Cenique Perfume: Marketing report

Executive summary

The product being discussed is Cenique Perfume. The concept is to have customised perfumes for each customer through a service experience that involves these customers co-creating their perfumes. The perfume created is supposed to be unique to each customer and the formula for designing the final product is recorded so that the same product can be reproduced each time the customer needs to reorder. The target customers include young women who are middle income earners. These would be persons who’d want to be able to bring out their uniqueness and stand out but at the same time find it difficult to consistently purchase the premium designer perfumes that are in the market. Accordingly, the pricing shall consider the value of the product and be slightly more expensive than the mass market products but at the same time be priced lower than the premium products. The business is to be centrally located in London but customers can be reached through event marketing campaigns where the perfumers can visit different areas and generate the products. The customers can then shop online where they order for their unique products which are then delivered to them. The marketing message to be communicated is uniqueness. This will help to attract persons who want to stand out through consumption and confidently project their unique personalities wherever they are.

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1. Marketing report

1.1 Product concept

The product is Cenique Perfume which is a fragrance produced to target young women in London. The concept behind the product is uniqueness. This uniqueness is inherent in the production process which incorporates the contribution of the customers. They get involved in designing the product and creation of scents that uniquely conform to their own tastes and preferences. This means that the customers are expected to be very satisfied with both the production process and the product itself. The final product will be customised perfumes which are unique for each customer.

1.1.1 USP

The unique selling proposition shall be: “Bringing out the Real YOU”. The ‘YOU’ in this case would refer to the unique personality of each customer as would be brought out by the unique scents they’ll have co-created. In the fragrance industry, customisation is considered to be a premium service (Allen, Havlícek and Roberts, 2015). The upper class of the society tends to acquire designer perfumes at a very high price because this is regarded as a premium service. This leaves large segments of the society, especially in the middle class, with unmet needs when it comes to the creation of unique perfumes that conform to each person’s unique tastes (Deloitte, 2016). This is the group that this product will target. 

1.1.2 Competitor analysis

The general level of industry rivalry in the UK fragrance industry is very high (FM Cosmetics Ltd, 2016). The shelf space in every major retailer is filled with hundreds of perfume brands; making competition to be very high. The market has developed in such a way that brands cater for the needs of different market segments including the low, middle and upper classes (Łopaciuk and Łoboda, 2013). The fragrances are also quite varied and this enables the brands to capture a wide range of tastes and preferences across the market (Deloitte, 2016). The high level of industry rivalry implies that for any organisation to enter the industry and be competitive, it would have to be highly differentiated. The Cenique brand will be differentiated in the sense that it will refine the production process and give the consumer the opportunity to determine their unique scent that they’d want featured on the perfumes they use. Its competitive positioning will be as shown below.

 

In terms of variety of scents, the most direct competition will come from brands such as Dior, Poison Girl and Eisenburg (Allen, Havlícek and Roberts, 2015). These brands offer a wide range of brands and scents; making it likely that they’d accommodate many of the tastes and preferences in the market. The weakness that Cenique will exploit is that the fragrances are not unique and they’ll not have been specifically created for each of the customers. Each customer who buys them could be sure that there are thousands of other customers using the exact product; eroding the sense of uniqueness.

Given that uniqueness will be a key feature, makers of designer perfumes such as Annick Goutal, Arquisite and Byredo are expected to be a source of competition. They produce premium perfumes which are often modified to suit the tastes of certain customers. The weakness of these brands is that they solely focus on the upper class through exorbitant prices. This makes their products less accessible to the middle class who also constitute a significant proportion of the market. Cenique shall target the middle class by charging relatively lower prices than those charged by premium brands in the market.

The most direct competition will be from Unique Fragrance (2016) which provides the market with the benefit of customised perfumes with each customer being at liberty to choose their unique fragrances. Their pricing is also competitive; meaning that they can serve the middle income market. However, their scale of operations is still highly limited leaving a lot of potential customers out. Besides, Cenique can seek to out-compete them through refined production processes and skilled customer relations.

1.2 Market research report

The market research was conducted to determine whether the Cenique concept is feasible. This was to help and refine the marketing mix strategy for the product. The research processes conducted to generate the information have been explained in the sections below.

