NARS and MAC - Marketing Strategies
The Marketing Mix
"Marketing is a tactical toolkit of the marketing programme; product , place/distribution, promotion , price and people variables that an organisation can control in order to appeal to the target market and facililitate statisfying exchange". ( MarketingConcepts and strategies, 7th Edt, Ferell and Dibb).
The marketing mix consists of four major components,product,place, promotion and price. These variables are called the marketing mix beacuse the marketing manager decides which type of component to use and in what amount, This mix maintains and statifies consumers needs for a general product type. In this blog all components which will discussed in a wide scale giving a better understanding of how a company/organisation is maintained and gained profitably by their products and personnel relations within the industry. These variables are seen as contollable as they change but they are limited to being changed depending on the government regulations , economic conditions as prices adjust daily. They change in sized, shapes , colours and designs therefore promotional campaigns and methods are used to distribute products.
PRODUCT
"Product is a variable of the marketing mix that deals with researching consumers product wants and designing a product with the desired characteristics". (MarketingConcepts and strategies, 7th Edt, Ferell and Dibb).
So, we all like cosmetics whether it’s a specific brand or
the brand that’s people are into at the time either it’s recommended through an
individual or it’s highly advertised on social media. Everyone has their own
preferences to what they want to purchase could be anything from a foundation
to a lip liner. I will be discussing two brands, MAC and Nars. This blog will
look at the marketing differences of the two brands. This will include certain aspects
of the marketing mix and show how the brands differentiate from one another. I
will also include my own personal experience with one of the brands I had. All
brands stand out from one another in their own way what intriguing is that how
brands target their audience to purchase their products. When people buy
products they either are willing to take that risk to purchase product or products
from a brand they’ve have never heard of before, word of mouth or highly spoken
about on a social media platform so in other words it’s a hit and miss, a hit
if the product is good or a miss if the product didn’t live up to the
individuals expectation. The blog will give you an insight of the positives and
negatives of each brand stating facts and some reviews from highly known
bloggers with a contrast of other brands that certain marketing aspects relate
to.
(courtesy of google images)
Any brand in the market has a marketing mix which is
followed through to attract audience to become customers of the brand itself.
All brands are known for certain products for example Nike, a tick, Coke for
the red and black logo. Each brand produces a product to target audience which
allows them to attract attention to the brand then results in for the audience
to become consumers of the brand which can follow a trend of repeat business
and revenue. But first, let talk about Nars , a French cosmetic brand that is
known for its makeup and skin care founded by a makeup artist which is also a
photographer known as Francois Nars. Nars brand itself sets out to be very bold
and elegant using black as the main background colour, on top having a very
simple but a statement font in white as some letters are overlapping each other
to create a statement look making itself different from other brands such as
benefit cosmetics, urban decay and mac, these types of brands use bold or bright
colours to gain attention whereas Nars sets out to give a unique and classy
image as a brand. Nars products entail foundation, eye shadows, lipsticks,
lip glosses, blushers they have all products to accommodate all needs for
customers. Taking some products as an example is foundation they do two types.
Sheer Glow foundation and the second one is all day luminous weightless
foundation.
Products have a life cycle, they go through 4 stages; first stage , this stage is "introduction" introducing the product's first appearance in the marketplace , before any sales or profits have been made. second stage is "growth", this is the stage which the product sales rise rapidly and profits reach a peak, before levelling off into maturity. The third stage is however " maturity" which products sales curve peaks and starts to decline and profits continue to decline. Lastly, "decline" is when the products life cycle during which sales fall rapidly. ((MarketingConcepts and strategies, 7th Edt, Ferell and Dibb).
