Analysis of nyx cosmetics’ competitive advantage based on consumer behaviour

Introduction

NYX Cosmetics, under the L’Oréal group, is a popular drugstore cosmetic brand fixated with beauty budget plan. By creating a high-end look on a teenager’s budget, it became highly influential from popularising with top beauty vloggers and their massive following of fans.

Their target audience consists of mainly women and young ladies especially Generation Z & Millennials around ages of 15-24 in America. Known as a “ cult beauty brand”, their main products include foundation, eyeshadow and lipsticks.

Hence, I will be applying these 3 theories of how NYX creates competitive advantage based on consumer behaviour in the beauty industry.

Theory 1

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

According to Abraham Maslow, he proposed a thesis compromising of a 5-step hierarchical staircase pertaining to an organization and its employees’ accomplishment. (Gordon, 1965) This is a flexible tool created for positioning strategies used for marketing purposes as the same product can have distinctive interests based on different needs.

Discussion

According to the Maslow’s pyramid, NYX falls under the 3rd tier (Social Needs) as it relates to being interpersonal, evoking the sense of belongingness. For instance, NYX is highly desired among Millennials and Generation Z since it is the perfect bridge between drugstore and higher-end beauty products.

NYX offers affordable high-quality beauty products, creating a massive hit among students with limited spending power. They provide varieties of products and designs to choose from. Since NYX is comfortable and reliable, it strongly instils the sense of inclusiveness and social acceptance behaviour.

Theory 2

Brand Personality

Interpreted as the human’s personality characteristics to a brand with a specific end goal to communicate to its consumers about its physical components or qualities. (Plummer, 1985) It can help persuade consumers into subconsciously buying products which reflects on their lifestyle needs based on the personality that the company advertises. Discussion 89wHaving a strong brand personality creates favourable attitudes towards NYX by increasing purchase intentions and cultivating brand loyalty. Different factors such as product’s physical qualities, price, promotion and especially advertisement plays an essential role in bringing these together in view of the consumers’ eyes and to their liking. For example, when observing the beauty vloggers’ makeup online or in stores, they would want to emulate their styles such as a dark eye look and a bright lip. Hence, this subconsciously creates a chain of a social “ follower” pattern behaviour.

Theory 3

Culture

Defined as values, ideology and purpose of a social circle being rationalised through diverse cultural artifacts such as products. (Hasan and Ditsa, 1999) This creates an universal influence which accentuates social behaviour and communication, affecting their buying decision process for cosmetic products.

Discussion

Under the Lifestyle Matrix, NYX’s customers fall under the Pop Mavericks segment who circulate positive reviews with brands relating to them personally. Research found that women view themselves as a vehicle of self-expression where they are more confident with makeup on. (Cash and Cash, 1982)This creates a culture where young girls start to experiment with makeup to enhance their beauty for men while covering up their flaws. It is also an skilled art form, making use of facial symmetry and diverse colours. Hence, these form the basis of universal makeup culture.

Conclusion

For NYX to remain relevant in the beauty industry, they have created these 3 competitive streaks such as having a catalogue of more than 2, 000 various products for different needs. Secondly, FACE (Freedom & Artistry for Creative Expression) Awards competition is held annually whereby makeup artists showcase their expertise according to themed challenges such as Enchanted and Cyberpunk. Finally, NYX has integrated an interactive online platform with high-quality visual content with achievable looks for its consumers. Nonetheless, NYX should continue to develop their commercial ways, enriching their business-to-consumer (B2C) relationship, making it their competitive advantage to thrive in the beauty industry.