BRAND POSITIONING AND ITS VARIOUS STRATEGIES

Presented by-

Dil Pankajbhai Shah

HPGD/JL20G2/3516

MARKETING MANAGEMENT

WELINGKAR INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH

YEAR OF SUBMISSION- SEPTEMBER 2022

What is Brand Positioning?

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As per combined definitions of Jack Trout, Philip Kotler, Mellissa Davis, and a few more experts,

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• Occupying a slot (position) for the brand in the minds of the consumers through an organized system.
• Forming a mental impression of the product.
• Representing the brand’s place in the market.

Following are the various approaches to positioning strategy:

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• Positioning using customer benefit or product characteristics.
• Positioning by price and quality.
• Positioning by use or application.
• Positioning by product user.
• Positioning by product class.
• Positioning by cultural symbols.
• Positioning by a competitor.

India market overview

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India Cosmetics products market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.23% during the forecast period 2020-2022.

While the cosmetics industry could be relatively strong as compared to other categories of consumers, the year 2020 has been very poor in terms of sales. However, it is being said that this industry would still remain to be attractive in coming future.

The pandemic related crisis would accentuate the trends which shape the market like a rise in use of E- commerce rather than touching a new ground altogether,. Almost all segments of this industry have witnesses a similar kind of downfall in terms of sales during COVID-19 because of closing of the offline stores at different locations throughout.

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Indian companies are venturing into organic color cosmetics, due to its increasing demand, among the large sections of the Indian society.

About Sugar Cosmetics

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Sugar Cosmetics is one of India’s fastest-growing premium cosmetic companies, with a cult following among millennials. Sugar is the cosmetics of choice for brave independent women who refuse to be categorized into stereotypes, thanks to its clutter-breaking attitude, unique low-poly packaging, and chart-topping products. The brand’s bestselling goods in the Lips, Eyes, Face, Nails and Skin categories are sent all over the world from state-of-the-art facilities in Germany, Italy, India, the Unites States, and Korea.

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The brand is devoted to producing products that are a great fit for every Indian skin tone throughout seasons and across the calendar, with a cruelty-free line that is high on design and high on performance. Sugar Cosmetics is aggressively expanding its strong existence with 10,000 plus retail stores by 2021 across 130+ cities with a purpose to reach the doorsteps of every cosmetics user in the country, backed by the faith of marquee investors and the passion of millions of beauty aficionados.

Sugar Cosmetics Logo

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The company began as an online supplier of natural, paraben-free cosmetics and has since grown in popularity not just in India but throughout the world. Due to the usage of the black and white colour combination, the visual identity of an Indian cosmetic business is beautiful and refined while also seeming bold and confident.

The company’s logo is made up of a wordmark with an emblem on the left, which serves as the brand’s signifier and appears on all of the company’s cosmetics.

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Sugar Cosmetics’ slogan says, “Rule The World, One Look At A Time!!!”

Sugar Cosmetics- Founder and Team

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Sugar Cosmetics was founded by Kaushik Mukherjee and Vineeta Singh, in 2012.

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Kaushik Mukherjee, the Co-Founder, and CEO of SUGAR Cosmetics is a BITS Pilani and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, and a TEDx speaker. He is also a marathon runner and an Ironman triathlete.

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Vineeta Singh is the Co-Founder and CEO of SUGAR Cosmetics, India’s fastest-growing cosmetic business. She is a TEDx Speaker and an IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad graduate. She is a triathlon as well as ultramarathon runner. Vineeta is a popular face on the Indian business reality show Shark Tank.

Sugar Cosmetics- Mission and Vision

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Sugar Cosmetics’ mission statement says-

“We believe in every interpretation of beauty. Bold to subdued, quirky to crazy, every day to glam goddess! We aim to celebrate every aspect of you, no matter what your style is. So, go ahead and pick your faves.”

