Perfume Shop: Strategy For Business Expansion On The Global Platform

Question

Task: Provide a short report on the strategies made by the perfume shop on the international platform to expand its business and attain the business goals. Also conduct an evaluation of the Indian version of the perfume shop case study.

Answer

Introduction
It has been observed in the global platform that if a product gets accepted in any local marketing platform, the customers all over the world deem it to be an authentic brand. The major driving factor behind this phenomenon is the various strategic steps taken by the companies to make awareness of the product among customers all over the world. This could be observed from various marketing strategies developed by companies all over the world. The instance of the perfume shop could be considered as a perfect example of this context. Int his report on perfume shop, it has been analyzed that what marketing strategies are being taken by the company in collaboration with huge partners to mark its entry in the Indian market. The report could be utilized by the management of the companies to understand the impact of several marketing strategies while pursuing the activity of market expansion in the local market of India. Along with it a detailed analysis of performing shop in India is conducted in this report.

Background
It is in the country of the United Kingdom in the year 1992 that the company of Perfume Shop was established as a perfume retailer. The whole scenario of the company had changed when it was acquired by the A.S Watson Group, a giant retailer that has established itself as the supplier for health and beauty products. The company had expanded its market to around 263 sites by the year 2014. From the gradual transformation of the company from just being a small shop to a multinational company the management has experienced a huge range of challenges and variations in the market dynamics. The expansion of the company had attained its maximum pace when the approach of e-commerce was adopted in its business process. The turnover of the company reached to the new heights when the new project of Superdrug stores was started by the perfume shop. The new ideology of the shop in shop concept was used in this project which turned out to be the major decisive factor in its success. It was in 11 stores that the project was introduced on a trial basis by the management of the company. Further additional steps like the introduction of the "reward club" also turned out to be the contributing factor for the success of this project. The knowledge acquired by undertaking similar projects has provided the company with immense knowledge regarding the preferences and requirements of the customers. To make the availability of the products on a much higher degree to the customers, the company has started the program of the store to door service in the year of 2012. As per the data obtained from the global scenario of the financial year 2014, the company of Perfume Shop was observed to be third among the top companies in the world. The company is in search of a new market and the market of India would be a large opportunity for them because of its large magnitude and dynamic nature.

Proposal
The management of the Perfume shop company has decided to expand its business to the local market of India by the method of the joint venture with the local business giants. The company has decided to collaborate with the Westside which is the auxiliary wing of the TATA group. The same activity of the retail process in the country of the United Kingdom by the means of Superdrug stores. The company is also looking for a viable partnership with the companies which have a good hold on the e-market like Myntra which is being acquired by giant retailing companies like Flipkart.

Perfume Industry in India
As per the financial data of the Indian economy, the local fragrance industry would sum up to the magnitude of 20 billion US dollars. If considered concerning the world market the Indian market would constitute around 10 % of its magnitude. The world market for perfume would sum up to the magnitude of 2000 million US dollars. The Indian population which could turn out to be efficient or potential customers for the company would amount to 17.8 % (www.fafai.org). If taken into account the demography of India, the young population would constitute around 35 % of the total. More than the half of Indian population could be targeted by the company as viable customers. It could be estimated from the Indian population census that by the year 2030 the working class in the Indian population would range to around 75%. The current situation of the Indian market proves to be a very potential market for the new entrants. The fast-moving consumer goods have the high potential to attain a higher level of business in the Indian market. If the companies would get successful in attaining good business in the Indian economy, they would easily dominate the economies of Middle Eastern and East African countries. If the suppliers in these countries would turn out to be a very potent factor for the expansion of the company's business. India is independent since 1947 and the political situation could be considered very stable since the nation is considered to be the largest democracy. The company has taken the approach of a free-market model to attain success in the Indian market (www.ibef.org). The company could make the maximum use of cheap human resources in India and could get higher turnover since the required investment would be much less than in other countries. The major benefit of expanding manufacturing units is the availability of cheap outsourcing and human resources. This move would provide a cutting edge to the company against its competitors. The multinational companies which have entered into the soil of India for expanding its business have witnessed huge advantage by the cheap labor and knowledge possessed of the available human resources.

Literature Review
Marketing Mix Strategy: The step of determining the marketing mix is one of the crucial points in the process of drafting an efficient market strategy planning. It would be upon the nature of long-term goals and the major ideology accepted by the company that the nature of the marketing mix would depend upon (Zeybek, 2013). It should also be taken into account that the nature of the marketing mix would not only depend on the organization but also on the chosen market where it intends to operate and the factors which have the potential to affect it. The management of the company should take special note of both the internal and external factors of the market while drafting the strategy for the marketing mix.

