BSS041-3 Digital Business Management: The Body Shop Online Report

This consultancy report provides a detailed analysis of The Body Shop's digital business strategies, focusing on their online presence and customer relationship management (CRM). The report begins with an overview of digital business and its importance, followed by a methodology section outlining the use of secondary data for research. It then presents the analysis of The Body Shop's online channels, including social media and email marketing, highlighting their strong presence on platforms like Instagram and Facebook. The report also examines the company's CRM strategies, such as loyalty programs and customer care lines, emphasizing their commitment to customer satisfaction. Finally, the report recommends actions for further enhancing their online presence, including the use of AI technology and on-demand delivery services, to maintain a competitive edge in the market.

Consultancy Report Template
Client Company name goes here
University and Unit
name
Student Name and ID Your name and ID number goes here
Executive summary
(max ½ page)1
Provide a brief summary of the report
Project background and Objectives
Digital business is defined as the process of using various digital tools to the business models
in order to attract large number of customers and enhance their performance and sale. This
allows the business organisation to make consumers aware of their product and services
effectively and add value in their their business process. There are number of digital tools
available to the business in order to increase their customers and increase their profitability and
productivity (Backaler and Shankman,2018). For this report The Body Shop company is taken
as the base company. The Body shop company is one of the well established British cosmetic,
skin care and perfume company having their outlets in more than 65 countries. The company
was founded in 1976 by Dame Anita Roddick offering quality services to their customers
satisfying their needs and wants. This report highlights the detailed analysis of the digital
business and also the various online channels used by the company. In addition to this the
various customer relationship management strategy used by the company is also highlighted in
this report.
Methodology
Research methodology is a particular tool used by the business organisation in order to
effectively identify, evaluate and collect information about a particular topic. It also allows the to
analyse the reliability and validity of a particular information also. In order to effectively carry out
this report the secondary data is used including the websites, journals articles and so on. This
will help in effectively collect the information using various sources.
Research / analysis results
According to simplilearn (2021), digital business is defined as the effective use of various
technology in order to smoothly carry out their operation and activity. The use of digital
technology allows the business organisation to make their consumers aware of the product and
services and also enhance their brand image among the target customers (What Is Digital
Business, 2021). It also allows the company to directly interact with their target customers and
build customer loyalty. With increasing use of technology among the customers the business
organisation are also moving towards the use of technology to directly interact with them. There
are large number of online channels are available which can be effectively used by the
business organisation. Use of online channels allows the companies to be flexible in doing their
operations more effectively. The various online tools includes the use of company's website,
social media platforms and so on (Baoand Zhu, 2021). The social media platform is one of the
fastest growing medium of online marketing due to presence of large number of users, it makes
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it easier for the companies to attract large number on single platforms also able to interact with
them. In case of The Body Shop company is actively engaged in their online marketing in order
to continuous enhance their performance in the marketplace and gain competitive advantage.
The company is continuously enhancing their marketing strategy over the years (Buchananand
McCalman, 2018).
The Body Shop company mainly focused on the use of the Email marketing and social media
marketing which drives them towards continuous growth and success. These two online
channels allows the company to attract large number of customers in their 120 stores in the US
and around 3000 stores available around the globe. The company is focused on the use of
social media and email marketing to maintain their loyal customers and enhance their brand
image among them also. In case of social media marketing the company is focused on using
the Instagram and Facebook mainly, posting content about their company and so on. It is
analysed that the company has strong online presence on various online platforms such as
having more than 1.2 million followers on Instagram, 42000 followers on Twitter and more than
around 8.1 millions followers on the Facebook. This allows the company to measure their loyal
customers base across various online platforms. The Body Shop company is actively focus on
posting new and exciting content on their social media platforms in order to get customers
attention and make them aware of the new product and services effectively. In addition to this
the company is also using Email marketing where the personalised mail is sent to the
customers about the product and services (Choiand Kandampully, 2019). However the
company has also started weekly e-newsletter in order to make consumers aware of the new
offerings, coming events and also including about their Forever Against Animal Testing
campaign. The campaign started in 1996 by the founder of company to put a ban on the animal
testing for the cosmetic products in UK later become major ban across the Europe.
