Introduction to L’Oreal S.A
L’Or`eal S.A is a France based personal care company the headquarter of which is located in Clichy, Hauts –de –Seine. The company was founded by Eugene Schueller in the year 1909. The CEO of the company is Jean –Paul Agon and by the year 2017, the company has gathered revenues up to 4. 676 billion Euros. It has been considered as one of the largest brands in the cosmetics industry and the products of the company range from hair color, sun protection, skin care, perfume, make up and others. The new innovation of the company is the fall resist 3X anti-hair fall shampoo (Loreal.com 2019).
The innovative components in the product are Arginin which is essential for hair growth and nourishment along with creating micro circulation in the scalp. The protein used helps to rebuild the hair fibre in depth for resistant and stronger hair. The results have shown that this product strengthens the roots of hair and the hair looks heathier and beautiful. The new formula facilitates a triple –anti-hair fall action. The usage of the product is easy. The steps are- wet the hair and scalp, massage the shampoo for 5 minutes and rinse off. This new product is a revolutionary innovation in the entire history of L’Oreal (Loreal.com 2019. The report will demonstrate an understanding and application of various consumer behavior concepts and theories by analysing the facts gathered from the video and the survey, and present strategic recommendations. It will also determine if identified consumer behavioral factors in previous assessments align with company’s current marketing focus.
The business world of today has recognized that the power of the consumers is the supreme and their sovereignty prevails (Campo and Breugelmans 2015). Consumer is not a simple entity its power can either make or break an organization. The behavior of a consumer is a predictive approach that can be evaluated by his acquiring, using and disposing a good or services (Chang 2015). The behaviors of a person are an observable action that springs up from the long held beliefs, values, emotions, wishes and emotions. According to the views of Marshallian Economics, the study of the consumer behaviors can help the business professionals to gain the knowledge regarding how to develop effective communication which motivates buyers to purchase product and services (Chen and Shen 2015). Freud is of the opinion that humans are not able to completely understand the motivations of their own because there are some psychological factors which shapes their unconscious mind. However, the buying decisions and actions are influenced by few factors (Fernández-Ferrín et al. 2015). These are the factors which drive a customer to choose a particular product. It has been find that most of the purchasing process involves the reasoning and emotions. The study of the consumer behaviors helps to understand the past as well as the future of a particular product. These are as follows:
L’Oreal Paris Fall Repair 3X Anti-Hair Fall Shampoo: Product Innovation
The advertisement of a particular product plays a greater role in the purchasing decisions of the buyers. The advertisements also bring about a huge shift in the market shares in the industry after influencing the buying decisions of the customers. The marketing campaigns of a company conducted on regular basis influences the buying behavior of the consumers up to such an extent that their preference of brand can be changed or get indulged in frivolous shopping (Ji and Yang 2017). The marketing campaigns create a brand image in the psychology of the buyers.
The economic condition of the buyer also determines the buying behaviors of a product. The economic situation prevailing in the market determines whether the consumer will have indulged by the product or not. A customer at first, analyses his /her buying power before opting for a product. The product might be good but if it is too high for the customer and goes beyond the buying capacity of the buyer, it might leave impact on the sales.
as far as personal preference is concerned, it is influenced by various shades of priorities, dislikes, likes, morals and values. In a dynamic industry including the personal care, fashion, food and opinion, the style of the consumers, can pose as serious factors of influencing the buying behaviors.
Image-1 – Consumer buying behavior framework
Source – (Bagozzi et al. 2016)
It is another factor which determines the buying behaviors of the customers (Janakiraman, Syrdal and Freling 2016). The primary influential group consists of the classmates, friends, family members and the immediate relatives whereas the secondary influential group consists of the acquaintances and neighbors which leaves greater impact on the psychology of the buyer. Taken for instance, the mass preference of the fast food over the home cooked food and the popularity of SUVs have made the market for the products.
The social groups to which a person belongs are defined as the social classes which influence them. In the social classes people with similar values, behaviors and lifestyles are found. Hence, the marketing activities are also tailored by the class he belongs to (Teng and Wang 2015).
Most of the times, the post purchase reflection and satisfaction helps repeated purchase of a particular product. The learning process is also integrated with the buying behavior of the consumers (Solomon et al. 2017). It determines their future purchase and usage experience.
