Assessment - 3

 Choose two appropriate attributes and prepare a positioning

map for body sprays/perfumes, add brands that fit in each
quadrant and find the market gap, if any. Discuss positioning
strategies that can be used by body sprays/perfume brands and
explain how these can be useful to understand the consumer
needs and eventually fulfil them.

Appropriate attributes of perfume are following-:

ANIMALIC – Characterized by bodily aromas or aromas most associated with traditional
animal materials such as musk, civet, ambergris, and castoreum.  They are often strong and
unpleasant in their concentrated form, yet in smaller quantities, these notes provide depth to
a fragrance.  These materials are now banned for use by large perfume houses and
have been replaced with musks obtained from plants, and civet and castoreum smelling
molecules made in high-end laboratories.

AROMATIC – A term used to describe a sensation which is between smell and taste.  These
perfumes have strong scents and diffuse in the surrounding environment easily.  Think of
scents like coffee, lavender, or ginger.

BITTER – A perfume devoid of any sweetness.   They are fresh green notes like camphor
and eucalyptus, but can also be descriptive of rosemary and other herbal notes.

CLOYING – An odor that is excessively sticky sweet.

CONIFEROUS – Scents originating from cone-bearing trees and shrubs.

DEPTH –A rich full-bodied fragrance with low volatility.

DRY – A sensation produced by certain perfume ingredients which have a woody, masculine

effect.

EARTHY – Notes that give the impression of freshly turned earth, soil, the forest floor, mold,
and moss. These notes are musty and rooty.

EVANESCENT – A fleeting or quickly vanishing fragrance.

FLAT – A perfume which lacks lift, diffusion and distinction.

FLOWERY – Quite simply, fragrances that smell like flowers.   This term is also used to
describe certain aromatic chemicals such as heliotropin, hedione, rhodinol and anistic
aldehyde.

FRESH – Invigorating outdoor or nature-inspired fragrances with green and citrus notes.

FRUITY – All fragrances that smell like fruit (excluding citrus) within the fragrance theme. 
These would be raspberry, strawberry and mango notes.

FULL-BODIED – A well-rounded fragrance possessing depth and richness.

FUNGAL – Odors suggestive of molds, mushrooms, and fungi.  They are an important

note in muguet and other floral fragrances.

HARSH – Fragrances that are crude, unbalanced, rough pungent odor.

HEADY – Fragrances that are exhilarating, sparkling, stimulating.

HEAVY – Fragrances that can be forceful or intense.  They are also often sweet
and balsamic.

HERBACEOUS – A fragrance note that is grassy-green, cool, and somewhat therapeutic,

e.g., thyme, clary-sage, or chamomile.

LIGHT – Fragrances that are generally non-sweet and have dominant fresh notes.   They
are often formulated as an Eau Fraiche or deodorant cologne for all-over body wear in
warm climates or for sports.

MELLOW – A fragrance that gives a balanced, smooth and rich impression.

MODERN – A modern fragrance is a harmonious creation of the perfumer based on new

notes or harmonies often unknown in nature.  This era of fragrances began at the beginning
of the 20th century when synthetic aroma chemicals such as aldehydes were first used.

MOSSY – Perfumes suggestive of aromatic lichens, and mosses (primarily oak and tree
moss); and are reminiscent of forest depths.

POWDERY – Fragrances with a baby-powder effect.  They are produced when a heavier
sweet or woody note is blended with a lighter note such as citrus, fruity or light green note. 
They can be sweet, dry, and have a somewhat musky odor.

SWEET – Rich fragrances with a decadent ambrosial characteristic that can feel like sugar,
honey, and caramel.

THIN – A fragrance lacking body, depth or warmth to soften the impact of the more
aggressive and volatile components.

UMAMI – A savory fragrance note and is one of the five basic tastes together with sweet,
sour, bitter, and salty.

VELVETY – A soft, smooth, mellow fragrance without harsh chemical notes.

A positioning map for body sprays/perfumes

Positioning strategies that can be used by body
sprays/perfume brands

1. Emphasize your product’s attributes

Perfumes are normally chosen because of the characteristics they

represent more so than their scent.

Your client will buy a perfume depending on the feelings it transmits.

Since they can’t smell it, they’ll value the more relevant characteristics.
That’s why you should write your product cards taking into account these
2 factors:

 The characteristics that can describe the scent: the aromatic

notes, the ingredients, where it’s made, and so on.
 The emotions and feelings that they transmit: seduction,
elegance, power, rebellion, magnetism, etc.
This way, they’ll know if they’re buying the right perfume for themselves.
And the same also applies to creams and make-up.

2. Use a search engine to make buying easier for your clients

In any physical shop, clients would go directly to the shop assistant to

ask for specific information about a product.

Most perfume buyers are looking for a specific brand or perfume.

Actually, the top 3 most sought after brands are:

 Creed
 The ordinary
 Mancera

 3. Harness your happy clients’ testimonies

We already know that choosing this type of product is a very subjective

decision and it’s difficult to explain a smell or a lipstick’s benefits.

What can you do?

Highlight the social proof in your online perfume shop.

A social proof in marketing is showing users clear evidence that their

buying decision is backed by other clients like them.
That’s to say, posting other users’ opinions about your products on your
website may lead another new client to make a purchase.

 4. Study your market (and find a way to stand out)

The high competition and the difficulty to retain your customers force you
to look for something that differentiates you from the rest of eCommerce.