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Sugar Cosmetics- Business Model and Revenue Model

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Sugar Cosmetics has a D2C model of business, which uses an omnichannel approach too to sell its products, which helps Sugar sell its products in various eCommerce marketplaces like Amazon, Nykaa, etc. The major revenue streams of Sugar Cosmetics include the sale of its products in India and other export sales.

Sugar Cosmetics- Growth and Revenue

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The beauty firm, which operates on a hybrid model, currently has a presence in more than 10,000 sales outlets in more than 130 locations. In the previous two years, its income has increased by nearly 6 times. After the pandemic took a heavy toll, the corporation devised novel strategies to reinforce the trust connection between its brand and its clients. SUGAR Cosmetics found a position for itself in the fast-growing beauty sector and weathered the epidemic by slashing expenses and reorganizing the team, as well as utilizing social media marketing and an e-commerce push. Some of the other growth highlights of Sugar are:

• Sugar website and app witnesses more than 2 million unique visitors each month.
• It sells 200K+ products each month.
• Sugar Cosmetics products are present in over 40K retail stores
• All prominent ecommerce marketplaces sell Sugar products like Amazon, Flipkart, Nykaa, Myntra and more.
• Sugar also sells its products outside India, in countries like Korea, Germany, Italy and the US.

The D2C beauty and cosmetics brand managed to clock in Rs 100 crore in annual revenues. This was a difficult feat even for brands like Revlon, which was only able to reach the same mark in revenues after 20 long years. Sugar was able to achieve such a feat with the help of the omnichannel approach that it has developed when it comes to selling the products along with its focus on content marketing, and the development of its own app.  

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Sugar Cosmetics- Competitors

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The top ten rivals in SUGAR Cosmetics’ competitive group can be listed as: 

• Purplle
• Lakme
• Maybelline
• Lotus Herbals
• Blue Heaven Cosmetics

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• Nykaa
• Plum
• Marico
• NewU
• Emami

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Top selling products of Sugar Cosmetics

Contour De Force Face

Palette – 02 Vivid Victory

Grand Finale SPF30

Setting Mist

Good Moodie Lip Crayon-

09 Girl Power

Citrus Got Real

Cooling Stick

Ace Of Face Foundation

Stick

Eye Lit You So! Vivid Eyeliner-

01 Pink Sphinx (Bright Pink)

Matte As Hell Crayon Lipstick-

02 Mary Poppins

SWOT Analysis of Sugar Cosmetics 

STRENGTH

- High quality makeup products with high color payoff and long lasting matte finish.

- Easy Application.

- Large numbers of person in target audience of 25-35 years.

- Online as well as offline presence.�SUGAR Cosmetics is rapidly scaling its physical presence with 40,000+ retail outlets across 550+ cities. SUGAR's sales have quadrupled over the past three years. It plans to expand to over 60,000 retail outlets in India.

WEAKNESS

- Low recognition.�The Instagram followers of Sugar Cosmetics currently stand at 2.1+ mn, whereas its Facebook followers stand at more than 426K, as of May 2022.

- Average promotional strategies used on digital media.�Website not upto mark.�Posts and Videos of Sugar Cosmetics are not seen very often.

- No multiple-celebrity endorsement.

- Less product range.�Sugar Cosmetics do not offer hair,nails and body care products like other competitive brands. 

THREATS

- Competitors have strong social media strategies.

- Owing to change in trends, products get outdated.

- Competitors launch the same products at lower price range. 

OPPORTUNITY 

- Increase online/offline sale through digital marketing.�SUGAR’s website and app gets more than 2 million unique visits every month, making it one of the largest digital-first brands in India. The app and site are fairly functional, without too many bells and whistles, but ~50% of SUGAR’s online revenue is derived from both these channels together.�- Collaboration with high end influences and celebrities�Currently, Tapsee pannu is brand ambassador for the company but she is not the only celebrity they should focus on. 

- Launch wider product range�Company can invest in R&D to come up with more products of other categories apart from Skin, Face, Eyes and Lips.

- Associate with other companies�Sugar cosmetics can start associating with other big brands to extend their reach into market with their unique products. 

