The Vital Role of Pink Marketing in
the Creation of Women Loyalty
Aram
Hanna Massoudi[1]
1Department of Business Administration, Cihan University-Erbil, Iraq
.fld/image001.png)
Abstract
Purpose of the study: This study stresses
the vital role of pink marketing in the creation of women loyalty. The study
revolves around the fundamental question: Does the pink marketing mix of
Maybelline New York beauty products have any critical effect on women's loyalty
in the Kurdistan Region?
Methodology: The article applies an
analytical-descriptive approach. The data were composed by a questionnaire
circulated to 125 women consumers at local shopping malls in Erbil province,
Iraq. Statistical tools were used to test and analyze the data using SPSS
software. including: descriptive statistics to provide
a comprehensive description of the sample in terms of demographics. Arithmetic
mean and standard deviations to judge the response of sample items to study
variables, Cronbach Alpha to ensure the validity of the study, and Pearson
correlation coefficient test to recognize the nature of the relationship
between the variables studied.
Main Findings: The result showed that pink
marketing mix does have a positive relationship with loyalty. Pink product,
Pink price, Pink promotion, and place all have modest to weak correlation with
loyalty.
Research
limitations/implications: This article focused on small group of women
shoppers and one brand of cosmetics in its survey thus, the findings can't be
comprehensive to cover the whole region due to the restrict movement because of
COVID 19 outbreak in the region.
Novelty/Originality of this study: The findings of the
study donates to a full comprehension of viable pink marketing mix for
achieving women shoppers' loyalty precisely in the cosmetics and beauty
supplies industry and propose a direction to marketers on how to move women
shoppers to be loyal.
1. INTRODUCTION
With congested modern concepts and
terminologies at present time, especially in the areas of marketing, several
types of researches have emerged in different fields. And because women are the
basis of society and counted as half of it, a new type of marketing has emerged.
Marketing that is oriented towards women called pink marketing, and the origin
of this label goes back to the distinctive color of women, which is pink. Pink
marketing is a recent trend, and many businesses have started especially in
developed countries, to adopt and implement this concept (Rohrer-Vanzo et al., 2016). Women occupy many areas of life;
therefore, they were the focus of many organizations by developing and improving
marketing strategies towards women groups (Barletta,
2003). Women do have a
vital role in our communities especially in purchasing decisions; this role
stems from women's success in many tasks as a consumer and a decision-maker, as
well as an influential role in the purchasing decision-making process of other
people (Massoudi, Jameel, & Ahmad, 2020). Alternatively, institutions today are
paying great attention to customers, and establishing interactive relationships
with them to gain trust and loyalty. Also, by providing information customers
need before acquiring goods and services. Therefore, understanding the customer
desire and needs lead to loyalty.
The participation of women in the marketing
process, whether existing or targeted, makes us think of the role and
relationship of women to marketing activity and its objectives, especially the
satisfaction of customers and loyalty (Gazi,
2019). Women can perform
the marketing function and affected differently from men. This fact which is
described in the book writers lead us to know the fact that women privacy must
be taken into account to reach marketing objectives, especially customer
loyalty. The problem of the study revolves around the following fundamental
question: How does the pink marketing of Maybelline New York beauty products
affect women's loyalty in the Kurdistan Region?
The article objectives are: To recognize the impact of
pink marketing of Maybelline New York beauty products on customer loyalty in
Kurdistan, particularly the pink marketing mix elements. Also, to highlight the
importance of pink marketing for women in Kurdistan, especially in Kurdish
society in general; and to attempt to change the traditional view of women by
marketers, and consider it an essential party in the marketing process, because
of their creative and different intellectual skills, especially in the field of
marketing goods and services for women. Finally, trying to provide suggestions
to Kurdish institutions on the importance of allocating a marketing mix for
women. Motivate and encourage other researchers in the field of marketing to
study and deepen their knowledge in this new field, which is pink marketing (Abubakar & Obansa, 2020).
