Company case: The Newest Avon Lady-Barbie!

Essay by vaninaUniversity, Master'sA+, February 2004

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1) The following are the factors in the microenvironment that had influenced in shaping Avon's strategy:

·Marketing intermediaries was one of the most crucial forces that make Avon changes its strategy. The ladies that promoted, sold, and distributed its products decided that they needed more than part time jobs. Therefore, the salesforce turnover increased more than 200 percent. This caused that many customers could not find a salesperson when they wanted to buy a product. In 1997, they have the most radical change because they try to sell its products through retail stores.

·Customers were another microenvironment force that caused changes in Avon's strategy. As women started working outside home, many times when salespersons rang the doorbells nobody answered.

·Competitors also influenced in Avon's strategy because they offered full-time jobs. As a result, many ladies that used to work at Avon's company moved to its competitors.

Among the forces in the in the macroenvironment we find:

·Demography: the increasing mobility of the US population meant that both customers and salespersons were moving.

This made it difficult to establish loyal, stable customer bases.

·Political: Avon faced a big problem during 1998 in China when the government announced that direct sales were prohibited. Likely, by mid-1998 Avon negotiated with the Chinese government to restart its business by operating as a wholesaler.

2) In the microenvironment:

Firstly, the companies have to study their customer market by determining the needs and the wants of target market. In addition, they should deliver the desired satisfaction better than their competitors do.

Secondly, they should consider the marketing intermediaries because they are the ones in charge of promoting, selling and distributing the products. In international markets they do not have to worry about retailers stores if they use a direct salesforce. Moreover, in many developing economies, being...