With increasing competition and changing taste and preference of the consumers also the
increasing moving culture towards the digital, the Body Shop company is developing their social
channels in order to continue to satisfy the needs of their target customers across the globe.
The company is moving towards actively using their website to promote their products and also
promote the campaign's messaging, company also launched the home marketing campaign,
the Billboard ads are there in the Time square and Grand Central in New York city. This use of
effective online channel marketing helped company to attract large number of customers and
enhance their profitability and productivity in the marketplace also it also helped them to
enhance their brand image in the marketplace and gain competitive advantage. Furthermore
the company is also has their own customers care line through using Phone, Email, Social
media and website chat in order to directly interact with the customers and solve their queries
which will automatically lead to building the customers loyalty. The main focus of the company
is satisfying the needs of the customers and ensuring that they are happy and satisfied because
this is the key drivers behind building strong brand image of the company (Forman,2020).
When it come to the Body Shop company, which has great presence in the market the email
marketing plays an essential role for the company. The Email marketing and their loyalty
programs are really important for the company. Company believes that the email marketing is
the most efficient tool in reaching their flourishing customer base also their loyalty program
helps the company to appreciate their target customers. The company's Love your body club
helps the customers to collect the points and get rewards specially on their birthday, special
offers and so on, customers can chat with each other and share their thoughts about the
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company's product and services. The Body Shop is also analysing the changing market and
changing taste and preference of the customers and accordingly enhancing and improving their
services particularly analysing the change in the digital marketing to satisfy the needs of their
target customers.
Analysing various company’s CRM strategies
Customer relationship management strategy is one of the essential strategy taken into
consideration by the business organisation in order to enhance their profitability and reduce the
cost also maintain positive relationship with their target customers also. The customers
relationship management is one of the most essentials part which leads the business towards
continuous growth and success. It is the use of various tools and techniques by the business
organisation in order to satisfy their target customers and retain them for long period of time.
The use of customers relationship strategy helps the company to analyse the needs and wants
of their target customer through proper market research and accordingly offer them required
resources with quality added in order to satisfy their needs. It helps in building loyal customers
base and retaining them for long period of time (Huesigand Endres, 2019). In case of The Body
Shop company, the company focus on maintaining loyal customers through effective use of
their website. The first and foremost step in building the customer loyalty and positive customer
base is to ensure that there is positive relationship between the brand and their target
customers. Chosen company's blog allows the customers to directly interact or communicate
with each other and share their feeling and ideas about the company. In addition to this
company uses direct links on their company's website in order to become the follower of the
company on various social media platforms such as Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and so on,
this will help the company to maintain positive relationship with the customers. As the company
can directly interact with their target customers and customers can solve their problems directly.
The use of these tools allows the chosen company to maintain direct and positive relationship
with their target customers. In addition to this the another customer relationship management
strategy used by the company includes the loyalty card (Imamov,2018). There Love your body
offers large number of offers on the website and also offering 10% off on all their purchase.
Another another includes the offering delivering facilities to the customers and return of
purchase items within 14 days. These all helps the company to maintain positive relationship
with their customers and retain them for long period of time. The customers relationship
management is one of the most essentials part in the success of the chosen organisation.
Large number of company's followers present of various social media platforms also helps in
determining the loyal customers of the company, effective use of customers relationship allows
the company to maintain long term positive relationship with the customers (How The Body
Shop Manages Its Online-To-Offline Marketing, 2018). The company has various clubs such as
the love your body which make the customers attracted towards the company and making them
feel a sense of belongingness towards the company as this campaign allows the customers to
embrace themselves, their flaws which leads to creating positive outlook towards company and
their products (Lombardi, 2019).
