Beiersdorf is a German company that has specialized in the production of personal skin care products and household products. It is named after the founder Paul C. Beiersdorf, who took over a pharmaceutical shop in Muhlenstrasse and converted it into a laboratory and later to a skin care company. Later with the help of his colleagues he developed first ever stable water-in-oil emulsifier skin cream with Eucerit and named it Nivea, which means snow-white. This marked the beginning of nivea, which is the largest skin care brand in the world. Currently it has over a billion users in the world.
Every product a company makes is tailored to meet a certain market need, nivea’s range of products are no exception, the company constantly introduces new products that meet current and new market segments needs . For instance its created products such as sunscreen lotion, tanning products and skin rejuvenation products in order to meet Women’s needs .To meet the demands of different market segments the company created products for different skin types. It also developed products for children, babies and men these products include; for men shaving cream and foams, a water resistant sun lotion for the children and baby products. The company constantly exploits potential markets for their products.
Beiersdorf has raised the bar as far as skin care products are concerned. It not only makes products that meet basic needs, but also offers simple and uncomplicated range of goods.Nivea products are tailor made to meet several needs.For instance Nivea moisturizing lotion not only softens the skin but also tones and nourishes the skin. To meet its consumer need it has priced its products slightly below its competitors and set different prices for its products in different geographical areas. That is it has created a balanced cost-benefit link with its customers .It has also made its products easily available in local stores around the world.
Nivea products were first introduced in the market in 1970 in Germany then in London and later in the year across Europe.Nivea products are found in over 200 countries in the world and employs over 300,000 thousand employees across the globe .It has a large skin care range of over 500 products in the market . The companies’ tremendous growth in the world is attributed to its sound marketing strategies. Nivea’s marketing strategies always focus on benefits such as low prices for consumers, market penetration, and diversification of products, market development and straight forward approach. It combines market research with product creation, so as to meet customers need or market needs (Lanning1998).
The company has invested heavily in its human resource, such that every worker in the world is thoroughly equipped with knowledge of the products in the market their use and price. A standard that their competitors to match. Its strategy for growth includes exploiting new viable markets and heavily investing in research.
Strengths
The company is well reputed for its high quality skin care products this is shown by the ever increasing market share. Its increase in market share has also led to high profits which in turn has enabled the company to carry out more research. Its innovativeness in has enabled it to have an edge over the competitors and a larger target audience. The organization has invested heavily in its employees in product knowledge as well as other remuneration benefits. This has led to a low turnover of employees and hence lowering general costs of the organization. Most of its skin care products are cheap and easily available.
Weaknesses
One of the challenges facing the organization is it’s the long supply chain associated with its products. This often increases the general costs of the products. Not all products are found in every geographical area, this makes consumers who order products from the internet wait longer and in the long run may taint the brand image. Some countries have created strict regulations for skin care products; this has led to slow market penetration rate (Porter, 1980).
Opportunities Beiersdorf has overtime innovated high quality new products that are highly demanded in the market therefore meeting the gap in the market. The fact that the product never existed before creates an opportunity that can lead to monopolization. For instance, there are no available aftershaves for men that cater for different skin types, developing aftershaves for different skin types would go a long way to getting rid of irritations caused by wrong product use.
The biggest threat to the skin care product range is from its major competitors, who constantly lower their prices below the standard in order to increase their market share.
Competitors in the skin care products business have played a significant role in creation of new products. For instance, in the early 1970, competitive challenge propelled the company to take the necessary steps to revitalize the brand. This included developing new products as well as improving the existing ones by adding more value to them. In its market positioning, the company has changed its focus from targeting the upper class women which traditionally was there main target market to the whole house hold including babies. This is factor that has made the company distinct from its competitors (Sherden, 1994).
The brand colors of Nivea skin care products are blue and white.Nivea products are easily distinguished from other products in the market due to its traditional colors and key features. The packaging of the nivea products is very distinct from other skin care products since it uses lids that are blue or white in colour.Nivea products prices are universally the same. Beiersdorf is a company that produces what it promises and its products are authentic.
