Global Marketing & Digital Business

This document discusses the impact of digital marketing on global marketing and the key cultural factors affecting it. It also explores the elements of marketing mix and their opposing arguments. The case study focuses on L'Oreal, a renowned cosmetic brand.

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GLOBAL MARKETING & DIGITAL BUSINESS
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Global Marketing & Digital Business 2
Table of contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
1. Data analysis based upon complex market problems as well as opportunities and applying
marketing theories...........................................................................................................................3
2. The key cultural factors and their impact upon global marketing...............................................5
3. The elements of marketing mix and their opposing arguments...................................................5
4. The concepts of digital marketing and global markets................................................................7
5. The scope of digital marketing in ecommerce and reasons for its adaptation.............................8
6. Implementation of digital marketing strategy..............................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Reference List................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
The advancement of technology and scientific approach has lead to the development in the
marketing techniques in this modern era. The concept of marketing has also changed from the
old traditional concept of marketing to the present novice one. The invention of modern gadgets
and media has made communication much easier. Therefore if one needs to create awareness
among the people about his product, it takes only a fraction of seconds. Digital marketing which
is almost directly related to global marketing amplifies the benefits to a larger extent. Digital
marketing depicts in making people aware of any product where the consumers get to know and
view the product at the same time. The popular brands invest a large amount of money in digital
marketing process through television and internet. In this project, the chosen brand is laurel and
light is shed upon to understand the strategies utilised by this company. It is also done to
undertake the impact of digital marketing and what competitive advantage it gains over other
similar brands due to undertaking of this particular approach.
L’Oreal is a French organisation founded in 1909 by Paul Louis. The main aim of this company
is to sell skin and hair care products. This is one of the largest cosmetic production companies
around the world. Three are various branches of L’Oreal situated around the world and it has
many shareholders.

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Figure 1: Logo of L’Oreal
(Source: L'Oréal - L’Oréal Group. 2017)
The issues of global marketing and digital business have been deeply affected the business of
L’Oreal. In case of digital business, buyers are happy to purchase products from online shopping
sites. However, from the previous research it has also been identified that buyers are facing
various problems regarding products delivery and price as well. In case of online purchasing the
customers are facing transaction problems. It has been understood by analysing the feedback of
the customers maximum complaints are about the product and their different prices. During
online purchase the products are unable to check physically and it makes different issues. One of
their customer has commented that the product is not same in real as it seen in websites; it is
completely different.
Moreover, the study of marketing indicates that it is not so easy to perform global marketing; the
companies have to deal with various environmental factors. Cultural and political factors are the
most important factors that can affect the business of an organisation. L’Oreal is facing
difficulties due to different culture, taste and attitude of the different customers. Political factors
are always a big issue for L’Oreal. In different countries have different political parties and they
are creating issues to run the business properly. L’Oreal has faced difficulties for selling same

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product in different countries due to the culture difference. Taste of the people is varying from
one country to another and it makes product selling less effective. It makes direct impact on
finical department of L’Oreal. Apart from these issues, global marketing has helped a lot to
L’Oreal for growing and establishing themselves around the world.
1. Data analysis based upon complex market problems as well as
opportunities and applying marketing theories
In order to make a particular product a reputed brand, an elaborated market research has to be
undertaken. The market research includes collection of data regarding market value, demand,
price of the product which further enhances the consumer demand for that particular product.
Based upon the data collected among other similar products and brands the company needs to
design the product and set price accordingly. To submit a report with proper data analysis the
market researchers may take various kinds of approaches such as quantitative and qualitative
analysis. Some of the market researchers of Laurel have also undertaken several surveys in order
to obtain the exact details from other similar company. Based upon the data gathered by the
company, the market researchers have implemented various kind of marketing theories to
extrapolate the statistical representation of it. For example the marketing theories implemented
by laurel are SWOT analysis and PESTEL analysis (Ananda, Hernández-García & Lamberti
2014). The result of these marketing theories has helped L’Oreal to establish itself as a brand.
The identification of weakness has helped to recognise the key factors that might help them in
overcoming the weakness and gain competitive advantage over other brand. The data analysts of
Laurel undertake qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis. However, mostly they have
focused upon the quantitative analysis. In qualitative analysis they went through a survey where
they have interviewed the managers of other five most reputed beauty brand. Among the five
interviewed, three of the managers have laid emphasis on digital marketing. Therefore it can be
seen that in modern times most of the business professionals like to invest a certain share of their
money in digital business. It is done so as according to them this would be the most certain and
reliable investments made which would possibly generate feedback. On quantitative analysis
they have undertaken a survey among the customers of those brands where questions were
forwarded to them and they were suppose to select the most suitable answer. This particular
approach especially helped them to understand their customers and their demand as well as their

