There is a key to understanding the concept of marketing, it is called The Four Ps. I found this from another paper source,
The CGP GCSE Business Studies Revision Guide. It contained a lot of information on marketing, and this is a topic which I recognized from class work also.
The P’s stand for
Price
Promotion
Product
And
Place.
Together, these factors create the “Marketing Mix”.
A business Firm would need to determine its Product or service, and make sure it will comply with the customer/consumer’s requirements.
The Price would have to be accepted by the customer as “good value for money”. This should not be mistaken for cheap, as quality needs to meet the standards of the customer for them to choose to pay the specified price.
The Place would have to be a convenient location for the business to set up and also convenient for the customer to visit.
The product or service must be promoted so that the potential customers would know of its existence.
Market Research
Questionnaire
I used a questionnaire for my market research, and asked 50 customers I found in 2 of the local hair and beauty salons in the area. I made sure to ask the managers or head stylist’s permission first.
This is the survey which I used for my market research:
Research Analysis
Using my survey questionnaire, this is the information I have found:
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS (Questionnaire)
In the Gender Groups, the majority of the public surveyed were women.
I will use Women as my target audience.
Age Groups:
This Pie chart shows that the majority of my public surveyed were between the ages 23-36, so I will aim my marketing campaign at this age group.
Those who visit the local salons visit regularly, and 94% of the surveyed group support the idea of my combined hair, nail and beauty salon; which indeed aids me in my campaign. The majority have also stated that they are interested in my new Business.
This shows the number of the surveyed people who visit the other local salons.
As you can see, the majority use these local salon’s services. This should provide a challenge in to attracting them to my business through my marketing and advertising.
This graph shows the popularity of the most well-known services an average beauty salon has to offer.
Hairdressing, Manicures/Pedicures, and Facials are the most popular, whereas the tanning facilities are a little less popular and the evening makeup option is quite unpopular.
When asked how much the customer would be willing to pay for hair, nail and beauty treatment, this graph shows the results:
The survey results clearly show that they would much prefer if the services were under or around £20, as this is what they have said they would be willing to pay.
However, some of the individuals stated that if the quality of the services were good, they would be willing to pay to the given value.
The Surveyed individuals were permitted to choose more than one option, which aided me to gain a wider range of results. This was done in two occasions, the other being when the customers were asked what appealed to them in a beauty salon. Here is a bar graph to show the results.
The Survey results show that the main factors of the business appealing to them would be the salon’s appearance and the cost of its services.
The distance from home was also a point which was raised by over half the surveyed public.
My Target Group
From what my survey results show, I can determine that my Target market will be women between the ages of 23-36. These are the ages at which many hair and beauty magazines are aimed.
Women within this age group are more concerned with fashionable looks and. providing their income is supportive of it; buy the most expensive and designer name-branded make-up and toiletries. This information was provided by Handbag.com, and I also took into account what I discovered at Wellbeing.com about women roughly around this age group being more interested in looking more fashionable, aided by high street brand-named makeup etc.
My target market will require services for skincare and Beauty Products alongside regularly updated hairstyle fashions.
Nail design, however, appeals to women mainly below the age of 36, as I have found topics on nail fashion most popular in magazines such as
Mizz
Bliss
Sugar
and 19, (which are magazines that appeal to a younger group of women and teenagers)
And a smaller section in COSMOPOLITAN and MARIE CLAIRE (Slightly Older women, around mid-20’s/30’s) where the topic of hair and beauty is shown more importance.
Even so, the nail designs seem to be simple and fashionable rather than “off-the-catwalk mayhem designs”-Cosmopolitan
These factors should help me start to realize what my business should require to begin to appeal to my target market.
Other Forms of Market Research
Other forms of market research are also possible.
There are two main types of market research. These are Desk Research and Field Research.
Desk Research
This type of research is SECONDARY research. This is because the research has not directly been done by you.
This type of research is useful for looking at factors like past trends which may help determine how your business may cope in the future. It would involve looking at market research reports, e.g. MINTEL
…and looking through paper sources like newspaper and magazine articles.