The sheer
glow foundation is a 30ml glass bottle which comes in 12 shades accommodating
to all races the foundation comes without a pump which could result in too much
content pouring out of the bottle, but you can purchase a pump separately
depending on the customer the foundation pump retails at £4.00. Sheer glow is
meant to give an individual “A glowing, natural radiant finish foundation with
sheer and buildable coverage that immaculately evens skin tone”. It retails at
£31.00 with 14 days refund if the product has not been used and opened. Kiran
Khan known to be famously known on Youtube for her makeup tutorial has
discussed her views on the sheer glow foundation click on link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA8CzVWb-Js
(courtesy of Narscosmetics.com)
The other foundation called the all-day luminous
weightless foundation is featured in a glass matte bottle which comes with a foundation
pump already inserted. It also comes in 12 shades. All day luminous is all day natural looking foundation delivering up to 16 hours to wear. Retailing at
£32.00 with 14 days refund policy.
Nars have delivered there products in a way that they stand out to there target audience from young to mature adults. There packaging
and quality is reliably high which gains there customers trust by providing
great quality products in return they get loyalty and recommendations from
their customers. They have two best sellers which I've mentioned and since Mr
Nars set out on his business venture in 1994 he has maintained his products
consistently delivering the quality, features , quantity and service to his customers
by reviewing the feedback he gains from all platforms.
PRICE
Pricing of Nars products would have the balance of being
reasonable to pricey for the quality of the products are on the market as the
makeup industry is very competitive, all competitors have to remain in balance
for their products. For example Nars creamy concealer is £22.00 in contrast Maybelline
l fit me concealer is retailed at £8.99 there is a huge gap in price due to being
a high street retailer to a premium retailer. Prices vary as the quality and
consistency of the products, Nars also offers 14 day return policy and seasonal
discounts throughout the year.
Nars are known as a prestige brand that they do not use
there platform to advertise on TV. Francois has been a makeup artist for
catwalks and fashion shows that his products are frequently used in his makeup
kit and other makeup artists known around the world. Nars have already
established a platform for themselves in
the makeup industry that they feel they should utilise their time and cost on
improving the brands products rather than advertisement as the brand is
constantly making revenue and gaining sponsorship's for example vogue
photoshoots and catwalks. They also promote themselves through media by
attending makeup launch parties which in return gives them access to public
relations. In any industry it’s all give and take, If you receive promotions
and in return gain business then utilise it on many platforms with the right
products and audience the repeat cycle of maintaining public relations gets
recognised widely either within the industry or out.
However my from my personal experience I have been a loyal customer to Nars, when I purchased my first product from the brand which was the sheer glow foundation I wasn’t that impressed as its suppose to give you that dewy – glowy natural look and the product didn’t deliver it was a disappointment however I decided to give them another chance by purchasing the creamy concealer in the shade vanilla as the one of the advisers recommended me the shade as im in between of being fair and ivory so I purchased the concealer tried it on a few times felt that my under eyes and areas I concealed made me look darker but I mixed another concealer from a different drugstore brand to give me the balance of the colour I was initially looking for. The consistency of the product made me return as a customer so again I went back and took advise off another makeup consultant but this time I purchased the all-day luminous weightless foundation and I have never looked back since. I have purchased atleast 3 or 4 bottles and I highly recommend this foundation to anyone as its made to wear all day and sits very smoothly on the skin. I have not purchased a drugstore foundation for atleast 3 years as I always go back to Nars.
(Courtesy of google images)
One of my favourite bloggers ,HudaBeauty last year put up a video on youtube doing a review on the foundation even she loved it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
In contrast to Nars, there are other brands that adapt the
marketing mix by introducing elements of the mix to their brand for example MAC,
a worldwide Canadian brand which originally stands for Makeup Art Cosmetics set
up by a salon owner and photographer. They set out to expand their high end
brand which resulted in opening over a 100 stores around the world, hiring over
15,000 makeup artists. MAC have brought out products that would meet the same
needs as Nars but their approach to the products is different as in the sense
of they have a larger range of products and it is more spoken about worldwide
and has expanded due to word of mouth. These products are known to be versatile
in others they have seasonal and exclusive collections throughout the year,
they have collaborated with various celebrities for example Nicki Minaj, Mariah
Carey, Selena and Rihanna. Also in seasons like Christmas they have
collaborated Mariah Carey for the Christmas Collection 2016. All makeup brands
promote their own range whether its makeup palettes or one lipstick. Mac is famously
known for their bright colours but are also neutral using natural colours to
compliment all different races. They accommodate anything from a lip liner to
makeup brushes.
