African Caribbean Culture In The United Kingdom Marketing Essay

African-Caribbean communities organize and participate in Caribbean Carnivals Caribbean style carnivals throughout the UK. The best known of these is the annual Notting Hill Carnival, attracting up to 1.5 million people from Britain and around the world, making it the largest street festival in Europe. The carnival began in 1964 as a small procession of Trinidadians in memory of festivals in their home country.

Leeds West Indian Carnival is Europe’s oldest West Indian carnival and now attracts around 130,000 people.

Other carnivals include the Leicester Caribbean Carnival and the Birmingham International Carnival.

British African-Caribbean people

A majority of the African-Caribbean population in the UK is of Jamaican origin; other notable representation is from Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Montserrat, Anguilla, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana (which although located on the South American mainland is culturally similar to the Caribbean and was historically considered to be part of the British West Indies), and Belize.

African-Caribbean people are present throughout the United Kingdom with by far the largest concentrations in London and Birmingham. Significant communities also exist in other population centres, notably Manchester, Bradford, Nottingham, Coventry, Luton, Leicester, Bristol, Leeds, Huddersfield, Sheffield, Liverpool and Cardiff. In these cities, the community is traditionally associated with a particular area, such as Brixton, Harlesden, Stonebridge, Tottenham, Dalston, Lewisham, Edmonton, Peckham in London, West Bowling and Heaton in Bradford, Chapeltown in Leeds, St. Pauls in Bristol, or Handsworth and Aston in Birmingham or Moss Side in Manchester. According to the 2001 census, the largest number of African-Caribbeans is found in Lewisham, south-east London, with 9%.

British African-Caribbeans have an extremely high rate of mixed-race relationships, and could in effect become the first UK ethnic group to “disappear”. Half of all British African-Caribbean men in a relationship have partners of a different ethnic background, as do one-third of all British African-Caribbean women. 2009 estimates for England alone roughly put the full African-Caribbean to partial African-Caribbean heritage ratio at 2:1, with over 900,000 people of African-Caribbean origin in total.

England in 2009: 609,400 (approximately 1.20% of the English population)

Regions with significant populations

Greater London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Cardiff, West Midlands, Manchester, Bristol, Nottingham, Leicester

Sheffield

Caribbean London

It’s hard to say exactly which parts of London are synonymous with Caribbean culture. In August it’ll be Notting Hill, but although there are hubs of residential areas – Peckham, New Cross, Dalston, and Lewisham

That will have their fair share of Caribbean (and African) residents and at least a handful of grocers or takeaways selling Caribbean food; it’s a community that’s fairly spread across town.

Two main areas do stand out, however: Brixton in South London and Harlesden in the North West. Brixton Market is home to Europe’s largest amount of Afro-Caribbean foodstuffs, which obviously appeals to a large contingent of Afro-Caribbean consumers who can also find specialist hairdressers, barber shops as well as hair products in the surrounding streets. Harlesden also boasts its fair share of Caribbean cafés and grocers, but is best known as the reggae capital of London.

AFRO HAIR

Black hair has been the subject of discussion for many years. Today, black hair has reached new heights, with new styles, news products, and leading hair fashions. Whether its natural Afro, braids, weaves or treatments make everyday a great hair day! 

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HAIR CELEBRATION

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CHRIS FOSTER

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AFRO HAIR & BEAUTY BIBLE 

The Afro Hair & Beauty Bible – The must have beauty book for Women of Colour by Alison Husbands. This glossy stylish handbag sized book is complimented by stunning images in an easy to read format, just what a busy woman needs no matter what her lifestyle.

GOOD HAIR DVD

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Business and Marketing Plan Summary

The Marketing Plan for Beauty Queens Cosmetics Illustrates with a Vision to get a growth in Targeted Region with a mission to achieve a Unique and leading role in his business Industry. And it includes a Marketing and Sales Plan which if executed well then the company can get their targeted growth result. The Report is supported with a Regional Analysis of Target Area and some info on Hair Products in UK Region.

The Business

Business name: Beauty Queens Cosmetics

Business structure: hair and cosmetics specially designed for African people

Business location: African and Caribbean customers in UK

Date established: The date you started trading.

Business owner(s): List all of the business owners.