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Pink Marketing: Women as a Consumers
Women signify more than half of the global
population. Directly or indirectly, consumer spending by women account for
almost 85% of world purchases counting automobiles to healthcare (Rohrer-Vanzo et al., 2016; Barletta,
2003). Women considered
the chief players in economics, and other action of the life (Sutter et al.,
2016). Women gained more independence from men, due to professional success and
economic autonomy: These factors impacted women behavior in purchasing goods. A
result of that, there is minimal differences between female and male targets,
in purchasing. On the other hand, males are prouder with the detail care as
look, pleasure and moral needs. On the other side, nowadays women are competing with traditional male
categories like automotive, high tech and financial services. In fact, in the
past, a particular women’s dissatisfaction through the commercial, insurance
and automotive offer was evident: this because these services were not
appropriate for their necessities. Despite these recent changes, women remain
as the principal gender that put at the first-place products and services'
quality or value. Recent studies verified that the price isn't the most crucial
driver for the purchasing decision. Still, women prefer products and service,
basing their preferences on the contrast between what they “get” and “give”.
Indeed, in the last few years, a new economic process is involving a
significant number of female consumers.
Product's color the you direct to the shopper
base can have a substantial influence on accomplishing your business goals.
Emotionally, the color pink is linked with empathy, love, and passion. The
color pink is womanly, soft and youthful. Also, it represents love and
compassion.
2.1.1. Definition
of Pink Marketing
According to Abdul
Fatah, (2017), the
term pink marketing has been used to refer to targeted marketing for women, the
pink color is
undoubtedly the color of femininity, and this is what made marketing scientists
and experts use it as an indication of marketing directed towards women. On the
other hand, products directed to women can be colored pink or any different
color that suits the female (Yano,2013). This varies according to the nature of the
product and according to the needs and desires that the foundation intends to
achieve the female through its product. Some believe that the term pink
marketing is limited to women's sales. Some define it as: How do you market for
women? And, it is true that women's marketing in those selling efforts
implemented to know women, or targeted to female clients, or by defining other marketing
to and from women.
Pink marketing or marketing to women is a
marketing strategy based on targeting women in the institution's products where
the institution uses the marketing techniques that is more influential in women
than in men, because the psychological nature of women differs from the
subjective view of men. This means that the motives for buying among women are
different from the purpose of buying in men. Therefore, the purchasing behavior
of women differs from the purchasing behavior of men. Female marketing or as
known in foreign literary writing as pink marketing does not target women as a
customer or buyer only but also address the role of women in serving the
marketing areas in general, whether they serve clients from young girls or that
use plans and marketing issues for the market as a whole.
Pink marketing can be defined as applying the
elements of a product marketing mix, pricing, promotion, and distribution in a
manner consistent with and commensurate with the psychological and lifestyle of
women, to encounter their needs and desires in an excellent way that enables to
reach the stage of loyalty (Kaddumi, 2017).
Pink Marketing
is also known as all activities and marketing efforts targeted at women clients
from product, price, distribution and promotion in a way that suits women. Organizations
equivocally address women with its marketing messages, because this approach is
characterized by a pattern that no longer applies to women, so marketing
messages are required to show understanding and conformity with the essence and
needs of the women (Ahmed, 2017). Pink Marketing is the marketing effort
that seeks to fulfil the needs and desires of women of goods and services by
collecting marketing information commensurate with their trends and tastes (Alubaidi, 2016).
It is
noted that pink marketing not only sell products to women,
but extends to products. It is aimed at men, as the woman affect the man's
decision. That is, companies must target women marketing campaigns, as they
influence the decision-making of the buyer, and this requires the use of
marketing expertise in marketing campaigns for products intended for men, for children,
or the family. It gives signals or suggestions that affect the woman and
convince her to buy these products.
2.1.2.
The Importance of Pink Marketing
According
to Pashley (2016), pink marketing is essential through the
following reasons:
1.
The
importance of a woman in the marketing field stems from several aspects, and
not just because she is a buyer and seller. Women are involved with their
household decision-making and in their professional career. Also, women possess
a large share of the world wealth.