1.2.1 Research question

The issue researched was: Would a co-created unique perfume concept be feasible in London? In answering this research question, the data from participants would be used to determine whether the customers would like such a product and whether they’d be willing to pay a little premium to cater for the additional costs associated with intensive perfume design operations.

1.2.2 Research design

This research was quantitative research where data was collected using structured questionnaires. This research method was determined as being appropriate to facilitate ease of data collection and analysis from a relatively large sample. The research design was descriptive where it concentrated on determining whether the demand for Cenique Perfume would be higher among a certain section of the market or whether certain product features and price would be popular. This descriptive approach was necessary for reaffirming whether a segmentation strategy would be feasible and the identity of the persons to be targeted.

1.2.3 Sample

The sample size used was 60. Participants were 60 consumers who had been sourced from local perfume shops across London. 10 locations were used in sourcing for these participants in order to collect information from a wider range of consumers. The sampling approach was convenience sampling where from each of the 10 locations, the 6 consumers that were willing to participate in completing the questionnaire were involved. This sampling approach was determined to be convenient and effective in increasing the response rate where the researcher does not need to strain to contact a large number of people just to get the desired number of participants.

1.2.4 Research process and data analysis  

Data analysis was quantitative. Figures and frequencies were used. The main attention of the researcher was to note and interpret the strength with which certain ideas were being supported by the participants. For instance, where 70% stated that they’d be ready to pay a perfume design fee to get their unique fragrances, this was interpreted to mean that such a charge would be acceptable in the market and therefore to be charged. Similarly, where the larger percentage of persons in favour of the product were the younger but high income earners, it led to an interpretation that the best target group would be young women who are high income earners. The findings of the data analysis informed the marketing mix strategies outlined in the section below.

1.3 The marketing mix strategies

Even though the actual product is a tangible product (Cenique Perfume), the core product is uniqueness. This core product is to a significant extent a service as it entails the consumer being involved in co-creation and participating in the design of their most preferred scent. The marketing mix applicable is therefore the 4ps including product, price, place and promotion. Product refers to the actual product or service to be presented to the customers and includes both the core and the actual product (Hooley, Piercy and Nicoulaud, 2012). Place refers to the location of the business and elements relevant to accessibility to the organisation and its products (Kim et al. 2014). Price refers to the monetary value that is to be attached to each product or the amount each customer will have to pay to acquire the product (Kashani and Horovitz, 2005). Promotion refers to all forms of marketing communication emanating from the organisation with the goal of reaching out to the market (Helm and Gritsch, 2014). Each of these is explained in the subsections below.

1.3.1 Product

The product can be divided into two: the actual product or the element that provides utility to the customers; and the core product which stands for the psychological elements of the products (Hooley, Piercy and Nicoulaud, 2012). The core product is a concept that addresses the psychology of the consumer and can be different even where the actual product is quite common (Kim et al. 2014). It is often created through perceptions about the product and the brand. The actual product is therefore characterised by fragrances or scents that the customer likes and is uniquely reflecting their tastes. This is different from those in the shelves where the customer has to accommodate the best scents available.

The actual product will comprise of perfumes. These will have been customised to suit the unique tastes of each of the customers. A database detailing the ingredient set for each of the customers will then be maintained where the customer will have the option of either buying the same product she bought the last time or participating in a new product design process to create a different one. The core product is uniqueness. This will have the effect of invoking a sense of the customer being special. They’ll not only feel gratified about consuming a product that is only uniquely suited to them but also give them pride that they have what it takes to be trendsetters in discovery of new products.

The rationale for the actual and the core products outlined is the finding of unmet needs in the market. The customised perfumes target the upper class and charge very high prices for the products. The non-customised perfumes on the other hand target the mass market and are able to charge lower because they can engage in mass production. This leaves the middle class that would want customised products at a reasonable price with unmet needs. Cenique is intent on tapping into this unmet demand and provide the market with affordable customised perfumes in which the customers experience the thrill of being the sole determinant of how their products will be like. This is therefore a unique concept that is expected to be very popular in the market.