The above-mentioned figure provides the four major factors to be considered while drafting the marketing mix of the company. The four Ps which are:- Place, Product, Promotion, and price come under this division (Khan, 2011, p-94). It is upon the approach of the company that these four factors are being utilized for the analysis. The below section of this report on the perfume shop would describe how the four Ps are being implied by the perfume shop company.

Product
By only taking into account the parameter of the tangibility, the product of the company could not be analyzed. The products of the company could also be a non-tangible one like the service provided to the customers (Vos, 2013). The product delivered by the company could be classified into three sections which could be termed as the core product, actual product, and augmented product. The first classification i.e. the core product could be classified as the one which the customer intends to buy. It is the original features of the product which comes under the category of the actual product. The products which are being upgraded by the company to meet the requirements of customers could be classified as augmented products. It is the augmented product which provides higher benefit to the customer.

In the present scenario, the perfume shop company provides customers with only tangible products. In this scenario the perfume products are the core product of the company and it is its brand value in the market which could be mentioned as the actual product. The assurance of the quality and the post-sale services could be tagged as the augmented product.

Price
The price constitutes to be one of the major factors which could even affect the sustenance of the company. Even the distribution of the product would get affected by the determined price of the product. This is because the price of the product would create a direct impact on the supply-demand for a particular product. If the price of the product is determined to a very high value then the probability of customers switching their preference to another substitute would get very higher. The perception through changes if the company is providing its customer with a much higher value for money. The determining procedure of the price of a particular product consists of a lot of procedures. These factors may be internal or external. The method of price skimming method is being utilized by the Perfume Shop organization to determine the appropriate price for the new models. It could be observed that the models of the perfume shop are comparatively costly than that of the products of their competitors. In the process of the price skimming method, the manipulation of the maximum retail price is being done by taking into account the existing situation of the market (Siddiqi, 2013).

Place
In this criterion, the management focuses on analyzing the places where the products of the company would make available. It is by the joint venture collaboration with the Westside company that the company has intended to expand its business in the Indian market. The background of the Westside company is a very strong one since it is an accessory wing of the TATA group. The TATA group is a very well established one in the Indian market and the Perfume Shop company could utilize its vast retail network. Further companies like Myntra could also be utilized by the company for its large e-commerce platform. The online availability of a product would be the game-changer in the business of the company and hence could bring very high turnover for the organization.

Promotion
For a new product, the factor of promotion is a very critical one and it is through only a very active and innovative way of advertisement by the method of visual media like new papers, television ads, posters, and radio (Sheth, 2011). The company could make the most of the sports events like IPL to make the most out of its promotions. The famous teams could be sponsored and the logo of the company could be included in their uniform so that they would be visible to the viewers for a long period. The fashion shows arranged by famous fashion stylists could be sponsored by the company and hence the attention of the customers could be drawn very efficiently. The company could also provide the customers with a customized application that would bring the products much closer to the customers.

SWOT Analysis: The analysis of the operational environment in the market of India could bee has done effectively by the implication of SWOT Analysis and hence could reveal the hidden opportunities and threats for the business of the company (Miller and Mills, 2012). The hidden strength of the company could be analyzed which could help the company in expanding its business in Indian soil. The existing opportunity in the local economy, the dynamics of politics, and social factors could help the company of perfume shop would help the company in pursuing the path of success. The weakness which could be derived from the implementation of the SWOT analysis could be stressed upon by the management of the company to smoothly conduct its expansion purpose. Along with the analysis of the existing threats the pace of the whole process could be sustained by eliminating the negative factors. By this approach the better analysis of the internal environment of the organization could be done along with providing a simpler overview of the external environment (Schertler and TykvovAi, 2011).

Process of Internationalization by the Perfume Shop
The process of customization of the products by the company to make it much suitable by meeting the requirements of the customer base in the new country (Lee and Carter, 2011). Both tangible and intangible products would come under the category of this process. The company could commence the internationalization of the product by various methodologies. Some of these methodologies are discussed in the below section of this report on the Perfume Shop. Let us have a detailed overview of it.

• Non-equity based internationalization
• Equity-based internationalization
• Export-based internationalization

For the internationalization of the product, the perfume shop had selected the methodology of Equity-based internationalization. As mentioned in the earlier section of this report on the perfume shop, the company has adopted the strategy of the joint venture in the Indian economy which could be classified under the methodology of equity-based internationalization. The approach would help the company in mitigating the impact of initial risks and financial losses while operating in a foreign and unknown market. The whole group would be responsible and liable for the cost incurred and risks faced while commencing the business processes of the company. Keeping in mind the same aspect, the management of the Perfume Shop has seeded the partnership from Westside which helped them in gaining the support from the local market, better promotion and acceptance of the product among the customers, understanding the customer preference and trend in the current scenario, efficient drafting of marketing strategies, etc. The Perfume Shop had no difficulty in finding the ventures since they had already created an image of a trustworthy brand in the global platform. The new approach of equity-based internationalization would help the company in attaining a much more global height by mutual contribution (Jolivot, 2008). The market present in the distant countries could be assessed by the company by cheaper means by the help of the parties who had entered in the joint venture. This is made possible because of the immense knowledge possessed by them regarding the local market and its cultural trends.

