The Body Shop Company Deals In Eco-Friendly Beauty Products ✓ Solved

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The Body Shop Company deals in eco-friendly beauty produc

The Body Shop Company deals in eco-friendly beauty products for both men and women. The products are produced mainly from natural ingredients, which make the company work closely with farmers in a bid to ensure they get natural supplies for their products. The company has invested heavily in research, to come up with more natural beauty products, all which are evidence-based. The company targets high-income earners of the high social class, hence its higher prices for products compared to competing companies. Some of the things it got right, hence attracting loyal customers include dealing in a large range of products, creating a high brand value, and having a large supplier network.

Additionally, the company has aligned itself with environmental protection guidelines and transparency, hence building a good image in society. Despite being a large retailer, some of the mistakes it made are set to encourage more competition from other players in the market. Some of the mistakes include little investment in advertisements, the franchise system which reduces the level of control of most of its outlets from the top management, and a limited number of retail outlets.

The Body Shop Company is a private beauty retailer company operating internationally, which deals in natural and healthy beauty products for both male and female customers. It manufactures and commercializes beauty, organic skin care, and cosmetic products. The company was initially founded by Anita Roddick in Brighton, UK, in 1976. It now has over 3,000 stores in over 60 countries and continues to grow. The company is dedicated to finding the best ethically sourced ingredients for its wide range of naturally inspired beauty products. This means that the company works with farmers and suppliers, working on a 100% vegetarian basis, while taking a firm stance against animal testing.

The company continues to operate under the founder, Anita Roddick’s founding principles, as expressed by its ‘Enrich Not Exploit’ commitment. The policy lays out the need for the company to support local communities, maintain transparency, and protect the environment during their operations (Kent & Stone, 2007). According to Kemna (2017), The Body Shop’s top competitor is Estee Lauder, which is led by Fabrizio Freda, the CEO and president of the company. The Body Shop’s CEO on the other hand is David Boynton. Other competitors across the globe include Alliance Boots GmbH, Bath & Body Works LLC, Sephora USA Inc, L’Occitane, Lush, Yves Rocher, and Weleda. These brands also focus on environmental protection and natural ingredients, just like The Body Shop. Maybelline New York, although not an obvious competitor, also positioned itself against animal testing and environmental protection, posing the threat of being a possible competitor to the company too.

The Body Shop notably operates in a pure competition market structure. The Body Shop currently has more than 1,200 products and has employed more than ten thousand people in its various stores. The company’s leadership is geared towards juggling to effectively manage the business and effectively adapt to the stiff competition in the nature of the market in which it operates. The company has built its organization through employing very strong staff and human resources. Its recruitment strategies are top-notch, with the structure of the company built up very tightly to ensure the entire organization works with the same goals and processes.

Price Analysis

The Body Shop has a wide range of products and has different price tags for the various products, with a focus on targeting the different social levels of potential customers in the market. The main products in the market that I will cover are bath and body care, fragrances, skin care, men’s line, and makeup. Although the products are high quality, they are sold at low-medium prices. The company, therefore, engages the low-medium price policy while still enforcing strict quality control measures. The prices are set based on forces of demand and supply, as well as through assessing the prices that competing companies set for their goods, before placing theirs slightly higher than that, to target high-end customers.

The strategy ensures that the company is able to effectively compete with its main competitors, including those that have employed low price strategies in order to conquer the market. Before the company built its brand in the market in the past decades, it would sell its products at low prices, employing a low-price strategy that boosted its initial market share. After gaining a large market share and discovering that its main target in the market was people with considerable income, it raised its prices to the medium level, while still maintaining a few products with low prices that low-income earners can afford (Chun, 2016).

At the end of the financial year 2018, the company posted revenues at 1.4 billion US dollars (Chairunnisa et al., 2019). The company now targets women from the urban class and cosmopolitan cities, who are health and beauty conscious. That is the main reason for the rise in their prices since its customers belong to the higher income group. Since the brand has positioned itself effectively in the market as a natural care luxurious brand which caters to a high-end section of society, it has been able to maximize profits greatly. It has also recently included men in their target customer list and has been marketing their products widely. Having created considerable customer loyalty for its products in the market, the company is able to gather large amounts of money from its prices despite the rise in their pricing policy.

