LJL Industries
Business Case / Consulting Assignment
“As a consultant, if you don’t specialize, then it’s hard to get great at one thing. It’s hard to attract your ideal customer because your message is as diffused as your offer. What I find is the path for new consultants, distill down then when you think you are done, distill down further and get down to your core offering.”
– Rob Malec, Clarity Coaching Client
Overview of LJL Industries
LJL Industries is a traditional brick-and-mortar retail firm and has recently acquired a rapidly growing health and beauty care manufacturing firm. LJL Industries is an established firm headquartered in Toledo, OH. The health and beauty care company also originally started in Ohio and has expanded into other regions and areas. It has been producing personal care products under its various brand labels.
The health and beauty care company is part of the standard industry code (SIC) 2844. SIC 2844 includes businesses that manufacture perfumes, cosmetics, shampoos, body powder, colognes, denture cleaners, lipstick, mouthwash, soap, suntan lotion, toothpaste, shaving products, and other toilet preparations.
Consulting Assignment
LJL Industries' senior executives have decided to expand its operations into an online business. It has begun online direct sales to individual consumers. You are working for LJL Industries as a management consultant to improve the new combined company's design, operation, online presence, and digital marketing using the firm’s business intelligence and analytics information. You will also be required to evaluate, compare, and contrast the digital marketing activities of major competitors. You will need to discover and recommend current emergent technology that will provide them with a competitive advantage and secure brand-loyal customers.
The goal of your consulting assignment is to analyze and improve the digital transformation activities of LJL Industries so that you can help LJL Industries increase SEO, generate more traffic, and improve e-loyalty, revenue, and profits for the online direct sales initiative.
Digital Transformation Issues to be Addressed
- During your orientation sessions, determine how to collaborate for competitive analysis and product enhancements as well as perform product ideation to expand sales.
- Identify KPIs for effective management decision-making and create valuable dashboards for executive, managerial, manufacturing, and retail use.
- Recommend website personalization strategies using the latest AI/ML tools for content creation, to increase SEO, and generate more traffic to the website.
- Recommend quantum security measures to ensure corporate information is safe from future cyberattacks.
- Highlight analytic technology solutions using Python programming tools.
LJL Industries - Product Line
LJL Industries has five product lines with 15 major brands. These categories cover the major portion of the beauty and health care market. LJL Industries currently doesn’t have any presence or product offerings in cosmetics or baby products and a limited presence in the youth product market. Planning is performed at the brand level. The five lines that LJL Industries offers products are:
- Skin Care
- Hair Care
- Oral Care
- Shaving Products
- Deodorants
Products in the entire skin care market consist of lotions, moisturizing cream, skin cleanser, cleaning gel, sunscreen, acne treatment and foot protection. LJL Industries has four brands in the skin care category. Those brands are LJL Foot Value, LJL Skin Value, LJL Sun Value, and Red Hot – NOT.
Products in the entire hair care market consist of brushes, combs, hair color, shampoo, conditioner, styling gel and mousse, and hair spray. LJL Industries has two brands in the hair care category. Those brands are LJL Hair and Dippit.
Products in the entire oral care market consist of toothpaste, tooth brushes, mouthwash, dental floss, fluoride rinse and denture care. LJL Industries has four brands in the oral care category. Those brands are LJL Family Care, Nice-n-Brite, LJL Denture Fix, and Milk Teeth. Competitive products include Colgate, AquaFresh, Crest, Dental Care, Gleem, Pepsodent, and Close-Up. Competitive products are also packaged in pumps, standup containers, tubes and tablets (for denture cleaning). The competitive SKU’s include whitening, gum care, sensitivity, tartar control, and multicare products in paste as well as in gel. Children’s products are flavored with fruity, bubble gum, and ice mint flavors.
Products in the shaving market consist of shaving cream, after-shave, razor blades and razors. LJL Industries has two brands in the shaving category. That brands are LJL Manly Shaving Products and LJL Womanly Shaving Products. Competitive products to the men’s shaving brand include Edge, Gillette Foamy, Colgate, and local store brands formulated for normal and sensitive skin. Potential competitive products in the women’s shaving market include skinmate, Gillette, and SoftShave. Potential competitive products in the aftershave market include Brut, Old Spice, Aqua Velva, Mennen, and Gillette.
Products in the deodorant market consist of deodorants. LJL Industries has two brands in the deodorant category. Those brands are LJL for Women and LJL for Men. Competitive products to the men’s brand include Right Guard by Gillette, Old Spice distributed by Procter & Gamble, Arrid distributed by Carter Products, Sure distributed by Procter & Gamble, and Mennen distributed by Colgate Palmolive. Competitive products to the women’s brand include Degree and Suave distributed by Helene Curtis, Lady Speed Stick distributed by Colgate Palmolive, and Secret distributed by Procter & Gamble.