In close introspection, it could be noted that there are a lot of common factors between the approach of licensing strategy and foreign joint ventures. In the context of the Perfume Shop, the major characteristics which would make the joint venture different is the high dominance of the Westside, the accessory group of TATA over the local Indian market. In this context, the partnership is being formed between a foreign and a local company. By this partnership, the perfume shop company could attain a better level of business process operation and control over the dynamics of the local market. The probability of being impacted with the unexpected risk would get much lower because of the extensive magnitude of the retail network possessed by the TATA group.

Though we have discussed a lot about the merits of the internationalization process, it should also be taken into account that the same process retains some negative aspects. As mentioned in the previous section of this report, the approach of the joint venture would provide the Perfume Shop a huge advantage over the competitors, the quality of the product could not be assured by itself since it doesn't hold the whole control over the processes of the company (Johanson, 2012). This aspect of the influence over the factor of quality would depend on the party the company has entered into a venture with and their cultural and national background. The concept of the drain of money or purely transmitting the wealth from one nation to another nation is not practicable in this approach since the financial benefit would be shared by many parties. The chance of entering in a mutual altercation because of the gap in ideology or the goals is much high in the case of equity-based internationalization.

The GMS Model
The analysis of three major factors is being done to analyze all possible aspects and facets when the company intends to implement the tool of Global Marketing strategy (Granleese, 2014). The actual efficiency of the marketing strategies drafted by the company to act expansion n the foreign country is measured by the implementation of the GMS Model. The variables which are being analyzed in this model are standardization perspective, configuration – coordination perspective, and integration perspective. The tool of the GMS Model retains much of the strategic importance and should be considered by the company which is intending to expand its business to foreign countries.

As per the observation made by Chikweche in the year of 2013, the process of standardization could be carried out by the steps of measuring the economies, implying cheaper alternatives and methods to attain financial efficiency, achieving sustainable performance, exchange of the knowledge regarding market and business processes, etc. The carrying out of these coordinating measures provides a high advantage to the company against its competitors along with support from viable partners which would increase the efficiency of the company as a whole (Styles and Wilkinson, 2012). The company of perfume shop has attained high leverage by making a partnership with the Westside.

Expansion strategies in India
A series of strategies have been drafted by the management of the Perfume Shop to mark the entry in the local market of India. As mentioned in the above section of this report on the Perfume Shop the company has taken the first step by entering into a collaboration with a local company having a global reputation. After commencing the first step, the company moves on with establishing a brand presence in the local market of the company. Since the company has accepted the approach of the joint venture in India the Perfume Shop, it would gain much efficiency in its business processes along with the exchange of knowledge regarding the local technical advancements, demographical and geographical features, etc. (Budde-Sung, 2011). The decision of entering into a joint venture has turned out to be a very beneficial move for the company of the Perfume Shop. The cheap availability of human resources with much more technical and intellectual skill was also made possible because of the joint ventures. All sorts of impact because of the risk and damage were being distributed between both the Perfume Shop and Westside which mitigated the actual effect. The entered partners in the joint ventures could make various amendments in the contract to make it a little flexible. In most cases the changes are being made in the span of the contract, coverage of the market, new restrictions, required level of indulgence, the level to which the product could be altered for the internationalization, etc. Though the company could get independent only on a gradual basis from the partners indulged in the joint venture partnership (Cavusgil and Cavusgil, 2012).

It has been estimated that the decision of expanding its business to Indian soil would help the company in gaining a very high magnitude of financial profit. Along with gaining huge financial profit, the company could retain a huge trustworthy customer base ensuring the prolonged and sustainable turnover. One of the hidden positive aspects of the expansion is the possession of a wide range of skilled workers from all over the world which could be observed in the case of Perfume Shop company. Because of this the company has been successful in deriving out modern technologies to sustain in the market. Along with all these factors, the addition of value to the final product by brand placement would place the company in a very strong position. Both the factor of resultant turnover and brand placement is very closely related to each other as per the opinion of Casillas and Acedo in the year of 2013. The whole motive of the company would be to maximize the profit generation capacity of the company as a whole.