Products/services: black Afro hair and cosmetic products

Goals/objectives:

Increase lifetime value of customers

Increase the average number of items purchased per sale

Increase the frequency that a loyal customer shops

Increase the percentage of customers who are returning customers

Increase the number of new customers

Increase customer satisfaction

Increase visibility and memorability of brand identity

Increase new customers from referral and word of mouth

The Market

Target market:

Black British women, African and Caribbean customers in United Kingdom.

Marketing strategy:

By offering a complete range of black Afro hair products, Services & Solutions for a variety of customer’s requirements.

Reach out the Giant Customer base from all sectors.

Enhancing the Online marketing strategies to reach out the peoples via Internet marketing.

Segmentation of Customers

The bulk of the ethnic minority group as a whole are concentrated in large urban areas, especially London. An outstanding 80% of Black Africans and 61% of Black Caribbeans lived in London. Following London, the second largest proportion of ethnic minority population as a whole lived in the West Midlands (13%), followed by the South East (8%), and Yorkshire and the Humber (7%). So The Segmentation of customers should largely focus on London and Birmingham. Notably Manchester, Bradford, Nottingham, Coventry, Luton, Leicester, Bristol, Leeds, Huddersfield, Sheffield, Liverpool and Cardiff have the good Number of afro Caribbean peoples. So the Major Focus should be on these cities.

THE BUSINESS OF BLACK HAIR AND BEAUTY

Size and Growth of Industry

According to Cobweb Research, African Caribbean hairdressing is a rapidly expanding sector of the industry with an estimated 2,000 salons in the UK, at least half of which are located in London alone. The size and economic impact of this market is however, said to be vastly under-estimated. As a result, the Knowledge Centre on Black and Minority Ethnic Businesses (KCBMEB) in partnership with Afro Hair & Beauty conducted quantitative research to provide an estimate of the true size of the industry. Rough calculations result in an estimated 50 million pound market for London alone which employs approximately 5,000 people

Hairdressing in general is one of the faster growing industries in the UK, and although black women are estimated to spend, on average, four times more on their grooming then the average woman, a lack of formal business skills amongst many Afro-Caribbean-led salons means that these businesses are not enjoying the same level of success as their mainstream counterparts. To further emphasize this point, research conducted by Business Link for London’s Knowledge Centre on Black and Minority Ethnic Businesses also shows that expectations of growth in terms of employee size and turnover are not being achieved. The following table reveals that 16% of businesses expect to move out of the ‘5 or less employees’ category into the ‘6 plus’ category and almost one in ten of these businesses expect to move into the ’10 plus employee’ category within the next two years. What happens in reality (if we compare 2 years ago and now) is that only 2% moved out of the 1-5 employee category, 3% out of the 6-10 employee categories, and 1% into the 10 plus employee category).

Number of Staff in African-Caribbean Hair & Beauty Businesses

Two Years

Ago

Currently

Expected in Two Years

None

13%

7%

5%

1 – 5 employees

70%

72%

58%

6 – 10 employees

13%

16%

23%

More than 10 employees

4%

5%

14%

100%

100%

100%

Achieving Growth Potential

African Caribbean Hairdressing is a rapidly expanding sector of the increasingly lucrative UK hair and beauty industry and since its inception has been one of the strongest growth areas in the Black and Minority Ethnic market. Added to this, the UK’s ethnic population is growing by 2.5% a year and even more within London, which holds about half of the UK’s BME population. Overall, the group’s disposable income is estimated at £12bn and the market’s potential is further boosted by the fact that black women spend up to four times as much money on their hair as their white counterparts.

Salon owners and professionals must be educated on the business case for increasing their business and technical skills, and formalizing their business processes so as to reap the benefits available to them in the form of training, funding opportunities, publicity and involvement in government initiatives aimed at achieving business growth within the sector.

