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A Consumer Behavior analysis of

the cosmetic industry in Cyprus:
The case of the SEVENTEEN Brand
Ria Morphitou
University of Nicosia, Cyprus
Savvas Tsangarides
University of Nicosia, Cyprus

2. Identify the importance of branding in the

cosmetic market of Cyprus.

Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the research is to examine the
brand status of SEVENTEEN cosmetics brand in
Cyprus and to evaluate the possible strategy to be
followed in order to enhance its brand image and
how this specific brand affects customers choice.
It examines the marketing of Seventeen, the
Seventeens supply network and how it affects its
brand image. It also examines how globalization
and the global competitors affect Seventeens
branding strategy.
Additionally it examines the Cypriot cosmetic
market, and more specifically what affects their
purchasing decision about cosmetic products and
the perceptual map of local users in relation to its
position strategy.
Key Words: Branding, Promotion, Marketing
Strategy

Research Aim and Objectives:

Aim:
The aim of the research is to examine the brand
status of SEVENTEEN, the strategy to be
followed in order to enhance its brand image, how
brand affects customers choice and the strategy
management plan of the company.
Objectives:
1. Examine the existing literature on branding,
marketing and strategy.

3. Identify the influence which globalization can

have in the cosmetic market of Cyprus.
4. Examine how an SME company can survive
against the giants (local and international) of
the cosmetic market.
5. Understand how this market works and the
local dominant players.
. Investigate and examine the existing as well as
new customers attitude and behavior related
to cosmetic branding and its importance.
7. Identify companys operational problems.
8. Provide suggestions of IMC techniques and
recommend strategies to be followed.

Literature Review:
The value to business of owning strong brands
is incontestable. Brands that keep their promise
attract loyal buyers who will return to them at
regular intervals. The benefits to the brand owner
are that forecasting cash flows becomes easier,
and it becomes possible to plan and manage
the development of the business with greater
confidence. Thus brands with their ability to
secure income, can be classed as productive
assets in exactly the same way as any other, more
traditional assets of a business (plants, equipment,
cash, investments as so on) ( www.interbrand.com
). A successful brand is an identifiable product,
service, person or place, augmented in such
a way that the buyer or user perceives relevant

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unique added values which match their needs

most closely. Furthermore, its success results
from being able to sustain these added values in
the face of competition (Chernatony et al, 2003).
Customer satisfaction is the outcome felt by buyers
who have experienced a company performance
that has fulfilled expectations. Customers are
satisfied when their expectations are exceeded.
Satisfied customers remain loyal longer, buy more,
are less price sensitive and talk favorably about
the company. Customer satisfaction has to be
measured and there are several established ways
of doing this (Kotler, Wong, Sanders, Armstrong,
2005). It requires managers to develop strategies
that are appropriate to the specific circumstances
of an organization- but these circumstances will
change over time. It also needs some clarity on
which issues are more important than others and
an ability to reconcile the conflicting pressures
from the business environment, an organizations
strategic capability and the expectations of
stakeholders (Johnson, Scholes, Whittington,
2005). Reconfiguring a supply network sometimes
involves parts of the operation being merged-not
necessarily in the sense of a change of ownership
of any parts of an operation but rather in the
way responsibility is allocated for carrying out
activities. The most common example of network
reconfiguration has come though the many
companies that have recently reduced the number
of direct suppliers. Dealing with many suppliers
prevents the operation from developing close
relationship with a supplier (Slack, Chambers,
Johnson, 2007). One of the more popular and
intrinsically satisfying views of IMC is that the
messages conveyed by each of the promotional
tools should be harmonized in order that audiences
perceive a consistent set of messages. Above the
line and below the line communications need to
be molded into one cohesive bundle (Fill, 2002).
For Lancme, all women share the same vision of
life: charm, seduction and self-confidence. Thats
what everyone calls it the French Touch (www.
lancome.com).

Methodology:

For a customer buying a product or a service

important role in his/her decision is the brand
behind the product. So in the cosmetic market or
industry branding is very important. The strategy,
the communication strategy, the operational
management and the marketing strategy are
enhancing the brand of a company if are pointing
to the correct actions.

In-depth interviews with key position persons and

Managers (local and international) to understand
their opinions about the brand status, the way the
company performs their operational works, their
advertising campaign and the suggested strategies
to be followed (Objectives 7 & 8).