Recommended actions
The strong online presence of the chosen company plays an essential role in the growth and
development of the business and also helping them to gain competitive advantage in the
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marketplace. With increasing competition and changing customers preference the company to
regularly modify their activity and continue to offer quality unique services to their customers
(Vilkaite-Vaitone and Sologubas, 2019). As satisfying customers is the main driving force
behind the success and growth of the business. So in order to further enhance their online
presence more effective some of the recommendation can be taken into consideration by the
company (Madonand Krishna, 2018). The most important recommendation that can be
considered by the company in order to enhance their online presence can be the use of AI
technology. As the use of AI technology is an growing trend in each and every business so the
use of AI technology in the Body Shop online process will allow company to effectively monitor
and carry out their activity and also smoothly handle all their operations also (Nagel, 2020). This
tool will also helps company to attract large number of customers and create strong and
effective market presence. In addition to this it will also help company to create strong brand
image in the marketplace. In addition to this the another recommendation that can be
considered by the company is to offer on demand delivery services and offering them to shop
online. This will make it convenient for the customers to shop from anywhere at any time, which
will automatically lead to enhancing the customers loyalty and increase the customers base. In
addition to this the company can also create effective secure platform for customers where they
can directly interact with the company's and share their experience and also can directly
interact with other customers (Perkin and Abraham, 2021).
Reference
Books & Journal
Backaler, J. and Shankman, P., 2018. Digital influence. Macmillan.
Bao, Z. and Zhu, Y., 2021. Why customers have the intention to reuse food delivery
apps: evidence from China. British Food Journal.
Buchanan, D.A. and McCalman, J., 2018. High performance work systems: The
digital experience. Routledge.
Choi, H. and Kandampully, J., 2019. The effect of atmosphere on customer
engagement in upscale hotels: An application of SOR paradigm. International
Journal of Hospitality Management, 77, pp.40-50.
Forman, J., 2020. Storytelling in business. Stanford University Press.
Huesig, S. and Endres, H., 2019. Exploring the digital innovation process: The role of
functionality for the adoption of innovation management software by innovation
managers. European Journal of Innovation Management.
Imamov, M.M., 2018. Digital threats in the transition of the Russian economy to the
innovative path of development. Journal of Advanced Research in Law and
Economics (JARLE), 9(38), pp.2593-2602.
Lombardi, R., 2019. Knowledge transfer and organizational performance and
business process: past, present and future researches. Business Process
Management Journal.
Madon, S. and Krishna, S. eds., 2018. The digital challenge: Information technology
in the development context. Routledge.
Nagel, L., 2020. The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the digital
transformation of work. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy.
Perkin, N. and Abraham, P., 2021. Building the agile business through digital
transformation. Kogan Page Publishers.
Vilkaite-Vaitone, N. and Sologubas, S., 2019. Strategic Planning of Marketing
Communications in the Digital Age: An Empirical Study of Small and Medium
Freight Transport Companies. Journal of Business Administration
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Research, 2(4).
Online
What Is Digital Business, 2021 [Online] Available through; https://www.simplilearn.com/digital-
business-article
How The Body Shop Manages Its Online-To-Offline Marketing, 2018 [Online] Available through;
https://geomarketing.com/how-the-body-shop-manages-its-online-to-offline-marketing
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Record of Activity
In this section, you have to
provide a breakdown of all the
activities undertaken by you.
Indicate what was done at various
points in time. Think about
different sections of the report,
breakdown different task within
each of the sections.
Complete the table below, include
more rows and columns as
necessary
Date Hours
spent
Summary of work/ Activity undertaken
01/09/21 2 Introduction about the Digital business management
01/09/21 4 Research about the company's online presence on different online
channels
01/09/21 2 Analysis of various CRM strategies of the company
01/09/21 1 Recommendation
Print name
Signed
Date
* Note: Guidance text is provided in RED under each heading.
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