Unique laboratories Incorporation

Unique laboratories Incorporation
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Table of Contents
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1.0 Abstract  PAGEREF _Toc382684886 \h
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2.0 Introduction  PAGEREF _Toc382684887 \h
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3.0 Situational Analysis  PAGEREF _Toc382684888 \h
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3.1 Internal Environment  PAGEREF _Toc382684889 \h
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3.10 Internal Culture  PAGEREF _Toc382684890 \h
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3.11 Philosophy  PAGEREF _Toc382684891 \h
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3.12 Financial status  PAGEREF _Toc382684892 \h
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3.2 External environment  PAGEREF _Toc382684893 \h
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3.20 Market analysis  PAGEREF _Toc382684894 \h
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3.21 Product analysis  PAGEREF _Toc382684895 \h
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3.22 Customer Needs  PAGEREF _Toc382684896 \h
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3.23 Competition analysis  PAGEREF _Toc382684897 \h
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3.24 Suppliers  PAGEREF _Toc382684898 \h
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3.25 Technological Dimension  PAGEREF _Toc382684899 \h
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3.26 Social Cultural  PAGEREF _Toc382684900 \h
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3.27 Political-Legal Dimension  PAGEREF _Toc382684901 \h
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3.28 Environmental Issues  PAGEREF _Toc382684902 \h
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4.0 SWOT Analysis  PAGEREF _Toc382684903 \h
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4.1 Strengths  PAGEREF _Toc382684904 \h
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4.2 Weaknesses  PAGEREF _Toc382684905 \h
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4.3 Opportunities  PAGEREF _Toc382684906 \h
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4.4 Threats  PAGEREF _Toc382684907 \h
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5.0 Industry Analysis  PAGEREF _Toc382684908 \h
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6.0 The Mission Statement  PAGEREF _Toc382684909 \h
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7.0 Vision  PAGEREF _Toc382684910 \h
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8.0 Analysis of Markets and Customers  PAGEREF _Toc382684911 \h
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9.0 Marketing Planning  PAGEREF _Toc382684912 \h
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9.1 Segmentation  PAGEREF _Toc382684913 \h
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9.2 Targeting  PAGEREF _Toc382684914 \h
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9.3 Positioning  PAGEREF _Toc382684915 \h
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10.0 Determining Objectives and Strategic Direction  PAGEREF _Toc382684916 \h
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10.1 Short-term Objectives  PAGEREF _Toc382684917 \h
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10.2 Long term objectives  PAGEREF _Toc382684918 \h
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11.0 Marketing Mix  PAGEREF _Toc382684919 \h
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11.1 Product  PAGEREF _Toc382684920 \h
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11.2 Price  PAGEREF _Toc382684921 \h
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11.3 Promotion  PAGEREF _Toc382684922 \h
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11.4 Place  PAGEREF _Toc382684923 \h
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11.5 Distribution  PAGEREF _Toc382684924 \h
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12.0 Budgeting, Forecasting, and Tracking Progress  PAGEREF _Toc382684925 \h
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12.1 The Budget for the First, Second and Third Quarter Of 2014  PAGEREF _Toc382684926 \h
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12.2 Forecasting  PAGEREF _Toc382684927 \h
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12.20 Schedule for the first two months  PAGEREF _Toc382684928 \h
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12.21 Third quarter schedule  PAGEREF _Toc382684929 \h
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13.0 Implementation and control of the marketing plan  PAGEREF _Toc382684930 \h
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14.0 Summary  PAGEREF _Toc382684931 \h
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15.0 References  PAGEREF _Toc382684932 \h
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16.0 Certification Statement  PAGEREF _Toc382684943 \h
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1.0 Abstract
The personal care industry is one of the fastest growing industries, at more than 20% annually and is set to surpass this mark. The past two decades have seen a lot of growth mainly after the confidence that developed after the economic slump. The Unique Laboratories Inc. (ULI) is one of the key players in the United States and is set to take up a better challenge such as investing in the Indian market. This is a market that has great support for the personal care products given that the culture in the country advocates for image conscious citizens. There are other key players in this market and thus competition is going to very stiff. One of the main competitive edges that the ULI has is the fact that most of the products are naturally produced and are made by hand for pure perfection. The Indian clientele is has become very cautious about using synthetic products and is opting for the natural products. The company is also investing in promotional campaigns, where the clients are going to be educated on the benefits of the natural products and better personal care tips. Social website which is one of the leading forms of advertising is also going to be used alongside surveys to establish the effectiveness of the marketing plan. Other common advertising platforms such as the newspaper, radio and the television are also going to be applied in the intensive promotion strategies. The products are targeted towards the rural and urban population as well as the male and female segments.
