L'Oréal's Digital Marketing Strategy

The assignment examines L'Oreal's successful implementation of digital marketing strategies. It highlights the company's use of technology to reach consumers and drive product sales through various online platforms. The analysis also considers how L'Oreal adapts to changing consumer preferences by continuously introducing innovative technological products. References from academic journals and reputable online sources are included to support the discussion.

Digital marketing plan

INDEX
Index
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................1
1. SWOT analysis of L'Oreal and the impact of digital market cosmetic industry.....................1
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................4
2. Comparison of L'Oreal on the basis of digital presence and store presence:..........................4
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................6
Digital marketing plan for L'Oreal luxury and active cosmetic division....................................6
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................11
4.Methods used to evaluate, monitor and measure the effectiveness of the plan: ...................11
Conclusion : ..................................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Digital marketing is an marketing of products with the use of electronic device or an internet.
Various digital channels such as social media, email, search engines, and other websites(Bampo
and et.al., 2008). Digital marketing has change the whole game of marketing it has proved
beneficial as in less time the information can be passed to a large number of peoples
simultaneously. The study highlight role of digital marketing in cosmetic industry. The company
which is taken in the study is L'Oreal. It is a multinational company which deal in cosmetic
products. They target the upper middle class women. There are various challenges face by the
company due to change in the digital environment. The study uses the swot analysis for the
environmental analysis of the company. The study uses various tools and techniques for the
comparison of digital and store presence. It explains the use of different channels in marketing of
L'Oreal.
Task 1
1. SWOT analysis of L'Oreal and the impact of digital market cosmetic industry
Strength
 L'Oreal is the largest cosmetic company
in the world. It provides their product
to 130 countries.
 Wide range of market create different
area to attract the customer.
 Different channels of communication
like social media, emails, television and
radio helps to expand the business and
capture the interest of customer.
 Wide range of beauty product like face
wash, shampoo, cream, soap etc.
 Research and development programme
bring innovation in the organisation.
L'Oreal produces innovative and unique
Weakness
 L'Oreal highly depends on their
suppliers for raw material and also have
to depend upon the third party sales
agents.
 There are so many companies in the
field of cosmetics and beauty product.
 Cosmetic industry are too dynamic.
The consumer preference regarding to
the colour, fragrance and other features
change rapidly.
 L'Oreal heavily invest in research and
development department to know the
consumer preference which increases
1

beauty products for the customer. their cost and reduce the profit margin.
Opportunities
 Huge market of United Kingdom can
be an opportunity for the L'Oreal
company to grow in the market and
target the upper middle class women.
 Advance technology help to explore the
market of L'Oreal.
 There is strong demand in the organic
product in the market. L'Oreal can
expand its business to organic products.
 The growing environment problem like
increasing pollution, the harmful ultra
violate rays and the skin problem of
excessive use of cosmetic product etc.
increases the demand of cosmetic
product among the women.
 L'Oreal can easily expand their
business in other beauty industry like
personal care product because of its
brand expansion in whole world.
 L'Oreal has large number of share in
the market because various patents is
registered by the L'Oreal.
Threats
 Increasing global economic crisis is
threat for the L'Oreal company. It can
reduce the profitability and productivity
of the company.
 The changing consumer demand and
taste may be threat for the L'Oreal
because it forces the company to
develop new product with the regard of
safety and security.
 Increasing the use of herbal and
cosmetic products and competitors in
the market can be a threat for L'Oreal
because now women are more focus on
health and safety aspect.
 L'Oreal acquires the numerous
company. Loss of one company can
affect the whole business of L'Oreal.
2

