Nivea's Strategies, Targeting, and Positioning

Apart from the operating procedures being done by the Nivea Beiersdorf joint, the need for an efficient analysis of the marketing plans employed the multinational firm is important for the success of its operations in the United Kingdom and Thailand. Both countries exhibit a different set of cultures, as well as a varying array of demographics which greatly affects the STP strategies being used by any company who wishes to successfully penetrate both markets (Kotler, 2003).

Nivea Beiersdorf has its foothold in Europe and penetrating the British Market would not be that hard given that the cosmetics and lifestyle company has been there for about sixty years.

Nevertheless, the company presence in Thailand, given its totally different demographics than that of the UK, as well as its highly competitive cosmetics market would pose as a challenge in the positioning strategy of Nivea Beiersdorf (2007). The STP strategies to be utilized for both countries should be analyzed with utmost considerations. These considerations will in turn fall under three main parts: the concentrated, undifferentiated, and the differentiated strategies (Kotler, 2003).

Concentrated Strategies

Under this type of marketing strategy, the company, Nivea Beiersdorf needs to concentrate its resources within specific market segments of the UK and Thailand (2006c). With this in mind, the firm needs to determine which segment of the two different markets have the better need of market penetration strategies. Although Thailand has a grater need of marketing penetration strategies since Nivea’s presence there is recent and the market growth is more competitive as compared to that of the British market, the concentrated strategy can be more efficiently is used in the British market since the company has been there for quite long.

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Targeting and Positioning

Under this type of marketing strategy, competition is currently recognized and small to medium-sized firms which offer the same marketing mix like Marks and Spencer have the capability to compete with the company given that Nivea Beiersdorf was already able to position itself above the cosmetics market as a premiere cosmetics company. On the other hand, the concentrated targeting strategy being employed by Nivea Beiersdorf in the UK is more on the maintenance and improvement of the market share in the country as well as coping up with the market growth factors that are involved (Kotler, 2003).

Undifferentiated Strategies

Along with the current concentrated strategies used by Nivea Beiesdorf in the UK and Thailand, under the undifferentiated strategy, the company positioning is not much taken seriously in the UK out of the already established reputation and is more concerned on the savings that the company could achieve. However, this target marketing strategy can be best employed in the Thai market out of the high level of nationalism of the locals towards their local products. Using this specific strategy, Nivea has to position itself as a local brand yet of foreign origin. That is, Nivea will have to establish itself as a product that is not much different from the local ones. This specific strategy is currently being employed by the company to date with a local factory as well as local employees being employed. This way, appreciation of the products of the company is simplified and savings on marketing can be used for other purposes. Although, this type of strategy is more susceptible to competition, the right amount of company vigilance of the Thai demographics must be carefully monitored (Kotler, 2003).

Differentiated Strategies

Under this type, the company is producing several types of products that would specifically cater to the needs of the different market segments present in both countries. A specific example of this is the range of products offered by Nivea aside from the usual white cream up to sun tan lotions, body sprays, etc. The targeting strategies being used here is a product based on the thorough analysis of the demographic factors that are present in the UK and Thailand. For example, the British market is composed of a high adult market segment with a high disposable income (2006b). The range of products to be developed for them suits the characteristics of this particular domain. On the Thai market on the other hand, there are a lot of the housewife segment with a middle-sized income who is obsessed with having white skin, hence, a different set of product offerings ought to be made for them (2006a). Company positioning therefore can be dictated by the product offerings that will be utilized by the company.