2.0 Introduction
Unique laboratories Inc. is one of the leading personal care products producers in the world. Having been founded in the United States back in the year 1974, it started with the fragrances and later expanded to produce makeup and skin care products for both men and women. One of the largest departments in the company is the research section that deals with all the technological advancements and testing of the products.
Unique laboratories Inc. understands that every other skin is different in one way or the other and thus works tirelessly towards making sure that the different skins are given their rightful attention and uncompromised care. To this end, the company has come up with a strategic care process that involves cleansing the skin, exfoliation and the moisturizing the skin, hence introducing a new product Every Skin Care. Every skin has this simple yet effective formula, making sure that the customers have a healthy skin at all times, within all weather conditions (Penzer & Ersser, 2010, p. 125).Since the launch of the company in the year 1974, there are 43 branches spread across the states, availing the crucial products to customers. The company also boasts of online stores available in more than 36 states with extra services such as gift pack delivery and door to door delivery for the customers at their desired location. Some of the products that have been making ripples in the industry are the Anti-Aging Cream, Moisturizing Lotions and the Tone Makeup, which came into the industry in the year 1980 and have been undergoing refinement ever since.
The other section that has made tremendous growth in the states is the Essence fragrances for women that came into the market in the year 1985; today there are more than 200 streams of this section covering most elegant sprays, deodorants and perfumes in the industry. This led to the introduction of the Gentlemen Lineup that now has 40 streams since 1990.
India is one of the markets that have been growing at a commendable rate with respect to the personal care products. This is due to the fact that their culture actually allows and encourages that people take care of their personal appearance. Since the last economic slump the brought down the business in the country forcing the company to hold off its plans, there has been increased growth in the industry and the trends are stabilizing. The company plans to introduce its personal care products with special emphasis on the Every Skin Care ,an anti-aging cream and the moisturizing lotions which is a new product in Unique laboratories Inc. Previously the company has been dealing in fragrances and now wants to venture in the skin care products. The skin care market is growing at a very rapid rate and given that the Indian market is one the fastest growing alongside China’s, in vesting in the market is quite promising. This plan represents the strategic actions that are going to be taken by the company to conquer the market, by assessing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and the threats from the internal and external environments ( HYPERLINK "/shekharpiscesian?utm_campaign=profiletracking&utm_medium=sssite&utm_source=ssslideview" Shekharpiscesian, 2010 pp 10).
3.0 Situational Analysis
3.1 Internal Environment
This is the evaluation of the internal factors that may affect the ability of the company in the new market ventures, laying out the basic strengths and the weaknesses (Small Business, 2014).
3.10 Internal Culture
The company is led by 12 members to the board of directors all of whom have more than ten years of experience in the industry. While most of the companies are happy to incorporate leaders from other companies, Unique Lab has always preferred to have their own staff rising through the ranks and leading the company.
3.11 Philosophy
This is due to the fact that the company believes in the staff corporate culture at the firm is developing their own. As such all of the members of the board have all served the company for quite a long time and have the in-depth knowledge of not only the market but also the company objectives and goals. The current Chief Executive Officer Malay Kane was one of the first laboratory technicians when the company first opened its doors to the world for business. Majority of the workers are highly qualified although there is need to make sure that more technically savvy persons are brought on board as they head into the new markets in India and later on the rest of the Asian continent. While the culture at the company supports personal development for the staff at the company, in future there may be a need to bring in more staff from various fields to uplift the current standard and improve on the efficiency of the interventions.
3.12 Financial status
Over the years the company has enjoyed massive financial strength with is one of the strong points going into the new market ( HYPERLINK "/shekharpiscesian?utm_campaign=profiletracking&utm_medium=sssite&utm_source=ssslideview" Shekharpiscesian, 2010).
3.2 External environment
This is the evaluation of the business’s external factors that may affect its efforts and objectives in the new market. Some of the external environments include; political, social, cultural and technological among others.
3.20 Market analysis
Having been in the market for quite a long time the company has built a reputation that now spans over several continents and several decades. Over the last few years after the economic slump that hit the world over, the market has been showing some good signs of growth and the company is now ready to venture in the Indian market. Statistics indicate that the personal care market is worth more than $20 billion US and bent on rising above the $30 billion mark by the year 2015 (Puri, 1979). This has been affected by the open trade policies in the Indian market and China’s. It is expected that this is going to be the major players as is indicative of their economies.
3.21 Product analysis
The company is planning to introduce Every Skin Care, an herbal skin care products as well as expanding the line of fragrances for both the men and the women. All of the herbal products are handmade and use the most essential plants ointments and extracts that nourish the skin. The company has carried out extensive research on the Indian skin characteristics and is confidents that the anti-aging cream and the moisturizing lotions defined for this market will have a great effect. The three stage formula in all of the skin care products by the company is also bound to have a great impact on the users. The company also plans to introduce the anti-pollution creams that help the users reduce the effect of the pollutants in the air and water, such the heavy metals and the ultraviolent light as well as radicals. The spots reducing creams are also going to be on the product lineup, to help the customers develop soft light and glowing skin (Ramesh, 2009).
