Marketing of Sephora in Taiwan

This report discusses the international marketing of Sephora in Taiwan, including market entry recommendations, marketing strategy recommendations, and the marketing mix.

RUNNING HEAD: Marketing 0
Sephora
Marketing

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Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Swot analysis.........................................................................................................................................2
Pestle analysis.......................................................................................................................................3
Market entry recommendations.............................................................................................................5
Marketing strategy recommendations....................................................................................................6
Marketing mix.......................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................9
References...........................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
The international business incorporates the viable activities which take place in
promoting transfer of goods, resources, people, technology, ideas across the home
boundaries. The activities conducted across the national borders are undertaken as
international business. It has role in extending particular business activities. It gives license to
produce products in the host country. It leads to conducting operations on the large scale.
This report comprises the international marketing of Sephora. The company has planned to
enter in the market of Taiwan. The report comprises the interpretation of the market
appraisal. The swot analysis has helped to offer more insights into the Sephora. The pestle
analysis has evaluated the target market. It represents all the possible conditions of the
Taiwan. The report also includes the market entry recommendations such as franchising,
direct exporting and joint ventures. The marketing strategy recommendations are also given
regarding the expansion of the Sephora in Taiwan. Finally, the marketing mix is also
discussed as assessment of the company.
Swot analysis
Strength
Sephora has cohesive brand image across all the channels. The marketing channels of the
company comprise online and social media. Sephora has stores and websites there are studios
where looks can be designed by using tutorials.
Corporeal experience: Sephora offers a complete corporeal experience to the customers. The
experience is backed by light music and the store is designed in their signature gold and black
colors (Ahmed, 2017). The customers can try the make-up products and they are assisted by
the expert staff. The staff of the Sephora is trained on the different dos and don’ts.
Easy accessibility: Sephora offers easy accessibility to the customers regarding makeup. The
company provides customers with the fragrance testers, color identifier handheld device
known as Color IQ. It helps customers to identify their color likings. It facilitates to define
looks of the customers by using simple tutorials (van Hoorn & Maseland, 2016).

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Extensive product folio: Sephora has an extensive product portfolio comprised of private
labels sold under Sephora and leading brands like MAC, Kalvin Clein, Estee Lauder and
Loreal. The company is also an elite retailer of the top cosmetic brands.
Weaknesses
Luxurious: Sephora is a significant performer in the beauty industry and is extremely
fragmented. Therefore the number of players and the range of pricing differ significantly. The
company is a player of the luxury segment and is immensely priced (Alleppa, 2018). So, the
products of the company are unaffordable by most of the people.
Over-attention on the experience: The company spends a lot of wealth on creating an
effective experience for the customers. The similar experiences are created by assimilating
across channels. It causes challenging to execute.
Channel dilution: Sephora is an exclusive retailer for various exclusive cosmetics and makes
up which are competitors which are direct competitors to the company. It has weakened the
parent brand and affecting sales as well as an image of the company.
Opportunities
Growth possibilities for cosmetics: The cosmetics industry is in the highest growth mode
currently and the women have also become conscious about their looks. The customers
understand the requirement of the makeup for various types of skins (Stahl & Tung, 2015).
Expansion in the emerging countries: Sephora can enter into the emerging countries by
suiting as per the requirements. The consumers are also ready to pay higher prices of such
countries.
Threats
Competition: The major competitors of Sephora are MAC, Estee Lauder, Versace, Clarins,
Calvin Klein and Parfuma Lubin.
Maintaining low cost: Maintaining low cost has also become a major concern for the Sephora
because of the high cost of the raw material. Along with this, the company suffers from
maintaining high brand quality and service (Sharma & Kurien, 2016).

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Pestle analysis
Political factors: The One China policy confines to Taiwan from fetching a self-governing
state. But the policy does not purpose Taiwan to operate economic and cultural altercation
with other countries. Taiwan has a good diplomatic and economic relations with most of the
developed countries. It is one of the best places for investment owed to the constant economic
conditions. The country is founded on the rule of law. It has even tremendous manufactures
and industries network. It is a small country but has a strong economic presence (Picciotto &
Mayne, 2016).
Economic factors: The growing population of the Taiwanese population represents the largest
market for the sales of the products especially for the potential businesses. The local
government is also investing in the innovative aspects for the productivity growth. It is an
important driver towards urbanization (Seng, Sum & Mahfar, 2015). The acquiring power of
the people is also appropriate strong in Taiwan. The country has even implemented taxes like
business tax and income tax. The trade patterns of Taiwan are constant to grow (Picciotto,
2017). The export and import sizes keep on increasing. It is one of the ASEAN members
which reduce the obstacles within the country.
Social factors: The life expectancy of the Taiwan person has been increased by the one year
and seventy-eight days. The growing trend represents the increasing number of the retirees
interested in the relaxation products like medical and health products. The societies of
Taiwan’s also represent strong Confucian values imitating the heritage of the country. The
families are the basic foundation of the country (Perlmutter, 2017). The people of the country
have an entrepreneurial attitude towards the individual achievement. The religions mainly
followed in the country are Buddhism, Taoist, and Christian. The conflict and direct criticism
are avoided in the local societies. Therefore investments with respect to the social structure
are assumed as safe (Wachman, 2016).
Technological factors: The technology changes rapidly throughout the world. The technology
compliance can increase Taiwan’s own productivity and lessen the exports of growth. The
manpower education and training are associated with the vocational and professional training
institutions (Merrilees, 2016). The local government also promotes training of the science and
technology through advanced studies and research. There are various offers grants given to
the entrepreneurs in the country aiming to encourage development and inventions. From the

