International Marketing for Sodashi Company in Malaysia

This report provides a detailed analysis of the Malaysian market for Sodashi Company, including a PESTLE analysis, competitor analysis, market readiness, and STPD strategy. It also discusses the company's mode of entry, targeting, and 4P's of marketing strategy. The report highlights the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the company in the Malaysian market.

INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
Sodashi Company (Malaysia)
[DATE]
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Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Objectives....................................................................................................................................................2
Market environment (PESTLE Analysis)....................................................................................................2
Political Factor.........................................................................................................................................2
Economical Factor...................................................................................................................................3
Social Factor............................................................................................................................................3
Technological Factor................................................................................................................................3
Legal Factor.............................................................................................................................................3
Environmental Factor..............................................................................................................................3
Competitor Analysis....................................................................................................................................3
Bargaining power of supplier (Low).........................................................................................................4
Bargaining power of buyer (High)............................................................................................................4
Barrier to entry (Medium).......................................................................................................................4
Threat of substitution (High)...................................................................................................................5
Degree of rivalry (Medium to High).........................................................................................................5
Market readiness (SWOT Analysis)............................................................................................................5
Strengths.................................................................................................................................................5
Weaknesses.............................................................................................................................................5
Opportunities..........................................................................................................................................6
Threats.....................................................................................................................................................6
Mode of Entry.............................................................................................................................................6
STPD Strategy.............................................................................................................................................7
Segmentation..........................................................................................................................................7
Targeting.................................................................................................................................................8
Differentiation.........................................................................................................................................8
Positioning...............................................................................................................................................8
4p’s of Marketing strategy...........................................................................................................................9
Product Strategy......................................................................................................................................9
Price Strategy........................................................................................................................................11
Place Strategy........................................................................................................................................12

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Promotion Strategy...............................................................................................................................12
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................12
References.................................................................................................................................................14

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Introduction
Sodashi is a private company which was founded in the year 1999 headquartered in North
Fremantle, WA. It occupies nearly 11-50 employees and the company deals with the products
such as Natural Skincare, Organic, Spa, Beauty, Cruelty free and Skin care products. Sodashi
helps to nourish skin at many levels. It is related to total health which helps to nurture physical
body, the soul, the senses, the mind and spirit. Sodashi is very safe for the early and teen age
daughters as well as for those who are suffering from the bad effects of time. The products
offered by the company aims at satisfying the senses, mind, body, soul and emotions at very high
level. It helps to transform and reawaken the skin with joyful feelings. Sodashi has successfully
proved itself in terms of its products and the services provided. It has created a rich heritage and
offers best experience with unique and valuable products (Sodashi, 2018).
Objectives
The main objective of the company is to nurture and rejoice every person’s unique beauties and
whenever one uses the product of Sodashi, it creates a reminder that you is beautiful and you will
appreciate yourself that you are earnest of a nourished life.
Sodashi signifies unity, wholesomeness and happiness. With unity, the company seeks to nurture
the needs of skin, with wholesomeness, it commits to blend the pure natural ingredients and with
happiness, it seeks to offer beautiful skin. Sodashi always takes a holistic approach that beautify
not only skin but mind, body, soul and spirit (Sodashi, 2018).
Market environment (PESTLE Analysis)
Political Factor: Since the company is planning to operate in the Malaysian market. The political
issues related to Malaysia are very strict and it also include corruption. Malaysia is a multi-party
democratic country and the Ruling Barisan National Party has the power since 25 years which
state that the country has high degree of stability and Sodashi must think before investing here.
Apart from this, according to Corruption Perceptions Index, Malaysia is ranked 47th out of 180
countries in terms of transparency (Gupta, 2013).

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Economical Factor: Malaysia attracts lots of companies to invest there because of the vibrant
economy structure of the country. During the last 10 years, the average economic growth is 7%
per annum which shows the great opportunity for the companies. Due to rising economy, the
income has also increased and so as the demand of the customers. So, Sodashi will have good
opportunity to generate huge profit margin from the country. The total GDP of Malaysia
concludes 37% of export transactions.
Social Factor: There are majorly three groups of people living in Malaysia i.e. Malay (60%),
Chinese (30%) and Indian (10%). It shows that the country have rich culture and this can create a
better option for the company to attract many cultures and their people as well. The people of all
the cultures will have broad perspective towards their skin which will benefit the company (Eze,
Tan and Yeo, 2012).
Technological Factor: Malaysia needs to develop technological enhancements as compared to its
competitors from the international markets. The country also wishes to enlarge world leading
ICT companies. Government provides high level of technological support to the country which
makes it the most attractive place for the other companies to start a business over there. Thus,
Sodashi will also have the support if it wishes to enter Malaysia.
Legal Factor: The whole system of Malaysia is totally dependent on the British common law
which can prove to be a major advantage for Sodashi because of some common laws existing in
two countries. Apart from this, those who break the law are highly penalized such as death and
flogging. So, the company must be aware of it while investing in Malaysia.
Environmental Factor: The environmental costs in Malaysia is very high because of the speedy
development. During 2000, the country lost average 140, 200 hectares of its forest area per
annum which denotes that the company may face several environmental issues if it plans to
operate in Malaysia (Hassali et al., 2015.).
Competitor Analysis
The major competitor of Sodashi are Coco Bio, Cos nature, Sukin and Tahiti organics. These
companies offers herbal skin care products to its competitors and create a competitive advantage
in the market. The major strategy followed by these competitor is price penetration strategy.