3.22 Customer Needs
According to the research done in the country for the last two years, a demographic analysis indicated that majority of the Indian population is positively responsive to the natural personal care products and prefer them over the synthetic ones (Majumdar, 2010). It is also apparent that the Indian population is very conscious of their outlook and thus takes great care of the personal glooming with a little more seriousness.
Some of the other trends that have been established in the Indian market are that most of the customers are looking for are makeup products. Specifically, there has been a high demand for anti-agers, whitening creams, spots reduction and removal as well a lip care products. This is a trend that is bound to give the company an upper hand given that most of the products that are going to be introduced in the market are going to be handmade and from natural ingredients.
3.23 Competition analysis
The competition in the personal care product industry is quite stiff and has been for quite some time since the world woke up the discovery of beauty products ( HYPERLINK "http://money.howstuffworks.com/about-author.htm" \l "obringer" Obringer, 2014 pp. 16). The only factor that has hindered most of the countries in the world to venture into the business as much is due to the inhibiting cultural values. In the Indian market, this is not the scenario as majority of the population is used to the idea of using personal care products.
At the moment, the Hindustan Unilever is the leading company in the Indian market with brands such as nice & lovely leading the way for the rest of the players in this market. Since the year 2012, the company has enjoyed more than 56% of the market share relative to the rest of the companies. The most successful products by the company have been the anti-agers, facial care moisturizers and the body care. It is going to be a tough market entry for the Every Skin Care, however, most of the other players have not ventured deep into the market hence the lions share enjoyed by the Hindustan Unilever.
3.24 Suppliers
The company has more than 20 different suppliers, all of whom have been supplying the company with different raw materials and technical equipment for the last three decades. Most of the suppliers come from the United States, while a section of them come from the United Kingdom, Israel and China. The recent economic slump saw most of the suppliers hike their prices, spotting the increased cost of doing business as the main reason. More suppliers are going to be sought from the Indian market to supplement the existing list as well reduce the cost of production overall. Considering that the cost of production in India is not as high as that of the western countries (UK), this is going to be a great leverage with reference to establishing and maintaining low costs in production.
3.25 Technological Dimension
The company has been relying on some of the oldest yet effective technologies and machines to extract some of the raw material for use in the manufacture of the personal care products. The technology used by the company is outdated and there is need to change to the newer and advanced machines. This way the company would not only benefit from the efficiency that would come with the adoption of the new technology but also heightened efficiency that would raise the standards of the products to a world-top class level. This will also include the inclusion of some other essential plants that have been identified within the Indian market.
3.26 Social Cultural
The Indian market is one the most responsive with respect to the use of personal care products. Their culture supports the idea of taking care of one’s appearance and thus the personal care products have a very huge market. It is also a culture that is open to men and the women taking care of their appearance and thus is not gender restricted. Some of the products that the Unique Laboratories produces are unisex meaning that they can be used by both the sexes. These products are thus going to have their own niche though it may not be as large as the female products niche (Bijapurkar, 2008 pp 139).
3.27 Political-Legal Dimension
The political and legal scene in India is not as volatile and thus has not seen any major shifts that would affect businesses. The United States and the Indian government have always enjoyed resourceful relationships which are good for business (Kumar & Satish, 2007, p.235). Most of the legal issues in India are much as the common ones that include documentations. Specifically, the licenses, business permits to operate in the region. Safety of the products is also an issue and most of the products have to go through rigorous testing before they can be used in the market.
3.28 Environmental Issues
The plants that are used in the production of the herbal products have climatic requirement that are similar to those in India. They are also farmed using mild techniques and most of the time they do not require attention. Given that they are not grown using intensive farming techniques as most of them are wild, they do not have detrimental effect on the land and the environment in general. The herbal products which are made from the plants are also friendly to the environment, unlike the synthetic products. Most of the herbs have gained remarkable resistance to the local pests and diseases and thus require minimal attention and spraying (Euro Monitor International, 2013).
4.0 SWOT Analysis
The SWOT analysis is planning tool that is used for putting into strategic perspective the strengths, weaknesses, threats and the opportunities of a project in this case of a business venture. Other than that fact that the tool is used in the evaluation of the market, the organization is also in a position to tell if it has the capability to handle the market or the project, before committing funds and other resources. In the event that the organization feels that it does not have what it takes to take up the market, it may move on to better investment opportunities or redefine its goals and strategies of venturing into the same market or project (Ramesh, 2001, p. 200).
4.1 Strengths
Strong financial footing
Highly recognized brand
Highly experienced leadership
Eco-friendly personal care products
4.2 Weaknesses
Producing high quality products is expensive
Old and obsolete technology