Princessa Beauty Products Case Study Analysis

Princessa Beauty Products is a retailer of beauty products catered to the black community that has been around for more than 20 years. Princessa is one of the oldest beauty stores serving the black community in Montreal and is located on the western side of the island. George Richards managed Princessa for two years and purchased the store from the original owners using his life savings. Between the years of 2002 and 2006 the store showed growth in sales from $453,156 to $605,249, but between 2005 and 2006 annual sales stayed the same and in 2007 sales fell to $509,000. Due to this decline in sales Richards began to take into consideration other factors that could be affecting the business. There seemed to be positive reports in the Canadian economy and unemployment was the lowest for some time and the lowest for women in 30 years. There were possibilities of Canada going into a recession due to the unstable economy in the United States, and with oil at an all time high this could affect business at Princessa Beauty Products. There are a few courses of action that George Richards can consider taking in order to help grow annual sales by five per cent each year at Princessa Beauty Products. Although these are all suggestions and nothing with a concrete guarantee, I feel that taking these steps with really help Princessa Beauty Products drive in more customers and also expand on global level. The first choice I would suggest for Princessa is to start offering more promotions for their customers. Although this may seem costly, it doesn’t have to be. I am not suggesting that they put 50% off on products, or offer a buy one get one, what I am recommending is that Princessa offer free gifts with reasonable purchases. Many cosmetics and skin care brands such as Clinique have driven in more consumers through offering them a little something more with their purchase. For example, right now if you purchase $21.50 or more of Clinique products at Macy’s you get a