Analysis of the Study
By the expansion policy of the multinational countries towards the economy of India, it is witnessing very enormous and dynamic development. After the case of Paris and Hong Kong, India is considered to be one of the most brand-conscious countries in the world. By analyzing the demography of India it could be analyzed that there are around 8 million viable consumers. The magnitude of the Indian economy would amount to 160 billion US dollars. It has been observed from the trend fooled in the local market of India that around 50 % of the population tends to buy the luxury brand from the retail agents or outlets. In this scenario, the company of Westland is considered to be a large player since it controls the retail process of the leading luxurious brands. The company also possesses the top position in the preference list of the customer base. Westside has huge knowledge regarding the global marketing strategy along with the immense control over the local market which would help the Perfume Shop in leading the business on the peak of its pace (Arndt et al. 2012). The company has conducted a thorough analysis of both the external and internal analysis of the market before entering into the expansive policies and joint venture agreement with the Westland. The well understanding of the environment has given the company a cutting edge for the company against its competitors. When the company has entered into an agreement with Myntra company, the process of e-commerce was installed in the company, and hence the intermediary network of the retail system was partially avoided. By attaining the e-commerce platform, the company was able to contact the customers directly. The market of India is well recipient towards the new luxury brands from foreign countries and the perfume shop could make the most out of the government policies. The whole benefit of merchandise availability and direct link with the customers was established by the agreement of the company with the Myntra Company. The economy of India has displayed a wide growth in the section of the retail industry which makes t very favorable for the new entrants to adopt the approach of franchising.

Recommendations

• By the method of joint venturing, the company could avoid or tackle major problems like language and cultural barriers. Since communication is the major pillar of conducting business effectively, the above-mentioned issues could not be taken frivolously. The presence of cultural and language barrier is very high in India since the culture and language varies differs from city to city in the country. Though there is a positive aspect that the whole nation is well aware of the English language.
• The company should enter in networking partnership with only trustworthy parties. This approach would block certain risks and hence helps in building brand awareness for the company effortlessly. The company could make the most out of social media platforms like, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. to carry out its marketing campaigns.
• While starting its operation in the Indian Soil, the company should implement robust risk management policies in its process. This would provide the Perfume shop with much more autonomy and control over its business. By the implementation of an effective risk management system, the company could predict the possible risk prevailing in the environment and the precaution to tackle it could be taken beforehand by the management. The sole aim would be getting the maximum reaction time so that a relevant decision should be taken in a difficult situation.
• The approach towards the attitude of investment to profitability should be made by the company. A very thorough introspection of the company process should be done in the course to implement this ideology.
• To turn out to be a successful and stable organization, the internal process of the company should be conducted to scrutiny regularly. For this the variables of detailed tax planning and economy scale should be taken into account by the company management. It is on the model or modus operandi of the internal environment of the company that the efficiency majorly depends upon.
• While planning for the expansion in the new market of the country, the company should analyze all of its policies so that their products should be in harmony with the cultural sentiments and local laws.
• To get more control over the business processes in the unknown environment, the company should revise and make required augmentations in the organizational designs of the company. Making the maximum use of global resources would help the company in successfully conducting its business.

Conclusion
A wide range of strategies to conduct the act of business expansion to anew foreign country could be referred from this report on the perfume shop company. Conducting the expansion of business to the local market of India is not a piece of cake for any company, no matter what to what level is the magnitude of the business developed. In this report on the perfume shop, the exclusive knowledge regarding the concept of the joint ventures could is discussed with appropriate examples and the after-effects of its implementation. The same approach of the perfume shop company has been copied by various companies to mark the entry into a foreign country to expand its own business. The way in which the company could focus on building up its brand image is being discussed well in this report by taking the examples of perfume shop company. The efficient implementation of joint ventures has made the company of perfume shop to reap the maximum profit from the business. The customization and internationalization of the product delivered by the company are also discussed in this report which provides the reader the clarity regarding the changes to be made to the product so that it would be in harmony with the cultural thinking and trend of the society. The reader could also get an overview of the retail system existing retail system by going through this Perfume Shop report.

Reference List
Arndt, C., Buch, C., and Mattes, A. (2012). Disentangling barriers to internationalization. Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue Canadienne, Perfume Shop 45(1), pp.41-63.

Budde-Sung, A. (2011). The increasing internationalization of the international business classroom: Cultural and generational considerations. Business Horizons, 54(4), pp.365-373.

Casillas, J. C., and Acedo, F. J. (2013). Speed in the internationalization process of the firm, International Journal of Management Reviews, , 15-29.

Cavusgil, S. T., and Cavusgil, E. (2012). Reflections on international marketing: destructive regeneration and multinational firms, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (2), 202 – 217.

Styles, C., and Wilkinson, I. F. (2012). An opportunity-based view of rapid internationalization, Journal of International Marketing (1), 74-102.

Chikweche, T. (2013). Revisiting the Business Environment at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP);From Theoretical Considerations to Practical Realities. Journal of Global Marketing, Perfume Shop 26 (5), pp. 239-257