Martha Tilaar started her cosmetics business in 1996. After a series of struggles, she has built up her own beauty industry with 4,500 employees. As far as I am concerned, the key component of her success is the right positioning of her brand. As Tilaar described, to challenge the mindset among modern Indonesians ’that foreign cosmetics were the best, she decided to produce Indonesian cosmetics that fit tropical skins better. Through the years, she consistently positioned her products as the true Indonesian cosmetics, which is made from traditional natural ingredients for Indonesian skins such as turmeric, clove flower buds or rice powder. The power of tradition and the profit of using natural ingredients helped Tilaar gain more and more customers and enabled her to expand her cosmetics country. Therefore, “natural” is the label of Tilaar’s comestics. According to this position, Tilaar launched a series of advertisements with models dressing in traditional Indonesian clothes and wearing matching makeups. Besides that, typical Indonesian patterns are designed on the appearances of products.

Similar in China and Korea, brands like Inoherb and SkinFood sell very well . They positioned themselves as skin care products made of Chinese herb and natural foods respectively.

Reference:

“My Business: Indonesia’s Beauty Magnate.” BBC News. BBC, 10 Sept. 2013. Web. 07 Oct. 2013. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23960325>.