Recommended Marketing Mix

1) Customer Centric Focus

The primary market for Sexy Tea and its most important consumers is made up of middle age women between 40-60. Brands often disregard women in their middle age and later in life in favor of younger consumers who, at first look, may seem to be trendier. However, when you take into account the fact that 93 percent of women between the ages of 40 and 60 handle all or the majority of the financial choices in their households (Song et al., 2020), it’s probable that a reassessment is required on who to market beauty products to. Women in their forties and fifties are interested in a broad variety of products that are trendy in an attempt to keep up with the fashion trends (Wu et al., 2022). The product known as “Sexy Tea” is an excellent illustration of a product that has revolutionized the tea drinking culture in China, introducing China’s queueing culture and strengthening tea-drinking trends.

Women who are in their 40s, 50s, and early 60s are considered to be middle-aged in today’s society. This perception indicates that there are a great deal of expectations placed upon them to fulfill (Egri & Ralston, 2004). They are moms, daughters, and spouses in their own households. They are both educators and medical professionals, and they either own their own houses or operate their own enterprises. They manage their own companies and/or take responsibility for the upkeep of their own residences. Members of this generation are referred to as being part of the “sandwich generation” since they divide their time between living with their own children and with their parents (Jiang & Hong, 2021). These women are conscious of the strains that come from their families, their careers, the outside world, their financial conditions, and a broad variety of other things in addition to the duties that come along with those things (Kamenidou et al., 2019). When a woman reaches middle age, she frequently begins to prioritize her family, friends, and the activities she participates in on a daily basis above her personal requirements. As a result of this, it would be wise for firms like Sexy Tea to begin targeting middle-aged women due to their high disposable income and a need to maintain social appeal.

The reason I recommend a focus on this segment of customers is because they have a high disposable income and are easily swayed to purchase products that give a perception of high quality, societal appeal, and trendy culture (Jiang & Hong, 2021). Sexy Tea is also positioned as a cultural product, an area that will be of high attractiveness to middle age women markets who are eager to connect to cultural products that serve as a point of identity.

2) Understanding Customers, Competitors, And Company From Middle Age Women Segment’s Perspective

a) Buyers from the Female Middle Age segment (40-60 years)

Women in their forties and fifties who are experiencing what is known as a “midlife crisis” may strive to regain their femininity in a number of different ways, including by embracing more youthful fashion trends (Cho et al., 2022). Some middle-aged women feel the need to color their hair and dress more like teenagers so that they can compete with the youthful appearance of their children who are now young adults (Jung et al., 2020). Sexy Tea has taken China by storm. It has introduced a new tea-drinking culture involving queueing and triggering the curiosity of older women who find the new culture appealing. These kinds of actions might be a reaction to a wide variety of feelings, including feelings of estrangement, loneliness, inferiority, helplessness, a lack of assertiveness, or unattractiveness. Sexy Tea’s new found queueing culture will be marketed to middle age women as a movement that will redefine culture.

Studies have demonstrated that successful people have a range of admirable characteristics, including a solid understanding of their cultural heritage and a healthy aptitude for adapting to new environments (Puiu, 2016). When using the Big 5 personality characteristics, middle-aged women scored extraordinarily high on conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and openness to experience, but they scored very poorly on neuroticism (Jiang & Hong, 2021). Furthermore, at the age of 59, middle-aged women who scored higher on generativity between the ages of 45 and 58 had better ratings for their positive personality traits, had greater levels of satisfaction with their marriage and parenthood, and had aged more effectively.  It is believed that the brain of a person who has reached middle age is more emotionally stable, less prone to neurosis, more able to regulate their feelings, and more equipped to deal with difficult social circumstances.

The shopping patterns of middle age women buyers are very similar and likely to lead back to the same issues of sustainability, social media, fashion, trendy buying, and use of mobile payments. Their decision-making processes is based on meeting their high expectations. While middle age women buyers do not mind branding, they believe in social, political, environmental, and other forms of causes that will influence their purchases (Puiu, 2016). The segment is more likely to buy what other women in the same age group are buying.

