7MARK020W: Strategic Marketing Management of Lush Cosmetics - Report

This report analyzes the marketing strategy of Lush Cosmetics, a company known for its 'no advertising' policy. It delves into the background of the company, its operational functions, and the strategies it employs to maintain its market presence. The report examines Lush's unique approach to brand promotion, including staff empowerment, ethical principles, and influencer marketing, contrasting it with traditional marketing methods. It also explores Lush's decision to withdraw from social media marketing and its impact on brand value and customer engagement. The report assesses the sustainability of Lush's marketing communication strategy, considering its competitors and the operating environment, and provides an evaluation of the marketing plan from July 2010 to June 2011, and offers insights into the company's pricing policies and operational activities. The report highlights the challenges and successes of Lush's unconventional approach to marketing, providing a comprehensive overview of its strategic choices and their impact on the brand.

Running Head: Strategic and Marketing Management 0
Strategic Marketing Management
July 6
2019

Strategic and Marketing Management: 1
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Case study........................................................................................................................................2
Strategy of Lush Cosmetics.............................................................................................................3
Social Network of Lush Cosmetics.................................................................................................4
Brand Value and Identity.................................................................................................................4
Influencer marketing........................................................................................................................5
Operational Activity........................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................8

Strategic and Marketing Management: 2
Introduction
In this report, the study is conducted on the cosmetic and toiletries company Lush. The company
has the policy for not advertising its brand by any source or medium. The research is made upon
the strategies which are followed by them. In this report, the analysis is done on the background
of the company in which their operational functions which they are executing for maintaining
themselves for the existence in the market. This report has included the theories which are
implemented in the company which they are using against their competitors.
Case study
Background of Company: Lush Cosmetics Company was founded in 1997 in Poole, United
Kingdom. It was founded by Liz Weir, Mark Constantine, Mo Constantine, all the three partners
use their talent to develop and grow a company. Mark Constantine is a trichologist, and Liz weir
is a beauty therapist, they met in a beauty salon later on after 5 years they both decided to start a
business of selling natural hair and beauty products. In 2019 company introduced Lush Lab
application in which they provide the learning of machines and about artificial intelligence to
minimize the wastage in the packaging of the products. The company is mainly focused on Bath
bombs, soaps, facemasks, bubble bars, hand or body lotions. (Borges, dos Santos, & de Moraes
Hoefel, 2019).
Structure of Business: The structure of the company is not complex it is privately owned
company with the small number of shares which are also provided on invitation by them only;
Lush is completely based upon partnership which is limited. The company is working on the
policy of no advertising, company not believes in spending money on TV campaigns or
collaborating with celebrities for a brand ambassador. In the Holiday season of 2018, the
company Lush comes in the partnership with Drag-Queen an artist from RuPaul’s drag race, Kim
chi a Korean artist and Shea Coulee to introduce their new products by the photo campaigns.
They promote their products through the staff which is working over there through the strategy
which was entitled as ‘Random Acts of Kindness’ in this strategy they announced the giveaway

Strategic and Marketing Management: 3
of products on the special occasion with the celebration. Their belief is that the cost of the
product which they are selling is completely depending on the costs of the ingredient
Strategy of Lush Cosmetics
Lush cosmetics are working on the policy that they do not want to sell products only but they
want to bring revolution in the industry. On their websites, the about page is not available but
instead of that ‘Our Values’ section is available. They have highlighted 6 policies on which
company is working.
According to the statement of the Brand communication manager Natasha Ritz of Lush
Cosmetics, they do not focus on the advertisement of their products because they use their staff
for promoting their products and they are their customers as well. Basically, the staff of their
company buys the product and the company helps them by the communication department to
understand the message which is to be delivered amongst other people, they pamper their
employees or other staff members (Cvitanović, 2018).
Every staff member of Lush Cosmetics has vast knowledge about the products and they easily
guide the customer about using them and the appropriate product for their hair or face. This
builds trust in customers for the quality of the product. Each product of the company has a
sticker where the information of the person who made the product with the picture is mentioned.
It provides information about the product manufacturing date. This strategy helps customer to
understand that the products of the company are made by a human they are not made by the
machines (Janetos, & Thyparampil, 2019).
Staff Empowerment: Staff of the company plays a key role in the marketing of products; they
are the assets of the company. The members of the staff who are working over there have the
enthusiasm to work with the dedication and about the product of the company. Staff members
keep a smile on their faces while communicating with the customers it impacts a positive attitude
and good image on customers they feel themselves much comfortable. It builds a great
relationship between customer and company. The company suggested the staff that they may
offer samples of the product to the customer for helping them out so that they may try the
product and if they are satisfied with it they can come back and purchase the full-sized version of
a product (Moraes, 2018).