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feedback. On comparing all the results together, L’Oreal has developed certain services of itself
which has made it one of the most reputed beauty brand.
According to the SWOT analysis of L’Oreal the following parameters were being identified
Strength- one of the best beauty brand: L’Oreal invests a large money in branding. It makes
renowned celebrity as their brand ambassador. This draws customers to a large extent. This
creates an impression on consumer mind that as they are represented by celebrities they must be
good products (Antoniadis & Charmantzi, 2016).
Innovative R&D: the research and development wing of the company comes up with innovative
skills such as use of least synthetic ingredients, sun protection formula and so on. The
professionals hire are sound professionals and the best of scientists.
Weakness- the products are not organic in nature. Now a day’s people are much more skin and
hair conscious. Although the L'oreal invests much more on R&D but maximum consumers are
inclined to organic skin care products.
Opportunity- as L’Oreal is a reputed brand, people still have craze for the product and they are
demanding for organic products from the same company. This expectation of their consumers is
a big opportunity for L’Oreal.
Threats- products are very expensive: due to the availability of reasonable price organic
products, consumers are less likely to purchase chemical products with a high price.
2. The key cultural factors and their impact upon global marketing
There are several key cultural factors which lay impact upon global marketing. For example
L’Oreal is a worldwide accepted branding which get a good response from customers worldwide.
Therefore while designing the product various aspects of different culture are being considered.
The main agenda of L’Oreal is to serve its customers with best cosmetics. Therefore thinking
about different parts of the world and customers L’Oreal has a wide range of products. For
example the specific shampoo it has come up with contains ingredients which suits hair texture
of people across the whole world. The makeup product it manufactures also has wide range of
colour combination so that it matches skin tone of people with different culture. L’Oreal has left
no scope to disappoint any of their culture oriented customers and the fashion frenzy community.
For example the shades of lipstick have a large number of colour options so that people can

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select product according to their culture and their preferences. Paying respect to every culture
and their lifestyle L’Oreal professionals have also conducted different survey and market
research. They invest more money and hire expensive R&D professionals so that they can deploy
their brain in manufacturing optimum cosmetic and beauty product depending upon the weather
and climate of any particular area or region. People are changing their lifestyles due to the
modernisation and globalisation. The changing life styles also bring a significant change in their
culture and beliefs (Bang & Hell, 2015). Therefore the company updates itself with the changing
lifestyle and culture of all the people and delivers quality service with latest products according
to consumer demand. The professionals of the company are continuously are in touch with their
valuable clients so that they can properly analyse the client's requirements to the exact point. The
most effective approach that the company has undertaken is that they have served a large number
of customers worldwide and have collected their feedback individually. May be the customer
have some specific requirement from a particular product or they have any issue to rise against
any particular product. All these responses are minutely recorded by the company before taking
any action (Bang & Hell, 2015).
Porter’s five forces can help to make L’Oreal more effective and it can help to understand the
different marketing threats. Threats of new entrants are medium threat for L’Oreal. The reason is
that L’Oreal is well established and old organisation. Brand loyalty of L’Oreal is effective
enough. The threats of new entrants are like new policies of government, new industry, capital
requirements; buyer’s loyalty can be included.
Threats for substitutes, in this step total, number of substitutes could be big issues for L’Oreal. In
case availability of same kind of products in the market can make the sales of L’Oreal less
effective.
Bargaining power of suppliers can be a big threat for L’Oreal. The reason is that raw material of
L’Oreal is the most important factor to make their product for selling. So the price of goods
could be increased. The management of L’Oreal must keep in mind about the cost management
of suppliers.
Threats of customers can be medium for L’Oreal. Customers can bargain for their products and if
they do not like the goods price tag then they can go for other company. So managers of L’Oreal
must put their product price tag effetely.

