Sephora and Discmart Marketing Cases

Lauren Balukonis

November 22, 2010

Case: Sephora

1.) Sephora’s target market is comprised basically of everyone including both men and women as well as the wealthy and the budget conscious customers.

2.) Sephora was the first beauty product store to introduce a self-service environment and many customers are excited to take part in this kind of shopping experience. The Sephora stores are very clean and organized and make customers feel like the store was designed to make it easy for them to explore and try out anything they want. This self-service approach empowers consumers to make their own choices while also giving them the option of help if they decide to seek it.

3.) Sephora has been successful in other foreign countries, but not Japan and Germany because of the way the consumers perceive and react to the radical new concept of customer service that Sephora takes. This concept is proven to be a strength and very successful in some markets, but also a weakness in other countries; it all depends on the culture.

4.) Sephora’s online site is so successful because it offers over 250 classic and prestige brands, many that consumers have a difficult time finding in department stores. Sephora.com provides consumers with all the brands they love at a reasonable price.

Case: Discmart

1.) This particular service breakdown occurred because the inventory of a specific product ran out during a sale. Usually, this wouldn’t be too big of an issue because market research shows that most of Discmart’s customers are pleased with their raincheck policy; however, this particular customer was dissatisfied with receiving a raincheck.

2.) The GAPs model can easily be applied to this service breakdown. There was a knowledge gap when the customer believed that all sale items were guaranteed to be in stock at the store. There was a standards gab when the cashier was trying to stick to the store’s policy while the customer was claiming that the supervisor...