Physical Evidence

Physical Evidence is one of the final three factors added on to the extended Marketing Mix - according to Oxford College of Marketing (website accessed in 2016, published 2013), Physical Evidence can be described as followed - ‘The environment in which the service is delivered and where the firm and customer interact, and any tangible components that facilitate performance or communication of the service’. 

For many makeup brands, the physical evidence in and around stores are similar. Whether it be high end brands having their own stores or in bug department stores, or high street makeup getting sold in the drugstore - the layout is much the same. For high end brands such as Benefit Cosmetics, the layout and design of their products in store is a lot more extravagant - meaning, the displays and layout of the products are more extreme. This could be because the higher end brands obtain more profit on their products meaning more can be spent on things to improve their physical evidence. As we can see from the below photograph, Benefit Cosmetics have a very eye catching way of displaying and selling their products.  From the above photo, we can see that the store layout of the brands products as if it were a females bedroom - with dressing tables, drawers and cabinets - all displaying the differing products.

However, in comparison to the high street brands like Maybelline - the displays aren't as appealing. This could be because the stores that sell these makeup brands have a large amount of other brands to promote and sell also - for example when walking in to a Superdrug store, you are bombarded with the various different brands of makeup to your left and your right, with each store offering over 50 different brands of makeup at a time.

Here we can see the inside of a Superdrug store and how all products are laid out for customers to see. From the photograph we can see that there are numerous different makeup brands and products, meaning high street brands aren't given the chance to "show off" or sell their products in the same way.

For Higher End makeup brands, physical evidence is a factor of The Extended Marketing Mix that can be taken advantage of - this is because they are able to attract customers in eye catching ways. If a customer were to walk in to a store and see a Maybelline display compared to a Benefit Cosmetics display - the one that would gain more attention would be Benefit. Ultimately, this will be very beneficial for makeup brands such as Benefit as it will entice and draw people over to the eye catching, bold and flattering displays - meaning more sales, resulting in more money being obtained.

For all makeup brands, every employee has their makeup done perfectly. This not only promotes the brands products, but it encourages customers to buy the brands products from the beautiful women on hand to help. This draws customers to them, aspiring to look like them which means buying the products. All products are laid out the same way, with a tester made available and easy to see.