Marketing - DermaVeen Shampoo Oatmeal from Woolworths Super Market - Report Writing Assessment Answer

Marketing Assignment

Assignment Task

DermaVeen Shampoo Oatmeal from Woolworths Super Market

Introduction

Marketing audit is an important part of marketing activities. This tool helps in knowing the gaps in expected performance and actual performance of a product. The present audit report aims to analyses a Health & beauty sector product from a supermarket. For this purpose DermaVeen Shampoo Oatmeal has been taken from Woolworths supermarket from Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast Queensland. The product comes under Family Shampoo and Conditioner category. For the audit of this product first of all the marketing mix analysis will be done. This will be comprised of four P’s of marketing that are Product, price, place and promotion. The customer profile with respect to this product will also be ascertained. After that the competition analysis will also be done. Finally the market performance of the DermaVeen Shampoo will be analysed with respect to the two major factors that are supermarket channel and trends and performance in H&B sector. In this way marketing audit will be done for DermaVeen Shampoo.

The four P’s Analysis

The marketing mix analysis for DermaVeen Shampoo is discussed as under:

Product:

The product that is DermaVeen Shampoo is very much in demand in the market. The product life cycle of DermaVeen Shampoo also suggests that it is at its growth stage and there is high potential in sales. It is expected that the sales of the product will further increase. The company may also plan to expand the current product by introducing a number of new features in it.

The packaging and description of the product is very effective and it is also available in various sizes. This product is different from the competitor’s products in many aspects (Sultan and Henrichs 2009). The products also have medicinal value rather than just a cosmetic product.

Price:

The price is a very significant aspect of marketing mix activities. It denotes the value that is fixed up by the company for the purpose of selling the product. This aspect determines the firm’s survival and profit. At the same time the pricing strategy also affects the demand and sales of the product. The prices of DermaVeen Shampoo are set as per the market skimming pricing strategy (Ashworth 2011). For instance, the shampoo costs around $ 3.5 Dollar/ 100 ml. As per this strategy the product is sold at high prices because the perceived value of the product among customers is very high. This is the reason why the firm can charge a premium price from the customers.

Place:

The product is available at Woolworths supermarket from Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast Queensland. This aspect deals with the distribution of the product. The product is available in super markets and at the same time it can also be bought online. These days brick and mortar system is abolishing and internet business is expanding. Due to that it is important to distribute the product online as well. The distribution strategy of the product is intensive distribution strategy (Naeem 2013). Thus the product is available at brick and mortar stores, online stores and supermarkets.

Promotion:

Promotion is a very significant tool in marketing as it boosts sales and enhances brand recognition. There are various aspects of promotion that are advertising, public relations, sales promotion, etc. (Belch, Belch and Kerr 2011). Here, the supermarket uses advertising and sales promotion as a part of promotional activity of DermaVeen Shampoo. Online social media is also used for the promotion of the product. This helps in capturing large number of customers. Thus it becomes easy to send marketing messages to the potential buyers by using promotional tools.

Customer Profile

The customers of DermaVeen Shampoo are both male as well as females. But the large number of customers is females. The product is very vital for many scalp problems and due to that all the people who suffer from such problems are the potential customers for the product. The customers of this product majorly range from age group 18 to 45 years. This product is majorly popular among those people who prefer to have a medicated solution for their scalp problems. Thus the product also fits in the category of medicated products. As far as the income of the customers is considered, it shall be noted that the product is high priced and due to that high income group customers are the ones that really buy this product. Most of the customers are the ones that prefer to buy the product online due to the lack of time.

The customer base of the product is very loyal and switching rate among the customers very low. Due to that the product has a customer profile that is very loyal and retaining them is very easy. The customers value product to a very great extent and the customers are also satisfied with the services provided to them. At the same time it is also easy for the potential customers to know about the product that the Supermarket is selling because of referral (Jones 2008). Thus the present customer profiles as well as potential customer file both are efficient.

Competition

There are many competitors of the company in the supermarket. The major competitors of the product are MooGoo scalp cream, SunSilk Anti-Frizz, Macadamia, John Frieda, Neutrogena, Pantene, Babyliss Pro Moroccan, etc. (Productreview 2016).There is intense competition among various products. This is due to the fact that there are various similar products available in the supermarket. There are some products that are being preferred by the customers over DermaVeen Shampoo. Some competitors are providing products at lower rates than that of the competitors and there are some products that are better than DermaVeen Shampoo. This suggests that the company has to deal with the extensive competition.

It has been already identified that the company charges premium prices from the customers since its pricing strategy is based on skimming pricing. Due to that only upper middle class and higher class customers prefer to use the products. This makes the scope of the product relatively smaller than that of the competitor’s products. This makes it clear that the market coverage of the DermaVeen Shampoo is lower than of its competitors who target middle-class as well. In this manner the competition may also prove to be fatal for the product in near future.

Market Performance

The overall market performance of the product is good. It has been noticed in past few days that the demand of the product is increasing in overseas market as well. There are many customers who are willing to buy this product in foreign countries. The sales statistics suggest that the sale of the product has increased by 6% as compared to that of the last year. Not only is this but the demand of the product in the foreign market has been increased by 3% (Euromonitor 2016). The product is contributing to a very great extent in the revenue of the company and due to that is said to perform well in the market.

Supermarket Channel

The Supermarket channel denotes the channel through which the product reaches the supermarket and ultimately to the end user. As far as DermaVeen Shampoo is concerned the channel with which it reaches Woolworths is comprised of three stages. First of all the products depart from warehouse and then reaches to wholesaler and from wholesaler it reaches Woolworths. This channel is hassle-free for all the stakeholders and it ensures optimum utilisation of resources (Melanie 2015). From various manufactures a product comes to a supermarket and due to that the supermarket channel sometimes becomes quite complicated.

H&B sector trends and performance

The current trends in health and beauty sector are changing rapidly. These changing trends also have huge impact over DermaVeen Shampoo. It has been observed that, since past few years people have started developing immense interest for organic products. The segment in which DermaVeen Shampoo deals is especially concerned about the authenticity of the products and this segment demands organic products. The statistics of the year 2015 suggests that health and beauty sector continues to grow. There are constantly new product innovations in this sector. There is strong competition in this sector and social media is also influencing this sector. The hair care trends have also been changed and now people prefer to spend more on hair care as compared to the year 2014 (Euromonitor 2016).

Conclusion

The marketing audit report helps in taking vital decisions and the present report will also help in taking the decisions that will help in the development of the product. The audit report of DermaVeen Shampoo suggests that the target market shall be re-defined for the product. This is clear from the analysis that the target audience for the product is small in number. There is also a need to work on pricing strategy and redefine it as neutral pricing strategy. Along with that it is also important to make the desired changes in the product as per the latest trends in the sector.