Question

Scenario 2: Avon Malaysia Avon, being an international manufacturer and distributor of beauty, household, and personal care products, had believed in direct selling since its inception. It offered a wide range of beauty products, including skin care products, cosmetics, perfumes, spa treatments, make up, and everyday cosmetics & toiletries like shampoos, deodorants, and body lotions. Its product line included many recognizable names such as Anew, Avon Color, Skin-So-Soft, and Advance Techniques. Recently Avon has developed a set of new products called Avon Color. It is one of the leading cosmetic brands in the world. The products are mainly targeted at women in the age group of 25 to 50 years. The products are of high quality, are priced affordably, and positioned as products that provided value. The management team of Avon is facing two issues now – how should Avon extend the maturity of its products and what are the best distribution strategies for Avon? (Students will need to provide their answers in relation to the given scenario and context)

Question 3 (a) Based on the scenario, explain THREE (3) types of Consumer Marketing Channel with relevant examples.

(b) Based on the answer given in Part 3(a), using the THREE (3) consumer marketing channels, choose the right channel combination that Avon should adopt. Provide justifications with relevant examples.

(a) Explain the FIVE (5) stages of product life cycle of Avon Color with examples.

(b) You have been asked to give advice to the management team on extending the product life cycle of Avon Color. Provide justifications with relevant examples in your answer.

Answer 1

Answer 1:

Three different types of consumer marketing channels with example include:

1. Direct selling where the sales representatives directly contact with the consumer for selling their products

2. Selling through intermediaries such as retailers and wholesalers.

3. Selling products over the online platform or e-commerce platform such as Amazon.

Answer 2:

Avon should adopt the combination of all types of marketing channel viz. direct selling, selling through intermediaries and selling on e-commerce platform. This combination would help Avon in reaching to almost all of the target customers around the globe. Direct selling will help the company in reaching the domestic customers and would benefit to communicate with the customers and take their feedback by directly meeting with them. It would help in penetrating the domestic market in the deepest manner. Selling through intermediaries will help company in acquiring the customers of the different countries where company could not reach. This will help company in acquiring all those customers that are loyal to the business of the intermediaries. Selling through Amazon will help company in reaching over almost all the parts of the world to those customers who rely on online purchasing because of their time limit.

Answer 3:

Five stages of product life cycle of Avon include:

Development stage: during this stage the product was developed in the company and was not launched in the market. However, marketing of the product has been started in the market so as to make customers aware about Avon colour.

Introduction stage: during this stage, the product was introduced in the market, it started gradually getting sold in the market and customer had just started purchasing Avon Colour.

Growth stage: During this stage of product life cycle, Avon colour has seen a steep rise in the sales of the product and company has generated higher revenues from the product.

Maturity stage: In this stage, customers wanted to have new products and they started minimising the purchasing of the Avon colour. Sales of the product decreased in this stage.

Decline stage: In this stage customers stopped the purchasing of Avon Colour and they shifted to another product.

Sales Development Introduction Growth Maturity Time Decline

Answer 4:

The management team of Avon colour should renovate the product according to the needs of the customers by analysing their taste and preference and what they feel the product should have as compared to the previous experience with the product. Management team should implement the best suggestions of the customers and should relaunch the product with the different or advanced brand name so as to begin the life cycle of the product again. An example of such strategy has been applied by Bajaj automobile manufacturer in India where it has relaunched the Pulsar motor cycle when it had reached the decline stage and after relaunching, company has generated huge profits.