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Finally the threat of rivalry is a big threat for L’Oreal. The main rivalry of L’Oreal is
Maybelline.
The porter diamond model can help to understand the competitive advantages for L’Oreal. The
factors are like land, locations, resources and populations. Apart from these the most important
factor for competitive advantage are such as firm strategy, demand of the buyers and factors
conditions. All these above stated factors of porter’s diamond can help to know their main
challenges in market.
In case of growth for L’Oreal Ansoff matrix is inevitable. This theory can help to make
alternative marketing strategies for L’Oreal. For making the product strategies differently the
steps are such as-
Market penetration can help to grow the sales of L’Oreal by the previous offers in existing
market. It helps to increase the market share of L’Oreal. It also helps to increase product selling
and to find out new customers from market.
Market development can help to make new market in new location with existing offers of the
goods. The process such as – it needs to identify customers segmentation. Then it needs to gather
the information about the sold products for household purpose. It is necessary to understand the
foreign markets.
Product development- In this process L’Oreal can make new products for achieving extra growth
in market.
Diversification- In this process L’Oreal can introduce new offers and benefits for buyers. This is
a risky process where it is necessary to develop the market as well as products of L’Oreal.
All the above stated factors are important for making the marketing strategy more efficient of
L’Oreal.
3. The elements of marketing mix and their opposing arguments
The four Ps of marketing mix in case of L’Oreal are
Product: as discussed above the there are many other similar brands prove threat to this
particular brand because of its chemical ingredients and high price. However this product is
utilised opulently in many of the salon professionals for instant effect and professional purpose.
But it is worthy to mention that there are other higher price products which are organic in nature

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that is most likely to draw customers. Those other similar products give a competition to l'oreal
as because fast moving consumer market is very demanding and continually face rise and fall
according to market value.
Place: L’Oreal is a well known reputed brand whose products are famed and demanded by
whole world. More than 200 countries it has spread its business. Almost all pharmaceutical shops
and grocery outlets keep their products. The most purchasing products are shampoo, conditioner,
spa, lipstick and so on. Recently the company has launched kid’s products like shampoo and
soap which has popularity within a couple of days. Therefore it can be said that purchasing
L’Oreal product is not much difficulty for anybody.
Price: now the main impact of digital marketing lies upon its price of the products. The price of
the L’Oreal products is generally high. There are many offers and off season discounts rendered
for buying more than one products. All these offers are displayed on social sites and online
buying portal. Certain customers prefer to purchase these higher priced products on particular
occasions especially in off season deals and discounts. The company makes a good revenue
through these strategies. However consumers of this brand expect the price to go a bit low for
daily products such as shampoo.
Promotion: as already said L’Oreal is a well known reputed brand therefore there is no need of
undertaking any special promotional strategies. However calling off season discounts can be
considered as a promotional strategy. And in some cases on any new product launch small free
samples are distributed can salons to obtain a large order.
The major factors played role in standardization of L’Oreal product are management,
competition, environmental and consumer needs. More or less each of these parameters are
discussed in the above sections. Standardization of L’Oreal marketing mix is advantageous
among other similar companies. The main objective behind standardization is to increase sales,
decrease in production cost, more profit and so on. There is another alternative which overcome
the difficulties. It is called adapted marketing mix. In order to penetrate the market and become
established, it is very important to get adapt to the market. This is applicable for both large and
small firms as customers desire their home product of their requirement to be present in the
market.