Majority of freelance make-up artists use MAC products as they
known to be luxurious, great quality and very long lasting.MAC products are retailed from £13.00 ranging to £55.00.
There price range is similar to Nars but MAC is seen to have more variety of
products on a bigger scale compared to Nars as it’s a high end brand as its
used worldwide for all uses. Mac have produced a product a foundation for full
face and body whereas Nars has not introduced any type of product that can be
used on the full body. Mac having this incentive has gained a lot of audience
as some make-up artists are known to do special effects makeup or contemporary
makeup in the industry. In contrast this could be debatable are Nars is
continuously developing their products to gain higher quality whereas MAC gain
focus mainly attention on their eye shadows and the quality could be decreased.
(Courtesy of Maccosmetics.co.uk)
MAC is advertised to be targeted at a young audience due to
the various colours of products and also co-ordinated with certain collections
they have and been produced in the past. They have used their platform to gain
recognition by accepting transgender community by collaborating with Caitlyn Jenner
to show that all types of people are welcome to use their brand and products.
Mac is a high end retailer brand that everyone has access to
whereas Nars is highly spoken of but certain companies stock their products
such as House of Frasers and Selfridges whereas MAC is available in shopping centres,
individual shops and certain airports. Both brands are promoted in similar ways,
in the link provided https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31PAFLGOkGE
Mac advertises through the use of Youtube a media platform where over thousands
of people watch all kinds of videos regarding certain industries. Nars promoted
there number one best seller blusher called ‘orgasm’ using the platform to
promote there products as MAC did, but people have known to see Nars in
magazines, catwalks and online blogs , this advert shows how short and premium
it is to look https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-YwObywAYU
(Courtesy of Narscosmetics.com)
PLACE/DISTRIBUTION
Place is one of the important variable in the mix that deals with "making products available , perhaps through multiple channels, in the quantities desired to customers while keeping the total inventory, transport and storage costs as low as possible". (MarketingConcepts and strategies, 7th Edt, Ferell and Dibb).
To statisfy customers, products must be available at the right time and in a convient location. When it comes to dealing with a place, the marketing manager seeks to make products available in quantities deired to as many intended customers as possible but keeping in mind the total inventory, transport and storage costs minimum as possible. This is becomes getting involved in wholesalers, retailers and dealers establishing and maintaining procedures and developing storage sytems with help of transport as multiple organisations distribute their products in multiple channels .
Nars and Mac have support of retailers and concessions helping them distrubute their products such as Selfridges, House of Frasers, SpaceNK and John Lewis.
(Courtesy of Google Images)
In Conclusion....
In conclusion, Nars and MAC are both high end brands that
use the marketing mix to approach the target market. This gains customer’s
attention by utilising the mix of price, promotion, place and product. Both brands
have a target audience and have social media platforms which gives consumers
the opportunity to keep on latest products and services they offer. MAC and
NARS both are highly involved in the make-up industry by taking part in organisations
that assist catwalk and fashion shows. They are also involved with celebrities
for ad campaigns and adverts by promoting there products for a good cause or
awareness. However, their price ranges depending on the quality and consistency
of the product which gives them an insight of what sells and what doesn’t,
giving them time to develop other products and making them better for the
market to purchase. Marketing mix is a mix of concepts that attracts the
customers to buy in to the brand and take the risk to invest there money in a
brand they haven’t heard of or they have been recommended by word of mouth. They
can either like it or be disappointment as reputation and repeat business is
through promotion and product.
