Target Market Strategy

Target Market Strategy

Target Market Strategy

L'Oreal makes beauty products for women -- fine products, better than Revlon, much better than Maybelline, not as good as Elizabeth Arden or Clinique. At least that's what the prices say, as does the packaging.

A L'Oreal marketing strategy for the past several years has been to position its products a cut above the best of the drug-store cosmetic brands like Revlon and Max Factor. At $8, a tube of L'Oreal lipstick might cost a little more than a comparable Revlon product, significantly more than Cover Girl or Maybelline, astronomically more than budget brands like Artmatic, but still far less than the department-store lipsticks and direct-marketing brands like Mary Kay.

Marketing Segmentation

Demographic Segmentation. With the range of products that L'Oreal has to offer would almost be easier to list who is not a potential consumer. They offer products dealing with skin care, hair care, hair coloring and cosmetics. Demographically, the largest consumer segment for the entire beauty industry is white women aged in their early teens and older. However, with the plethora of products that L'Oreal has to offer the demographic consumer base is significantly larger. Women of different ethnicities can purchase cosmetics from L'Oreal's Soft Sheen product line, men, young and old, can hide their gray or change their look with L'Oreal's Color Spa for Men hair coloring, and all parents can make bathing fun with a brightly colored bottle of L'Oreal Shampoo For Kids. However, the largest part of revenue is earned directly from retailers. So the marketing that L'Oreal does is essentially to convince retailers that consumers will buy their products.

Geographic and Psychographic Segmentation. Knowing no geographic bounds or social class limitations, L'Oreal's main marketing tool is the innate drive to be attractive in men and women alike. By using young female models and celebrities of many different ethnicities L'Oreal accomplishes an important task. Women of all ages and races will see how beautiful women look using L'Oreal products. This triggers a personal interest and inferring that L'Oreal products make you beautiful.

Benefits-Sought Segmentation. L'Oreal Paris offers 6 different lines of lip color each with 48 different shades. (L'Oreal, 2001) To compare the product lines consider the shine, texture, and richness of color. This phenomenon is the product of benefits-sought segmentation. According to the authors of Marketing Best Practices, “Markets can also be segmented based on consumer preference for a specific product attribute or characteristic” (Czinkota et al, 2000, 223). L'Oreal, in this specific case, has many options available to the consumer i.e. color, duration of wear time, degree of shininess, and textures

Situation Segmentation. L'Oreal USA has 10 companies for manufacturing and 11 companies for distributing. (L'Oreal, 2001) Considering that the majority of revenue comes from retail stores, the proximity and abundance of distributing firms might persuade a retailer to choose L'Oreal. At the consumer level, L'Oreal products are carried many retail stores, for example; Anchor stores of malls, supermarkets, and ...