¿HABLAS BEAUTICONTROL?

Abstract

Patti Tomlin, BeautiControl consultant, surprises her spa client, Denise Daniels, with a request to help her decide it she should move her business from Florence, South Carolina to Yuma, Arizona. Though Daniels manages a local small business center, this is not a typical request. Tomlin has been extremely successful with selling BeautiControl and at recruiting in South Carolina, and has put her own twist on multi-level marketing by opening a salon instead of the more typical party and catalog sales methods. She has done some homework and thinks that things might be good for BeautiControl in this new area. Daniels collects some demographic, competitive and consumer behavior data to start the discussion. While moving a small business cross country is somewhat unusual, many businesses do open branches in areas remote from their home base and face some of the same issues as a move or fresh start-up. The material in the case and instructor’s manual is also pertinent to discussions for pursuing any new market, whether physically locating there or just selling there. In addition, the case looks at Hispanic consumer behavior and trends and marketing preferences. It challenges students to look at raw data and draw conclusions comparing the two regions. The data are inexact and require students to come up with reasons to support the facts. This provides a good example of the “detective work” many marketers must do in interpreting data.