Field Research
This type of research is PRIMARY research because the information is collected and tabulated by you. There are many ways to conduct field research, some examples are:
Questionnaires; I have used this feature in my own market research. Telephone Surveys; I have not been able to use this features as I do not have the authority or permission to do this sort of research.
and Product testing; Rather than testing products or services, I have decided that I am going to analyse two similar businesses within the area, which may provide future competition for ELEGANCE Beauty Parlour.
Unfortunately, it is not possible for me to conduct many of these.
I have conducted field research in the form of my questionnaire and have conducted desk research by looking at the websites and paper sources I have mentioned.
However, I choose to conduct another form of field research.
ELEGANCE is a Partnership business so I have made sure that at least one of the other businesses is a similar type.
Analysing Similar Businesses
I have chosen to analyse two similar businesses in the area.
The first business which I am going to analyse is “SPIRIT” Unisex hair salon, which is located on Church Street, just off Edgware Road, which is within the vicinity of the location where ELEGANCE™ is to open.
SPIRIT Unisex Hair Salon
SPIRIT salon is a partnership business.
The first thing I did was ask the manager for some time to help me with my project, and she was happy to help.
The first set of data I collected was the most popular services at the salon and their prices. They are shown as follows:
Trim: From £9
Cut and Blow-dry: From £15
Wash and Cut: From £20
Straighten/Perm: From £25
Style: From £25
Treatments: From £30
OAP Flat Rate- £5
Student Discounts: 15%
The location of this hair salon is on Church Street, resident to the popular Church street market, and just off Edgware Road, which is a popular location in itself.
The business has chosen a good location as the area is ceaselessly populated with shoppers and residents and the public are constantly passing in front of the building, allowing them to see the interior of the salon and appearance of the working environment. Also, in the windows, there are images of both men AND women models, so as to appeals to both gender groups, as it is a Unisex salon.
The fact that it is a unisex salon and targets both men and women as its target market may be affected by its location, as both men and women work and shop in the area and would be able to view it.
The second business which I am going to analyse is “American Nails™” nail salon, which is located on Edgware Road, which the same street where ELEGANCE™ is to open.
American Nails Ltd
American Nails is a limited company.
In American Nails™ I noted the prices of the services the business offers. These are as shown below:
Full Set Acrylic: £25
Single Acrylic: £3
Manicure: £15
French Manicure: £20
Nail Art: £15
Nail Art Single: £2
Nail Repairs: £3 per nail
Nail Gems: £3 each
Tooth Gems: £4 each
The Location of this business is on Edgware Road itself, which is where ELEGANCE™ is to open.
Edgware Road is a popular location for shopping and eating out. The street is very populated and is a long string of stores for all purposes, however, the number of Hair and Nail salons is limited, if there are any in the area they are in little clumps rather than scattered all over the main street.
American Nails™ is a popular high-street name for a nail salon, and their services are well known to be of good value and quality.
The only main form of advertising they seem to need to do to attract their customers are the clear windows which shows the nail stylists working every detail to perfection and a board showing most of the nail designs which they have to offer. These alongside the name of the salon prove to work well to promote the business in its chosen location, where there are frequent passers-by and shoppers for the services to appeal to.
The only customers in the salon were 8 women ranging from 21-26, and when checking at another interval, I found that there were 6 women ranging from 17-23 and one man aged 25. This shows that the business appeals to women mid-20 and below, so I deduct that this is their target market.
I chose these two businesses as they offer similar services to ELEGANCE, however, my business will offer all the services they provide, and more.
This should prove to be some healthy competition as these businesses would have to compete with my services and products, and the quality of my services and products. They will need to ensure that they can keep their customers after the opening of ELEGANCE, which will be a combination of both businesses, and at the same time, keep attracting more customers.
Marketing Plan
From my research I have found that both the businesses I analysed aimed to meet the requirements of target groups which were similar to each others and my own chosen target market.