Strategic and Marketing Management: 4
Social Network of Lush Cosmetics
Rather than using social media for promoting the brand like other companies Lush Cosmetics is
communicating people or with the audience directly through phone, email or chat. As it is the
world of the social media where every brand is promoting themselves to with the social websites
and using it as key marketing strategy while the decision was taken by the Lush Cosmetics that
they will not use the social media anymore for their marketing strategy( Kim, & Sullivan, 2019).
Management of the company provides the statement that they are not ready anymore paying for
the newsfeed on social websites as they are tired to fight with the algorithms. The company
committed that they will communicate with the customer and with their required audience
through website, chat, calls or email. Lush is the brand which has a strong history for standing up
in the environmental, social and political issues (Dlodlo, 2019). They believe that the pressure is
increased widely on the mental heal of an individual due to rapid use of social media. Lush
Cosmetics have a huge audience on social media with 569, 000 followers on Instagram and Over
420, 000 likes on Facebook. According to the company they are facing challenges to reach their
audience by the use of social media website. Instagram put their point that there is no issue for
using it as a marketing strategy because many of the big brands are advertising products (Janetos,
& Thyparampil, 2019).
The company made a post on twitter that ‘we are switching up social’, in the post it was
mentioned that they are facing trouble to contact each other by the use of social media. They
describe that they are tired of fighting with the algorithms of social media websites. They will
start to communicate with their own social tools and direct means of communication. According
to Lush, they do not want to limit themselves within one source of communication and
marketing. It was clarified in the post that they will provide customer support for the week later
on if the customer is facing any issue they may contact to their contact number or email address
(Nijhof, Bakker, & Kievit, 2019).
Brand Value and Identity
Lush Cosmetics always follows their ethical principles, they protests against the animal testing
due to which they become well known for their charitable actions as they are using organic
ingredients for the manufacturing of their products. Due to honesty and positivity in their core
values they develop a huge loyal base of fans. Company helps animal protection and

Strategic and Marketing Management: 5
environment protection organization by 100% earning which they obtain from their charity pot.
If the customer is purchasing any product Lush cosmetics than customer has the assurance that it
is the brand which concerned about their customer and environment as well as (Bom, Jorge,
Ribeiro, & Marto, 2019).
Influencer marketing
In past some years YouTube transformed one of most effective marketing channel for the Lush
Cosmetics. Many dignities are supporting Lush cosmetics by mentioning the love and trust for
the company, in one statement Tanya burr and Zoella express their faith for the brand it helps
the company; as a result the company was able to make millions of customer. The power of the
mouth market is unbelievable, also with influence of Zoella and the behavior of the company
their do not have to use other resources for the marketing. Lush is do not have to put any extra
effort in improving or develop the customer fan base.
Operational Activity
From the past 25 years the production team of Lush working together, where the products of the
company are prepared in the resembled farm kitchens. Company is ruling in the market by
introducing the innovative products which are attracting customer significantly. One of the most
effective ideas which is using by the company; they provide the complete knowledge of
products including the procedure to use it. A minimal package of products is using for the
products by the company. All the soaps which are prepared by the company they are wrapped in
the grease paper while the bubble bars had no any packaging; customer can carry out the product
in their bags (Kim, & Sullivan, 2019). To distinguish between the products that either they are
the natural or organic company is using color codes. The prices of the products are totally
depended upon the types of ingredient they used. If the price of the product is compared to other
brands available in the market is lower but it is greater than another localized showroom. Most of
the showroom of Lush cosmetics is situated on the prime location or areas. The company is
focused and particular about the area or location. They always look for the posh area so that the
product of the company is high-end items getting sold. There are multiple channels which are
operated by Lush. By using mail order catalog by cross-selling of product for the existing