1.3.2 Price

Price is a reflection of value and it’s therefore important that this psychological property be reflected in the price an organisation charges for its products. This is according to Kashani and Horovitz (2005) who states that in conventional consumer psychology on price, the superior products are expected to be more expensive than inferior products. However, price alone is not the determinant of superiority as consumers are likely to make independent evaluations of these products to determine that the price matches with quality (Helm and Gritsch, 2014). Value addition is also accompanied by requirement for a price premium depending on the perception of the consumer on the value added.

In the case of Cenique Perfume, the idea of uniqueness is a concept attributed to premium brands. This means that the pricing needs to be above the price of the common perfumes that are stocked in retail outlets. On the other hand, the company will be targeting the middle class; meaning that pricing ought to be lower than that of the premium products that have been known to target the upper classes. The price range shall therefore be between £50 and £70 for a 100ml bottle. The premium over the average perfume prices is to cater for value addition: uniqueness and satisfaction in participating in the perfume design process.

1.3.3 Place

The business will be located in London, along Regent Street. This location is appropriate because it is frequented by a large population of high income earners and it would therefore be easy to arrange for appointments to develop their unique perfumes. But being located could be a source of disadvantage as consumers may be unwilling to travel from other parts of London or the UK just to visit the company premises and design their unique fragrances. In the research outcome, most consumers stated that they’d rather buy something from near them even if it was not exactly what they wanted as opposed to travelling long distances to get it. But they’d be willing to wait a few hours to have their preferred product delivered to them. This weakness will be remedied by organising highly publicised promotion events in which temporary laboratories will be circulated to specific locations at a time. The consumers in different parts of London and the UK will have the opportunity to experiment and develop their own fragrances. The formula for each of them will be preserved and the consumers could subsequently call or purchase online for repurchase and the product will be delivered to them. The locational weakness will therefore be overcome by investing in delivery services and intensifying perfume design tours across the UK.

The place strategy above is expected to deliver on a cost leadership strategy where the operating costs are maintained at the bare minimum. Highly publicised tours shall be conducted for purposes of designing products for customers who are away from the business premises but subsequent orders shall be done online and delivery done within 48hrs. This model will ensure that the customers can easily access the company products while also ensuring that this ease of access does not become a hindrance to the organisation’s ability to price its products competitively.

1.3.4 Promotion

The promotional strategy will revolve around the concept of emotional branding. Emotional branding is implemented by seeking to associate a brand with a set of feelings or emotions (Ratiu and Avram, 2013). This creates an emotional connection between the organisation and the brand and it often leads to high levels of brand loyalty among the consumers. The feelings to be brought out in branding Cenique Perfumes will be associated with confidence, uniqueness, and the feeling of one being special. This is consistent with the core product where each perfume will have been modified to suit the unique tastes of each consumer.

Promotion also applies to the communications made by the company including advertisement, publicity and public relations. Publicity takes the form of the organisation being mentioned in discussions or taking part in causes that introduce it to the consumers (Venkatesan et al. 2015). Publicity will be an important tool that will be used and the organisation shall be very active in promoting discussions on the possible side-effects of using perfumes that are not compatible with different skin types. This will raise sensitivity on the need for one to consult the experts (at Cenique) and get to design a product that will have no negative impact on their health.

Advertisements and event marketing will be conducted through many avenues. One of these will be outdoor advertisements. These will be banners and posters that will be placed strategically to reach as many customers as possible. Word of mouth marketing will also be used extensively with satisfied customers encouraged to refer their friends to the organisation. Word of mouth is known to be the most effective form of  marketing and it is expected that it will yield impressive results because the source of information tends to be independent and with no vested interests (Groeger and Buttle, 2014). Word of mouth is expected to work because once a customer has been provided with a fragrance they strongly like, they are likely to want to seek approval from their friends and in the process tell them about the organisation that has made it possible for them to access it.

2. Advertising report

The advert for Cenique perfumes shall be as displayed in the figure below. 

