L’Oreal International Marketing Strategy
L’oreal is the world’s biggest cosmetics and beauty Products Company. It is a French based
company and it is headquartered in Paris. It is focusly engaged in the field of production and
marketing of concentrating on hair colours, skin care, perfumes and fragrances, make up and
styling products. L’oreal products also based on dermatological and pharmaceutical fields. Their
products are made for Individual and professional customers. This company operates over 130
countries like Asia, America, East and West Europe through 25 international brands.
The success of L’Oreal lies in the fact that the company succeeded in reaching out to the
customers of different countries of the world, across different income ranges and cultural
patterns, giving them the appropriate product they are worthy of. The area of expertise of
L’Oreal being that it succeeded almost in every country that it entered. The strategies of
L’Oreal was varied enough to help it and stop itself from restricting itself in a single country.
L’Oreal sold its product on the basis of customer demand and country want rather than keeping
the product identical across the globe. It built ample number of brands or mammoth brands
entrenched to the restricted culture and which appealed to a variety of segment of the
universal market instead of generalising the brand and edible in innumerable culture. L’Oreal
went on to being a local product in every international market. The brand extension of L’Oreal
also came in the same sector or the same segment of market. L’Oreal believed in growing its
expertise in the segment it is conscious of rather than going into a completely new sector of
market.
International marketing strategy is more in-depth and broadened in one sense of the
term. It is simply a principle of marketing however on a global scale. Setup of global marketing
strategy has a lot to do with understanding the nature of global market itself, and most
importantly the environment. Business environment across the globe has different economic,
social and political influence. Thus, it is believed that selecting a global market target for
examples when strategizing is a good idea.
International marketing strategy of L’Oreal is concentrated on a cross cultural arena
spanning four market destinations. They are namely,
1.) Asian Market,
2.) European Market,
3.) North America Market and
4.) The African, Orient and Pacific Region.
Marketing Strategy of L’Oreal in Asia
At present L’Oreal is one of the best company in the whole world in the field of cosmetic
products. The cosmetic products of the L’Oreal are widely used and specially the hair colour
which was introduced by L’Oreal few years ago. L’Oreal is very famous in Asia and their
products in Asia are very cheaper than the other companies and are used by majority of people
in china, Thailand, Japan etc. L’Oreal is famous and very successful because of their global
marketing strategies which are very helpful and also distinct from the strategies used by other
companies in this field. L’Oreal in Asia uses the sustainable strategy that is of growing the
company as the demands of cosmetic products in the countries like china, Thailand etc is in
great amount. This company uses the strategy of suspicious brand management and they also
brought the strategy of more suspicious acquisitions. The main problem that a company like
L’Oreal faces in Asia is of competition given by the other companies dealing with the cosmetic
products. To overcome this problem in Asia these companies use the strategy of selling good
quality products at the cheaper rates than the other companies. One of the best strategies of
L’Oreal in Asia is of diversification of the brand and the main reason behind this strategy by
L’Oreal is to make them palatable in the local cultures. L’Oreal in Asia aims at the management
of the global brands with the local variations and this means that their main aim is of becoming
a local and not the foreign company in Asia. For example L’Oreal in Thailand has given local
names to their stores and most of the employees present in this company, are local people of
Thailand. It is because of all these strategies, L’Oreal is very successful in whole Asia.
Marketing Strategy of L’Oreal in European Market
L’Oreal is the only company which uses the strategies which also supports the people in
many ways and not only in providing good quality products at cheaper rates. L’Oreal used
different strategies of marketing in the European market like they used the strategy of
nurturing self-esteem of the people with beauty. In France, L’Oreal created the programs like
“Beauty from the heart” for helping the people made helpless by illness or any kind of negative
life experiences. In the countries like UK and Germany, many of the women and also the young
people regain their confidence and their self image gradually by using the cosmetics which are
provided by L’Oreal. In European countries L’Oreal also used the marketing strategies like
taking calculated amount of risk etc but most of the strategies are related to the growth of the
people mentally and not only for the beauty or the fashion purpose. Various innovative
treatment programs are launched by L’Oreal for the young people of European countries and
this company also launches the free skincare and make-up workshops for the women suffering
from cancer. For example in France a programme named as “La Vie, de Plus Belle” offers the
free skincare and makeup for the cancer suffering women in all over the France. This helps
them to cope with the treatment’s side effects and it also helps them to retain their self esteem
which is very important for a patient. In the European countries L’Oreal generally uses the
strategy of the management of brand by which L’Oreal had made a large amount of brands
which are rooted in the local culture and which all appeals to the various segments of the global
market. By using these social types of strategies for the people of Europe has helped L’Oreal in
expanding their business in the whole Europe.
Marketing Strategy of L’Oreal in North American Market
North American markets are considered as a perfect place for the companies like L’Oreal,
Olay, ponds etc. The best business of L’Oreal comes from the market of US. The reason for this
much success is that L’Oreal uses very good global marketing strategies in North America and
the other countries like Canada etc. One of the successful strategies of L’Oreal in US market is
brand extensions which includes the extensions of the brands after doing a complete research.
For example when L’Oreal launched a shampoo for kids they firstly made a complete research
and also debated about the new launch or for an extension. In US and Canada L’Oreal uses the
strategy of frequent advertisements and promotions. As we know in the present scenario
proper advertisements and promotions are very important for any company because people
follow the promotions and due to which the demands of the products like hair colour increases
at a very rapid rate. We can clearly understand the advertisement and the promotions of
L’Oreal through their media budget. L’Oreal has the twelfth largest media budget in the world
which is much more than the other companies of this field. For example in the late 1990’s the
expenditure of L’Oreal advertising and promotion was jumped from the 37% to around 47% of
the total amount of sales. The global ad spending of L’Oreal was increased to $1.25 billion
which was on par with the company named as coca cola. The best thing about this company is
that they have a separate and very distinct policy of promotion in the market of US. Matrix is
the number one brand of L’Oreal in US and the main reason behind the success of matrix is the
frequent and distinct advertisement and promotion of the cosmetic and the hair products. The
people of countries like Canada like to use new products that mean they like changes in their
product after some interval of time. So by keeping this thing in mind L’Oreal uses the strategies
of modifications which mean they modify their existing products according to the latest tastes
and fashion of the local people. According to latest surveys of the people of L’Oreal company,
majority of the profits of this company is because of US and these perfect strategies used by
this company in US is the reason behind this type of success specially in north American market.
(Helping vulnerable people)
Marketing Strategy of L’Oreal in Africa, Orient and Pacific Region
Like other countries in the world L’Oreal is also very successful and equally famous in Africa
and pacific region. L’Oreal entered into the market of India in the year 1997 and at that there
was not much awareness about the sniff of structure in the industry of hairdressing. In the
countries like UAE and Australia, proper and the organized education was totally absent and
perfect and well trained hairdressers were also not present at that time. Despite of all these
problems L’Oreal in India made some of the strategies and one of the best strategies of L’Oreal
is that they launched various technical training centers and they even opened a club of only the
hairdressers. IN UAE, L’Oreal products which were professional began selling through
parisienne salons while the other companies have begun retailing their range of hair color to
power growth. L’Oreal uses a global marketing strategy of launching its successful brands all
around the world. For example in February of this year only, L’Oreal made an announcement of
the arrival of the matrix which is the number one brand of L’Oreal in US to India, UAE etc with a
reason of adding range of hair products to their existing products at affordable prices. The main
thing about this company is that they make strategies according to the local culture of different
countries and not uses the same strategies in every country. Because of all these strategies,
L’Oreal gains a huge profit from Europe every year.