The prices that the hair salon offers its services at are considered by the customers by good value for money, which is one of the factors as was stated before, which is needed in the marketing mix, under the “Price” heading.
The customers at the nail salon were very satisfied with their results and many of them made second appointments on the spot.
Both the businesses seemed to keep their promotional material minimal. They showed the confidence that their business truly didn’t need any over-exaggerated promotional material; the hair salon limited its external promotion to leaflets and business cards.
However, both these businesses have regular offers and discounts available, especially around holiday periods.
The results of both my market research have helped me a lot with my project.
•I have determined my target market; women aged roughly 20 to 35,
•The sales of products and services will have to range from £10-£30
•The Beauty Parlour will have to provide services for hair and nails, and to differentiate the business from the others in the area, also provide extra features for health and beauty, e.g. Skin Treatment, Sauna room, Masseuse, Tanning facilities etc.
•The business will have to make a few promotional offers and give discounts and special offers to potential customers.
The survey I did proved to be very effective, as without it, I do not think I would have had the motivation to continue and do more research for my business. It gave me very helpful information and aided me in recognising my target market.
If there is to be any promotional Material, it should be simple and mature.
Bring Business to Public Notice
My main task now is to find ways of promotion to bring my business to the attention of the public and target market.
Main ways of Promotion
The main ways I have decided I might promote the business is with:
•Posters
•Leaflets
•Newspaper Advertisement
•Business Cards
My business will need business cards whatever the case, but I believe that as the Beauty Parlour is a new business, a “grand opening” could be announced in a newspaper advertisement to catch the public eye.
Cost of promotion
The cost of promotion which I have calculated is what the cost of designing and printing may be.
As the business wishes to design their own leaflets and posters, the cost of designing is cut. However, the cost of printing is still there.
The business has chosen Jubilee Printers in Edgware Road as their printer, as they found its rates to be the lowest and it is within the locality of the beauty parlour.
As ELEGANCE is a new business, it wishes to have a good stock of these promotional materials, so they wish to stock around 200-300 promotional items (leaflets/posters/business cards)
The Business cards will cost £10 per 200 cards, the leaflets will cost £7 per 300 leaflets, and the prices of the posters vary by the sizes. The company has chosen A4 sized posters and will not need more than 100, and jubilee printers priced this as £5.
All together, the Promotional material should cost :( £10+£7+£5) = £22
The company will need to re-stock its promotional material monthly, but if they wish to change the size or design of any of the items, the cost will vary. However, if they wish to keep the same designs and sizes, the cost of promotion will be about: (£22 x 12) = £264 per year
Newspaper advertisements cost £5 for a small advert and £15 for a full page.
The owner of the beauty parlour wishes that the business is given more recognition than the others in the newspaper and requests a full-page advertisement, this may be a one-off for the grand opening, but if the beauty parlour wishes to monthly advertise any new offers or discounts which may boost business, it would amount to another (£15 x 12) =£180 per year. This, added to the cost of the other promotional material would reach (£264+£180) =£444 per year. This would be the cost for promotion.
Evaluation
I have conducted market research to find ways to promote a new business and found a target market and have involved the marketing mix:
Price: my prices will be £10-£30 for the services similar to other companies in the area which offer similar services.
Promotion: I have found ways to promote the new beauty parlour and have stated them and the cost of promotion in the “bring business to public notice” section of my project.
Place: the location I have chosen is a popular area where a lot of public and potential customers reside in or visit on shopping trips.
Product: The parlour will offer services similar to those available in other hair and nail salons in the area, and also have extra facilities and services unique to the beauty parlour itself.
I have conducted Market Research where I have used both desk and field research. I have analysed two similar businesses and conducted a public survey as my field research and I have used magazines and websites to assist me in my desk research.
What improvement could be done?
There are a few improvements that I may have made to this project if I had the chance.
I would have made a survey specifically for the target market; I would have conducted telephone surveys and looked at various other similar businesses in a wider vicinity of my Edgware Road location.
I would have also given samples of promotional material which the Beauty Parlour may use; however, it was not required in my project.