Advertisements are designed to draw the attention of the consumer to a given product or brand. As the market gets flooded with advertisements, the consumer is bombarded with more information about products than never before. In spite of the advertisements being overwhelming, Fill (2013) notes that their effectiveness is significant among the consumers that get to notice them and understand the message being communicated. They do have an impact on the consumer in different ways including applying to the need recognition processes as well as internal and external information search processes in the consumer decision making process (Drewniany and Jewler, 2013). Advertisements can also be helpful in the post-purchase phase where each consumer needs to be assured that they have purchased the best possible product and they should be proud of their decision.

The internal information search process is influenced by advertisements in that when a consumer has been exposed to a message that has been communicated effectively; the information is stored in their memory (Parente, 2006). When need for a product or service arises, the first step is the internal information search where they draw from their memory. They are likely to remember advertising messages that they have seen in the past relating to their need and search for the organisation that had been advertised. But as Arens et al. (2011) points out, most advertisements are noticed by customers who already have the need. They have the greatest impact when exposed to persons who already need the products and services being advertised. This creates the rationale for strategic choice on where to display the advertisements. The marketer needs to carefully select the location where the advertisements are to be displayed. The Cenique advert above shall be displayed in busy locations known to be frequented by young ladies and also in magazines whose main niche comprises of the targeted persons. Some of these will include fashion magazines and topical papers that discuss issues of interest to the target customers.

For the message in a poster to be effectively communicated, there needs to be consistency where the imagery and the text communicate the same message. In the poster designed above, the theme is uniqueness and this term has been repeated 4 times on the same poster. This repetition was deliberate to help in creating an association of uniqueness with the brand. The imagery is also a strong component of the message where there is picture of a confident-looking lady who is standing out from her surroundings. The lady is clearly the focal point in the picture with everything else in the background being blurred. This drives the attention of the audience to her. She’s not only standing out but is also looking content, confident and happy. She appears to be proud of her uniqueness. This reinforces the message being sent out.

Repetition in advertisements is not only applicable to the same advert being circulated heavily to have the audience exposed to the message several times (Lu et al. 2016). It also applies to the message in the poster itself. The different arguments presented in the poster are supposed to point towards the main theme or the central idea being communicated. In the Cenique poster above, the central theme is uniqueness. It is on the fact that each person is unique in their own right and that this uniqueness can best be brought out by Cenique which designs each perfume to suit the unique preferences of each customer.

The design of the poster exploits the social learning theory. This theory emphasises on using texts and images to bring out how someone ought to act, behave, or the attitude they should acquire (Arens, Weigold and Arens, 2011). It is commonly used with celebrity endorsement where a celebrity endorses a product and the consumers who want to be like that celebrity are moved towards purchasing these products. The same goal can be achieved through display of emotions that the target customers would want to be associated with. For instance, the Cenique poster above displays the image of an attractive lady who is content, happy and confident and is absolutely standing out as the centre of attention. The underlying message in the poster is that if the target customers want to enjoy the same feelings, they’d need to use customised perfumes and be unique as opposed to consuming what everyone else has access to in the retail outlets around them.

The use of different colours is informed by the need to attract the attention of the consumers and also draw the attention of the consumers to the specific message being portrayed. The sentence “You are unique as uniqueness can be” is black and in bold. This is a declaration of fact and it is bolded to emphasise the fact that this is an important part of the message. The use of blue, yellow, and red texts is also for the same purpose; emphasising the different messages being projected. In addition to this, the different colours make the poster colourful. As Pae et al. (2002) states, a colourful poster is 6 times more likely to attract attention than a monotonous and dull poster. This means that in addition to uniquely bringing out the message, using a mix of colours helps to draw the overall attention of the consumer to the posters. This increases their effectiveness.

3. Conclusion

The Cenique concept is expected to grow for the following reasons. Firstly, fragrances are highly personal in nature and people want to use perfumes that uniquely bring out their personality. There is no better way of bringing out one’s personality than by having a product uniquely designed for them. Secondly, the pricing model is affordable to the middle class. They only need to pay a little higher than they’d pay for the largely commoditised perfumes for them to enjoy this. Thirdly, the marketing theme is one that is attractive. Uniqueness is an obvious part of every person and they’d want to bring it out whenever possible. The advertisements are therefore likely to either draw on existing need or lead to need recognition: both outcomes leading to a surge in demand.

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