- Increase in per capita income�There is a global increase in per capita income and therefore disposable income. This has resulted in an increase in the impulsive shopping behavior of customers.

Focus on personalization�There is a global increase in per capita income and therefore disposable income. This has resulted in an increase in the impulsive shopping behavior of customers.

SUGAR- Observation after Collection of Data

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Brand identity is the way in which the brand presents itself to the consumer, as opposed to brand image which is a perception of a brand among the consumers.

Currently, Sugar cosmetics are perceived to be reliable, simple, pocket friendly and

trustable cosmetic brand.

• While using its products, people look and feel cheerful, smart and

confident.

• Many people have started getting hands on the brands product and their reviews

are positive as per the quality and value.

• Although they think their packaging is attractive but the packaging does not play a major role in cosmetics, it is more of quality and price.

In terms of awareness, SUGAR cosmetics is way behind its competitors and has not captured much of offline market. �

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Points of Differences

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Point of difference could be defining in terms of the way consumer thinks for a given brand. These are the points which will make the brand stand out from competition. Point of difference is like unique selling proposition and this difference can be in form of appearance, predictable performance, quality, better customer service. For example Wal-Mart, faces competition not only from Target but also from Macy’s and Shaw’s. But point of difference is the product range it can offer at competitive prices compared to other stores.

POINTS OF PARITY��

Points of similarity are common traits essential to make sure that consumer understand the product. It helps in enforcing a simple point of identifying product within product class. This becomes important especially if brand is in extension mode and looking to enter another category. This is more prevalent in consumer goods industry, such as Old Spice earlier it was focus on shaving product but later moved to grooming products like deodorants.

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Conclusions & Recommendations

• It can be concluded that Sugar Cosmetics are new in the market and they should put more efforts in spreading awareness about their company through offline mediums.
• Product range is very limited therefore they should put more time in product development and parallel to that, keep watch on competitive brands and their new products.
• Price range is not that much high right now. But if in case they have to shift into the premium category. They should add more value to their product line and offer them at a higher price.
• Sugar Cosmetics are easily available online but they should focus more on accessibility in the offline market. They should also try to do more collaborations with companies like Nykaa and purple to gain more reach in market.
• Sugar Cosmetics should clearly define their short-term and long-term business goals in order to cope with highly competitive market.

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Limitation

• This study only provides Market centric observations of Sugar Cosmetics, We also have Product centric observations where optimizing products and processes can lead to increase in profitability.
• Apart from Brand Positioning, There are many other aspects in business for a startup to check on, such as, business strategies, fundraising/investments, Operation management etc. Sugar Cosmetics need to plan everything in a balanced manner to sustain in the market with profit for a longer period of time.
• Established companies try every possible way to takeout new companies. Therefore Sugar cosmetics need to very conscious with their strategic decisions.

References

• https://blog.sugarcosmetics.com
• https://1000logos.net/sugar-cosmetics-logo/
• https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/marketing-report-on-the-body-shop.php
• https://miro.com/app/
• https://www.nykaa.com/search/result/?q=SUGAR&root=search&searchType=Manual&sourcepage=Search+Page
• https://in.sugarcosmetics.com/
• https://www.shopify.in/blog/sugar-cosmetics-dtc
• https://www.lakmeindia.com/
• https://www.deccanchronicle.com/lifestyle/fashion-and-beauty/311219/sugar-cosmetics-marketing-strategy-for-fy-2020.html
• https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-mix-maybelline/#:~:text=Maybelline%20has%20projected%20itself%20as,accessible%20cosmetics%20to%20every%20woman.
• https://www.purplle.com/brand/sugar
• https://www.slideshare.net/search/slideshow?searchfrom=header&q=PEPSI+BRAND+POSITION
• https://startuptalky.com/sugar-cosmetics-success-story/
• https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-strategy-of-loreal/#:~:text=The%20brand%20has%20positioned%20itself,Marketing%20mix%20of%20L'Oreal.
• https://www.lakmeindia.com/

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