The Body Shop Marketing Essay

1) Anita Roddick created the body shop in 1976 with the intention of opening night an environment everyy conscious cosmetic store. Today, the consistency cheat (BS) has gr hold from be a single heppie store in England to a multinational gild with everywhere 2265 stores in 50 countries enjoying sales of ? 820,000 in 2006/2007 period. (mintel 2006) population say that one person can non make a difference all if Anita Roddick proved it wrong by sticking to here ideals and ideas of doing business.This extract from the Body Shops mission statement to dedicate our business to the stake of social and environmental change (www. thebodyshop. co. uk), shows us how she created a in the altogether focusing of dealing with customer necessarily and wants. She saw it as a discover option to pitch customer and society in the first show up and by doing so, gain sales for good conduct. This way of doing business was non only proved to be passing successful but many another(prenomi nal) dietstuff placeers followed the BS concepts, attempting to maximise potential profit by imitating Dame Anita Roddicks dress circle of ideals or values.Throughout this essay, we will investigate how Anita Roddick successfully use trade apparatuss to promote her chain of shops and her strong principles and see how todays businesses can follow Roddicks footsteps in successfully targeting the emergence of new consumer groups in the constitutional aliment market. Anita Roddicks BS has not been an considerable success for no reason. An explanation of the BS general success in world markets is that she was one of the pioneers in developing a to a greater extent than goodly based business.We will flummox a look at how she maximised the 4 Ps (intersection, place, advancement and price) to promote her chain of shops and strong principles. harvest-feast The BS sells and produces cosmetics and toiletries made from natural ingredients all over the world targeting mainly wome n with a medium to senior high income and with deep social conscience and commitment. Its product range can be divided into eight categories each including a range of quality products. Each body lotion, shampoo, bath & shower gel, and so forth comes in different sizes in recycled, recyclable or biodegradable packaging. The merchandise Life Cycle of the BS is still in the emergence stages as competition is still increasing out-of-pocket to an increase in touch on in the industrys potential. Furthermore, the market is continuously evolving as more and more mickle become more ethically mindful. Branding is genuinely eventful as it differentiates the ships company from other skincare companies. Anita Roddick managed to create a brand which positioned itself as promoting good environmental ethics at a time where Europe was becoming greener, strongly differentiating itself from companies looking to increase cyberspace at any legal cost to the environment and to society. entirely since the cut cosmetic giant LOreal bought the BS, BrandIndex measured a drastic reduce in the ratings of BS study. Even though, the company promised to keep its ethical cosmetic brand intact, the publics opinion on the BS did not take long to change. (http//www. brandrepublic. com) Price The Body Shop has been able to preparation premium prices because of the assumption that people would be willing to buy off more for a product which they think is contributing to social and ethical issues.The detail that the BS is involved in issues such as fair clientele, sensual testing and has strong environmental views gave them the competitive advantage of product differentiation. But since competitors such as Boots or Bath & Bodyworks in the states have started their own natural product range at prices below the BS, profits have decreased in comparison to previous years. From 2002 to 2003 sales grew by only 5% compared with competitors whose sales rose by 27% in the selfsame(prenomi nal) period.It could withal be state that the BS prices are in the mid(prenominal) market pricing range as there are products more expensive such as for interpreter Boots natural-based products but much cheaper than Chanel or Estee Lauder beauty products. Furthermore, the cost of production of the BS products may be higher because of fair trade issues with local communities. But critiques say that the shell out not Aid projects are simply a marketing tool and that not even 1% of the sales go to the projects. (www. mcspotlight. org) Promotion The BS way of advertising has mostly been through with(p) through indirect advertising.Indeed, by associating themselves to Greenpeace or the save the whales project or by doing fare trade with indigenous communities for guinea pig, journals, word of honorpapers and magazines have written about the companys products, campaigns and beliefs without the company actually carrying out or spending any money into promotion campaigns. The BS beli eves that beauty is reality and strongly disagrees on the advertising campaigns toilsome to glamo alternate their products Were saying our products will moisturize, cleanse and polish they will not perform miracles. (Mrs Galanti, 1997). This was stated in 1997 after the release of a sublime mainstream campaign called Love your body due to increased competition in the marketplace. The Body Shop also makes extensive use of its web site, rake lorries and shop windows to communicate its campaigns and beliefs. Packaging is also a way of promoting a product. By demonstrate consumers that the BS is involved in recycling pliant bottles used in the packaging of a product for example, it positions itself furthermore