Digital presence of company : There are various types of marketing channel such as producer
to customer, producer to retailer to consumer, producer to wholesaler to retailer to customer,
producer to agent/broker to wholesaler or retailer to customer, producer of the product, user of
the product(Siguaw, J.A. and Simpson, P.M., 2015.).
The above is the traditional method which is used in practice from a long time. But now the
digital marketing channel has mitigate the time taken in the process of advertising. Now the
modes used for advertising are search engines, social media, email, mobile applications and
websites. The main aim of digital marketing is to target the niche.
The digital marketing is benefiting the L'Oreal in many ways and the company is also making
best use of it. The company is using social media
For mass communication: The company is using social media to promote the product on large
scale. They are also working with the local and global influencer in order to built the appropriate
and attractive content for posting on Facebook and Instagram.
Personalization through digitalization:
L'Oreal is ahead of its competitors the company has used the application known as VELEZA
which is the app for beauty lovers. They have also start offering the personalized products , the
scientific team has created a signature products , the product was labelled with the customer
name and the delivery of the product is done directly to the customer's home.
Using influencer in order to attract consumers: L'Oreal signed five beauty bloggers in
September 2016, to create the online content which helps them to attract new customer's. By
adopting this method L'Oreal is successful in attracting new customers and retaining the
existing as people get influenced by this personalities.
Impact of digital marketing on cosmetic industry:
The digital environment created a huge impact on the cosmetic industry just like any other
industry. Over the past few years several technologies have been introduced such as artificial
intelligence, 3D printing, blockchain , facial recognition , contactless shopping and augmented
reality (AR) which is used by now by every sector, beauty product brand has also introduced
various apps which enable customer to reach to new level(Ashley, C. and Tuten, T., 2015.). As
consumer now are addicted to technology as the use of smartphones is increasing day by day.
3

The boundaries between the real world and virtual world is almost negligible. Various smart
devices have been introduced in the past few years such as L'Oreal smart hairbrush which check
the hair quality and states the effect of different hair care routines. Neutrogena 360 which check
your skin and recommend the product accordingly(Tuten, T.L. and Solomon, M.R., 2017).
Beauty brand s are using consumers in order to promote their product and know their likes and
dislikes. Apps are now becoming personal assistant it is making shopping more personalized(5
Types of Digital Marketing: Which one is Right for Your Business?, 2009).
Task 2
2. Comparison of L'Oreal on the basis of digital presence and store presence:
There are various challenges faced by companies in today's world due to change in the
technology. Now the customer prefer online shopping rather than going to the stores in such the
efforts have to be put by the companies in order to attract the customers toward the stores. The L'
Oreal has changed its marketing style from traditional to modern method with the change in the
market and the consumer attitude. The company also in bricks and mortar business, which
means the company has its retail stores across the world.
Digital presence Store presence
 The online platform used by the
L'Oreal i.e., Facebook, Instagram ,
twitter, snapchat, and youtube helps in
increasing the number of customers and
promoting the products on a large scale
at a time. For instance: L'Oreal
conducted a social media campaign
known as #POWERON in order to
promote haircare products via the social
media platform. The online platform
breaks the physical barriers. There is no
need to decide the location, or the area
and no banners and posters are to be
 The supply chain of the L'Oreal
company includes producer to
customer, product to wholesaler to
retailer to customer, and producer to
retailer to customer.
 While the L'Oreal store is able to attract
the customer's who come to their store
or people passing through the street, or
living nearby.
 The store is opens for the maximum 8-
10n hours and is closed on Sundays.
 But the online stores are best if the
individual need the product urgently
4

prepared in order to attract the
customer.
 Loreal has also introduced mobile
application known as “Make up
Genius” which shows the customer
how the makeup will look on their face
by using the facial mapping
technology. It gives a trial display of
the product before buying.
 The L'Oreal is giving its services 24
Hours and operating for the all 365
days
 There is a delay between purchase and
consumption as the delivery takes few
hours or even days.
 The search cost is lower as the
company has its site which make easier
for the customer to search the product
 which they need. The sites also
recommends the product for the
customer. Reviews also provide help to
the customer in order to select the
product according to their satisfaction.
 The profit of digital marketing was
recorded to be 40.6% and is expected to
grow about 11%.
you do not have to wait for the services.
 In order to expand there business
L'Oreal is there is not much difference
in the profit earned through online as
well as offline mode.
 The L'Oreal is expanded over the world
providing its services in 130 countries
and dealing with 27 brands. The
L'Oreal includes Garnier, Maybellline
New York are some of the brands.
 L'Oreal stores has the beauty advisors ,
the advisors are basically is an
application run on the device such as
Nail genius and make up genius in
order to improve customer experience.
The advisors assist the customer while
purchasing of the beauty products.
L'Oreal is grabbing the opportunities with its innovation. L'Oreal has also been running its
offline supply chain successfully the company now has its own retail locations with the brand
name.
5