The first step to achieve this is to fully understand the needs and
objectives of your clients.
A. Give your ideal client a name and face
If you have not done so yet, it is essential that you define the profile of
your buyer persona

This profile is a fictitious representation of your ideal buyer. A file of an

“invented person” that meets the common characteristics of your target
audience.

B. Look at other stores in your sector

To distance yourself from your competition, you must first know what
they are doing.

In addition, analyzing the strategy of your competitors can also help you

better understand your target audience, know their needs and detect
possible objections that you may have overlooked.

For that:

1. Identify who your main competitors are:

 Start searching on Google: use terms related to your business to see which

stores appear in the first results.

 Write down the 5 or 10 websites that you see better positioned: that is a

sign that they have a good marketing strategy, so it will be those that you
must overcome.

2. Analyze their strategy:

 Their communication: how do they describe their products? What tone do

they use to address their customers? In which social networks do they have a
presence? Do they publish content on their blogs? Do they have a lead
magnet to attract subscribers? What brand values do they highlight?

 Their product catalog: What brands do they distribute? What products stand

out on the homepage? Do they follow any pricing strategy?

 Their sales strategy: Do they offer discounts? Add-on product bundles or

suggestions? Do they have a loyalty program?
5. Online traffic: the basis of your strategy

To get sales, you need to bring online traffic (visits) to your website. We
have several ways to achieve it.

A. Online advertising
When you have an eCommerce, the normal thing is that a significant
part of your sales come from online ad campaigns (paid traffic).

There are several platforms, but the most used are:

 Google Ads: Google’s online advertising system (formerly known as Google

Adwords) allows you to create different types of ads, including YouTube
campaigns.

 Advertising on social networks: practically all networks allow you to create

advertising campaigns, although the most used is Facebook Ads (to launch
ads on Facebook and Instagram). But if you are targeting a young audience,
you may also be interested in Snapchat and TikTok.

In addition, Amazon has also launched its own advertising

service: Amazon Advertising.

All these platforms work under a CPC or Cost per Click  system (you
only pay when a user clicks on your ads).

B. SEO positioning
SEO is the main way to get organic traffic; that is, “free” visits.

That makes it a much more profitable strategy than

advertising (although on the other hand, SEO positioning can take
several months to pay off).

These are the steps to follow to optimize your website for SEO:

 Study of keywords or keyword research: make a list of terms that your

customers could search in Google (names of your products, brands, etc.).
Then use a SEO tool to find out how many searches they have per month and
 which ones you are most interested in ranking for. Here we tell you some of
the most used.

 Design a web structure optimized for these keywords: the most generic

keywords (such as “makeup”, “blushes”, “body lotions” etc.) you tackle with
the categories and subcategories, and the keywords of specific articles
(“Moisturizing Mask and Repara Pantene ”), with the corresponding product
sheets.

A thorough understanding of your customers' needs requires

analysis. Here are four steps you can follow to understand your
customers' needs and turn this information into actionable results:
1. Create a buyer's persona
To understand your customers' needs, you need to first understand who your
customer is. You can start by crafting a buyer persona, which is a fictional
description of your ideal customer, based on research and your current customer
base. It describes the type of person your business appeals to, including their likely
age, gender, location, income and hobbies.
With a detailed buyer persona, you can think about the needs of that audience. For
example, a target audience of women in their 50s may have different needs than
men in their 20s. A buyer persona helps you keep your ideal customer in mind as
you are researching and defining their needs in later stages.
2. Seek feedback from your customers
One of the best ways to understand your customers' needs is by getting feedback
from them directly. You can ask customers what they like about your products, what
they dislike and what they would like to see changed. There are several ways to do
this, like sending out surveys, holding focus groups and tracking discussions across
social media.
When asking for feedback from your customers, remember to ask a wide range of
questions. Try to learn more about both their physical and psychological needs. Ask
them about how the product made them feel, along with their experience physically
using the product.
3. Analyze your competitors
Your competitors also play a role in determining your customers' needs and wants. If
one of your major competitors offers a new service or feature, your audience will
come to expect this in all their buying options. For example, if a software company
that offers a product similar to your own offers a 30-day free trial, your audience may
expect the same from you.
You can analyze your competition similarly as you gathered feedback from your
customers. Conduct focus groups where you demonstrate the two products side by
side, hold interviews with customers of the other business and track their social
mentions. From this, you can learn how your competition is meeting the needs of
your audience and how they could improve, which you can then use to improve your
products.
4. Craft a customer needs statement
With a customer needs statement, you are defining the exact needs of your audience
and putting them into one succinct statement. Use the data you collected in the
previous steps to inform the content of your customer needs statement.
To craft a useful customer needs statement, there are a few elements to aim for:
Consistency: Aim for a statement that remains consistent over time. Your buyer's
persona is the same throughout the product development process, so your
statement should be as well. Keeping a consistent needs statement ensures you can
establish methods for reaching those needs.
Usefulness to the consumer: Your needs statement should describe how your
product will meet a customer's needs better than a competitor. Use the information
you gathered about your competition to describe what you can do better than them.
Usefulness to your business: Create a needs statement that can help out every
department in your organization. From this statement your marketing team should
know the best way to promote a product, the product development team should
know what improvements to make and the sales team should know how to best sell
the product.
Clearness and conciseness: Everyone who reads this statement should know
exactly what it is your customers are looking for. Keep the language simple and
accurate for the best results.