Introduction of the " Company ' L ' Occitane en Provence " on the U.S. market (2008-2009)

Résumé du document

Beauty and skin care products in the American market represent a huge market where the competition is very strong and dominated by multinational leadership groups.
But we can find niche segments in this market and it's an opportunity for small and medium sized French companies.

Indeed, the population is strongly targeted concerning ethnic criteria and there exists some geographical offering to first enter points.
Consequently it permits for L'Occitane to improve its brand image and its turnover.
L'Occitane, a French company and more particularly ‘Provencal' is present in the American market for 13 years.

The company is growing in this niche market already established by the Britain giant ‘the body chop'.
Moreover, the natural market products have become trendy in the last few years and American consumers are more worried about their health.

This study will permit to assess the weaknesses and the strengths of the brand L'Occitane and the US cosmetic market.
We will examine different point as:

Extraits

[...] The opening of new shops is an important matter for L'Occitane in order to increase the purchase and to make people know about this brand. L'Occitane shops are located in very big cities but the issue is that smaller cities do not have the same expectations and the same financial resources. To make this project efficient, L'Occitane will have to bring about important and strong investments. This popularization will lead to another brand image less important. Indeed, products will be accessible for all the people, that is to say, it won't be a luxury brand any more Recommendations regarding distribution channels Indirect channels: As L'Occitane has a selective distribution, we purpose to set up an intensive distribution because this brand wants to increase its customer's data. [...]

[...] Finally, may be ‘“L'Occitane' can be commercialized in pharmacies, because that could be in accordance with the natural and medical image of the brand. Direct channels: The best recommendation is to be more present and follow the actual strategy of the company by using its own means of distribution with opening new shops and being present in more cities in the US Brand and product positioning The Body Shop: This company proposes 21 items in Lip care and 6 items in eye care. [...]

[...] - Continuous Improvement, Openness and Enterprise: the creation of the L'OCCITANE Foundation in 2006 has given further impetus to the efforts undertaken over the last 30 years. L'Occitane has different range of products: In all products, L'Occitane uses natural ingredients such as: Almond, apple, amber, cherry, grape, lavender, olive orange, vanilla, cotton and others General presentation of the product We decided to choose a facial skincare range and more particularly Eye & lip care. In this range products such as lips glosses with different flavors, eye balms with different ingredients, eye serum and eye treatment will be provided. [...]

[...] The company adopted a pull strategy and not a push strategy because of the position and because the company is placed in a niche market (no special offer). The company tries to communicate in its own shops to touch its own customers. But the company has to be more visible, and the newspapers are the best way. So the company has to stay in the same strategy of communication. To Conclude The American market is a huge stake concerning the success of a brand which wants to be present worldwide. [...]

[...] Introduction of the company ‘L'Occitane en Provence' in the US market (2008-2009) 1. Executive summary (one-page summary of the report) This report deals with how the company L'Occitane introduced its product in the American market. Firstly, the company made a short presentation of the company with its product and a description of the American market. We check all the main elements before introducing a company into a market: By analyzing: - The segmentation - The evolution of trends - Competitors - Customers' behavior - Legal administrative barriers Thanks to these studies, we have understood many things about the American cosmetics market and the fact that there are lots of opportunities and several weaknesses. [...]