Task 3
Digital marketing plan for L'Oreal luxury and active cosmetic division
L'Oreal : L'Oreal UK is the 5th largest subsidiary company of L'Oreal. It was established in
1932. L'Oreal provides variety of beauty products to the customer according to their need, skin
tone and colour. It provides both healthcare and beauty product. The products of L'Oreal are deal
in different area like healthcare, haircare, make up and men beauty product.
L'Oreal active cosmetic division : L'Oreal active cosmetic includes those brand which are sold
in healthcare outlets including drug store, medi-spas and pharmacies. They include various brand
like La Roche-Posay, Vichy and shinCeuticals.
L'Oreal luxury cosmetic Division : luxury cosmetic division Focus on the beauty products for
different skin tones like for brown skin, white skin and black skin. They are highly costlier
production the market (Kannan, 2017).
Basis Luxury cosmetic division Active cosmetic division
Products  In luxury cosmetic division
product L'Oreal focus on the
beauty product to enhance the
beauty of its customer
including both male and
female. The products are
L'Oreal infallible make up
foundation, L'Oreal Paris
infallible mono eyeliner,
mascara, L'Oreal resist and
shine titanium nail paint etc.
 L'Oreal sale their products
through the digital media like
by using of internet, digital
video, television, digital
 In active cosmetic division
different products come which
mainly focus on the healthcare
of the customer like L'Oreal
face mask, natural concealer,
natural foundation, L'Oreal eye
liner and Kajal, L'Oreal Men
Expert white active oil control
cream, CeraVe, acne free,
L'Oreal Active daily Moisture
Lotion, L'Oreal skin perfect
cream, L'Oreal Hydra fresh
Genius,
6

display screen etc.
Situational analysis of L'Oreal luxury and active cosmetic division
L'Oreal Luxury cosmetic division
 Strength : The strength of the luxury division is that they target the high income group
customer and the high income group customer never want to compromise with their life
style and status (Girchenko, Ovsiannikova, 2016). The luxury cosmetic product reach to
the customer through the digital marketing. They purchase the product directly from the
company websites.
 Weakness : Luxury cosmetic division products are highly costlier product. The lower
and middle income level group consumer not able to buy this. L'Oreal provides their
product only to limited area.
 Opportunities : They can enhance their business through digital marketing via social
media, mass communication and emails.
 Threats : increase the competition in beauty product like the growth of Maybelline,
MAC cosmetic, Lakme etc.
L'Oreal Active Cosmetic Division
 Strength : Active cosmetic division target those customers who are highly concern about
their health and skin. This kind of customer are ready to buy the healthy beauty product
at any cost. They can see the ingredients of the product on the websites.
 Weakness : The product are limited in number and customer only demand the herbal and
natural product which protect their skin from the side effects and hazardous disease.
 Opportunities : The beauty trend in men was also increased. They can target the male
segment with more healthcare product.
 Threats : Increasing the growth of natural and herbal product in the market.
Segmentation, targeting and positioning
L'Oreal Luxury cosmetic
division
L'Oreal Active Cosmetic division
Segmentation They will segment the market on They will segment the market on
7

demographic basis like they can
segment on the basis of income
level, age group, gender etc.
L'Oreal have to segment the
market according to the income
level (Teixeira and et.al., 2018).
geographical and demographical
basis. They can target the women
and 25 to 40 age group customers.
They have to segment the market
according to the awareness of the
people.
Targeting
They will target the young age
group people because they are the
most influencing customer and
more concern about their looks
and beauty. In this they have to
target the higher upper class
income group consumer. They also
have to target the film industry,
airline staff and hotel management
staff.
They will use the niche marketing
for their product. They will target
the 25 to 40 age group women.
They have to target the upper
middle and higher class consumer,
in which those consumers who are
more concern about their skin and
health.
Positioning
To position their product in
consumer mind they have to focus
on the life style, status and through
the brand image.
To position in consumer mind they
have to focus on the healthier and
herbal product, hire more efficient
pharmacists to get the more
skincare solution.
7 P's of marketing
Marketing in cosmetic company change day by day because of the change in consumer
preference and fashion trend. If the company don't change their marketing plan than they are not
able to exist in the market(How to use the 7Ps Marketing Mix, 2018.).
L'Oreal Luxury cosmetic
division
L'Oreal Active Cosmetic division
8

