INTERNATIONAL MARKETING

MARY KAY IN INDIA

Karina Joseph

Kiran Alpha Wilson

Famy John

Mathew Febin Charles

Harikrishnan V
TABLE OF CONTENTS
01 INTRODUCTION

02 CASE SUMMARY

03 CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS (CSF)

04 MARKET ENTRY IN INDIA

05 VSA ANALYSIS OF MARY KAY

06 PEST ANALYSIS

07 RENA-COBRAND ANALYSIS

08 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

 INTRODUCTION
Mary Kay Inc. is a privately owned corporation founded by Mary Kay Ash and is
rated as one of the biggest direct sellers of colour cosmetics and skin care products in
the world. The products are sold in at least 35 markets on 5 continents. Her priorities
set right on success path since the commencement of the business brought her many
recognitions and awards in her career. Over the years, the company has expanded
exceptionally and engages in manufacture, developing and packaging of skin care
products, makeup, fragrance products for both women and men. The Mary Kay Inc.
also offers extraordinary products such as cleaners, body and sun care products, anti-
aging creams and eye and lip care products

CASE SUMMARY
Mary Kay Inc. is one of the largest direct sellers of skin care and cosmetics products,
with more than $2.5 billion in annual sales. Their products are sold in more than 35
markets among which, US, China, Russia, and Mexico are the top 4 markets. It is
because of her sincere and hardworking nature, Mary Kay was honoured with
numerous awards and recognition which include, “Horatio Alger America Citizen
Award” and she was addressed as, America’ s 25th most influential woman “Chinese
(1995) market was favoured by her products with 25% of annual Mary Kay Inc,
worldwide sales and has 2,00,000 independent sales representatives. They gave
importance for enriching the women’s lives by helping them to reach their potential
and understand that women all over the world wanted to become part of this company
to become an independent beauty consultant and accomplish great things in their
lives. Mary Kay India (2007) They figured that, India’s economic characterises were
similar to that of China in 1995 and believed to have a good response for her products.
Offering large incentives for those who wish to own their own business by becoming
independent sales consultants, which gave them an advantage over their major
competitors. The company mainly uses word of mouth campaign for advertising. So,
they save money and can pay a higher commission to their sales force. Having more
consultants means more customers and more customers means more revenue. This
gives them the opportunity to have incentives and bonuses also which drive their
consultants to build loyal relationships with their customers and bring in more
customers as possible.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Entered China in 1995 and accounts for the largest sales revenue outside the United States
representing 25% of annual sales. Entered India in 2007 and became the cosmetics partner of
Miss India World Wide Pageant in 2008.Mission – “Enrich the lives of women” This gave
the company strength and advantage over their competitors but they need to create
advertisement campaign to increase awareness to men products sold. They offer unparalleled
career opportunity by giving highest commission in direct sales and incentives, so as to build
loyal customer base, which is vital factor for financial success. However, Mary Kay current
users are middle age female and they lack innovation to bring younger customers to their
market. No store to sell products- The company focus on door to door sales.
 MARKET ENTRY IN INDIA
The senior management of Mary Kay saw growth opportunity in India for the
following reasons –

▷ They believed that the Mary Kay culture would be a good fit with India’s
culture.

▷ Indian upper and consuming classes were growing, expecting an estimated total
of 500 million people.

▷ Most of the population was overwhelmingly young and optimistic. They found
that the median age was at 26 years old, in which the younger population
continued to blur the line between luxury and basic items.

▷ In India’s urban areas there was a boost in the number of working women,
which increased the sales of cosmetic, body and skincare, and fragrances.
VSA ANALYSIS OF MARY KAY
 PEST ANALYSIS

Economic Factors

Management believed that the socio-economic characteristics of India matched with

China and this will help them in generating more sales. The case also says that even
during tough economic times, women want to pamper themselves and to look good.
So irrespective of how the economy is, women want to use cosmetics so that they look
good no matter what the time is.

Socio-Cultural Factors

Mary Kay viewed their culture as good fit for Indian market: this is because, industry
research has found that continuing modernization of the country is reason for the
changing aspirations of the people. So that, people always want to be well groomed
and stylish and the population was young and optimistic. This made them believed
that they can enter into Indian market and generate more sales. They consider culture
training as an important factor for sales representatives because as it is a direct selling
company personal relation between customer and client is important in every sale.

Technological Factors

Mary Kay became cosmetics partner of the Miss India Worldwide Pageant 2008. They
also brought in technologically advanced products in India, which commanded higher
quality and higher value.
REGION (Asia- Pacific)

 The mentality of women around the world and increasingly witnessed in Asia-
Pacific region is the need to look and feel good even in hard economic times by
pampering with all sorts of beauty products available in market. This helps the
cosmetic companies like Mary Kay with global presence to leverage the
potential for beauty product market.
 As a generalisation, fair skin is closely associated with beauty, class and
privilege in Asia Pacific countries such as China, India, Korea and Philippines
in contrast with American perception of all skin colours cherished equally.
Therefore, in there a huge demand for fairness products (whitening products) in
the market Asia Pacific markets which can be catered by beauty firms.
 The case study mentions that Chinese women are not heavy makeup users like
women in western countries and this scenario is applicable to all Asian women.
Therefore, the beauty like skin creams, anti – aging creams and whitening
creams are given focus.
 There lies tremendous opportunity for whitening products in Asia Pacific
markets.
NATION (India)

