Avon Case What direct marketing efforts would you recommend to Avon? Who
would be the target market? What range of products would be sold, and how would
those products be offered? What other specific price, distribution, promotion,
and product mix strategies and tactics would you propose and why? When I think
of Avon the first thought that comes into mind are the Avon ladies and those
Avon catalogs. This is actually what most people think of I believe. Avon is a
extremely well-known company but this does not mean it doesn’t have its
problems. During the 80’s Avon has had its shares of negativity; debt reaching
-$400 millions but since then has bought itself up again and now into the 21st
century it is trying many different options to increase sales which have barely
climbed in the last four years. The direct marketing efforts that I recommend
Avon make are to definitely focus on television advertisement commercials like
they did in the early 90’s. To be honest the only advertisement for Avon I know
of or only recognize are the print ads in magazines.
Having television ads would make people more aware of Avon than they already
are. It definitely would linger in people’s minds more than just seeing magazine
ads. Print advertisements should also increase in number and be published in
different magazines ranging from teens to woman with products being advertised
that are targeted to that specific group. Telemarketing can be help but I do not
think Avon needs to focus on this. Maybe having telemarketers calling during
holiday seasons offering a free holiday catalog or even just calling year round
asking if consumers have an Avon representative or if they wish to receive a
free catalog and have a Avon representative in their area contact them. Avon has
used this method in the past but this method might be expensive and not yield
much profit since you are not actually taking orders during these phone calls.
Direct mailing could also be of help since Avon has tried this in the past and
has a greater response then the norm (11% rather then the 1% or 2% norm). This
could also erase telemarketing since it basically is the same concept but no
Avon representative would be given the interested customers name and address.
Adding bind-ins could be useful too since the average girl or woman do read a
lot of magazines and this would work well with print media advertisements.
Imagine having an ad for an Avon product and then right next to it you see a
postage paid reply card for a free catalog. Even though Avon has in the past
sent out samples of products maybe adding samples of makeup or fragrances in
magazine ads would attract people to buy them and other products. Avon has
recently begun to talk about how they are going to sell a special product line
at stores such as Sears. This is a great opportunity for Avon to put ads in
local newspapers of the cities in which there are Sears’s stores and also to buy
space in Sears’s weekly flyer in Sunday papers. This can be an enormous plus for
sales and profits of Avon. I know this will hurt Avon representative but what is
being sold is not the same product line sold in the catalog.
Loyal product users of the catalog makeup will always stick with their
favorite from the catalog. Avon’s main target market has always been woman
between 35 and 54. I feel that Avon should focus in the young woman/teen market.
I feel that once young women become customers that they will be customer for a
long time and maybe even life. It is best to expose and introduce someone to
Avon when young because I know I am still wearing some of the same brands of
makeup that I did when I was younger. College students to me would be a great
target market since most don’t have enough money to buy department store makeup
and even drugstores Avon is known for its affordability and this group would be
perfect to target. Once one friend has the makeup a ripple effect usually
occurs. Groups of friends usually have the same things; I know this is true of
mine. In order to target this group I feel a whole new product line has to be
introduced that specifically targets college age woman and young adults/teens.
Shimmer makeup, funky colored eye shadows and nail polishes, body glitter and
just colors that this age group is wearing. Trendy, chic, fun and flirty is what
these girls are looking for not the usual pinks and reds that moms and grandmas
wear.
