Competitive Environments: Estee Lauder

Competitive Environments

This reflective piece takes a look at the success of the analysis of the competitive market that has been researched, and how beneficial this was in relation the presentation on Estee Lauder.

The objectives of the assignment and report on Estee Lauder were: to identify Estee Lauder’s market, including it’s positioning within that market and its target audience. It was also to look at current strategies used by the company and to identify and problems found within these strategies. From this analysis and research into the brand, it was possible to suggest certain recommendations on how they could improve and solidify their competitive edge within the beauty sector.

The models chosen to understand the market surrounding Estee Lauder and its positioning in the market were SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats), PEST (political, economical, social and technological) and Porter’s five forces.

With the model SWOT, there were main elements determined within Estee Lauder Brand. The ‘strength’ of Estee Lauder was that it was a well-established brand, which meant it had recognized consumer loyalty and that it holds a major percentage in the market. The identified ‘weakness’ was that it was discovered the Estee Lauder had an ‘old’ image. This meant that there were limited to none fresh consumers and a lack of innovation and complacency. As well as this, the recent happenings of the recession means that customer loyalty is likely to be forgotten in place of ‘bargain brands’. The identified ‘opportunities’ was the availability to create a sub-section brand and through this use of sub-branding cater to a younger market thus a fresher image. The ‘threats’ to Estee Lauder were identified as younger, cheaper brands that become more popular. Especially with the issue of the recession larger luxury brands, including Estee Lauder, come under threat from pharmaceutical ‘basement bargain’ brands.

The model PEST identified the...