 Mary Kay culture was viewed as a good fit in Indian culture which could
possibly help the company venture in the Indian market. Mary the founder of
Mary Kay believed in the life priorities order as God first, family second and
Career third which can be related to Indian culture as well. The close
associations in culture between Mary Kay company and the company made
India market entry more beneficial.
 The rising upper and consuming classes, the boom in the youth and optimistic
population and the boost in beauty product sales due to the working women’s
rising purchases of beauty products in urban areas are the three factors for
tremendous growth opportunity for cosmetics brands like Mary Kay.
 Tough competitors in beauty industry already existing along with the heavy
level of promotion campaigns pauses a challenge or threat of companies with
less promotions.
 The company should make use of easy market entry to leverage the growth
opportunity my focusing on direct selling.

COMPANY (MARY KAY)

 The independent sales representatives or beauty consultants who were regarded
as the face of Mary Kay with point of personal contact with the buyers were
given cultural training to understand the multi-national cultural sentiments.
 The company’s female centric choice of message about female empowerment
and femininity resonated well with women across nations because of the global
acceptance regarding feministic ideas spread across social media platforms.
 Their involved in direct selling of products unlike traditional cosmetic
companies with wide distribution networks.
 Culturally and socially sensitive independent sales representatives are face and
messengers of Mary Kay.

BRAND (Cosmetics)
 The transformational and aspirational association of the Mary Kay company
gave a high brand image to it. The brand stood for independent, youthful and
optimistic women who aspire to lead an empowered life.
 Mary Kay avoided opening with products that would phase out shortly after
launch in order to sustain in the market.
 The focused on making their products affordable (basic skin care) in the initial
phase of launch to create a liking flair for the brand later they also high priced
technologically advanced products.
 Having a high brand image status, products which are not easily phased out in
markets should be launched at affordable pricing.
  4 quadrant inter – relation
Culturally and socially sensitive sales representatives of Mary Kay should keep in
mind the tremendous opportunity in whitening products in Asia Pacific and make use
of the India specific opportunities to sustain the high brand image which it commands
and launch affordable range of products which are not easily phased out in markets.

 Relation to 4 P s
Product: As women all over the world aspire to look and feel good Mary Kay
has a wide range of quality beauty products such as skin care, makeup, body
care, perfume with basic and advanced formula.

Price: It caters to teenagers and middle class with affordable price ranges as
Mary Kay adopts Mass-tige pricing.

Place: Door to door and online and sales by Independent sales reps who are
culturally and socially sensitive.

Promotion: To sustain the high brand image of Mary Kay it involves in media
advertising, cosmetic partner of Miss India World Pageant, Party Plan, word of
mouth

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Q. What information should be included in a written positioning statement for

Mary Kay? How would you draft a formal, written positioning statement for
Mary Kay?

According to the case study “Mary Kay inspires women to attain a sense of
empowerment, while offering value for money skin care products.” This includes
positioning the brand to meet consumer’s wants and needs. To do this, Mary Kay
looks at three factors.

These three factors are:

1. Target market
2. Product category,
 3. Product benefits.

 Target market:

Mary Kay has a target audience directed primarily at Indian women of average
middle-class between the ages of 25 and 54, but focusing mostly on the younger,
optimistic and career oriented generation. This is because there is a growing number
of women in the workplace which has given India an overall boost of sales in
cosmetics, skin care, and fragrances.

 Product category:

Mary Kay Inc. offers a vast majority of products which include: skin care, makeup,
spa, body and fragrance products for both men and women at global level. In India,
Mary Kay used product lines such as affordable basic skin care products and
technologically advanced skin care products that commanded higher prices such as
Mary Kay MelaCEP whitening system exclusively formulated for Asian skin.
According to the case, “whitening products are popular among women in China,
India, Korea, and the Philippines, where lighter skin is associated with beauty, class,
and privilege.”

 Product benefits.

These benefits include the following:

 Offering high-quality and high-value products

 The brand propagated female empowerment, femininity through the usage of its skin
care products.
 Provided transformational and aspirational appeal for the product users.
Q. Is Mary Kay a global brand? Why or Why not?
Yes, Mary Kay is a global brand especially in Asia. Mary Kay utilizes independent
sales representatives and 65% of these representatives reside outside of the United
States. The products are manufactured in the United States and China. Brand is sold in
more than 35 countries worldwide. Mary Kay uses a transnational strategy, which is
when a firm combines the benefits of using a global strategy, but also adopts a country
to country customization. This gave the company strength and advantage over their
competitors but they need to create advertisement campaign to increase awareness to
men products sold.

Q. What advice would you have for the management of Mary Kay in India going
forward?
▷ Improve the current infrastructure facilitates
 Establish more Regional distribution centers and Mary Kay beauty Centers in
North West and North East regions – ensures the fast delivery
Focus on South Region
 Focus on appointing more independent sales representatives in southern region.
▷ Brand campaign
 Host more fashion events
 Virtual make over option
 Online tutorial videos