The mission of the brand is to celebrate beauty for all men and women worldwide by offering the best quality products at affordable range. It terms of efficacy, safety, innovation and affordability, the brand focuses on staying at the top. The products of the company help to satisfy the desires of the customers, their beauty needs and their infinite variety.
Consumer Behaviour Concepts and Theories
The strategy of the company is concentrated on the universalization of the products. It is another name for the globalization that captures, respects and understands the differences. The difference in the desires, traditions and needs (Djafarova and Rushworth 2017). The L’Or`eal company is driven by the traditions, tailored beauty of the world. The marketing mix is a tool that will help to analyze L’Oreal’s marketing strategy and the 4Ps (PRODUCT, PRICE, PLACE & PROMOTION).
As assessed from the findings of the previous assignment survey and video presentation, perception of individuals, attitudes, behaviors, motivation, culture, group and individual differences along with family and lifestyle behavioors that are responsible for influencing the consumer buying behaviors for the FMCG product named L’Oreal Paris Fall repair 3X anti hair fall shampoo by L’Oreal, Australia. The survey monkey tool was used to in the survey. 66 .67 % of the respondents strongly agreed that the consumer perceptions can have huge impact on the buying behaviors. The survey also revealed that maximum people agreed that the price and product quality of L’Oreal Paris Fall repair 3X anti hair fall shampoo can influence the attitudes and behaviours of consumers regarding their purchase of products and services. As far as price is concerned, the respondents have agreed that the anti-hair fall shampoo is available at lowers costs along with its nourishing components.
The product has also offered great value to the customers as far as proper pricing and good quality is concerned. It has rather motivated the staffs to buy the products persistently from the company. When the question of L’Oreal’s adoption to the local culture catering to the tastes and preferences of the customers came, it became found that the brand has maintained a sustainable status in the Australian FMCG industry. 46.67 % people agreed to this fact. The product types have changed according to the places satisfying the place based needs of the customers. Almost 33.33% people agreed to the statement that family influence and lifestyle behaviours are responsible for influencing consumer’s decisions of buying the product. Innovation has already been considered as one of the strongest points of the brand. 40 % respondents agreed that L’Oreal is actually successful in managing its innovative approaches to align with the changing customer behaviors and demands.
However, as the survey results identified the strong areas of the marketing strategy of the brand along with the areas where there are improvements required. Although L’Oreal is a brand that has received the endorsements of celebrities and has promoted itself in a grand manner in various places, the specific product L’Oreal Paris Fall repair 3X anti hair fall shampoo required some more promotional campaigns. The results from the survey validated this point. Another fact has been found from the survey that in terms of offering great value and keeping the clients motivated and inclined towards the organization, maximum respondents disagreed. It means that the brand needs to focus more on this area in future for providing better buying experience to the customers (Bagozzi et al. 2016). Lastly another area to be taken seriously is the spreading of positive or negative messages and information regarding the brand products to its potential customers.
After the analysis of the theories of consumer behavior and concepts along with examining the success of the L’Oreal brand /product in aligning with the determinants of consumer buying decisions, it can be recommended that:
- In order to address its promotional demands, the company should promote L’Oreal Paris Fall repair 3X anti hair fall shampoo more in countries like India. India is booming up as one of the top 5 global hubs. Recently, the Garnier band of the company has proved to be a great hit. The company should increase its investment on this particular product as India is among the greatest cosmetic markets in the world. The spending power of women along with the consciousness among men are increasing up to greater extent. This particular product should also be promoted in full swing in African subcontinents. The wealth class of this country is also rising. The country is growing in awareness, education and economy too. Hence, the declining sales of the L’Oreal company can be handled well if focused on these parts of the world.
- In order to deliver more value to the customers by its product offerings the L’Oreal brand can increase per customer sales of the L’Oreal Paris Fall repair 3X anti hair fall shampoo. The company can use the tactics of cross-selling and upselling. The comoay an also conduct usage stimulation and down –sells too. The cashback process is an effective method which can be saved in the L’Oreal account of the potential /loyal customers. On each purchase of the product they will be able to save some percentage of cost which would be used in future for the purchase of the same product. The circle will keep on going and the sales as well.