b) Non-buyers (prospective buyers) from this segment

Women in their 40s and 50s who have a more holistic view of health and aging say that the secret to their beauty is in the foods they eat, the supplements they take, the amount of exercise they get, and other things they put into their bodies (Thangavel et al., 2019). Additionally, they want to fit in to new cultural trends. They believe that this is the best way to maintain their youthful appearance and keep their bodies healthy (Adriana-Camelia, 2014). Natural extracts such as plant compounds that assist the body in adjusting to what it requires are known as adaptogens. They are beginning to get the attention of an increasing number of middle-aged ladies. Sexy Tea is more interested in entering this market than entering any other market. They also turn to renowned and beautiful women who have found success in using diet to stave off the effects of aging and maintain a youthful appearance (Ayuni, 2019). In case there was any confusion, Sexy Tea wants to make it quite clear that all of these things are in fact true. The requirements of middle-aged women are specifically addressed by a number of these businesses, like Sexy Tea, which provide healthy beverages including substances known as adaptogens. These beverages are designed to suit the requirements of middle-aged women. For instance, a significant number of the beverages produced by these businesses include anti-aging plant extracts that originate from botanicals. These products have been shown to improve a person’s memory, make their mind clearer, and increase their capacity to concentrate for longer periods of time. Two of the company’s four pillars are health and longevity, and Sexy Tea equips middle-aged women with the resources they need to live healthier lives and for longer periods of time. This is accomplished by transmitting signals that place equal emphasis on improving one’s appearance and one’s intelligence.

3) Creating, Communicating, and Delivering Customer Value: Overview

Place, pricing, product, and promotion are referred to as the “4 Ps” of marketing (Gruszka & Tang, 2017). Sexy Tea is able to guarantee that it has products and services that are visible, in-demand, and is priced competitively by carefully combining all of these marketing methods into a marketing mix. This allows Sexy Tea to advertise the product or service to clients in the Middle age women demographic. The 4Ps are quickly losing relevance with regard to Middle age women because price is insufficient as an indicator of value (Kotler et al., 2012). Regarding promotion, Middle age women consumers do not resonate with branded promotions but rather want to create individual stories and experiences. Place differentiation is replaced by the web that remains to be a key denominator in terms of learning, influencing, and finding products (Asdi & Putra, 2020). In terms of products, Middle age women consumers are more focused on experiences.

To replace the classic 4Ps, this report recommends the use of purpose, positioning, personalized, and partnerships as the new marketing mix for Middle age women consumers in relation to Sexy Tea.

McDonald (2021) present purpose, positioning, partnerships, and personalized as features of a new and improved 4Ps structure that will work better as a marketing mix for Sexy Tea. Customers that are members of Middle age women have a heightened degree of awareness, a highly open mind, and a desire to shop with businesses that share their beliefs, values, and emotions (Lim, 2021). Shoppers in the Middle age women demographic are interested in purchasing goods from firms who reflect their beliefs and sentiments. For a generation that places a higher value on having experiences that alter their lives than they do on amassing material possessions, context is the single most essential factor. This is due to the fact that “positioning” places a significant amount of emphasis on thinking that is informed by experience (Asdi & Putra, 2020). They want something that they can leave their mark on and that feels personal or personized to them so that they may satisfy their demand for the “personalized” side of the equation. Middle age women want something that they can leave their mark on and that seems personal or personized to them (Gruszka & Tang, 2017; McDonald, 2021).

The capacity of middle age women to make purchases is increasing on a daily basis, and the new 4Ps provides Sexy Tea with information that will assist it in expanding its operations and remaining in business. The Sexy Tea platform provides ecosystem leaders with a method of communication that is secure, flexible, and scalable, and that has the potential to bring its customers a great deal of value. This was developed in recognition of the fact that partnerships and ecosystems may hold the key to resolving this massive paradigm shift.

4) Creating Customer Value

Purpose, positioning, partnerships, and personalized combine well with the 4Cs of creating customer value via consumer solutions, communication, convenience, and cost. If a consumer wants anything, Sexy Tea will make it available for purchase. Therefore, market researchers for the organization should find out what consumers want and need in order to attract customers one at a time with items that fit the interests and requirements of each individual consumer (Tangpattanakit & Sammasut, 2022). Communications may be defined as any method through which a corporation and a customer speak to one another. This category comprises any and all forms of communication, including but not limited to advertising, public relations, personal selling, and viral advertising.