2.
Women’s
purchases represent 85% of all purchases in the world, starting from personal care
products, health supplies to cars and equipment.
3.
Women’s
expenses represent 58% of all payments online.
4.
Women’s
expenditures in the world represent about $ 20 trillion annually.
5.
The women
buy about 58% of the cars in the American market, and its impact extends to 80%
of the beauty supply market.
6.
The
status of the woman and her care ingrained the Arabic culture in particular and
the Eastern culture in general.
7.
The Arab
region maintains a large share of world wealth. Therefore, the percentage of
what belongs to a woman has up to about 40% of the wealth. This is a strong
indicator of the role of the women in the Arab economy.
8.
Women
represent a considerable segment of clients and consumers in all markets where
the duty of appreciation must be taken into consideration (Pashley, 2016).
Marketing to women reveals the essential ideas for
success in marketing products and services in the woman's market growing and
developing when institutions understand and meet the needs of women, they can
succeed in developing and increasing market shares (Berletta, 2003).
2.1.3. Requirements
for Successful Pink Marketing
Abdul Fatah,
(2017) stated following
points as among the requirements for successful pink marketing
1.
Firms
should focus on emotional temptations rather than on logical attraction in
advertising and in persuasion women are presented by sale representative, so a passionate
woman is better to persuade by influencing her emotions, and the effect on
emotions does not mean cheating or neglecting the logical aspects of the
product such as quality and price. Still, it means focusing more on emotional
issues.
2.
Firms
must provide additional services and excellent customer service. Studies showed
that 65% of female's customers have loyalty to a certain brand at first
positive experience with the brand. This indicates the importance of offering
good customer service for women, because you can win them as customers by just
positively dealing
with them at the first encounter.
3.
Targeting
women with more social media marketing campaigns, as females spend a bit more
time 40% on social media than their men counterparts.
4.
Use
appropriate colors for women in products and advertisements, such as the use of
pink or red and stay away from colors that suit males like blue.
5.
In women
advertising, firms should work to influence their subconscious more than ever,
including the use of clear phrases that affect consciousness such as
"because you are a female", or "this product is for you". But
rather it is best to influence the subconscious through the advertisement
background, such as the references that indicate femininity, such as music and
colors, used in the advertisement, or the presence of flowers and roses in the
advertisement (Abdul Fatah, 2017,
PP. 21-22).
In order to reach a successful pink marketing,
the essential elements must be taken into consideration that women rely on them
to make their decisions. These elements can be illustrated in figure 1 below:
.fld/image002.png)
Figure 1: Elements of Women Buying Decision
Source: Berletta, 2013, P. 67
We notice from Figure No. (1) that the woman’s decisions
are taken and influenced by the observance of various elements and factors, including
the spoken word, public relations and consumer care so that the products and
services directed to the woman must take into account these elements because it
is important for woman, when the institution identifies these factors,
especially, the most influential ones, it can guide them and make them the
starting point through which it creates the desire to buy for women.
2.2. Marketing Mix and Pink Marketing Applications
Pink marketing is a modern terminology in marketing as it
began at the beginning of the 21st century, where many institutions in the
world tend to adopt a pink marketing strategy and apply it to women by molding
the four elements of marketing mix (product, pricing, promotion and
distribution), in a manner consistent with the dimensions of the woman's life.
2.2.1.
Pink Product
We can clarify the pink product as a representation of any
good or service produced and compatible with women desires, and
needs and tastes of women customers. It is worthy to note here that women
shoppers look for information and details about a certain brand and pay more
attention to specification more than men. Women dissect every piece of
information about the product. For example, when a woman purchases clothes, she
cares about the quality of clothes, their compatibility with fashion, and the
appropriate range. These clothes are for their appearance, as they are
concerned with the number of pieces offered of the same variety, they are
looking for excellence in clothing more than men since mothers are interested
in reading the components of food products that they buy for their children,
and they are very keen for their children, and do not buy any product for their
children before making sure it is health for them. Therefore, when institutions
provide their products directed towards women, they must take care of all the details.
