Avon Case Study

Geographic Segment

According to the case study, Avon is located in different areas around the United States as well as in Europe and South America. It caters to both urban and rural regions.

Demographic Segment

Avon is directed primarily towards women whose ages range from 25-50 years and have average to below-average incomes. They may either be single, married, or with or without children and may or may not be employed. Avon also targets variety of race (Asian, Hispanic, Black and White) as they implement a special training for their representatives with regard to selecting and applying the right product for "women of different ages, ethnicities, and skin types".

Psychographic Segment

Avon targets lower to middle class women whose lifestyles include pampering and taking care of their bodies at price that is attainable or affordable for them. Most of these women cannot afford to do much compulsive buying so that the job of Avon's representatives is to introduce and teach to them the different varieties of products that the company has to offer and thus convince them of its quality and dependability. Furthermore, these women also feel the need to trust products that truly care about their lives. Avon establishes an intimate relationship with these women through the foundations that they create for their health and welfare.

Behavioral Segment

Avon targets women who use beauty products and personal care products on a regular occasion and constantly wants to try out other new products at a price that is reasonable for them as well as undeniably good quality. Thus, these women look for a product that is of high quality but at the same time very affordable and cheaper than other brands that may offer the same quality. They also value the convenience of having to easily choose the products they want to buy, certain of its quality, and having it delivered or brought to them at their doorsteps.

Avon directs its products to potential users, first-time users, and regular users. They aim to make potential and first-time users consume their products at a medium to heavy rate while maintaining their regular users at the same rate. Moreover, Avon wants to target consumers who are strongly loyal to their products so that they will continue to look into their catalogs and order the products they want and convince friends, family and co-workers to try on the products as well. This loyalty is maintained through providing hig-quality products as well as ensuring women that Avon is the "company for women" and that they are not just about selling their products; rather, they truly listen to and care for the lives of these women. Overall, Avon wants to create a positive and enthusiastic attitude towards their products.

As a whole, Avon's target market is women aged 25-50 years with average to below average incomes. These women are located all around the country (U.S.) as well as in other countries, so that Avon targets both urban and rural areas. Since these women give importance to taking care of their bodies and pampering themselves, they would want to achieve so at a price that is relative to their income. The consumers should be able to say that the price they pay for the product is well worth its value so that the Avon can maintain their loyalty towards them as well as possibly increase their range of customers through the positive feedbacks that their existing customers share to their family, friends and co-workers.

Because Avon's target market values quality, Avon products need to be well explained and understood by them, which is why they hire representatives who will brief these women on how the company's products work and which of these products would best suit them. Also, these representatives may also be part of Avon's market of consumers as they too, are into the company's products and believe in its quality as well as its sense of community building for women around the world.

Avon should still continue using their direct selling strategy for the following reasons:

a. The networking scheme that they created, wherein their sales representatives gain customers through their own network of "friends of friends", would still have a bigger reach than having their products sold in pharmacy counters and discount stores. Since most of the Avon sales representatives sell the products as a second job or as a part-time job (these women make up 80% of the total sales representatives of Avon), these sales representatives are able to bring their direct-selling not only to their friends and relatives, but also to their normal jobs. The sales representatives are thus able to sell Avon products even without really selling anything just through having their co-workers approach them and inquire on the latest catalog, turning that co-worker into a potential customer. This direct selling creates a bigger network for them, bringing Avon to more people than a kiosk in a mall or in a pharmacy store.

b. There are still more customers who prefer to purchase Avon products through a sales representative (at 70%) than customers who would not want to interface with a sales representative (18%). Abolishing the direct selling strategy would mean a big loss of customers for Avon, who still prefer transacting with a sales representative.

c. The target market of Avon is the below average to average income earners who are willing to purchase beauty products priced at relatively lower rates, compared to other products of the same quality. If Avon decided to sell their products in retail stores, as a consumer, I would think that it would be an inferior product compared to other