A Comparative View of the 4Ps, 4Cs, and their Differences (Siripipattanakul et al., 2022)

People no longer have to travel to a certain location in order to buy what they want or need because of modern conveniences such as the internet, catalogs, credit cards, and phones (Ratnadianti et al., 2020). Not only can they accomplish this in a select few locations, but in a wide variety of settings as well. In order to make shopping as simple and stress-free as possible, marketers need to be aware of the purchasing preferences of their target demographic and the most effective strategies to position themselves in the industry. As hybrid buying and online purchasing grow more common (Singh, 2019), the significance of a store’s physical location is decreasing. When we think about how handy something is, we consider a lot of factors, including how simple it is to get the item, where it is located, what information is available about it, and a host of other considerations.

The price is merely one component of the overall cost involved in satiating a need or demand. For instance, the total cost of a product or service could include not just the money spent on it but also the amount of time spent obtaining it and the amount of one’s own conscience that is lost while utilizing it (Sun et al., 2021). It is a reasonable approximation of the whole expense involved with ownership. The price is determined by a variety of factors, including how much it will cost the customer to switch to or adopt the new product or service and how much it would cost the consumer not to pick a product or service from a rival. Both of these factors are taken into account.

More than anything else, thinking about Sexy Tea’s products and services from the perspective of its clients is facilitated by the 4Cs framework. The interests of Sexy Tea’s consumers, rather than the company’s commercial operations, will now take precedence. It is important that the marketing strategy for Sexy Tea prioritizes providing clients and consumers in the Middle age women age group with something of value. Customers won’t get the impression that they need to go elsewhere, such as to a rival, in order to discover solutions that are simpler (Hanifawati et al., 2019). The marketing mix for Sexy Tea will focus on providing value to the customers or consumers it is primarily intended to attract, rather than “promoting” the company’s own business. With the assistance of the 4Cs, Sexy Tea will be able to provide its clients and consumers with high-quality content that will pique their attention and maintain it. The purpose of the 4Cs is to increase the target audience’s awareness of the firm while also establishing a connection and relationship with the target audience. 4Ps requires companies to promote their operations via a number of different channels, including advertising, press releases or public relations, and direct marketing (Wolf, 2020). On the other hand, in order for Sexy Tea to use an enlarged marketing mix, such as the updated 4Ps and 4Cs, it is necessary for the company to communicate with its clients. It will enable Sexy Tea to communicate with members of Middle age women through social media and take advantage of those who belong to this generation. Because of the 4Cs, Sexy Tea will also be able to publish the appropriate material, which will assist the company in reaching its intended demographic, establishing a rapport with that demographic, and maintaining that demographic’s interest.

It is essential to conduct in-depth market research in order to identify markets that aren’t common among firms in the same industry but might be lucrative for niche marketing (Sharmin et al., 2021). For example, the Middle age women demographic is one of the groups that Sexy Tea plans to target, and identifying these markets requires extensive research. After establishing that a certain kind of market exists and gaining an understanding of that market, a marketer is ready to use the 4Ps of marketing. In the marketing mix that is based on the 4Cs, specialized marketing, which gives you the opportunity to engage in one-on-one conversations with customers, is given a lot of weight (Liu et al., 2021). For instance, the customer care personnel at Sexy Tea might educate the audience if a certain combination of goods would complement a given service or if there is anything else that consumers should think about while making their purchase decision. This enables Sexy Tea to connect with its customers, which increases the possibility that their patronage will be repeated and that they will become advocates for the brand.

Users that belong to Middle age women are experts in technology and make expert use of social media to amuse themselves, get inspiration, and have their opinions heard. TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat are all popular social media platforms among members of this generation, and all 3 of these apps hold the top spot in terms of the number of Gen-Z users globally (Jacobsen & Barnes, 2020). Because they grew up during the period of time when the country’s economy saw the most rapid and persistent growth of any major economy in recorded history, members of China’s Middle age women are used to experiencing quick gains in their level of life. They are also the first generation in China to grow up as digital natives (Tong & Hui, 2021), and as a result, they have an innate familiarity with technology as a means of communication and pleasure, as well as a facilitator of business.

Recommendations

When it comes to marketing, businesses would be wise to focus on the middle-aged demographic because, if the message is accurate, they have a great deal of potential. Engage the ladies in an honest dialogue. Discover what motivates middle-aged women as customers and how they want to connect, and the business will certainly be successful. Middle-aged women represent a smaller proportion of female consumers compared to other age groups, but they have higher budgets, networks, and circles of influence. Marketers may be surprised by how customers use their chosen messaging and social media tools. Significant influence is exerted by women in their 30s and 40s on the next generation of consumers, who vary in age from 18 months to 18 years and look to their mothers for assistance in making sensible brand choices.