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They also offers try and buy services to their customers where customers are given an
opportunity to try the products and once it suits their skin, they tend to buy them.
Bargaining power of supplier (Low)
The bargaining power of supplier is very low for the company when it plans to introduce
business in Malaysia. Here, the suppliers aims at increasing the prices of the product and
diminish the quality of the product. It also include minimizing the availability of the products.
The company will have to boost the price because of the low availability of the products.
Additionally, the suppliers of the products should also majorly focus on the profit margin rather
than focusing on other factors (Ogutu, 2015).
Bargaining power of buyer (High)
The bargaining power of Buyer is high in Malaysian market when it comes to cosmetic and skin
care companies such as Sodashi. The buyers will have several options to switch from one seller
to another seller and they will tend to buy products with high quality and low price. As per the
Malaysian market, the supplier of the skin care products are too high and this will give an
opportunity to the buyers to negotiate and bargain. This will also create huge number of options
available to the buyers as well (Ho, 2014).

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Barrier to entry (Medium)
The threat to new entry is medium according to the Malaysian market because there are no such
rules and regulations that must be strictly followed in Malaysia. The new companies can easily
enter the new market of Malaysia and follow some laws and policies which helps a company to
enter the new market (Tehrani and Rahmani, 2014).
Threat of substitution (High)
There are huge number of alternate products which can be used as a substitute. Sodashi offers
skin care products and when it comes to Malaysian market, there are numerous of skin Care
Company who offers large number of products. So, it is very difficult to capture the market of
Malaysia and build its image in the mind of customer (Damodaran, 2010).
Degree of rivalry (Medium to High)
The number of competitors in the Malaysian market in terms of skin care products is medium.
There are competitors who can easily give a tough competition to the company named Sodashi.
Apart from this, the company needs to differentiate its products to gain a competitive advantage
in the market. There are large number of suppliers who offers skin care products and they earn
huge profit margin as well. So, under such circumstances, Sodashi must be able to offer better
products which will be chosen by the people living in Malaysia (Arons, 1999).
Market readiness (SWOT Analysis)
The SWOT analysis of the company under the Malaysia market is given below.
Strengths
Malaysia has a quite good labor skills who tend to offer the high quality of products to its
customers.
The laws and policies of the Malaysia can be a major advantage for the company.
Malaysia offers high technology products and services which can create an opportunity to the
company to serve a digital platform as well.

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Weaknesses
The company might face the issues related to environment factors because of the rapid
development of the country which automatically creates development cost along with the
environment costs.
Since the company offers organic products it will be an issue for the company to deal with its
major competitors who offers huge products ranges.
The birth rate of the Malaysia is very low which creates low customers for the product in the
market (Kottier, 2017).
Opportunities
Sodashi will have an opportunity to sell organic products to its customers in Malaysia because
people living there tend to invest maximum in organic products.
The online platform in Malaysia is growing rapidly which can be beneficial for Sodashi as well
(Valentin, 2005).
Threats
The ingredients required to build the product must be originated in Malaysia only because
Malaysia offers strict trades laws with high penalties as well.
The total cost of the product may be high because of the unnecessary labor costs and other
expenses as well (Gürel, 2017).
Mode of Entry
The company has collaborated with huge number of branded and well reputed hotels and
introduced its stores so that the customers who used to visit such hotels had an eye on the
company’s products and services as well. Sodashi distribute their products and services to the 5
star hotels of Malaysia and Singapore. The company ships their products to Malaysia and
shipping price is measured during the checkout process prior to entry of credit card details.
Sodashi aims at using the Australia Post International service. The company has made a contact

