NIVEA Case Study

Q1) What group o{ consumers was NIVEA targeting its marketing

{ Pearl and Beauty at?
NIVEA was researching on a deodorant which acted as a soothing and beautifying
product, while keeping in mind its basic functional use, which would appeal to
young females between the ages of 18-35 years. NIVEA found, through primary
and secondary research, that this consumer group was focused on maintaining
their beauty. They paid special attention to their underarms, to make them look
attractive. And so, NIVEA focused on this group, which made a niche in the market
as no other company catered to the need of consumers who wanted to keep their
underarms beautiful. Hence, NIVEA targeted its Pearl and Beauty deodorant on a
niche of the fragrance market, in which consumers (females) wanted products
which addressed their needs.
Q2) Set out a brie{ de{inition o{ Market Research and New Product
Development.
Market Research is the detailed research on a particular market and to assess the
company’s positioning in that market. In market research, the strength of the
competitors, size of the market, demand, etc are analysed. The American
Marketing Association defines Marketing Research as:
‘The systematic gathering, recording, and analyzing of data with re spect to a
particular market, where market refers to a specific customer group in a specific
geographic area .’
New Product Development is process in which the information gathered in Market
Research and other researches is used to form a new product. This new product
development is done in a company to bring out a new concept according to the
consumer’s needs. It continues even after a new product is launched. The
American Marketing Association defines New Product Development as:
‘The overall process of strategy, organization, concept generation, concept and
marketing plan evaluation, and commercialization of a new product. It
occasionally is restricted in meaning to that part of the process done by
technical (research and development) departments. New product development
concerns activity within an organization, in contrast to the acquisition of finished
new products from outside. ’

Q3) Explain two main ways in which Market Research and New
Product Development processes were interlinked in the development o{
Pearl and Beauty.
Market Research (MR) and New Product Development (NPD) are interlinked
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processes in this case study. Throughout the case study, one can infer that Market
Research is closely and immediately followed by NPD. Some examples are:
● Forming Product Concepts:
During this process, the market research conducted by the NIVEA marketing team
revealed that consumers needed a ‘beautifying, caring deodorant’. After more
MR in evolving a product development concept, the NPD came into action. In this
process, the marketing team conducted a research to identify the product
concept consumers liked the most. With that, NIVEA was able to identify and
produce the product which corresponded with the consumer’s views and needs.
This helped them to continue to the next stage of forming a new product.
● Product Testing:
Under MR, the NIVEA marketing team had conducted a research on the
requirement, by consumers of other deodorants, which could be something like
Pearl and Beauty deodorant. They also conducted a brand positioning research in
the market. On receiving a good feedback, NIVEA produced its Pearl and Beauty
deodorant and then conducted a further conducted a
NPD research on it. The research was to find out whether most of the
volunteers preferred NIVEA’s deodorant or not. On receiving a positive
response to the product, NIVEA’s marketing team came out with different
packaging concepts (after further MR).
Hence, we can see that after every process of market research, the NPD process
follows. MR and NPD occur alternately when a new product is conceptualised.
Q4) What is the relationship between consumer insights and product
concepts? Identi{y ways in which consumer insight {or Pearl and Beauty
lead to aspects o{ the development o{ the new product.
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Q5) How effective do you think qualitative research is in helping businesses
to develop products for international markets?
To continue growing, a multinational company needs to continuously introduce
new products which are appealing to the consumers. To manufacture and
introduce products to the consumers on an international scale, a company needs
to gather a lot of information on the specific requirements of consumers in
different countries. But this large amount of information gained from primary or
secondary sources is useless if they do not reveal the different views and needs of
consumers of different countries. Hence, to find to the exact requirements of
different consumer groups, the company needs to conduct qualitative research in
the different countries in order to find the different concepts required by
consumers in different countries. Qualitative research can help a company in the
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following ways:
l. It prevents misunderstand able, obsolete and wrong data from being used as
the data is collected by the company itself.
2. It prevents losses in the long run because if the data were false, the
company ran a high risk of developing the wrong product.
3. It prevents loss of extra money and time because if the quantitative
data on international markets is wrong, then the company will have to
spend extra time and money on collecting new data.
Beiersdorf also uses qualitative market research to conclude that the female
consumers needed a ‘beautifying, caring deodorant’. They use the data collected
from different countries to develop Pearl and Beauty deodorant.