- The positive word of mouth marketing can be increased by firstly identifying and target the influencers. An influencer is the person who is able to promote the message and the brand through social media and blogs. They are the experts of driving action and not just the awareness. The right message needs to be spread before spreading of the wrong news. Through the message the brand should connect emotionally with the consumers. Then it will have to hold consistent festive events to stay engaged with the communities. The direct interaction with the customers will increase the customer loyalty rates. Following up of the customer reviews will help the brand to create a positive image and reduce the possibility of spreading negative messages regarding the product.
- The L’Oreal company can streamline the referral process. It is the process of tracking how many people have had a great experience with the company, but ultimately became busy and forgot to refer. It is likely that the customers got busy and forgot to spread the good news about a product or a company. The L’Oreal company can encourage the customers to refer to them simply. It can start the card printing referral process and provide cards to the customers once they leave their store. These cards along with an incentive system can strengthen the sharing process. The use of technology can also help to create the online referral forms linked to the recipient’s emails.
- The company should always stay proactive by giving the customers an effective way to share their experiences. The negative reviews on the public media sites cannot be deleted but they can be handled in the best possible way by the company. The company should address the comments rectifying their issue and even offer their money back (exceptional cases). In this manner they can create a positive word –of-mouth image.
Reference
Bagozzi, R.P., Belanche, D., Casaló, L.V. and Flavián, C., 2016. The role of anticipated emotions in purchase intentions. Psychology & Marketing, 33(8), pp.629-645.
Campo, K. and Breugelmans, E., 2015. Buying groceries in brick and click stores: category allocation decisions and the moderating effect of online buying experience. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 31, pp.63-78.
Chang, M., 2015. Reducing microplastics from facial exfoliating cleansers in wastewater through treatment versus consumer product decisions. Marine pollution bulletin, 101(1), pp.330-333.
Chen, J. and Shen, X.L., 2015. Consumers’ decisions in social commerce context: An empirical investigation. Decision Support Systems, 79, pp.55-64.
Djafarova, E. and Rushworth, C., 2017. Exploring the credibility of online celebrities’ Instagram profiles in influencing the purchase decisions of young female users. Computers in Human Behavior, 68, pp.1-7.
Fernández-Ferrín, P., Bande-Vilela, B., Klein, J.G. and del Río-Araújo, M.L., 2015. Consumer ethnocentrism and consumer animosity: antecedents and consequences. International Journal of Emerging Markets, 10(1), pp.73-88.
Janakiraman, N., Syrdal, H.A. and Freling, R., 2016. The effect of return policy leniency on consumer purchase and return decisions: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Retailing, 92(2), pp.226-235.
Ji, J., Zhang, Z. and Yang, L., 2017. Carbon emission reduction decisions in the retail-/dual-channel supply chain with consumers’ preference. Journal of cleaner production, 141, pp.852-867.
Kumar, P. and Ghodeswar, B.M., 2015. Factors affecting consumers’ green product purchase decisions. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 33(3), pp.330-347.
Loreal.com 2019. L’Oréal – L’Oréal Group. [online] Loreal.com. Available at: https://www.loreal.com/ [Accessed 29 Jan. 2019].
Maniatis, P., 2016. Investigating factors influencing consumer decision-making while choosing green products. Journal of Cleaner Production, 132, pp.215-228.
Morrice, D.J., Cronin, P., Tanrisever, F. and Butler, J.C., 2016. Supporting hurricane inventory management decisions with consumer demand estimates. Journal of Operations Management, 45, pp.86-100.
Pansari, A. and Kumar, V., 2017. Customer engagement: the construct, antecedents, and consequences. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 45(3), pp.294-311.
Park, S. and Nicolau, J.L., 2015. Asymmetric effects of online consumer reviews. Annals of Tourism Research, 50, pp.67-83.
Solomon, M.R., White, K., Dahl, D.W., Zaichkowsky, J.L. and Polegato, R., 2017. Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being. Boston, MA, USA:: Pearson.
Teng, C.C. and Wang, Y.M., 2015. Decisional factors driving organic food consumption: Generation of consumer purchase intentions. British Food Journal, 117(3), pp.1066-1081.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