Product They will use some quality
standard benchmark which can
help the consumer to measure the
quality of the product. They will
use the ISO 9001 certificates for
quality measurement (Stephen,
2016). They have to meet the
consumer need by providing them
more beauty product like
increasing the range of beauty
product for men.
The packaging of the product will
help to attract the women. They
will use such colours like green
which relate the product to the
nature. They have to increase the
more natural product which protect
the skin.
Price They will use the premium product
price strategy. Luxury cosmetic
division are costlier to the active
cosmetic. The high price make
them assure that they are safe in
the market.
They will use the penetration
pricing strategy in which firstly
they set the low price of their
product to capture the attention of
consumer and after gain the market
share they can increase their prices
to earn the higher profit. The stable
price of the product in the category
of active cosmetic division helps to
increase the sales and they can use
the doctors and pharmacist for their
promotion plan.
Place They will use the direct channel
for reducing the cost. They directly
contact with customer through the
social media, websites and emails.
They will use the indirect channel
like they can contact the whole-
sellers, then whole-sellers to
retailers etc. It helps the customer
to get the product easily on
different retail store.
9

Promotion They have to use mass
communication method for
promoting their product and aware
the consumer about the variety of
beauty product for different skin
tone like brown, black and white
skin.
They have to do some campaign in
different places like social
networking sites such as Facebook,
Instagram, twitter etc. to aware the
consumer about the healthcare and
different skin texture product like
products for dry, oily and ruff skin.
Physical evidence They have to use some online
ways to get the review of the
customer like they can use emails
and attach some comment box on
their official sites so customer can
give their review on the sites and
through emails company can
contact the customer and resolve
their problem.
They will use some feedback form
to know the review about the
product and through the form they
can easily understand the problem
of consumer. They also have to
attach some pdf file with the
product promotion which help the
customer to find the product
ingredients and there effects and
their usage.
People They have to use the right people
for promotion and sales of the
product like they can use the film
star and celebrities in there
promotional activities (Ryan,
2016).
They have to use some
knowledgeable person in
promotion of the product who can
describe the effects of the cosmetic
products on skin and how to
overcome them.
Process They will set the budget of the
company and
10

Budget for the L'Oreal luxury cosmetic product
Basis L'Oreal Luxury cosmetic
division
L'Oreal Active Cosmetic division
Salary $500 $400
Marketing expenses $250 $200
Transportation cost $200 $250
Miscellaneous $350 $300
Total $1300 $1150
Monitoring and controlling strategies
L'Oreal luxury cosmetic will use the benchmark, test marketing and key performance indicator
to monitor the performance of the company in the market and will solve the customer problems
to increase the sales.
L'Oreal active cosmetic will use the feedback form to monitor the performance of the product
in the market and review the form to solve the customer problem and increase the share in the
market.
Task 4
4.Methods used to evaluate, monitor and measure the effectiveness of the plan:
Evaluation of marketing plan:
Key performance indicator of our plan :
we want to expand our business through both the platform i.e., online and offline. In order to
measure the progress we will use various digital marketing and KPIs metrics such as brand
awareness, web traffic sources etc. With the help of the above discussed metrics we will measure
the outcome that whether the plan we have made is successful or not.
For the evaluation of our market plan performance the various metrics have been used :
Web traffic sources : This metrics measures that from which sources the peoples are visiting
your website i.e., from direct, referral or search. The use of this metrics is beneficial as it will
help to identify the sources which has created a huge revenue for our business. As we have to
11

evaluate that whether the plan is working or not this will be the best method to monitor
behaviour of the user.
Brand awareness: In order to know about that whether people is aware about the brand or not
the social media sites is tracked so that it can be find out that what amount of people has gone
through Facebook posts and the number of twitter followers. And there is an social media service
known as talk walker which help the companies to know that how many times the company
name has been mentioned online.
As there is no specific benchmark to compare brand awareness , the companies sets there
competitor performance as an benchmark to evaluate their performance. This metrics is
important as it helps the company to know that whether their product are reaching their target
customers. And to know the success of their promotion strategies.
Goal completion : This metrics is used in order to know that how many people have subscribed
to the mails or signing the trial . This also help in knowing that whether your campaign has been
proved successful or not. This will provide the company an idea that whether their plan is
efficient to apply in the market or need an correction.
Monitoring methods
Cost benefit Analyses
It is considered as one of the most effective strategy in order to monitor the overall
progress or success of marketing plan. L’Oreal plans to market its cosmetic products through
digital platform. Digital technologies no-a-days considered as one of the most effective
technique that helps organisation in making strong connection with mass audience and
communicating necessary information about products and services in cost effective manner. Firm
is planning to market its luxurious and active products through these digital techniques. In order
to monitor the success of marketing plan firm has to take support of cost benefit analyses. In this
enterprise can evaluate whether profit of particular products has been increased or not. Even it
has to look upon whether cost of marketing has been recovered by business or not. By using this
technique L’Oreal can get to know success of marketing plan.
L’Oreal is the leading cosmetic brand and has strong reputation in market. People trust on
its products and services to great extent. This marketing plan would be worthwhile for it and it
will be able to recover its cost soon. Cost benefit analyses will aid in knowing effectiveness of
12