Attitudes need to be changed and to do so requires a social marketing campaign, the main objective of which should be to encourage the dissemination of information that informs and encourages salon owners and their employees to improve standards. As a result, Business Link for London’s Knowledge Centre on Black and Minority Ethnic Businesses is working with partners, shebytes Ltd., and Afro Hair & Beauty to:

develop a sustainable programme of business training and support tailored to the needs of businesses in this industry

revival of an industry association that will champion the needs of all players in this specialised market

support the development of an accredited training academy which will meet the continuous skills and training needs of this dynamic market

develop an online database of businesses in the industry, create inspirational case studies of good practice in the industry, and develop online tools that are specific and easily accessible to business owners and aspiring business owners in the industry

Competitors Analysis

It’s up to entrepreneurs to attract and retain customers, and all your most profitable future clients already exist. Many of them probably belong to your competitors, so it’s up to you to persuade them to do business with you instead.

This is a skill business owners can learn. At its base, it comes down to advertising, something successful entrepreneurs are doing anyway. Plus, if you’re going after your competitors’ clients, your chances for success increase for two reasons: You’re targeting only those prospects who have already purchased or are in the process of purchasing a product or service similar to yours, and you’re rewarding the competition’s best clients for taking immediate action while showing you proof of their purchasing intent.

To reach those prospects interested in making a purchase, here are five ideas you can use right now in your display or internet advertisements:

“If you have received a written estimate from any of our competitors, show us proof and you’ll receive a special discount at our establishment.”

“Show proof that you received our competitor’s sales letter, sample or brochure and instantly receive $25 toward your next purchase with us.”

“If you currently own an XYZ Widget, you immediately qualify for an instant credit of $20 toward our products and services.”

“If your do-it-yourself home repair project didn’t turn out right, show us your receipt for materials purchased, and you’ll receive an immediate discount up to 10 percent off your repair bill.”

Before worrying about the cost of gaining customers this way, remember that your initial rebate or incentive offer is a one-time acquisition cost. The lifetime value of acquiring this new client could easily be worth thousands of dollars or more to your business. 

For this strategy to work, your ads must reach your competition’s clients. Research the places your competitors advertise–online and in newspapers, magazines and the Yellow Pages–and advertise there, too.

Then, when creating your next advertising campaign, ask yourself if your incentive is irresistible enough to instantly steal business away from competitors. With enough incentive and reward for taking immediate action, you’ll have created an advertisement tempting enough to accomplish your goal.

Differentiate yourself from your Competitors

1. Reduce Expenses, Not Advertising

Take a look at your Profit and Loss statement, or itemize all of your expenses, and ask yourself how each line can be eliminated or reduced. Find out where you can cut back. A little here and a little there will soon add up. However, the one expense you do NOT want to reduce is advertising. In fact, many retailers will increase their marketing efforts during slower sales periods because there is more competition and fewer consumer dollars.

2. Get Creative

Retailers in the same industry generally use similar marketing methods to reach customers. Now is the time to get creative and use unconventional marketing methods to distinguish your business from the competition. A unique marketing campaign attracts more attention and lands more sales. Also, look for some new untapped market you and your competitors overlooked. You may uncover a niche market you can dominate with little or no competition.

3. Provide Outstanding Customer Service

By going the extra mile to provide good service, retailers can outlast the competition. Make shopping in your store such a memorable experience that customers can’t wait to come back or to tell their friends. People like to shop where they feel comfortable and where they feel the owner truly cares about their wants and needs.

“Use your salespeople to talk with your former customers, present customers, and the people who buy from your competitors.”

Not to be gauche as a business-performance consultant, the best-practice answer is to hire a competent outside-participant to learn customers’ attitudes.

A hot topic: Since early 2009, it seems all we have heard about is social media and connecting with customers.

Hence, the increasing popularity of social-media measurement, but it is still challenging to leverage social media for business success. It takes a savvy staff or outside experts to listen and engage prospective customers in the marketplace.

Beat a Lower-Priced Competitor

It’s every company’s nightmare: a competitor enters your market with a similar product priced at a fraction of what you currently charge. You need a strategy for beating the low-ballers. So what’s the best way to proceed?

On the one hand, all you need to do is drop your prices below the competition, and buyers will beat a path to your door. On the other hand, this approach will land you in a price war, and there are no winners in a price war – only survivors. Even if you manage to run your competitor out of business, chances are you may not have much of a business left when the battle is over.

Luckily, it is possible to beat a lower-priced competitor without crippling your profits. That’s the good news. The bad news is that you’ll need to make major operational changes, and you’ll need to rethink how you communicate with customers. The changes required may not be for the faint of heart, but they’re better than the alternatives. So gird your loins, corporate warriors; you’re about to embark on one of the biggest strategy challenges you’ll ever face.

