becomes convenient for every people to purchase it. The SWOT analysis of Kora revealed the fact that the prices of the products are expensive. This need to change as the range of age of the female people vary from 18-35. Hence, females still pursuing studies cannot afford to pay an expensive sum for purchasing the products. Thus, a high-low pricing strategy can be adopted that makes the prices flexible as per the demand for the products.

Place: This is another important factor that needs to be changed for Kora. It has been seen that Kora is located at the back of David Jones. Hence, people travelling by roads cannot come across the shop conveniently. Hence, it is necessary that the store is relocated at a place that is convenient to attract customers. It can be located inside shopping malls that are frequented by many potential buyers.

Promotion: Zeriti et al. (2014) stated that promotion of a company or product is essential in order to gain reputation and recognition. In the case of Kora, the company, as well as the products, need to be promoted to the Australian public. The SWOT analysis has identified the lack of recognition as another weakness for the company. To convert the weakness into opportunity, the managers need to ensure that communication with the target market is well established.

People: The people include the target market and the potential buyers. Customer satisfaction is the primary aim of companies that offer products and services (Lantos 2015). Hence, it is required to analyse the target market and make the products that address their needs. Kora needs to satisfy the needs of the female customers by providing them with the required product suitable for their skin.

Process: The process of manufacturing a product in the modern day is essential. The Government of a country poses ban on a product, manufacturing of which may harm the society (Baker and Saren 2016). Kora does not have to be threatened in this respect as the company uses organic materials in order to manufacture the products. Proper and appropriate use of the products of Kora cannot pose harm to the society.

Physical evidence: This can be considered as an old school approach as in the modern world, people purchase products online. However, physical evidence is needed in order to judge the quality of the products. In this regard, it can be said that the products of Kora need to be analysed physically before purchasing.

Reference

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