Marketing Essay Example: Andy's Body Lotion Targeting

Andy's is an American Company that has been operating since 2013 specializing in the production of skin and body care products. Its goal and objective are to provide the highest quality of products that satiate the needs of its consumers completely. Products that it currently provides largely depend on critical examination and evaluation of the market needs. Women are always searching for the perfect brand of product; therefore, the company consistently needs to create new products that appeal to the market better. Following critical research, the company plans to introduce the new Andy's Body Lotion that suits the needs of women from all walks of life effectively. Other than the usual products, Andy's Body Lotion will incorporate ceramides, glycerin, and hyaluronic acid in the product, which are meant to maintain a moisturized skin for up to 15 hours. Consequentially, this discussion hopes to segment the market to determine the best target for the products.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

During its manufacture, the product was intended for use by the woman from all walks of life; however, such a target is overambitious considering that expectations do not always amount to actual sales. In consequence, the main intention is to come up with the most appropriate marketing strategy that gives the appropriate consideration to target marketing and segmentation, as well as product positioning. Following Sanfelice (2014), the market will be segmented into smaller groups, which can be effectively persuaded by concise marketing efforts. Therefore, in this case, the research will identify customers with similar needs and desires whose homogeneity makes it easier to target them. Thus, the strategy borrows from the assumption that it is easier to appeal to a smaller but related group of people than a large group with heterogonous needs and characteristics.

Prior to deciding the women to precisely target, segmentation is important since it divides people into smaller groups (segments) based on their characteristics. Basically, segmentation will involve the division of the potential market into a smaller segment with similar needs, characteristics or even behavior so that they have specific reactions to various marketing strategies (Armstrong, Kotler, Harker & Brennan, 2015). For that matter, the potential customers that possess the same needs and preferences will be identified and pursued as the desired target market to help realize the organizational and product objectives. Segmentation can either be geographical, demographical, behavioral or psychological.

Geographical Segmentation

According to Gbadamosi (2013), product and demand largely depend on physical location. To be specific, the key variables considered of value include the region, climate, population density, size, etc. In this case, geographical segmentation will play a significant role in facilitating the success of the product. Andy's is based in Illinois, the United States, therefore, the customer base will largely reside in the country until the company internationalizes. According to t the United States Census Bureau (2017) the state has a population of about 12.8 million. This can support the organization; therefore, its operations will be largely based within the state capitalizing on the vast population of Illinois. To an extent, this is bound to be easier considering that the organization successfully introduced two products that have gained a significant market share giving the organization a good reputation. Considering the costs of marketing and operations, marketing the product within Illinois is the best option for the organization, as well as an opportunity to promote its brand influence further. With a successful introduction into this market, the product hopes to target not less than 15 percent of the citizens of Illinois.

Psychological Segmentation

Psychological segmentation, on the other hand, refers to the segmentation of consumers based on intangible variables like social class, personal characteristic, as well as lifestyle. Gbadamosi (2013) believes that the personal characteristics of consumers like opinions, attitudes, values, opinions, intentions, etc. will always affect the purchase behaviors of different individuals. For that matter, Andy's body lotion will create the psychological belief that the product will enhance the beauty of women from all the walks of life. Therefore, when advertising the product, it will be using people of different races, social classes, complexion, size, age, etc., which promotes the notion that the product is not limited in its use. Other than that, it will let the people connect to the product at an individual level by avoiding any sweeping generalizations or preferences that suggest that the product is suited to some people as opposed to others. In consequence, celebrities and models contracted to promote the good will not only demonstrate the unbiased approach to marketing but also demonstrate that people with different physical characteristics could be made to look good as well.

Demographic Segmentation

Based on the demography of the people, the market can be segmented into various groups of people based on features such as age, education, income, gender, occupation, and religion. Individuals belonging to the same group exhibit similar characteristic, thus they can be pursued through similar avenues (Gbadamosi, 2013). Andy's Body Lotion will come in the form of butter, which absorbs atmospheric water keeping the body moisturized throughout the day. This indicates that the right target market for such a product will include women ranging from young to mid-ages. Therefore, Andy's could mainly target people between the age of 14 and 40. This range, however, is still broad; hence, the people will be segmented further based on their income and purchasing power. Consequently, the individuals could further be segmented into two groups based on their age and ability to purchase products, which is14-21 years and 22 to 40 years. Most of the ladies between the age of 14 and 21 depend on their guardian for upkeep, which means that they are not in a position to afford products on the higher end. On the other hand, ladies between the age of 22 and 40 are already working and can afford products even at the higher end. However, the two groups of people still demand high-quality products; thus they may not be willing to purchase products that seem inferior. Therefore, the price of the product ought to be reasonable, that is, high enough for the young users to afford and also demonstrate a high quality for the mature users to accept.

Behavioral Segmentation

Behavioral segmentation usually considers the expected reaction of a customer from their perception. This segmentation depends on a number of variables including loyalty, brand insistence, and creation of special events (Gbadamosi, 2013). For most of the consumers, their behavioral tendencies depend on their rate of use of the product in question and the value they attain from the use of this product. The rate of use of a product refers to the amount that can be consumed by an individual buyer. The rate of use and value attained from consuming a product helps an organization decide and distinguish the users of a product from the entire market. Of the users, a further distinction can help identify the level of use, that is, light, moderate or heavy usage (Armstrong et al., 2015). Benefit segmentation of the market is also vital for an organization since it identifies the potential benefit of a product by identifying people's expectation when consuming a product, especially since different users have different needs. In the case of this discussion, the heavy users of the product are mid-aged to young women living in Illinois with a desire to make their skin look moist and beautiful all day. In addition, women that also experience dry skin for the whole will also be targeted by this product. Finally, the product will make the women lovely and classy, which makes it a good product of an image-conscious lady.

Market Viability

With the right mix of promotional activities, the market identified could be turned into a goldmine for Andy's. Therefore, its success will largely depend on the extent to which the marketing strategy gets to the market. Thus, if its promotion can prove that the product is of high quality, the buying rate will significantly increase as well. On the other hand, the pricing strategy is bound to play a very big role in this market; hence, if the product is made affordable for the people, the more purchases will be made. In fact, significant success within the state may open up the product to greater success in the other states as well.

Conclusion

On this basis, the target market for this product will entail ladies from different walks of life irrespective of their financial income. In this case, the promotional activity will target ladies between the age of 14 and 40 since they are more concerned about their appearance and would gain most from keeping their skin moisturized for the whole day. This will make it easier to target them considering that they all want the same thing for their skin, which makes them the most appropriate target for the organization. As long as the product helps maintain the natural appearances of the skin even in the different weathers, the women will continue consuming the product.

References

Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., & Brennan, R. (2015). Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education.

Gbadamosi, A. (2013). Principles of marketing: A value-based approach. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Illinois Population. (2017). United States Census Bureau. Retrieved from: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/IL

Sanfelice, G. (2014). Hit with One Shot: Assessing the Drivers of Target Marketing Effectiveness. Knowledge and Process Management, 21(2), 143-148.