in the customers disposition as being an environmentally caring organisation.It also well-tried to push consumers to use refills but the disturb of this campaign was minimal. Furthermore the BS also called for more people to recycle their old mobile phone. (Mintel, 2004) pop The BS looks closely at the store location, as customer approachability to the store is very important. They are usually located on high streets, in department concessions depending on important grammatical constituents of accessibility such as parking, visibility or even public transport. Stores are usually coherent as a boutique layout with products arranged according to their function.The atmosphere of the BS retail outlets is relaxed and sympathetic, inherent to the overall design of the BS shops. There is green goddess of information on ingredients and the origin of the product available to the customer. Furthermore the BS rapid growth and international expansion was helped through franchising. Finally, the rise in demand for ethical products has provided many opportunities for marketers. Dame Anita Roddick, was one of the first to take aim that out and through product innovation and brand reputation, she managed to build a multinational company from virtually nothin g.However, todays cosmetic market has highly evolved and is far more competitive than it used to be. The challenge for the company is to revitalise its retail outlets, improve their product offer and brand communication theory in order to grow store sales and invest in employee development and customer service. 2) Markets within an economy rapidly change offer opportunities for companies to increase profit and to expand. The marketers job is to react to these changes and put the company in the right direction.The fundamental pabulum market for example has galactic rapidly with consumers increasing spending on ethical food by 800 million to approximately ? 5. 6 billion in 2006 ( honest consumerism report 2006- Co-operative bank). Furthermore, most developed countries are seeing a rise in positive produce, The organic market has boomed in recent years, ripening by 25% annually on amount (www. timesonline. co. uk). These figures show us that the organic movement is moving on a global plateful with an increase in consumer interest in how and where food is produced.It could be said that the rise in the demand for organic products is due to the rising average age and due to media spotlight. Indeed, media are constantly focusing on the consequences of humour change and on how the earths resources are being eat pushing fellow human beings to act more responsibly and ethically in what food products they buy. This has lead people to believe that by eat organic food, a person will stay healthy studies in 2006 and 2007 have found higher levels of Vitamin C in organic output and 68 per cent higher levels of omega-3 in organic unharmed milk than non-organic whole milk. (www. bbc. co. uk). On the other hand, with more elderly people in the UK after the baby boom of the early 50s, the market is in all likelihood to see people buying organic/healthy food rather than GM food offering new opportunities to marketers in vilify of how to advertise and promote the ir products. This could be done through promotional campaigns aimed at elderly people, informing them of the availability of organic food in their single supermarkets or by associating the organisation to environmentally friendly associations such as Greenpeace and beneficiate of indirect advertising.To be the first to come into a customers mind as being an organisation which cares about the environment would definitely obligate the company a strong competitive advantage. Two of the major starring(p) supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsbury have both recognised these changing consumer needs and have showd organic food and organic policies within their stores To meet this growing demand Sainsburys has re-launched its organic range as Sainsburys SO organic and is committed to broadening the appeal of and extending its comprehensive range of organic foods. (www. jsainsburys. co. uk).Additionally, Sainsbury has recently banned the use of palm oil from unsustainable sources in its own-brand products which has been argued by Greenpeace as a positive first step towards the end of the ravaging of the Indonesian rainforest (www. marketingweek. co. uk). Another way of promoting the organisation could be to introduce fair trade products in our supermarkets aisles. This would not necessarily be done in a profit objective scheme but rather to show customers the organisations involvement in helping local communities even though profits could be made if an appropriate marketing strategy was applied.Another important factor to consider is packaging as it can be used for promotional purposes. This could give them an advantage over rival companies that may not sell organic food. Additionally, organisation could also concentrate on creating greener friendly packaging A UK company has launched a new range of convenience food packs manufactured from biodegradable plastic. showing their awareness of the influence they have on the environment and their dedication to num ber a role in conserving the planet. (http//www. foodanddrinkeurope. com).The difficulty for the marketer will be to set attr diligent and adequate organic packaging at the low possible prices. This brings us to price considerations. Organic food is without a surmise more expensive to produce and sell than non-organic food giving the marketer the difficult challenge of setting a competitive price with rivals and at a level