Birchbox Report: Innovation, Commercialisation and Business Analysis

This report analyzes the innovation and commercialization strategies employed by Birchbox, a company known for its beauty product subscription service. The report begins by emphasizing the importance of innovation for employee engagement and organizational competitiveness, illustrated by examples from Birchbox, Apple, and Virgin Group. It then explores how organizational factors such as teamwork, leadership, culture, and vision shape innovation and commercialization processes. The report further delves into the 4Ps of innovation (Paradigm, Products, Process, Position) and the innovation funnel, providing a framework for understanding how Birchbox develops and markets its products. It also examines how Birchbox can develop frugal innovation. The report includes a business case study of Birchbox, discussing its commercial funnel, and the application of the New Product Development (NPD) process. The report concludes by highlighting tools Birchbox can use to foster innovation. The report provides a detailed overview of Birchbox's innovation journey, offering valuable insights into its strategies and their impact on the business.

Innovation and Commercialisation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Innovation and its importance for the employees...................................................................3
P2 Shaping of innovation and commercialization by organizational factors...............................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P3 4P’s of Innovation and innovation funnel...............................................................................5
P4 How can Birchbox develop frugal innovation........................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P5 Importance of commercial funnel and Application of NPD...................................................9
P6 Innovative business case of Birchbox.....................................................................................9
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P7 Different tools Birchbox can use..........................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Innovation can be termed as a process of inventing something new that may prove
beneficial for the company whereas Commercialization is considered as a process which helps in
the transformation of the concepts and the inventions in order to achieve a great amount of
wealth and success for the employees and organizations as well (Wonglimpiyarat, 2010). Both
these processes help in bringing the concepts and ideas in the market and it can further lead to
various good changes in various factors of the business such as the productivity, sales, marketing
etc. The report is about involvement of innovation and commercialization in Birchbox and the
comparison of the results from the Apple and the Virgin group.
TASK 1
P1 Innovation and its importance for the employees
Innovation is that part which is important for any business to stay competitive. Birchbox
also focuses on the same tool because it is a great way to impress and attract customers through
some creative and innovative ideas. Birchbox has a policy that it involves various new ideas in
their process and products which are sufficient to attract any customer. The organization often
sends the box containing make up essentials and beauty products to their customers. It is a better
way to make customers happy and by these small means, they also consider that their work is
being appreciated which helps in maintaining the focus of the customer on the company. As in
case of Apple, they focused on developing a music player that can hold a large number of songs
but consume a small disk space. Although there are a wide number of music players across the
world but Apple focused on something innovative by developing a music player that can hold a
great amount of songs in less possible space (Love, Roper and Bryson, 2011).
This factor of Apple made it such successful that for about a great number of people have
purchased iPods because everyone wants to have a big collection but the problem of occupying
huge space makes it unable to do so (Kianto, 2011). But Apple made it possible through their
innovative and creative ideas. Along with the general beauty essentials, Birchbox included a
range of organic products as well which increased their popularity even more. As it is beneficial
for the customers, it is equally beneficial for the employees of Birchbox as well as it helps them

gaining a great amount of customers coming for organic as well as non organic range. The same
way Virgin group was a simple publishing venture but the creativity and aggressiveness of
Branson, founder of the Virgin group, made it possible to grown into a big investment firm. Now
the firm has developed into a group of small sub divisions such as Virgin money, Virgin rail,
Virgin entertainment etc. So, the creative ideas and vision can help the organization in achieving
success at faster rates. Like in the case of Birchbox, after the idea of involving organic range as
well, they gained more customers, thus more success as well for their company. It helped the
company in gaining a huge number of happy customers who are happy with the new range and it
is also beneficial for those who face from any skin issues and use only organic products.
P2 Shaping of innovation and commercialization by organizational factors
There are various organizational factors which affect the commercialization and
innovation of an organization. The same way, it is describe below that how organizational factors
such as vision, leadership, teamwork and cultured have affected the innovation of Birchbox :
Team work: Team work can bring efficient results for Birchbox. As the company focuses
on marketing beauty essentials and decided to involve organic range as well, different small
teams can be allotted for the well management of the process. One team can interact with the
customers that what products they require more in the organic range. The second group can focus
on developing these products by using a good range of the ingredients. Other group can
continuous ask for feedbacks from the customers. By working in small teams, Birchbox can be
able to achieve success more fast and thus, also in gaining a large number of customers. This is
the power of teamwork that can help Birchbox in satisfying a number of customers (Adam,
2014).
Leadership: Leadership skills are essential in managing and controlling all the processes of the
company. As in Birchbox, the leader control all the responsibilities of keeping a check on
employees, motivating them and taking continuous feedbacks from the customers as well so that