digital marketing plan and finding improvement areas. This tool is used by many businesses in
order to make changes in their planning activities and meeting with the organisational goal.
Feedback system or test marketing
This is another great tactic to monitor the success of digital marketing plan of L’Oreal.
Company can take feedback of its potential buyer whether they like its products through this
digital tool or not. If their response is positive that shows overall plan of the organisation is
worthwhile, but if they have negative response that means company is required to make changes
in their planning and need to improve it to great extent. Test marketing is another monitoring
strategy, in which enterprise can launch its new product in the market for limited period of time.
It can sell to limited consumers as well, if they like the way of marketing and services of firm
that means it is effective planned L’Oreal should continue with it. But if people are not satisfied
with the process of digital marketing then it is required to think again and make necessary
changes in existing planning. This will help in improving the plan on right time and managing
cost of organisation as well. If it implements the digital marketing plan completely and response
of consumers gets negative then enterprise will have to bear huge loss, hence it is better to adopt
test marketing. That would support in controlling over cost and making modifications in the
digital plan that may in reaching to the target consumes in efficient manner.
Measuring methods
Tracking of sales
L’Oreal can track sales before this digital marketing plan and after implementation of
such digital marketing planning. The main agenda of L’Oreal is to raise its sales of luxurious and
active cosmetic products. By tracking the sales figure it can measure whether actual goal of
company is achieved or not. This is the best quantitative approach of measuring the success of
digital marketing plan. This is cost effective and time saving tool because it directs clearly to
what extent firm has reached to its target.
Conclusion :
The reason for the popularity and success of the digital marketing is because it provide various
benefits such as convenience to customers, easy accessibility, provide huge amount of
information,. It has also mitigate the length of the supply chain as earlier the product has to pass
through the various channels. Various tools and applications is taking into use by the companies
13

which is providing the professional guidance to the customers. The various social media
platforms is helping the company to promote their products and target the wide range of
customers. The company used in the study which is L'Oreal is making best use of the
technologies and in successful in marketing of the products through digital platform. With the
changing taste of the consumer the company is continuously introducing new technological
products in order to provide satisfaction to customers.
References
Ashley, C. and Tuten, T., 2015. Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory
study of branded social content and consumer engagement. Psychology & Marketing. 32(1).
pp.15-27.
Bampo and et.al., 2008. The effects of the social structure of digital networks on viral marketing
performance.Information systems research. 19(3). pp.273-290.
Girchenko, T. and Ovsiannikova, Y., 2016. Digital Marketing and its Role in the Modern
Business Processes.European Cooperation. 11(18). pp.24-33.
Kannan, P.K., 2017. Digital marketing: A framework, review and research agenda. International
Journal of Research in Marketing. 34(1). pp.22-45.
Ryan, D., 2016. Understanding digital marketing: marketing strategies for engaging the digital
generation. Kogan Page Publishers.
Siguaw, J.A. and Simpson, P.M., 2015. A marketing plan for marketing instruction: A satirical
look at student comments. In Creating and Delivering Value in Marketing (pp. 129-133).
Springer, Cham.
Smith, K.T., 2011. Digital marketing strategies that Millennials find appealing, motivating, or
just annoying. Journal of Strategic Marketing. 19(6). pp.489-499.
Stephen, A.T., 2016. The role of digital and social media marketing in consumer
behavior. Current Opinion in Psychology.10. pp.17-21.
Teixeira and et.al., 2018, June. Main factors in the adoption of digital marketing in startups an
online focus group analysis. In2018 13th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and
Technologies (CISTI) .(pp. 1-5). IEEE
14

Tuten, T.L. and Solomon, M.R., 2017. Social media marketing. Sage.
Online references :
How to use the 7Ps Marketing Mix. 2018. [online]. Available through
<https://www.smartinsights.com/marketing-planning/marketing-models/how-to-use-the-7ps-
marketing-mix/>
5 Types of Digital Marketing: Which one is Right for Your Business?. 2009.[online]. Available
through <https://www.digitalvidya.com/blog/five-types-of-digital-marketing/>
15