Also, sales officials must provide all information about the products when the
women make purchase (Alubaidi, 2016, P.406).
2.2.2.
Pink Price
It represents the amount that women customers pay for the
product without exploiting their weaknesses. In general, the product that a man
sees as a high-priced product may be seen by the woman as cheap, because that
meets the moral needs that a man may not see in this product, as well as the man
may not pay much attention to product packaging and the accessories attached to
the product, but for the woman, she may care more about these details, and the
money women spend on is often greater than the money spent by man. Sometimes a
business firm targets women and clients from specific age groups and social
classes, such as targeting the upper and middle class of society to purchase
the product, and this enables the organization to establish a pricing strategy
based on the perceived value of the product.
2.2.3.
Pink Distribution (Place)
It represents the site where the product is sold to women
customers with the need to take into account their tastes in the colors and the
forms used in its external and internal designs. The man focuses more on the
physical elements in the stores, as he is interested in having a parking lot in
order to park his car and focus on the stock in the store, while the woman
emphases on the packaging, décor, attentive customer service, and treatment of the
sales people (Alubaidi, 2017, P.407).
In order for the organization to guarantee an efficient
distribution of its products, it must use an extensive network characterized by
strong distribution in order for this network to reach consumers effectively
and efficiently. Firms are able to accomplish this by making the products
available in the stock and by creating an affordable pricing strategy in
stores, supermarkets and shopping malls.
2.2.4.
Pink Promotion
It represents the way to communicate with
female clients without exploiting their innate tendencies and weaknesses, as
well it must be noted that a woman is more emotional than a man, as she cares
more about emotions than logical information. A woman can be convinced of the product
through her emotions, while a man is convinced of the product through the
mental trial of the product. This does not mean that the woman does not care
about logical matters; but is more concerned with the emotional aspects. Therefore,
institutions that direct their products towards women must concentrate on
expressive attractions in their advertising operations and present common-sense
information about the products. Aluubaidi (2017) explains what women like in the advertising
campaign including the attention to emotion, harmony, and colors. For example,
maternity products intended at mothers must emphasize on the motherhood feeling
and their sensitivity toward their babies.
Also, promotion can be highlighted by unique
forums of products; advertising and promotion can be done with the help of
print media and publications, this type is traditional, but over time, media
has evolved and advertising and promotion of products has become geared towards
the experience of the product on the ground, and even access to the most important methods of
persuasion and promotion must rely on the spoken word that lists successful
experiences of certain products, as 64% of mothers ask their friends about
products before they are purchased, thus, the word of mouth stands out as an
important advertising method among women in pink marketing.
2.3. The
Concept of Loyalty
Most organizations realized that its success
and stability depend on its ability to know and define the needs and desires of
its customers, and its ability to satisfy them, and as a result of intense
competitive reality, the corporations have been forced to strive to satisfy
their customers, and that is why loyalty has become an important topic for all
small and large business organizations. That is why we will try give a
comprehensive view of this topic and the most important concepts related to
loyalty.
According
to Alnosoor (2014), customer's loyalty is how an organization
earns customer’s trust where the relationship that governs the exchange process
between them are equally profitable. Also, Liu
et al. (2017) defined
loyalty as customer deals with the same service and commodity for long time. Kotler, (2014) defined loyalty as customer scale and willingness to
reciprocate the activities with the organization. Also, Dick
& Basu., (1994)
stated that loyalty is also known as the
purchase by the customer from the same store (a specific store) permanently or
by all or most of his needs from this store, because of the positive trend that
of the customer towards this store. This
is supported also by Massoudi (2020) he stated that loyalty is the consistent
identification of consumers with their favorite store. Hanzaee & Farsani., (2011) indicated that high-level customer loyalty means high
market share and the ability to request relatively high prices compared to
others' prices; loyal consumers are more likely to buy back the same service or
brand, and provide a positive spoken word and are willing to pay a premium
price.