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4. The concepts of digital marketing and global markets
The global markets have adjusted themselves to the latest technologies and approaches therefore
they have already shifted their concepts from the old traditional marketing to digital marketing.
The company make advertising of their products on social media, online markets as well as
newspaper. One interesting feature of L’Oreal is that they make the advert in such way that
demonstration of the product usage automatically occurs with audio and visual presentation.
Moreover they hire celebrity brand ambassador whose presence and representation serves cent
percent objective of advert. On the other hand it can be seen that the consumers are made to feel
more important when they are sent email alert or message alert about ant product launch and
their presence is invited. The most common digital marketing tools used by the company are as
follows (Fichman, Nambisan & Halpern, 2014)
Social media: in recent days most of the people are connected to social media. Therefore this is
a big opportunity for the company to invite people there to their official page where every
product details are mentioned. Similarly this also helps in their advertising indirectly. For
example if they like any particular new product, then they can even share the product with their
friends and recommend them to buy the product. This can help in their marketing.
Television: the most lucrative attractive way is demonstrated via television. The popular
celebrities advertise the product as they have used them personally and this creates a lasting
impression on people mind. Hence they themselves want to use it personally.
Email alert: the company maintains good bonding with some of their fixed customers therefore
the say send email and sums alert. In email they attach the colourful multimedia presentation
which makes the customers want the product (Greer, Lusch & Hitt, 2017).
Blog: the company maintains its own official website where the users are asked to give their
reviews. Many users have written blog on the new product launched and their personal opinion
about them. Based upon the performance the product is rated with multiple numbers of stars.
Video tube: certain demonstrations of the products are demonstrated over video tube and the
particular video is being uploaded for everyone to observe. People view the video and share in
social media promoting the brand (Tiago & Veríssimo, 2014).

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5. The scope of digital marketing in ecommerce and reasons for its adaptation
The concept of digital marketing is a very new approach in the field of globalisation. New
information sources are available for clients of L’Oreal. Hence the purchasing behaviour of the
clients is easily identified. Internet is considered as vector in buying process. According to some
scholars, inbound marketing can be indirectly related to digital marketing as the old traditional
marketing is quite undesirable for the web technology users. There are many limitations in
traditional marketing and most of which are non functional. The conservation rate is very high
although the traditional process of marketing still the effective outcome is very promising. In old
traditional process no people would have become alert about any new product launch. People
really didn't want to shift from their daily use product or they didn't have any urge to use any
new product. But with the development of digital advertising a lasting impression is being
created on people's mind and people are much more alert of selecting the best product among
similar product (Järvinen & Karjaluoto, 2015).
6. Implementation of digital marketing strategy
Initially the digital marketing strategy had been initiated after taking certain feedback from
customer and studying the customers. In that particular survey it was found that most consumers
ask for a product demonstration after buying a product. Hence this problem is resolved to a large
extent as in digital advertising the customers get to know every product details along with free
demonstration visually (Killian & McManus, 2015). So when the first digital marketing of the
company had started it got a very good response at the same time they the company was more
influenced to carry on the project further with complete support from its customer. Through
digital marketing the popularity of social networking sites and online markets gained much more
importance as whole revenue increased at a drastic amount. The people are much more
developed and modernized these days and they mostly opt for digital technology to help in
purchasing of various items and products from the market. The same of the product equally
increased than normal shops (Royle & Laing, 2014).

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Conclusion
It can be concluded that L’Oreal is well reputed company whose products are mostly used by
professionals and style experts. It invests a lot of price in the digital marketing process to make
people well aware of its product. Apart from this it invests a large share to its research and
development wing of the company so that it lures the lucrative mind of the customers. They
make use of safe synthetic ingredients and composition so that expert results are obtained at a
instant. However there is increasing demand for more advanced product from the consumers of
L’Oreal at the same time there is an inclination among its customers for organic products as well.
All these issues concerning L’Oreal in recent times have made them aware of the customer
satisfaction and they are hence applying novice techniques to acquire it. In addition to this, they
are also trying to get an effective and fruitful solution to this issue.

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Reference List
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