Select a Value Strategy.

Goal: Lay the groundwork for repositioning your product.

When customers prefer the lower priced of two items, it’s usually because they believe the cheaper item is a better value. To compete, you need to get the customer to value your product more than the competitions – regardless of the price. There are four market strategies that accomplish this:

Lower your prices. Yes, this is an option. The challenge is to do it without destroying your own profit margins. (We’ll explain how to do that in the next step.) The big danger here is that you’ll end up with a price war, so you must ensure that you have what it takes to be the last firm standing. Example: Dell underpriced PCs during the 1990s in order to grow market share.

Build a uniquely superior product. Customers will pay more if they’re convinced your product is demonstrably better than the competition. This superiority can be “rational” (like a feature or function nobody else has), “emotional” (like a reputation for being “cool”), or a combination of both. Example: Car buyers pay more for Volvos because they’re seen as safer than other cars.

Create a hassle-free experience. Customers will pay extra if your product is easier to buy and use than the competitor’s. Example: Many shoppers happily pay more for the convenience of bagged lettuce, even though it is significantly more expensive than head lettuce.

Take ownership of the customer’s results. Customers will pay extra if, in addition to providing the product, you take responsibility for ensuring that it generates the results the customer seeks. Example: GE’s Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines come with consulting programs, operating training, and a patient-preparation program – a package that ensures that the machines will meet the hospital’s performance expectations.

Big Idea

Where Do You Fit In?

Think of product value as a grid. The left axis defines what you sell: Does your firm offer stand-alone products, or do you specialize in offering an ongoing set of services? The top axis is about your core value proposition: Does your offering compete largely on the basis of how much it costs, or does it offer features that make it unique? The more sophisticated your product gets, the more you can charge for it relative to the competition. Similarly, the more value your services provide, the more you can charge for them.

Reposition, Readjust, and Reallocate

Goal: Make the internal changes necessary to support your strategy.

Lowering your prices = Changing manufacturing and distribution. To beat low-price competitors at their own game while also remaining profitable, you need to squeeze every last drop of inefficiency and cost from your manufacturing and distribution system. Example: If your competitor has outsourced its manufacturing to China, consider outsourcing your manufacturing to Vietnam, where costs are even lower. 

Building a uniquely better product = Changing design and engineering. Determine through market research what features or design will prompt customers to see your product as being unequivocally superior to the competition. Then get engineering to build it. Example: If you’re launching a line of “designer” handbags, find out what fabrics and leather provide a look and feel that potential buyers view as “upscale.”

Creating a hassle-free experience = Changing sales and marketing. Figure out why it’s difficult to buy and use your competitor’s product, and then make it easy to buy and use yours. Example: Pioneer recently offered giant console TVs for sale at Home Depot, because many customers often already had a truck in the parking lot that they could use to haul the bulky item home.

Taking ownership of the customer’s results = Changing customer support. Build a deep bench of experts who really understand your customers’ businesses. Example: Under Lou Gerstner, IBM hired and retrained thousands of consultants, transforming the company from a mainframe computer vendor into a computing services vendor.

Promote the New You

Goal: Communicate your new value strategy to potential customers.

Once you’ve implemented all the operational changes required to reposition your product in the marketplace, it’s time to tell the world why your firm offers superior value. That means adopting a communications strategy that matches your market strategy, as follows:

If you offer lower prices, mimic the competition’s go-to-market strategy. Ensure that whenever a customer sees a competitor’s product, your product is right next to it – at a lower price. Example: Kinko’s searches out local print/copy shops and locates a franchise across the street, offering prices that the local shop can’t match and eventually driving them out of business.

If you build a uniquely better product, target your advertising. Reach customer groups that are most likely to believe your product is superior by selecting venues that the competition neglects. Example: Sony’s VAIO PC business advertises in lifestyle magazines to reach female buyers, who are more likely to appreciate the VAIO’s sleek design.

If you create a hassle-free experience, generate positive word of mouth. Make it easy for your customers to sell for you. Consider “tell a friend” coupons or offer referral fees. Example: “Network Marketing” products (like Amway) are typically priced higher than store-bought items, but they are sold by neighbors to neighbors (that’s the word of mouth) and drop-shipped to the buyers (that’s the hassle-free part).