For the successful achievement of the objectives

required for the research both, secondary
and primary data will be used. Qualitative and
quantitative surveys and in- depth interviews will
be conducted.
Objective 1 will be researched through secondary
research i.e. secondary data (books, journals,
articles and websites). The secondary data will be
collected through articles of branding from different
magazines like cosmetics or marketing magazines,
newspapers articles, books on marketing and
branding, websites related to branding and different
marketing journals.
Objectives 2, 3, 6 and 8 will be researched through
the primary quantitative research i.e. primary data
(make a research assigned to the customers in
order to understand SEVENTEENs position in
the market , the awareness of the Brand, brand
loyalty, problems, competitive advantages etc.).
It will be conducted through a homogeneous
stratified random sample and approximately 100
questionnaires will be distributed within Cyprus.
The sample is homogeneous because the element
in each stratum will be women (due to the reason
that SEVENTEEN products are addressed to
women) and stratified because each element
will belong to a stratum of age (we will divide the
population into age groups).
The 4th and the 5th objective will be achieved
by collecting data through qualitative primary
research. A research assigned to the intermediaries
will be conducted through a questioner, to identify
SEVENTEENs market share, the awareness of the
Brand, the problems facing the first-tier customers,
the problems facing the first-tier customers which
affect their image etc. The questionnaire will be
distributed through a simple random sampling
(finite population) of 30 selected customers
(perfumeries, beauty stores and pharmacies)
within Cyprus.

The project is reliable because of the sample size

(for n=100, Marginal error=9.8%, for more the error

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will be less), and valid because we will conduct the

questioners with people (women) using cosmetic
products taking place in the perfumeries the beauty
stores and the pharmacies.

References:

Conclusions

Kotler P., Wong V., Sanders J., Armstrong G.,

(2005), Principles of Marketing, Fifth edition,
Essex: Pearson Education Limited

Cypriots are among the most prosperous people

in the Mediterranean region, and the culture and
habits of Cypriot women are changing. Cypriot
women are dealing more with their appearance
and beauty and for this reason they use more
cosmetic products. Cypriot women are found to
spend more than the EU12 average spend and
even more than Greek women according to World
Economic Database, Coliba Statistics and the
researcher work.
The factors that affects more customers decision
for buying cosmetic products are first quality and
then brand name and price. According to Dodson
(2009) building cosmetic brands that consumer
trust and identify with, is big bussiness. According
to Slack, N. et al. (2007) high quality goods or
services can give to an organisation a competitive
edge, and quality is a major influence on customer
satisfaction or disatisfaction. Mohiuddin (2009)
refers that to make color cosmetics more acceptable
to consumers, manufacturers will have to convince
them that their products are good value. The
women prefer to shop cosmetic products firstly
from beauty shops, secondly from beauty shops
in malls, and third from pharmacies. Seventeens
customers prefer to shop from malls first and then
from pharmacies. Very importantly the results of
market survey coinsides with the work done by
Teller, C. as descripte in his article Shopping
streets versus shopping malls-determinants of
agglomeration format attractiveness from the
consumers point of view in 2008 that malls are
gaining ground against street shops.

Chernatony L., McDonald M., (2003), Creating

Powerful Brands, Third edition, Oxford, UK:
Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann,.

Johnson G., Scholes K., Whittington R., (2005),

Exploring Corporate Strategy: text and cases,
Seventh Edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
Hall
Dessler
G.,
(2005),
Human
Resource
Management Tenth Edition, Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Prentice Hall
Sloman J., Mark S., (2004), Economics for
Business, Third Edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall
Fill C., (2002), Marketing Communications
Contexts, Strategies and Applications, Third
Edition, Essex: Pearson Education Limited
Laurence A., Weber J., (2007),Marketing and
Society, Twelfth Edition, London: McGraw-Hill
Saunders M., Lewis P., Thornhill A., (2003),
Research Methods for Business Students, Third
Edition, Essex: Pearson Education Limited
Slack N., Chambers S., Johnson R., (2007),
Operation Management, Fifth edition, Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall

Practical Implications
This paper besides its academic value it aims to
assist any organization in Cyprus in the cosmetic
industry to design a Marketing Strategy that will
affect the consumers decision in selecting a
brand. Additionally it can assist the organization in
developing an effective IMC campaign and finally
the appropriate action that needs to be taken by
SEVENTEEN in an effort to improve its Brand
image and consequently maximize profit.
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