Most of us have heard “Mac Cosmetics” at least once in our life time.It is a worldwide famous cosmetics brand which is obsessed by a large audience of cosmetics lovers.Last year, i had a chance to visit Mac store in Westfield stratford city and impressed at the first moment itself.Since then i began to explore the brand and how they are successful for a long period all over the world.
Mac Cosmetics is a leading makeup brand originated in Toronto ,Canada. Initially it was specially designed to makeup professionals and artists but with the word of mouth marketing the brand was popularised. Since 1994, Mac Cosmetics is a part of Estée Lauder and today expanded in 105 countries around the world. The brand is unique for diversity and individuality by setting a motto as All ages, All races , All genders.
Market Segmentation
Market segmentation is the process of dividing a market into distinct groups of buyers who have different needs, characteristics or behaviors and who might require separate products or marketing programs.
The Mac cosmetics market is divided into similar and meaningful segments. The objective of the Mac Cosmetics “All ages, All races, All Genders” is achieved through the market segmentation strategy.
Geographic segmentation: The largest markets of Mac Cosmetics are UK, India, Middle East, South Africa, Brazil and also serving 105 different countries. Therefore, the Mac Cosmetics is dividing the products into geographic segmentation around the world. The marketing strategy and products stocks differ at each location according to the skin pigmentation and trends.There are 45 shades of brown and black skin tones and only 7 shades of caucasian skin tone ,which implies the necessity of market.Mac Cosmetics is the first ever brand to have diverse skin tones products.As a person of colour myself , i was astonished to see the multiple skin tones for brown skin which is not available in other brands.
Demographic segmentation: As per the objective of Mac Cosmetics stated in the official website, all ages and all genders market are under the demographic segmentation. Other than that income, family status are also considered under the demographic segmentation. Mac Cosmetics offers products for men, women and also transgender which aligns their motto. The Brand have a wide range of products suitable for everyday use, professional makeups and also products designed to age categories. Though it’s a luxury brand, it also offers affordable products with less size.
Physiographic segmentation: Mac Cosmetics consider the Physiographic segment as well by focusing on the lifestyle and personality of the consumers. For example, hello kitty and cartoon characters were used for packaging in China and strong pigmentation colours were marketed in India.
Targeting
Targeting is defined as a selective market segment in which the company should focus to serve. To target the market, companies should evaluate the attractiveness of the market segment and choose the best customer value which will sustain for a long period of time.
The target audience of the Mac Cosmetics can be observed through the commercials. It can be concluded that Mac Cosmetics is targeting the women despite the fact that all gender cosmetics are available. It is said that 51.8% of the consumer base is women. Even then, Millennials are closely targeted by Mac Cosmetics though all age categories are served. Millennials are the young ladies who fall under age 23–38, who are interested in fashion and trends.
In the beginning era of Mac Cosmetics, makeup artists were the main target and still they are one of the targets. Working ladies, college girls who have urban lifestyle are focused rather than the rural regions. Even then, consumers who value the quality of the product over the price sensitive are the target audience of Mac cosmetics.
Positioning
Positioning is defined as forming a distinctive place for the product in the target consumer’s mind shelf space. The brand value positioning using marketing mix gives the competitive advantage and differentiates among the competitors.
Creating the unique position in the industry and use of differentiation strategies are vital to a global brand. Mac Cosmetics is brilliantly doing the product positioning from the beginning and created a unique position in the mind of consumers in the cosmetic industry.
The Mac Cosmetics originally designed for makeup professionals and fashion frontline therefore it is still standing for high quality and luxury cosmetic products compared to the other brands. Here the psychological positioning is, Mac Cosmetics is a high quality product.
Mac Cosmetics uses product innovation and brand image as the differentiation strategy to stand unique among the competitors. The Mac Cosmetics stands for diversity and shows off that with the famous tagline “All ages, All races, All Genders”. Here the brand image is differentiated among the competitors and uniquely positioned. The packaging also stands alone by using easily recognizable black pots rather than using the compacts. The products were initially designed for professionals but now expanded the product range to non-professionals who value the quality over price.
The figure below illustrates the market structure and competitors of the cosmetic industry and points out the Mac Cosmetics market position.
It is obvious that Mac cosmetics STP strategy is perfectly designed to cater the market and motto is well aligned to the marketing model as well.These strategies can be applied to other industries as well to sustain long and reach global audience.If you notice, diversity is the key to the success of Mac Cosmetics.Diversity sells!!