If you take ownership of the customer’s results, create a presence as an industry insider. Get your sales consultants out to conferences, working groups, and industry-association meetings where they can work closely with decision-makers and develop consulting opportunities. Support your consultants with a wealth of case studies and reference materials. Example: The IT consulting firm Accenture promises to take responsibility for the successful implementation of the strategies it develops for clients.

Some Big Online Competitors

http://www.yhbuk.com/ Global Rank- 6,500,967

http://www.pakcosmetics.com/ Global Rank- 237,489 & Rank in GB- 24,238

http://www.evolutionhairdressing.co.uk/ Global Rank- 21,314,825

http://www.miracleshairandbeauty.co.uk/ Global Rank- 19,385,944

http://www.blackbeautyandhair.com/ Global Rank- 1,644,907

http://www.bebeauty.co.uk/ Global Rank- 20,902,879

http://www.beautyqueens.co.uk/ Global Rank- 5,862,573

These People are doing much of advertising to make themselves more and more present online. Using Search Engine Optimization, they are turning more and more traffic towards their online stores. There are lots of SEO techniques by which one can get a good traffic to their websites. SEO Experts are well equipped in using all these techniques to make website’s online presence more and better. Social Media networking platforms are best way to make a good number of local customers and targeted people.

Marketing strategy

Marketing activity/milestone

Person responsible

Time Duration

Print advertising

Marketing Manager

Once in a month

public relations

Marketing Manager

One Year

branding and artwork

Marketing Head

One Year

publications and catalogues

Marketing Head

online advertising

SEO Expert

6 Months

blog/social networking

SEO Expert

6 Months

mail-out

SEO Expert

6 Months

Website

SEO Expert

6 Months

Event

Marketing Head

Once in 6 months

media release (Online & Direct)

Marketing Head

Once in a month

The Marketing Strategies are as simple as in every business all people Execute to increase their sales. These Strategies could be Online Marketing and direct both.

Advertising & sales

Advertising and promotional strategy

Planned promotion /advertising type

Promotional strategy

Execution

Print media advertising

By Using Business Print Media, The Top Most level of executives of Industry can see the Service we offer.

The Relationship Manger with The Help of Design team can create an attractive & designed offer to publish on daily print papers in their targeted audience.

online advertising

Using Online Advertisement, A huge amount of traffic comes to the desired destination we set as our goal.

We can manage this process with SEO expert. He can design and execute the suitable template to most of searchable websites around the target.

mail-out

Using Email Marketing we send thousands or lacs of Emails to the Executives who have decisive power to Enhance their business.

SEO expert team will manage this email marketing process with their executives.

publications and catalogues

In Publication & Catalogues we Can Include Our Products, Features, Services and the Latest Offers for New and Old Customers. Our Clients Review also plays a vital role in this section.

When Looking at the competitors, we can make us stand out with differentiate and make this offer available on publications, catalogues and daily prints.

blog/social networking

Social networking places are becoming the new platform to promote the businesses and can increase the traffic on the web. We can put our products and services there for the consumer in any part of the world.

The SEO or Social Media team will do blog posts, classified ads on ad post sites, do make interact with local guys and make them feel better with our products and service.

branding and artwork, Events

These are the strategies where we can invite our global partners, clients, share holders and new people to tell how and what we achieved. We can make better retention of our old partners, clients etc and can acquire the new people for growing our business.

Relationship manager’s team will Arrange Brand publish, event organise and invite key customers and big clients. There can be a Reward ceremony to our major partners and distributors.

public relations

This can be good if we have a good relationship manager; he can be good with the clients and can generate a referral program in his team for new Acquisition.

We need a Good Relationship Manger from Local area with a good experience and fair knowledge of customers and local people.

Online Sales and Marketing methods

Online Advertising Channels

Strategy

Execution

Online Business Directories

Online directories give consumers a one-stop shop for finding local businesses that offer the products and services they need. There are general online business directories that host listings for business in various industries, but there are also more specific directories that hold listings for niche businesses. Choose quality online directories that receive constant traffic and that are updated frequently with new listings, as customers are more likely to use these sites.

There are lots of Online