You head the marketing department for a retail franchise that hand manufactures and sells beauty and haircare products for a high-end market. The franchise is called Essence Lifestyle. The company is introducing a new skincare product line that will revolutionize the skincare market and industry. The company has its own stores in selected malls in South Africa and as the director, you are also responsible for ensuring that the brand is represented carefully and that the level of service is consistent in every one of the stores. 

 

Question 1 

An Introduction to Retail Marketing

 Knowing your customers is vital when designing a market offering, as various factors influence their purchase decisions and behaviour. Based on how the stores are situated and whom you target, critically evaluate your main target market's lifestyle and provide five reasons why they specifically shop at Essence Lifestyle.

 Question 2 

Customer Relationship Management in the Supply Chain

 Loyal customers are the lifeblood of any business. Customers must be nurtured, looked after, contacted regularly and appreciated. But customers do not automatically become loyal to a brand or a retailer.

 From a marketing perspective, a 2-to-3-page mini quality management strategy that illustrates how you will WOW!! your current and potential target market with this new product line.

 

Question 3 

Product and Branding Strategies 

 Because markets, technologies, and consumer needs and wants are constantly changing, marketers have no choice but to stay ahead of the game by maintaining a constant pipeline of new products. Identify any five steps of the new product development process that directly affect your department, and demonstrate your role in these steps in ensuring that the new skincare product line is successful. Note: In your demonstration, consider the relationships you have built with your current customers, the kind you want to foster with potential customers, and how you can use these relationships to benefit and develop the organization. Think of your brand strategy and its impact through this process.

 

Question 4

Integrated Marketing Communication and Retail Marketing Strategy 

 A retailer's promotion mix (or marketing communications mix) is used to "persuasively communicate customer value and build customer relationships" (Kotler & Armstrong, 2016). Select any one of the five major promotion tools and suggest two methods of promotion using your selected tools and illustrate how these would be effective in promoting the new product line