that still sees the company being profitable. It is also important that marketers are aware of how much people are willing to pay for organic food in order to maximise profits. Moreover, prices are set to increase as exceptionally high market growth rank are causing demand to outpace supply. (http//www. organicmonitor. com) On the other hand, The feed Standard Agency and scientists still believe that organic food as a whole, is not necessarily healthier for a person than GM food there is no scientific evidence to suggest organic food is healthier (www. guardi an. co. uk). Furthermore, Chefs such as Gordon Ramsay argue that organic food is overpriced and questions its authenticity The problem with organic food is that it has become hip and trendy, overhyped, overpriced and inconsistent. Unfortunately there is now a snob factor attached to it. (www. timesonline. co. k) On this point, marketers will have to make sure that they sign on effective advertising campaigns as well as detailed stigmatization and packaging to promote their products as being healthier than other foods in order to maintain high sales. The reason the organic market has grown so much in the last decade is definitely due to a rise in ethical consumerism. Indeed, after some companies were undefendable by the media to how they really operated i. e. illegal sweatshops for example- and the constant media coverage on the damage caused by humans to the earth, saw consumers take a more ethical approach to purchasing.This why it is so important to show consumers that the or ganisation is active in sustaining the earth and its resources. Today, the image of the company should be of first immensity to marketers. Tesco and other supermarkets have already revised their strategy and offer for example to use plastic bags more than once- Tesco claimed that shoppers had used one million bags little than they would normally expect. (www. recycling-guide. org. uk). J Sainsburys reacted by cutting back on carbon emissions produced by their outlets- We are currently looking at the big picture regarding carbon emissions and the part Sainsburys play in that.We have been extremely proactive over the last 10 years on all aspects of energy efficiency. (Alison Austin, 2007). All these supermarket behaviour changes are done in the objective to remain competitive. Marketers understand that if their company is seen to be green then it is likely to be successful in the market. Finally, whichever strategy marketers do choose to adopt, it will eventually determine their l evel of success in an ever changing society which now focuses on being ethical and more aware of the environment. Bibliography Anon. , November 2007, Food matters, BBC. Anon. , March,2006, Body Shop at a glance, FT. om, capital of the United Kingdom, pg 1. Anon. , June 2003,Anita Roddick, Director, London, Vol. 56(11), pg. 60. Anon. , August 2007, Growth opportunity for organic market, sell world, Vol. 60(16), pg. 22. Brassington F. and Pettitt S. , 2003, Principles of Marketing. 3rd ed. , Pearson Education Limited. Callan E. , May 2006, LOreal says it is content with Bady Shops ethics GENERAL REATILERS 1st Ed. , financial Times, London (UK), pg. 17. Coles A. , Harris L. , 2006, Ethical Consumers and e-Commerce The consequence and Growth of Fair Trade in the UK, Journal of Reasearch for Consumers, Crawley (10), pg. , 6 pgs. Guthrie J. , kinfolk 2007, Activist who inspired a business generation LONDON 2ND EDITION, Financial Times, London (UK), pg 21. Marketing Week, September 200 7, Ehtical consumerism Lacking in green conviction, London pg 28. Marketing Week, January 2007, Market research Unlock the power of brands, London pg 23 Jack L. , November 2007, Greenpeace backs Sainsburys palm oil ban as a first step, London, Marketing Week. Hofman M. , April 2001, Anita Roddick The Body Shop International, established in 1976, Inc. Boston Vol. 23, Iss. 5 pg. 61, 1pgs.Mintel, 2004, Body Shop campaigns for mobile recycling Mintel, 2006, conjunction report Mintel, April 2007, Impact of the Environment (The) UK. The Body Shop International PLC. 2006. one-year report and Accounts. Sample I. , October 2007, Organic food is healthier study, The Guardian Zink W. , February 1996, The impact of recycling on the cosmetic industry, Drug & Cosmetic effort, New York Vol. 158 (2) pg. 42, 4pgs. sack sites Elliot S. , The Body Shops campaign offers reality, not miracles. WWW Accessed 21 November 2007 The Body Shop. 2005. The Body Shop values report. WWW lt uniform resource l ocator http//valuesreport. thebodyshop. net/pdfs/bodyshop_valuesreport_2005. pdf Accessed 22 November Bidlake S. 2006. Body Shop reputation is battered by sale to LOreal. WWW Accessed 22 November London Greenpeace, Whats wrong with the Body Shop WWW Accessed 18 November Anon. , 2007, Product news. WWW URL http//jsainsburys. co. uk/index. asp? PageID=419==200 5=583 Accessed 23 November Anon. , 2006, Tesco Ads Result in Re-Using Plastic Bags. WWW Accessed 22 November Organic Monitor, 2006, Global Organic Food Industry Facing Supply Challenges. WWW Accessed 25 November Ungoed-Thomas J. , 2007, Eat your words, all who scoff at organic food. WWW Accessed 22 November Anon. 2007, Company news WWW Accessed 23 November Horne M. , 2006, Ramsay lays into organic food snobs. WWW http//timesonline. co. uk/tol/newspapers/sunday_times/ireland/ article625714. ece Accessed 25 November ElAmin A. , 2006, Biodegradable food packaging launched in UK. WWW http//foodanddrinkeurope. com/news/ng. asp? n=6 9464-natureworks-rpc-bebo-biodegradable-pla Accessed 22 November Anon. , 2006, The Body Shop- Body and soul. WWW Accessed 23 November