Its target group of customers also believes in purchasing higher price commodities, as they believe such products are of better quality than the low-price ones provided by competing companies. The strategy to target those that appreciate eco-friendly products, although their range is high, has been so effective in placing the company as a top retailer. The company’s nature of branding is ethical, which contributes to its high costs and high prices of products. The brand has maintained premium prices for premium products, although it faces a lot of competition even in the premium category (Chairunnisa et al., 2019). In order to compete with rivals, the company has adopted a competitive pricing policy that keeps its products at par with the prices rival brands set for their products.

What They Got Wrong Analysis

There are a number of things that The Body Shop got wrong in its marketing strategy. First, the company does very little advertising of its products. An advertisement is a clear way of increasing market share. People tend to make their decisions based on what they see on social media, the internet, and other advertising platforms, as they believe those are the new trends in the market. Emerging companies that invest heavily in advertisements tend to pick quickly in the market.

There is no way people can know of the emerging trends that the company has adopted or its new products, except through the advertisement platform. It also enables people to understand the strengths and importance of the products being marketed, increasing sales (Chun, 2016). The company’s competitors, including those that could not have come to the limelight like Maybelline New York that advertised heavily, are now beginning to gain ground in the market. What people see on television, for instance, has great influence and is likely to make even loyal customers decide to try new products they see on advertisements.

The second thing they got wrong is the franchise system, which limits the level of control that proprietors have on all its stores. One of the things that place a company high in the market radar is its leadership strategy, mission, and vision. A company that has a strong connection with the top management tends to perform better in the market, as it closely follows the guidelines put in place and the organizational culture. The franchise system encourages loss of organizational culture since employees at the bottom lack connection to the top management.

This reduces the level of trust customers have towards the organization, especially when loopholes such as poor customer service are detected in some stores. Poor leadership may culminate in a lack of motivation for the employees, which means that they do not perform well for the organization. Some may end up being absorbed by competing companies and even leak the company’s strategies to competitors (Chun, 2016). Additionally, the company got it wrong in having a limited number of retail outlets. This reduced the company’s ability to reach everyone that is interested in their products (Kemna, 2017).

What They Got Right Analysis

To begin with, the company got it right when they went for a wide range of products, of more than 1,200 products. Customers like to have a choice for the products they purchase in the market. A wide range of merchandise to choose from is therefore a good strategy for gaining a large market share. The second strength is having a well-designed store layout and ambiance, which creates customer attraction (Kent & Stone, 2007). What is more, new customers are easily able to identify the customer stores, which creates loyalty.

The company’s high brand value is another thing they got right. It is viewed as a socially responsible company, especially because it is engaged in many philanthropic activities. People also want to purchase from companies that are keen on conserving the environment (Chairunnisa et al., 2019). Additionally, the company maintains good relations with its employees, making sure to take good care of their welfare. That results in good customer service, which is key in propelling the company further.

The company invested in a good supplier network, which also ensures that they have enough raw materials for their commodities. Its step to ensure its products are from natural products is also a plus as people focus on using healthy care products. A good supply network also ensures that the company gets cheap raw materials in constant supply, which ensures that its stores are fully packed at all times, increasing the sales volume. The company saves on transport costs by creating a wide network of suppliers closer to all its stores located globally (Chairunnisa et al., 2019).

Conclusion

Lastly, I believe that the bid to target higher income urban men and women is a good one in positioning itself strongly in the market. People that are conscious of beauty and health products are mainly from a high social background. Therefore, the ‘luxury natural care for the body’ positioning of the company has ensured that it strongly builds itself in the market, as most people interested in the products fall in that category. Essentially, such customers believe higher price commodities are of better quality. Consequently, the low-medium pricing policy is best suited in ensuring the company remains a leader in the beauty industry.

References

• Kent, T., & Stone, D. (2007). The Body Shop and the role of design in retail branding. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 35(7).
• Kemna, L. (2017). The body shop Indonesia (Doctoral dissertation).
• Chun, R. (2016). What holds ethical consumers to a cosmetics brand: The Body Shop case. Business & Society, 55(4).
• Chairunnisa, S. S., Fahmi, I., & Jahroh, S. (2019). How Important Is Green Marketing Mix For Consumer? Lesson From The Body Shop. Jurnal Manajemen, 23(2).

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