Executive summary
Most consumers of shampoo are influenced by the features of the product. These features form the most important factor in determining the quality and thus affecting the consuming pattern. It is consumed mostly by the young and energetic population segment most of them who will be showing off. Due to the increase and growth of consumerism, L’Oreal Shampoo Company should come up with a shampoo that makes young men and women move with time thus increasing consumption and production. It should also target rural folks who are currently poor consumers. Consumer behavior in the consumption of Shampoo anywhere in the world is influenced by social factors, Personal factors, and Psychological factors.
Overview of the company
L’oreal Shampoo company is a company that manufactures and distributes several products to various consumers in the market. Some of the products this company engages in distributing are skincare, cosmetics, hair-care, and many products. A shampoo one of the products that the company manufactures is used in hair care. The company has its home in Paris and has various marketing strategies including online shopping where customer can choose the product and the product are delivered to him after paying through electronic acceptance modes( Keegan and Green, 2002, 329).
Problems associated with marketing the product
Various problems have been experienced while marketing this product in the market. The shampoo has many competitors in the market and these competitors are always lower in price and some of them have a negative impact on the air of people. Unfortunately like any fashion product the marketing celebrity used in the promotion of products are usually thin and blonde. This creates a bad attitude towards the product by some of the consumers who view the product as being for specific group of people (Kotler, 2005, pp.182).
Many parents are discouraging their children from using the shampoo because once teenage children are exposed to pictures of skinny models who apply the shampoo they intend to behave the same when they start using the shampoo. This has created conflict among parents and their children a fact that is not desirable while marketing the product. A shampoo can be used both by men and women but promotional is usually carried out by tiny, skinny, and blond ladies. Another problem that has been experienced in the past while marketing the product is the viability of close substitutes in the market these substitutes take up a large part of the market for the product (Winer, 2007, pp. 126).
A shampoo is a luxury product that is purchased once a customer has satisfied human basic needs and luxury products are affected by wealth distribution and income levels of the consumers (Schaik, 2002, pp.126). The economic downtown, that is taking place in the world today has played an important role in affecting demand for shampoo in the market. No doubt the product market share has come down not because of the activity of the competitor but the economic variable of the product(Armstrong & Kotler, 2007, pp.289).
Consumers of shampoo are greatly influenced by social factors like status and family background groups. When one goes to the market to purchase a product he will take consideration to his membership groups, social class, and family. These are groups having a direct influence on one buying decisions (Keegan and Green, 2002, pp.332). People who are in the same social class share similar values, interests, and behavior. Age and life cycle stage greatly influence the consumer buying behavior of almost all products from all industries. But those who are newly married, young and better of financially prefer buying consume different products. In making the final decision of buying a product one’s ,characteristics like his age and life-cycle stage, lifestyle, occupation, economic circumstances and personality will influence his choice (Schaik, 2002 pp. 129). Companies take much consideration to the personal characteristics of various groups of people before coming up with a product to meet the needs and demands of its people. A child growing up and exposed to some values like material comfort, external comfort and achievement and success will be influenced by those characteristics to consume (Armstrong & Kotler, 2007, pp. 290).
Perception: once a person has been motivated he is willing and ready to act. Most people to be motivated to act will depend mostly on their perceptions of the situation. Two people in the same motivated state may act differently depending on how they perceive the situation. A product may appeal to the perception of a specific customer (Keegan and Green, 2002, pp. 229).
Beliefs and attitudes: most people follow some set of beliefs when deciding on the type of product to consumer. A belief about a certain product will also influence consumption. These beliefs make up brand images and most people have been proved to act on these images. People always have good attitude towards specific products and if this product meets the performance according to the needs, desire and attitudes consumption will be influenced (Ries, and Trout, 2006, pp. 424).
Recommendations for future improvements
In order to improve future market share the company should try to pack the product intro smaller units which can be accessed by people with low income levels especially in Africa and Asia. The company should enter into collaborations with other companies which will ensure that there is production and distribution of the product in the third world countries such as in Africa, part of Asia, and Latin America. Their continents are not the population in the distribution of shampoo because shampoo is only known by those living in towns. The rural folks do not see the need of buying ads using shampoo because of costs. However, if production is structured in a manner that is affordable to those people in those continents then its products will be consumed in large numbers and they will increase in large numbers (Winer, 2007, pp. 126).
References
Armstrong G. & Kotler P. (2007). Consumer Markets: Influences on consumer behavior: Principles of Marketing, pp. 272-292
Keegan and Green (2002); Global Marketing Management; Prentice Hall. pp.326-339
Kotler, P. (2005) Principles of Marketing. New York, Melbourne Press, pp. 170-194
Ries, A., Trout, J. (2006), Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, McGraw-Hill Inc., New York, NY, pp. 421-426
Schaik J.L., (2002); The Task of Marketing Management; (Pity) ltd, pp. 124-138
Winer, R.S. (2007). Marketing Management, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ pp.125-126