they can resolve the issues, the customers are facing with the products. The leader also provides
incentives and increments to the employees to increase their morale so that they can stay focused
towards the work which will however, help Birchbox.
Culture: The team members and employees at Birchbox focuses on maintaining the environment
more happier and healthier so that the employees can also feel positive to work and does not go
through any stress or tension.
Vision: The vision of Birchbox is to satisfy the needs of its customers. For this, they keep gifting
the beauty boxes to their customers and also provide extra coupons to them. These small efforts
help in maintaining the interest of the customers in the following company. The vision of Apple
was to make such device that can hold a great amount of songs in less space and this idea of thers
helped them achieved a great number of satisfied customers.
TASK 2
P3 4P’s of Innovation and innovation funnel
The innovation model or 4P’s of innovation acts as an efficient model that helps in enabling the
process of innovation better and the four basic components of it as well. The 4P’s are discussed
as under :
Paradigm
The change the company is thinking about can be radical but the complexity of process
should also be in mind. Birchbox has developed an organic range after taking the feedbacks from
their customers. So, there are very less chances of the company to lose in this new range. Apple
involved smart chip’s because they knew what people want and they remain successful in that.
Products
Birchbox focuses on the satisfaction of customers by providing them an efficient range of
products. Their focus is on the standard quality of products. The company also takes regular
feedbacks from their customers so that if there may be some change required in their product,
which is bothering the customers, they make the modifications as soon as possible. This makes
Birchbox an effective seller. As in case of Apple, in order to develop a player that can has a large

collection of songs in less space possible, they used standard quality chip’s. The iPod made is
now satisfying a lot of customers.
Process
The process also matters after the product. Birchbox involved new process of developing
the organic range, specially for the people who wants to use the organic range only. Along with
it had a great research n the standard ingredients that can make their organic range better than the
others. This helped the company in gaining a large number of satisfied customers.
Position
It means where the company should target the offering. Birchbox has already a range of
makeup and beauty essential for women. They have also advertised the new organic range on the
website. So, the concept of developing the organic range can help the company in an increased
number of customers and that too satisfied ones. It will surely helpful for the success of the
company.
Innovation funnel
An innovation funnel can help in evaluating the steps more clear that takes part in developing a
product or service using the new ideas or concepts.

Figure 1Innovation funnel
(Source : Jefrey, 2011)
The components of the innovation funnel are described as under :
Opportunities
There are various opportunities which can be involved for increasing the growth of the
business. Like Apple did when people wanted a music player in which they can store a great
collection of songs in a small space because in case of various players, when a large data is
involved, in that case the player starts hanging which irritates the customers (Hang Do and et.al,
2014). So, Apple focused on developing a player that can hold a large collection of songs and
that too in less space possible. This feature attracted a large number of customers because it was
different. Apple remain successful in taking advantage by involving this opportunity. The same
way, Birchbox took advantage of involving the organic range along with the normal make up
essentials (Bastalich, 2010). In today’s world, people want various options. The feature of
involving organic products made the company more successful.
Ideas

Birchbox before taking a step forward, took various ideas from the customers because the
company did not wanted to fail in any new concept. So, it took feedbacks from its customers and
understood that there is a need of organic range as well (Wonglimpiyarat, 2010). So, these ideas
helped the company much in gaining a large number of customers.
Technologies
As Apple involved the new concept of technology of a large collection of data and
occupy less space and it was successful in gaining the interest of the customers. The same way,
Birchbox developed new portals which involved various customers and the company send make
up kits to a few of the customers so that they can check the quality. People gained interest by
these features and thus it helped the company in satisfying the customers to a great extent.
Products
Birchbox involved a new range of products that were organic. The company involved this
concept of products because the company was already dealing with the range of make up
essentials, so involving some new sort of product was the best idea for the company which can
attract people (Perks and Moxey, 2011). S, the concept of organic range was successful enough
in attracting the customers and it also increased the innovation and popularity of the company.
P4 How can Birchbox develop frugal innovation
For engaging in frugal innovation, Birchbox has to follow some principles that can help it in a
proper and efficient development of frugal innovation which can help the company in multiple
ways. The principles re discussed as following :
Engage and relate
It is very important to engage properly and investigate about various organic products
along with the ingredients. A complete knowledge of the ingredients that are used in the
development of organics can help in developing it well. So, the company can have a proper
investigation on these factors, then involving it n the making process can help the company in
getting efficient results.
Flex your assets