Few
studies had focused on loyalty, such as Dick
& Basu., (1994) which classified consumer's loyalty into two
scopes they are relative attitude and repeat patronage; they grouped these
scopes into 4 types of loyalty: spurious loyalty, latent loyalty, loyalty, and
no loyalty. This loyalty classification is very essential to marketers and
advertisers because of its significant influence and insinuations. The two
scopes focused on both reactional and conduct scopes of loyalty (Bowen
& McCain., 2015). The
creation of loyal customer is one of the great arsenals firm has against its
competition. Dick & Basu., (1994) notion consumer's loyalty was based on the connection among
the customer’s relative attitude towards the brand and his repeated patronage
behavior. It has been contended that mixing attitude with the loyalty paradigm
(patronage behavior) will improve projecting capability (Dick
& Basu, 1994). Precisely, attitudinal loyalty denotes consumer's
expressive attachment whereas behavioral loyalty means the actual behavior of
the customer. Therefore, when a study conducted about loyalty, it is recommended
to apply both attitudinal and behavioral dimensions of loyalty to gain a proper
understanding of customer loyalty. One very interesting study was done by Tanford & Baloglu., (2013) where loyalty was divided into nine groups these nine
loyalty are: 1) True loyalty is the combination of high attitudinal loyalty and
high behavioral loyalty, 2) Active loyalty is the emotional attachment to a
brand or firm, 3) Latent loyalty is a high attitudinal loyalty with no consumer
behavior, 4) Projected loyalty is a consumer's high consumption of the brand
and increased sense of belonging to the firm, 5) Neutral loyalty is the average
levels of attitudinal and behavioral loyalty, 6) basic loyalty which is the consumer's
low consumption of the brand but of which may increase, 7) Spurious loyalty is
high behavioral loyalty with low attitudinal loyalty, 8) Ultimate loyalty is
the average level of behavioral loyalty and low attitudinal loyalty, and
finally 9) No loyalty offers nominal customer retention.
Other studies such as Chang
et al. (2009)
inspected the loyalty from three viewpoints: attitude, behavior, and compound. Casidy & Wymer., (2016) did hypothesized the notion of loyalty as a client’s
emotional state towards a certain brand. In addition, Izogo (2016) has counseled authors to gauge the impacts of customer
fulfilment, trust, quality, and image in attitudinal loyalty. Finally, the studies
by (Dwivedi & Merrilees.,
2016; Thaichon & Jebarajakirthy 2016; Ali et al. 2016) have measured the intentions customer's
loyalty and gauged the attitudinal and behavioral loyalty.
Lastly, it is vital for businesses to
recognize the connection between shopper satisfaction and loyalty (Massoudi, 2020). Satisfaction of the customer is a vibrant feature in
increasing customer loyalty. Both notions should be combined to gain the
anticipated objectives of the firm, its profitability and market share.
Satisfaction is a respectable gauge of a customer's repeated purchasing
behavior (Woodcock et al.,
2003). Dissatisfied
customers may damage the name of that firm, and satisfied customers will buy
the product, ignore the sensitivity of the price, involve in and encourage word
of mouth, and convert to loyal client (Chen
and Wang, 2009).
2.4.
Hypothesis
When it
comes to loyalty, the majority of previous studies were related to marketing
mix or the relation with customer satisfaction. However, no study did target pink
marketing and its role in creating women loyalty. Therefore, in order to answer
the problem, we developed the main hypothesis of the study and a set of sub
hypotheses to support the main hypothesis.
The main
hypothesis: There is a statistically significant positive correlation between
pink marketing mix of Maybelline New York cosmetic products and the loyalty of
women customers in the Kurdistan Region. The main proposition is divided into the
following sub-hypotheses:
H1: There
is a statistically significant positive correlation between the pink products
of Maybelline New York cosmetics products and achieving women customers’
loyalty in the Kurdistan Region.
H2: There
is a statistically significant positive correlation between the pink pricing of
Maybelline New York cosmetics product and achieving women customers’ loyalty in
the Kurdistan Region.