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perspective of technology, there are no problems with the investments in Taiwan
(Wassermann, Reeg & Nienhaus, 2015).
Legal factors: The legal factors comprise the regulatory of the country. The employment rate
is comparatively less in Taiwan. The enterprises prefer to invest in Taiwan due to the low-
cost labor. The cost of the labor is low in Taiwan compared to other countries. The major
flaw in the country is labor law which protects labor benefits. As per the laws, the labors are
entitled to get benefits for the overtime done by them. There are various industries which
have decided to invest and built up industries in Taiwan. The regulations concerning
industries protect the industries in the country. the competitive regulations like applying a tax
on foreign goods in order to protect domestic industry (Liu & Hung, 2016).
Environmental factors: There are various external factors funded under the environmental
factors like changes in the weather, climate changes which can impact the industries in the
country. The impacts of climate change can affect the operations of the country
(Wiedersheim-Paul & Johanson, 2017). The environmental factors are not only amended by
the country itself but another country like tariff and quota. Though, the country protects its
own products. The environmental performance index has a role in enumerating in
benchmarking the environmental performance of the country policies (Brannen, Piekkari &
Tietze, 2017).
From the pest analysis, it can be concluded that Taiwan is a moderately safe place to invest
resources.
Market entry recommendations
The recommendations to the Sephora for the market entry are:
Franchising: Sephora can open its branches in the foreign markets with the help of
franchising. It allows to create a successful brand. The franchisees allows to pay a certain fee
to the franchisor under the agreement. The agreement comprises the authority to the
franchisees to use the brand, product, business system and process of the company. The
franchising is the easiest way to break into the new markets. Sephora can take its existing
business model in the market of Taiwan and build out the franchise. There is advantage of the
flexibility in a typical franchise relationship. The franchisee is usually a onetime fee plus a
percentage of sales revenue as loyalty. These are generally tried and the tested products. It

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comprises detailed techniques in running and promoting business. The training of the
employees, promotions and upgrading of the products are the important part of the
franchising. It is the rapid growth of the business and incomes at the slightest capital outlay.
Direct exporting: The direct exporting is the most common market entry recommendation. In
this process, the company can sell products directly to the target market. For instance,
Sephora want to sell products in Taiwan can get the products into the appropriate stores. The
agents and distributors can be involved in the process of direct exporting. These people act as
the mediator between the company and the stores (Liao, et al. 2015). To get the foothold in
the Taiwanese store as a foreigner is a lot cause, but the reliable agents can remove the
difficulties. Add on, the agents also have contacts in order to be successful. The company is
required to work on the shipping logistics and everything regarding this. On the surface,
direct exporting is quite comparable to selling products in the local market. The advantage of
the direct exporting is found in the form of control of the pricing. Sephora can keep full
control of its brand in Taiwan. The company can even get a direct understanding of the
buyers and the requirements of the end users (Zander, McDougall-Covin & Rose, 2015). It
allows company to customise and enhance offerings. The customer relationships can be
maintained with the help of the direct exporting. It is also easier for the company to
categorise the possible new opportunities. There are also some customers which prefer to deal
direct with the company rather than by the intermediary (Hutzschenreuter, Kleindienst &
Lange, 2016).
Joint ventures: The joint venture is an arrangement in which Sephora can pool its resources
with two or more parties for the purpose of undertaking a specific task. The company link up
and become invested in some kind of the business project. This mission can be undertaken as
a new scheme or any other business movement. The investment is generally an equal 50/50
and the profits are divided consequently (Hébert & Beamish, 2017). The companies stay
isolated from each other but labour collectively on the specific project in order to be prosper.
Such agreements are made for the production or research and for the continuing process.
Marketing strategy recommendations
The marketing strategy saves efforts and resources and makes sure that there is great
degree of stability between all in market labelling and activities. The recommendations which
make successful marketing strategy are:

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Simplify what is compelled internationally and what is accomplished locally: An
international marketing strategy does not mean the nonappearance of the local marketing
plans and ingenuities. The local marketing plans should be complementary. The marketing
strategy sets the structure and considerations within which the local marketing operates. It
can give freedom to Sephora to control local success bars (Berger & Lester, 2015). The areas
of marketing which causes to lead at international level are branding, labelling rules,
budgeting, strategic marketing scheduling, large scale marketing movements, social media
strategy, research study and international public relations. Other areas managed locally
comprises tactical campaigns, PR initiatives, local media channels, local partnerships and
more. Sephora is required to have some regulator over the local networks in order to drive
success in Taiwan.
Understand requirements of the local market and advance a combined approach: It is
generally considered that functioning internationally is a defence to evade spending time in
accepting local cultures and customer requirements. It also avoids less effective marketing
tactics. It is quite apparent that UK based customers are anticipated to be diverse from the
customer situated in Taiwan. Their lives, cultures and requirements are diverse which makes
to relate inversely with the products. For establishing operations in Taiwan, Sephora should
advance an indulgent of the local markets and create close association with the local selling
teams (Doz, 2017).
Make definite tracking and adjustment is done in the factual time: Running a campaign in the
several markets, Sephora have to be mainly well-organized about the pursuing consequences.
The company is required to describe key metrics and aims at the beginning of the movement
at both international and local levels (Hovhannisyan & Keller, 2015). The company can even
get buy in from the market players on the targets. The company is required to share metrics
on the early stage and share with all. The way market subsidises lead to the overall
accomplishment of the campaign. It might assist Sephora to drive healthy competition.
Marketing mix
The marketing mix of the Sephora assesses the brand which comprises four Ps,
product, price, place and promotion.
Product: Sephora is a cosmetic products company. It concentrates on the skincare and beauty
products. The target segment of the Sephora is 25-35 year old women specifically departing

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and middle to upper and middle class. The product range of the company in the marketing
mix comprises more than 15000 products. It offers a distinct experience comprising
revolutionary concept of the fragrances and cosmetic products in the international dome. The
cosmetics such as lipsticks, eyeliners etc., colognes, make up kits, skin care and hair care
products (Bahadir, Bharadwaj & Srivastava, 2015). The classic brands of the Sephora are
Lancome, Clinique, Urban Decay and more. Other than the tangible products, the company
also offers specific services which are free to use under the membership based program. It
enables customers to access the products at the discounted price. It also helps to spread brand
awareness and spread word of mouth for the products. Sephora also arranges events and
contests for the customers and are useful in the customer engagement. The makeup tutorials
are also the measure of the services offered inside the stores (Li Yeo & Mohamed, 2016).
Price: Sephora offers a huge variety of the products along with the three hundred sub brands.
The company offers a range in price which comprises mass collection along with the unique
high end products. The company accomplishes the pricing and manage to pay for competitive
pricing by low overhead costs due to operational proficiencies. The lower operational costs of
the company allows to maintain greater margins. It can be used to appeal retailers and can be
used in the marketing tactics (Datta, Ailawadi & van Heerde, 2017). The discounts are
offered by the company which enables beauty insider. The pricing as a part of the marketing
mix is managed by the gifts and reward points as a part of the beauty insider option (Stead &
Hastings, 2018).
Place: The self-owned stores of the Sephora are creatively designed. The products of the
company can be institute in the supermarkets. The insiders are decked in the nightclub
manner considering the target audience. The sales team inside the stores also comprises
experts. The experts of the Sephora suggest for the type of the cosmetics required and also
offers the tutorials on makeup. It can be seen that there are lot of experimental value
committed with the brand. Such experiences makes customer feel empowered. The products
of the company an even be purchased online site. There is unique feature on the site which
enables customers to share the selected products on the Pinterest. The products of the
Sephora are also offered by the Amazon (Fan, Lau & Zhao, 2015).
Promotion: The unique feature of the Sephora comprising Pinterest allows customers to pin
favourite products and share on the wall. Such shares help company to attract a large number
of customers (Steenkamp, 2017). The push strategy is followed by the company for

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marketing and promotion. The online reach and word of mouth publicity allows Sephora to
attract customers than pushing for the sales (Enache, 2018). The promotional offers comprise
free samples. Such samples are offered through the stores which creates customer’s
willingness to buy products. Over the years, Sephora has progressed as favourite brand of
women.
Conclusion
From the above report, it can be concluded that the company can be successfully
conduct operations in the market of Taiwan. Out of the swot analysis, company has more
strength and opportunities which easily overcome the weakness and threats. The pestle
analysis of Taiwan also represents the positive opportunities for Sephora. The political
stability of Taiwan signifies expansion of business in the country. The government of the
Taiwan also promotes to do business to the foreign companies by offering several incentives
and funds. The market entry recommendations given to the Sephora are franchising, direct
exporting and joint ventures. Out of which direct exporting is more suitable for Sephora to
use in the market of Taiwan. Direct marketing is the cost effective method. It does not
include heavy investment in the host country. The company has to just produce products in
the home country and export in Taiwan. The marketing mix comprising product, price, place
and promotion is the positive outcome for the company. All such elements are helpful to the
company in expanding operations in Taiwan.

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