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with malls as well where they distribute their products to the local retailers who sell their
products to the customers (Malinen, 2013).
In addition to this, the company has also made the people living in Malaysia aware about the
products sold by them and the people living there are happily adopting the products offered by
Sodashi. The company offers huge range of products including organic and Ayurveda products
which aims at attracting lots of customers who avoids chemical products. The population of
Malaysia tend to invest maximum in health and skin care products which helps the company to
gain huge profit margins (Mansor, Ali and Yaacob, 2010).
STPD Strategy
Sodashi adopts STDP strategy to capture the whole market and gain competitive advantage.
STDP stands for Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning and Differentiation.
Segmentation
The demand of the customers keeps on changing based on their behaviors, life style and general
characteristics. Segmentation is defining as the division of the entire market into groups based on
their lifestyle. The company has mainly segmented its products and services based on the age
group and their life style. The company aims at delivering products majorly for women who aged
between 16-50 years of age with complete organic products (Janiszewska and Insch, 2012).
Segmentation also includes the accessibility of products to the customers. Since, Sodashi is a
well reputed brand and it has collaborated with huge number of 5 star hotels, the customers can
easily find its products available in the market. In addition to this, the company also serves a
digital platform to its customers where they can but their products as per their requirements. In
addition to this, the company has also aimed at segmenting its products internationally. The
company has successfully build its image in the mind of customers and the customers are highly
attracted towards the brand. Moreover, the segmentation can be done based on the demographic
measures, psychographic measures, geographic and behavioral measures. Sodashi majorly aims
at segmenting people living in Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and Thailand. And people who

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believe on using organic products are segmented by Sodashi and they have a mindset of
enhancing their beauty by using such luxury products (Bose, 2012).
Targeting
Targeting is also one of the major strategy adopted by every company who wishes to earn good
profit margin for their business and firms. The target market segments usually include the total
growth and size of the market, attractiveness of structure, and main objectives and goals of the
company and its overall resources. Target market is generally selected and chosen based on its
type’s i.e. undifferentiated marketing, differentiated marketing, niche marketing, micro
marketing and individual marketing. When it comes to Sodashi, the company has its business
transactions in Malaysia as well, the company has majorly targeted the females and teenagers
who aged between 20 years to 50 years of age. The company have majorly focused on the
teenage daughters who have faced the serious issues related to skin and its impacts. In addition to
this, the product offered by the company not rejoice the skin but it also creates a satisfaction of
body, mind and soul which makes it more attractive towards females. Today, it is generally seen
female are free to invest in organic products and they tend to invest more in such products which
can be great advantage for the company (Ingenhoff and Fuhrer, 2010).
Differentiation
Differentiation of products plays a very major role for any business to establish its name and gain
a competitive advantage in the market. There are several differentiation strategy which are
generally adopted by the company to attract maximum of its customers. Similarly, Sodashi also
focuses on the differentiation strategy which is followed by it and which has successfully been
implemented to collect more number of customers towards it. Differentiation can be found in
terms of product features, quality, performances, design, and consistency. In addition to this,
service differentiation also plays a significant role which include easiness in delivery, and quick
easy return policy. Sodashi offers the product differentiation in terms of quality. The company
offers organic products and it not only satisfies the skin but also body, mind and soul. The main
objective of the company is to nurture and rejoice every person’s unique beauties and whenever
one uses the product of Sodashi, it creates a reminder that you is beautiful and you will
appreciate yourself that you are earnest of a nourished life (Claessens, 2015).

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Positioning
The positioning of the product is the way and methods by which the products and services is
represented to the customers which is based on important attributes such as place. For an
instance, Audi is positioned as a luxury car. Sodashi has already positioned itself in the market as
well as in the mind of its customers because of the products offered by the company. The
company has successfully captured the market of several countries including Malaysia,
Singapore, Thailand and Japan. In addition to this, the company has also created a product value
in the market by offering huge number of nature products which can be widely used by every age
group of females. The company and its products signifies purity and wholesomeness which
denotes the real asset of the company and also aim at attracting huge number of customers
towards it (Gnepa and Cordeiro, 2011).
Thus, the STDP strategy followed by Sodashi has helped the company to gain more number of
potential customers and also create a huge competition in the market in terms of organic products
as well.
4p’s of Marketing strategy
Product Strategy
The product strategy of the company is usually defined as the Head of the product. The product
strategy defines how the product management will support the company or any business in order
to gain the objectives and mission of the company along with its goals (Shimon., 2016). The
products offered by Sodashi is shown in the diagram given below:

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Figure: Products offered by Sodashi
Generally, it happens that the product strategy is determined by the demands of the customers
towards the particular products in any company or businesses. It is created by the company and
served to the customers with a motive to gain huge profit margin. Sodashi aims at delivering skin
care products and services which includes spa creams and fragmented oils majorly found in
Malaysian market. Thus, when a company tries to introduce a new product in the market, it must
know the demands of the particular products in the market, the need of the customers towards the
particular product, the type of competitors who offers substitute products in the market, the
branding and packing of the product and many more. The product strategy plays a very
significant role in the company because if the company fails to attract the customers towards its
product, then the company can no longer exists in the market (Omsa, Abdullah and Jamali,
2017).
In addition to this, the company offers 100% organic products which is rarely found these days.
The company offers purely natural product to its customers which creates a very limited
competition in the market. Apart from this, Sodashi also disclose its full label of ingredients to its
customers which creates positive impact of the company because generally customers are very
curious to know about the core ingredients especially when it comes to any skin care products.

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The company mentions all of its ingredients details on the product itself which helps in creating a
positive feedback from the potential customers. In addition to this, Sodashi also focuses on
marinating a healthy relationship with its customers by making their product easily accessible to
them which makes them more happy and satisfied towards the product.
Price Strategy
Pricing strategy is defined as a tool which is usually adopted by the company to manage the
needs of total revenue permitting for reliable identification of the outcomes of pricing decisions
and promotional activities of the sales data. This strategy helps the company to predict the effects
of pricing and promotions on the actions of its major competitors and analyze the best pricing
strategy among many.
One of the most factor of marketing mix is Price. There are huge number of companies which
aims at advertising their products and services without any cost i.e. they serve complimentary
goods. Nevertheless, this do not mean that price is at all important aspect because it is generally
believed that products with lower price will have a special preferences for the customers. Price of
the product always represent the value of the particular product. The customers always prefer the
best product which totally depends on the value which it generates. The value includes the
personal preferences, economic conditions, past experiences and many more. For an instance, the
customers of Sodashi prefers buying the product at any cost no matter how high the prices are.
This is because of the trust and faith that the company have achieved by delivering the best
products to its customers. The company always prefer quality over price which is a great symbol
of the customer satisfaction. The price of the product must determine the value of the product,
the sensitivity of the price, competitors pricing policy, offers and discount options and consumer
tradeoffs. In addition to this, the company prefers to choose penetration pricing strategy majorly
found in the Malaysian market. Penetration pricing strategy is that pricing strategy where the
price of the particular product is set low at the very first stage and when it captures the market,
the price is slowly increased. This pricing strategy initiate words of mouth. The main aim of such
strategy is the belief that the customers will automatically switch towards new brand because of
the lower price as compared to its competitors. The price of the Sodashi product usually starts
from AUD $75.00 which is easily affordable by its customers and it ranges up to AUD $400.00

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(UTS library, 2012). Since the company provides the online digital platform where one can
easily buy the products suing online payment methods. Other payment methods includes cash
where the customers prefer physical location of the products (Jamaluddin and Dickie, 2011).
Place Strategy
Place is generally defined as the location from where the product is sold to its customers.
Sodashi offers huge range of platform for the better access of the products to its potential
customers. Sodashi offers digital platform as well as physical platform of the products to its
customers. The place strategy includes the channels of the distribution, Salesforce requirements
and distribution channel of the competitors.
Sodashi sells its products by collaborating with 5start hotels and spa saloons where they can
easily sell their products offered by a well reputed brands of hotels. Its offers products at local,
national, international, travel and spa salons. The company distributed and endorsed in leading
spas across the world (Išoraitė, 2016).
Promotion Strategy
Sodashi had no such budget for advertising and ad-hoc approach to public relations. Sodashi
aims at communicating its customers more strategically by using wider audience. With the help
of strong product offer and successful business strategy, the company has promoted itself in
terms of huge success and also brought itself to the next level. With important business
announcements in the pipeline, it was a real time to grow the presence of Sodashi in the media
by introducing a targeted domestic media relationships programs. Development of a range of
media materials includes backgrounders, key messages, executive biographies, hero products,
product profiles and a series of themed media releases. The Media coverage in 2007 till 2008
concluded 38 clippings which was estimated with the value of nearly almost $900,000, a return
on investment of approximately $89,000 (Business chicks, 2018).
Conclusion
Thus, from the above report, it can be summarized that Sodashi aims at satisfying the senses,
mind, body, soul and emotions at very high level by providing best skin care products. It helps to

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transform and reawaken the skin with joyful feelings. Sodashi has successfully proved itself in
terms of its products and the services provided. It has created a rich heritage and offers best
experience with unique and valuable products.

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