The modern woman over the age of 40 is confident, financially knowledgeable, and in charge of her spending. Important purchasing decisions, which are no longer solely determined by the breadwinner, are heavily influenced by this group of people. Most middle-aged women are uninterested in the current kind of in-store marketing because they are uninteresting and do not have time for gimmicky promotions. Women in their forties and fifties like shopping and are always on the lookout for a good deal and an exceptional experience. When they find both of these, they are more likely to share their good fortune with their large social networks of family and friends.

Regarding place in the implementation of 4Ps marketing approach, first, it is recommended that Sexy Tea emphasize the use of video and trendy visual content to attract older customers in its online campaigns. In the wake of so many new programs, social features, and innovative filters, anything considered stagnant or boring will have no chance with Middle age women buyers. In light of Middle age women’s need for short-form video content, marketers should consider incorporating visual platforms into their strategies and developing bite-sized content such as Facebook reels. Short videos with overlays, visual effects, and music have proven to be marketing gold for both influencers and businesses. Sexy Tea should utilize Facebook’s popularity amongst the middle age women consumers.

Secondly, promotion in the 4P strategy will be of vital importance to marketing to Middle age women consumers. Here, it is recommended that Sexy Tea uses innovation and interactive content to engage Middle age women clients. Interactive content is also beneficial for encouraging customers to make purchases. Sexy Tea intends to considerably expand their customer base among Millennials and Middle age women individuals. It is suggested that their websites’ interactive content contain quizzes to aid clients in determining which outfits match their personalities. Interaction and personalization are key when communicating with younger customers who want to support businesses that treat them as individuals.

Price is a key component in the 4Ps marketing approach. Middle age women consumers are mostly price sensitive. As such, the third recommendation regarding how best to apply the 4Ps theory to market to them is through price leadership. Sexy Tea must device a price leadership strategy focused on reducing the price of Sexy Tea by 5 Yuan on all products in order to stand out from the competition. The competitive price strategy will not only be a viable option for Sexy Tea in terms of matching and beating rival firms, but will also appeal to a wider array of the Middle age women group including millennials and other demographics. If a competitive pricing strategy is enacted, Sexy Tea will grow. The immediate results of a competitive pricing approach will be evident. By preventing the loss of customers and market share to other companies, competitive pricing will help Sexy Tea to dominate the market. By lowering its prices relative to its competitors, Sexy Tea may improve its market share by retaining its Middle age women clients and preventing them from transferring to a competitor’s brand or using one of their products or services. Competitive pricing will also allow Sexy Tea to monitor and respond to any moves made by its competitors, which may contribute further to the company’s better positioning.

Regarding product, the 4P approach that Sexy Tea will use to appeal to its Middle age women consumers will be of consequence to the company’s bottom line. Sexy Tea’s product will be specifically tailor-made to solve issues regarding weight loss, detox, healthy and fitness, and to create a market for tea consumption amongst young consumers. The target market will be primarily made of young consumers aged between 18-25 years.

Source: (Tong & Hui, 2021)

Sexy Tea is able to monitor hundreds of various indicators on social media; nevertheless, in terms of return on investment (ROI), the firm should actually only be concerned with the indicators that satisfy the key questions: 1) Is it being seen by the appropriate audience (Zhu, 2019)? 2) Does it include persons who have the necessary qualifications? 3) How many of Sexy Tea’s social media followers have questions regarding the company’s offerings? 4) How many of the target consumers end up becoming genuine paying clients?

5) Budget

A social media marketing campaign is recommended for Sexy Tea’s Middle age women market. Facebook will be the key platforms used. Sexy Tea and other direct-to-consumer firms should allocate 5–10 percent of their revenue on marketing according to the recommendations made by (Gubela et al., 2020). A budget of $100,000 should be sufficient to establish the brand throughout the nation. The social media budget will be divided into many areas, including content creation, sponsored social media advertising, software and tools, influencer marketing, training, and social strategy and management. The return on investment generated by social media will be utilized to determine success. Divide the total amount spent on productive social media activities by the money spent on such activities to get the return on investment (ROI) in social media. 

As demonstrated in the table above, the best ROI measure for social media marketing is engagement via clicks, shares, comments, and mentions. The second-best ROI measure is efficiency, followed by inbound measures, conversion, and reach.

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