Consumer Behavior and Marketing Psychology: The Body Shop Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of The Body Shop's marketing strategies, focusing on consumer behavior and marketing psychology. It begins with an executive summary and an overview of The Body Shop's shower gel, examining its market performance and the company's commitment to ethical and sustainable practices. The report then critically evaluates the company's current marketing communication mix, considering how it targets consumers' attitudes, group influences, culture, social class, consumer learning processes, and personal buying decision-making processes. It assesses the alignment of the communication mix with findings from previous assessments, highlighting both strengths and areas for improvement. The analysis includes the impact of The Body Shop's campaigns, product positioning, and use of social media. Finally, the report offers strategic recommendations for enhancing the company's marketing efforts, including suggestions for direct marketing, expanding the target market, and strengthening consumer relationships, all aimed at achieving market leadership in the natural beauty product industry.

Running head: Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Psychology
Consumer Behavior and Marketing Psychology

Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Psychology 1
Executive Summary
This report summarizes the marketing issues confronted by The Body Shop for promoting its
shower gel.It would reveal the various marketing communication strategies adopted by the
company for targeting the attitudes of its consumers, group influences, culture, learning
processes of consumers, personal buying decision making processes and the impact of social
class. Lastly, it would also recommend various marketing strategies like conducting charity
and social responsibility campaigns, adoption of direct marketing tools and targeting the male
consumers along with the females for expansion of its market so that the company can attain
leadership in the retail natural beauty product industry.

Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Psychology 2
Contents
Introduction to The Body Shop.............................................................................................................3
Introduction to The Body Shop gel........................................................................................................3
Examination of the company’s current marketing communication mix by considering how it targets
consumers’ attitudes, group influences, culture, social class, consumer learning processes, and
personal buying decision-making processes..........................................................................................3
Critical analysis of whether or not the communication mix demonstrates a strong alignment to your
findings in assessment 1 and 2...............................................................................................................5
Three strategic recommendations that either address previously identified misalignment OR proposed
ways in which identified alignment can be strengthened.......................................................................6
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................7
References.............................................................................................................................................8

Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Psychology 3
Introduction to The Body Shop
The Body Shop International Limited also known as The Body Shop, is a cosmetic, perfume
and skincare company founded in the year 1976 in Brighton, UK. Its founder is Dame Anita
Roddick.Currently, it is owned by a Brazilian company, Natura Cosmetics which bought it
for £880 million in the year 2017(The Body Shop, 2019).
Introduction to The Body Shop gel
The Body Shop shower gel is a bath product of The Body Shop. The Body Shop shower gel
is sold in the form of Morning shower gel, Strawberry shower gel, British Rose shower, etc.
The company believes in manufacturing cruelty-free products, so sustainable and fresh
ingredients are used while making the products. It has found alternative technologies to test
on animals.This mission and vision statements of The Body Shop have led to its popularity
amongst women (Fuentes and Fredriksson,2016). The market performance of its shower gels
is extremely well and the probabilities of its growth are also very high. As per consumer
research, around 64% of the loyal customers would like to pay more for the ethical body
shower gels manufactured by The Body Shop. Also, the company saw a 6% increase in the
sales of its body shower gels in 2018 in the US and 7% increase in the UK (Vegconomist,
2019).
Examination of the company’s current marketing communication mix by considering
how it targets consumers’ attitudes, group influences, culture, social class, consumer
learning processes, and personal buying decision-making processes
The company promotes its products on the basis of various established criteria like targeted
consumers, demographic segmentation and positioning for addressing attitudes, group
influences, social class, culture, learning processes and personal buying decision making
criteria. The brand has communicated itself strategically in the market by forwarding the
environmental considerations and campaigning against animal tested products. It is amongst
the rare companies which promotes health instead of glamor. It is a very unique marketing
communication strategy for the company.It also uses all the organic and natural ingredients
such as sugarcane, seaweed, aloe vera, tea tree and honey in products so that it can attract
target consumers , mostly women for purchasing its products (Pudaruth, Juwaheer and
Seewoo,2015).

Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Psychology 4
In this way it targets consumer’s attitudes through promoting its customized products meant
for different occupation and age groups of women. In the context of group influences and
social class, its marketing communication strategy is to provide a wider range of products
with affordable prices for high and middle high-income groups. Its products have a
compelling, ethical and natural message behind its product branding. It is how the company
differentiates itself from other beauty brands. It influences the groups by creating a stimulus
effect through its refreshing fragrance, touch and sight. The brand also impacts the culture by
its effective marketing and advertising strategies.
To show the impact of each pound spent by the consumers on the products of The Body
Shop, they are shown one square meter of faux grass on the checkpoint of every store for
helping the customers to envision in what way they are assisting to build. The brand makes
effective publicity of its corporate social responsibility to position itself as a green company.
It also claims to use organic and natural components in its products. The company is for
impacting the consumer learning processes through its ‘Enrich and Not Exploit’ campaign
(Shabib and Ganguli, 2017).
Its mission and vision statements aim to empower people, product and planet. It intends to
work with suppliers and farmers and firmly opposes animal testing. It also uses multilevel
marketing channel known as "The Body Shop at home" having distributors and marketers
hiring people for selling and marketing its products in countries like Australia, South Korea
and France, etc. Its products are 100% organic having a refreshing fragrance which helps to
create an enchanting experience for its consumers in affordable prices. It therefore strongly
impacts the consumer learning processes .
To impact personal buying decision-making processes of consumers, the promotional
communication strategy of the company is to market itself through social media and in-store
content. It is advertising its products on Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat (Loureiro and
Gomes,2016). Since its target market is women aged between 20-55 years, so it has launched
a campaign by the name of ‘Forever against animal testing ‘ which is running consistently for
two years till the end of 2019. It has also teamed up with Maisie Williams ' Games of
Thrones ‘star along with various other social media influencers for affecting the personal
decision-making process of its consumers.

Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Psychology 5
Critical analysis of whether or not the communication mix demonstrates a strong
alignment to your findings in assessment 1 and 2
The findings in assessment 1 and assessment 2 are strongly aligned with the communication
mix stated in this report. The report reveals that motivation has a strong influence on
consumer behavior. Since the company has employed marketing campaigns targeted towards
oppositions of animal testing products and implementation of natural and organic
components in its products, so the consumers are motivated to buy those due to their aesthetic
value and affordable prices. Digital media approaches are also employed for motivating and
influencing the consumers to buy body shop shower gel (Fauzi and Hashim, 2015).
Furthermore, the perception of consumers regarding the body shop shower gel is made
positive through advertising the goodness of the natural and organic ingredients of the shower
gel like honey, tea tree, sugarcane, seaweed and aloe vera. The company also claims that the
prices of its products are in an affordable range since it is not a one-time buy product.
However, it should lay more emphasis on sales promotions techniques for influencing more
consumers including males to buy its shower gels.
The company has also promoted itself through ‘Forever against animal testing ‘ campaign
with Maisie Williams, the Games of Thrones actress and other social media influencers. It
has also launched its ‘Enrich and Not Exploit' campaign which focuses on cruelty free
products . In this way, it has influenced the attitudes of consumers. It should also focus on
prompt consumer services and fast resolution of the grievances of its consumers. The
communication mix should also focus on publicizing the stimulus effect of its products along
with the promotion of its cruelty-free goods( Luceri et al.,2014).
The lifestyle factor is an essential element of the purchasing pattern of the consumers. So, the
company should focus on targeting the middle-income families in its promotional campaign.
It should also consider the price and quality of the shower gels as all the family members get
affected by each other (Twigg and Majima, 2014). The company hasn't considered
manufacturing a family pack of shower gels for its group consumers. Moreover, the
individual's purchase shower gels due to loyalty and families purchase it due to its value for
money. The company has not come up with the promotional schemes for targeting these
needs and requirements of its individual and group consumers (Bhardwaj et al.,2019).

Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Psychology 6
However, the company has been advertising itself through social media like Pinterest, Snap
chat and Instagram to target the women aged between 20-55 years (Woo and Ramkumar,
2018). Its mission and vision statements are directed towards empowering products, people
and planet. It has also used its multilevel marketing channels ‘The Body Shop at home’. Its
distributors and consultants hire people for marketing all its products including the shower
gels in Australia, France and South Korea. It also displays one square meter of faux grass at
each of its store for showing the consumers how they are contributing towards building a
sustainable future for this planet. In this context, the company has implemented an effective
strategy to publicize its corporate social responsibility to represent itself as a green company
and attract its consumers( Sippel, 2015).
Three strategic recommendations that either address previously identified misalignment
OR proposed ways in which identified alignment can be strengthened
It is been recommended that the company can provide professional service to the consumers
based on its superior quality products and training to its employees. It should maintain a
stable relationship with its workers for fulfilling efficient work performance in the context of
consumer service. It should continue to maintain its brand image by depicting its core
principles of business. It should also aim to expand its operations in the next three years in
different parts of the world (Tambo, Almeer and Alshamrani,2016). The aim of The Body
Shop should be to accomplish market leadership in the retail natural beauty and personal care
industry.
Dwivedi, Kapoor and Chen ( 2015)suggest that direct marketing is the most crucial tool for
communicating with the consumers on various levels as sales force is capable of
communicating and responding with the consumers face to face. This would help the
company to create a consumer-friendly environment. The samples of the newly introduced or
essential range of products should be displayed at every store of the company. The
promotional events in the context of public relations should be communicated by the sale of
charitable badges and social accountability campaigns at consistent intervals at various store
locations (Smithers, 2019). Furthermore, the company should provide loyalty points and
discount schemes to its consumers to motivate them for regularly buying its products.

Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Psychology 7
Conclusion
Hence it can be stated that The Body Shop should assess the problems and results of its
competitive advantage by examining its performance through sales. To create better public
relations with its consumers, The Body Shop should design and sale charitable badges for
making its consumers aware about its range of eco-friendly products with no animal cruelty.
This would attract more individuals and groups for purchasing its natural and organic
products. In this way, it can accomplish market leadership in the retail natural beauty and
personal care industry.

Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Psychology 8
References
Bhardwaj, S., Parashar, S., Verma, K., Arora, R. and Chhikara, B.S.( 2019) Evaluation of
awareness about beauty products composition and proper utilization among college
students. Integrated Journal of Social Sciences. 6(2), pp.57-64.
Dwivedi, Y.K., Kapoor, K.K. and Chen, H.( 2015) Social media marketing and
advertising. The Marketing Review, 15(3), pp.289-309.
Fauzi, N.F.S.N. and Hashim, R.A.( 2015) Generation X and Purchase Intention Toward
Green Cosmetic and Skin Care Products. OUM International Journal of Business and
Management. 1(2), pp. 79-92.
Fuentes, C. and Fredriksson, C.(2016) Sustainability service in-store: Service work and the
promotion of sustainable consumption. International Journal of Retail & Distribution
Management. 44(5), pp.492-507.
Loureiro, S.M.C. and Gomes, D.G.( 2016) Relationship between companies and the public on
Facebook: The Portuguese and the Brazilian context. Journal of Promotion Management.
22(5), pp.705-718.
Luceri, B., Latusi, S., Tania Vergura, D. and Lugli, G.( 2014) The impact of store flyers on
store performance: a format and customer related approach. International Journal of Retail &
Distribution Management. 42(3), pp.219-234.
Pudaruth, S., Juwaheer, T.D. and Seewoo, Y.D.(2015) Gender-based differences in
understanding the purchasing patterns of eco-friendly cosmetics and beauty care products in
Mauritius: a study of female customers. Social Responsibility Journal. 11(1), pp.179-198.
Shabib, F. and Ganguli, S.( 2017) Impact of CSR on consumer behavior of Bahraini women
in the cosmetics industry. World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable
Development. 13(3), pp.174-203.
Sippel, H.( 2015) Beauty and benevolence: A history of the cosmetics industry’s
globalization through philanthropy. Perspectives on Global Development and
Technology. 14(1-2), pp.227-237.

Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Psychology 9
Smithers, R.(2019) Body Shop gets greener with refillable shower gel and activism zone
[Online]. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/sep/17/the-body-shop-
goes-green-again-with-refill-stations-and-activist-zones [Accessed 26th September, 2019]
Tambo, E., Almeer, H. and Alshamrani, Y. ( 2016) Health and Beauty Cosmeceuticals
Industry and Market Expansion in Saudi Arabia. Pharmaceut Reg Affairs. 5(172), p.2.
The Body Shop(2019) About Us [Online]. Available from: https://www.thebodyshop.com/en-
gb/about-us [Accessed 26th September, 2019]
Twigg, J. and Majima, S.(2014) Consumption and the constitution of age: Expenditure
patterns on clothing, hair and cosmetics among post-war ‘baby boomers’. Journal of Aging
Studies. 30, pp.23-32.
Vegconomist (2019) The Body Shop Sold 1 Vegan Product Every Second in 2018 [Online].
Available from: https://vegconomist.com/fashion-und-beauty/the-body-shop-sold-1-vegan-
product-every-second-in-2018/ [Accessed 26th September, 2019]
Woo, H. and Ramkumar, B.( 2018) Who seeks a surprise box? Predictors of consumers’ use
of fashion and beauty subscription-based online services (SOS). Journal of Retailing and
Consumer Services. 41(2018), pp.121-130.