International Marketing

Assignment – 1

Date: 25th October, 2009.

Question: - What form(s) of direct selling as well as direct marketing is/are sweet-
able for the Maybelline for Indian market?

Answer: - A company’s promotion mix depends on its goal or objectives,

promotional strategy, product characteristics and also on its target market
characteristics. L’Oreal’s goal or objective is to make Maybelline a leading global
mass-market brand. Maybelline could use any or all promotion mix to capture or to
lead the Indian cosmetics market, but through introducing new types of promotional
activities it would only increase there cost. Rather they could use selective
promotion mix to gain market share rapidly and to catch their near rivals Lakme
and Revlon. The recent survey shows that Maybelline has strong distribution
channel and a quality product with relatively higher price than its market
competitors. Maybelline could use order takers and support personnel as
salespeople to initiate its direct selling. As the industry reports shows significant
and astonishing growth of direct selling of 54 percent, Maybelline could strongly
start personal/direct selling and use some promotion mix like Kiosk marketing,
online marketing, catalog marketing and direct-response television marketing to
promote their quality products. The have to reduce their product prices at a
competitive level without compromising with the quality of the products. Recent
survey and research shows that Maybelline has a growing market but they are not
successful in low to middle market where domestic competitors like Lakme clinched
advantage through low pricing.

So the main concern remains with the pricing of the Maybelline product
line which generates barrier to invest highly in direct marketing to change market
perception. If they can offer cosmetic products at a competitive price in the Indian
market, they could be able to lead the direct marketing category with huge annual
sales.