H3: There
is a statistically significant positive correlation between the pink promotion
of Maybelline New York cosmetics products and achieving women customer’s
loyalty in the Kurdistan Region.
H4: There
is a statistically significant positive correlation between the pink place of
Maybelline New York beauty products and achieving women customer’s loyalty in the
Kurdistan Region.
3. METHODOLOGY
This section will identify the approach of
the field study and identify the study sample. The researcher will identify the
collection and the analysis of the data to help support the chosen approach. A
questionnaire form was utilized for data collection. The form was divided into
two variables pink marketing mix with 15 statements and the loyalty variable
with five statements. The target group of the questionnaire were a group of women
customers trying to purchase Maybelline New York brands in Family Shopping Mall,
Erbil Iraq. The researcher has relied on the case study as part of the
descriptive analytical approach. This approach is important in this field of
study through the collection of data, information, facts and opinions, which
would give a clear explanation of the case under study. A total of 130
questionnaires were distributed randomly, 5 were rejected and 125 were valid
for the analysis.
The answer for each statement of the
questionnaire was scaled according to the Likert scale Alternatives (strongly
disagree with a mean score of less than 1, disagree with a mean score of 1-2,
neutral with an average mean score of 2-3, agree with a mean score of 3-4,
strongly agree a mean score of over 4). Statistical tools also were used to
test and analyze the data using SPSS 22 software: Frequency, percentages to
provide a comprehensive description of the sample in terms of demographics
including age, education, and employment. Arithmetic mean a measure of central tendency and standard
deviations a
measure of dispersion. They are also to judge the response of the sample items to
study variables. Cronbach Alpha to ensure the validity of the study instrument
and its stability. Pearson correlation coefficient test to identify the nature
of the association or relationship between the two continuous variables of the
study. The research model is illustrated in figure 2 below:
Figure 2:
Conceptual Framework
4. RESULTS / ANALYSIS
4.1. Demographics
Table No. 1
Age
|
Variable |
Frequency |
Valid
Percent |
|
Age |
|
|
|
18-24 25-30 31-45 Over 45 years |
54 44 25 2 |
43.2 35.2 20 1.6 |
|
Total |
125 |
100 |
We can see from table 1 that the majority of our
respondents who purchase Maybelline New York are between 18-24 which was (43.2%).
The second respondents were between the ages of 25-30 (35.2%). Also, 20% of
respondents aged between 31-45 were customers of Maybelline New York.
Table No. 2
Education
|
Frequency |
Percent |
|
|
Education |
|
|
|
High School
Associate Bachelor Master |
1 5 29 63 27 |
0.8 4 23.2 50.4 21.6 |
|
|
125 |
100 |
In regard to education, table 2 shows that the majority
of Maybelline New York customers were educated, where 63 respondents (50.4%) had
a bachelor degree. 29 respondents (23.2%) had an associate
degree, and 27 respondents (21.6%) had a master degree.
This indicates that educated women have more knowledge about name brands than
uneducated women.
Table No.3
Employment
|
Variable |
Frequency |
Percent |
|
Employment |
|
|
|
Employed Unemployed |
76 49 |
60.8 39.2 |
|
|
125 |
100 |
Table 3 showed that the majority of our respondents 76 of
them (60.8%) were employed and 49 respondents (39.2%) were unemployed.
4.2. Reliability
Test
The researcher applied Cronbach Alpha to examine the
reliability of the questionnaire statement. Reliability usually controlled by
Cronbach's alpha, a well-known method for estimating dependability. Pourdehghan., (2015). proposes that for any exploration at, an unwavering
quality score or alpha that is 0.60 or above is adequate. In this research, all
125 respondents noted their answers. As appeared in table 4, just components which
has great degrees of unwavering quality (more noteworthy than 0.70) which all
met the threshold requirement suggested by Nunnally are considered below than
that were removed. Table 5 shows the reliability test for 15 of the questionnaire
20 statements.
.fld/image003.png){kind=small}