Going flexible with the assets or ingredients is a good way as going familiar with all the
material used in the making of organic products can help in a better analysis. So, Birchbox can
focus on going familiar with these ingredients and it will help the company in making a better
evaluation that which one is to be used and what could be the results.
Sustainable solutions
A company must be ready with the alternate solutions as well. Birchbox can also develop
the fact that if any organic product is causing troubles such as allergies or something to any
customer, then the company must be ready for some other ingredient that they can use to modify
that component which can act as an alternate to that component. These alternate solutions act
sustainable enough to satisfy the customers.
Shape customer behavior
It is also important to maintain good relationships with the customers. It helps in shaping
customer behavior as well. For maintain this, Birchbox often sends boxes full of beauty
essentials to its customers. This is nothing but just to maintain the relationships with the
customers. This feature attracts the customers to a high extent. Maintaining a better level of
interaction with the customers helps in maintaining their focus towards the company (Wang,
Vanhaverbeke and Roijakkers, 2012)
Principle 6: Make innovative friends
Some contacts can also help the company in achieving a step forward than other
competitors. Birchbox also have maintained such contacts with some of its partners. These
partners help in increasing the popularity level of Birchbox so that more and more people can be
able to know about the company and use the stuff made by them. These are also termed as
promotional factors by which it becomes easy to increase the popularity level of a specific
organization.

TASK 3
P5 Importance of commercial funnel and Application of NPD
The worth of commercial funnel Is that it helps Birchbx in maintaining proper relations
with the customers, focusing on products and services well and in taking proper feedbacks from
the customers so that they can also consider that they are important for the company. It helps in
maintaining their focus on the company. The commercial funnel also helps the company in
managing one of the essential features, that is managing the competitive factors along with the
personal factors so that the company leaves no stone unturned in competing with its rivals and
result in better outcomes than the others.
The same way new product development (NPD) can help Birchbox in an increased
number of customers. As the involvement of organic products can be considered here as a new
product that the company has developed in order to attract a large number of customers so that
the innovation factor of the company can increase to a huge extent and the number of customers
can also increase (Kutvonen, Torkkeli and Lin, 2010). Modifying the product or its ingredients is
different but NPD is considered as the involvement of a completely new concept of a new
product. Like in case of Apple, the new product they developed is the smart chip that is capable
enough to store a large collection in the less space available. The same way, organic range
helped the Birchbox and helped the company in achieving success at more faster rates.
P6 Innovative business case of Birchbox
Birchbox can have involved various new products and services for their customers but it
involved a new concept, that is the range of organic products and focused on make it that way
that it can satisfy the needs of the customers. Various smaller teams have been involved for
investigating the ingredients required, taking customer feedbacks, promoting this range etc.
Team work helped the company in achieving the results faster. The innovative funnel has also
been used for focusing on the main principles that can be considered for a better analysis and
evaluation. Birchbox involved strategies in which they can modify the product if the customer
seems not satisfied with it or also can modify the ingredients that seems safer and healthy for the
skin of the human body. The innovative case of Apple can also be considered here as they were
already dealing with the range of phones etc., but they understood that the need of customers is
to have a good collection but the players starts hanging when occupied with a large number of

data, so they involved the development of smart chip’s that can store a great collection of data
and also occupies smaller space (Lee and et.al, 2010). This was the innovative case of Apple
which helped them in gaining the interest of customers and now it has reached at such successful
level as well.
TASK 4
P7 Different tools Birchbox can use
There are various sustainable solutions that Birchbox can adopt for developing, retaining
and protecting intellectual property. Some of these are discussed as under :
Motivational factors
Birchbox can involve various features such as providing some sort of increment and
incentives to the employees so that it can act as a motivational factor for them and also will help
in maintaining their focus towards work. By these small means, the employees also consider that
they are an important part of the family and they work with more concentration and efficiency
(Fiedler and Welpe, 2011). It also helps in maintaining a happier and healthier environment in a
workplace and very employee can stay calm and fresh as well.
Feedbacks
Birchbox can also take feedbacks from the customers on a regular basis. It will help the
company as if some product is bothering people the company can develop any other alternative
for that with some different ingredients. By this way, the customer can also feels satisfied that
the company is providing an alternative to that product. This will also help them to stay
connected with the organization (Wonglimpiyarat, 2010).
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the report that Birchbox has involved a new range of organic
products that can stay suitable for maintain the health of the skin as well as the beauty of a
person. Also, it should be without any chemicals that can affect the skin of the customer bad. It
involved various factors involving the innovation funnel as well which helped them in a better

evaluation of the ingredients and products to be used. Thus, it however helped the company in
achieving a large number of satisfied customers. Also, the company managed its responsibilities
of properly taking reviews from the customers so that they can cover if there exists some loop
holes.