Strategic and Marketing Management: 6
customers (Ram, 2019). Lush is not any operating any traditional department they are attracting
their customer by providing services on agenda of ethics. The company also introduces the idea
of providing their customer some product as gift with their purchase
The company is totally against on the process where the products are tested on animals, they also
did not purchase the raw material from the suppliers who not follow the policy of Lush
Cosmetics. The expansion of the company and its products was deliberately however its rate
was slow. It was examined by many researchers that Lush cosmetics overcome from their
competitors which were best established. The trust and loyalty of the customers towards the
company was the major factor behind the successful business (Redmond, 2019). The biggest
challenge which they faced while opening of new branches the reason was related to the lack in
the financial resources.
Lush Marketing Plan for Cosmetics
The marketing plan which was design for Year July 2010 to June 2011 and it helped the
company to grow in a better way. The plan analyzes the situation of the cosmetics which
includes internal and external threats, issues which are related to suppliers, nature of the
customer and main competitor of Lush Cosmetics. At present Lush have more than 600 stores
which are located in 43 countries of the world. The company is also working to launch their
more than 1000 stores in other countries as well. Lush cosmetics has the strategy of multi-
channel apart from the store chain they are also operating the mail order where they sold the
product online. The company introduced a vast range of the products where they provide the
catalog of mail order with respect for cross-selling.
Pricing Policy of Lush Cosmetics: Company is basically producing the products which are
totally organic and Hand made products. Lush has maintained that position in the market that
there are offering products to customers which are made by fresh resources without any use of
the preservatives. Their target audience is mainly women who prefer to use the products which
are natural and fresh. The company focuses also on the packaging cost of the product, in order to
minimize the costing they recycle tubs in which the product was sold it helps the company to
reduce their additional cost. Packaging of the product for any company has a major role in
which product of the cost is dependent; by minimizing it the company can make the product
affordable and pocket-friendly.

Strategic and Marketing Management: 7
Conclusion
The complete case study is conducted upon the Lush cosmetics which includes the introduction
of the company from the beginning of the company they are following the ethical agendas. The
case report holds information about the strategy which is used by the company to promote and
for the selling of the company. As a company is not using any social media sites to promote the
products including this; the company is also not investing in any advertisement for the marketing
of the product. The report is prepared after the analysis of the several research related to the
theories and strategy implemented in the business. In the company, staff empowerment is
implemented where they use their staff members in promoting their business. In the analysis the
success factor of the Lush Cosmetics is described, their staff members are so expert that they
provide complete assistance that How they have to use it and which product will suit them.

Strategic and Marketing Management: 8

Strategic and Marketing Management: 9
References
Borges, A. E., dos Santos, L. F. P., & de Moraes Hoefel, J. L. (2019). Socioenvironmental
Policies in Brazil and England in a Cosmetics Industry—A Comparative Study. In Social
Responsibility and Sustainability (pp. 357-372). Springer, Cham.
Cvitanović, P. L. (2018). Possibilities for socially responsible entrepreneurship at Croatian
natural and organic cosmetics market. EFZG working paper series, (07), 1-14.
Janetos, T. M., & Thyparampil, P. (2019). Ocular Cosmetics: Public Safety Problem or Harmless
Products?. Ophthalmic Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, 35(3), 294-295.
Moraes, C. S. D. S. (2018). Are consumers wiling to adhere to Companies’ Environmentally
Friendly Packaging?: case study on Rituals and Lush Refill Vs Naked Package (Doctoral
dissertation).
Kim, Y. K., & Sullivan, P. (2019). Emotional branding speaks to consumers’ heart: the case of
fashion brands. Fashion and Textiles, 6(1), 2.
Dlodlo, N. (2019, July). CONSUMERS’LOYALTY TOWARDS COSMETICS SOUTH
AFRICAN WEB-STORES: A FEMALE PERSPECTIVE. In 2019 Global Fashion Management
Conference at Paris (pp. 780-789).
van der Laan, A. Z., & Aurisicchio, M. (2019). Archetypical consumer roles in closing the loops
of resource flows for Fast-Moving Consumer Goods. Journal of Cleaner Production.
Bom, S., Jorge, J., Ribeiro, H. M., & Marto, J. (2019). A step forward on sustainability in the
cosmetics industry: A review. Journal of Cleaner Production.
Janetos, T. M., & Thyparampil, P. (2019). Ocular Cosmetics: Public Safety Problem or Harmless
Products?. Ophthalmic Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, 35(3), 294-295.
Nijhof, A., Bakker, M., & Kievit, H. (2019). The role in encroachment of the sustainability
aspects of value propositions. European Journal of Marketing.
Ram, R. (2019). The Lush Prize and Young Researcher Asia Awards 2016. In Alternatives to
Animal Testing (pp. 124-128). Springer, Singapore.

Strategic and Marketing Management: 10
Redmond, C. (2019). When is an alternative not an alternative? Supporting progress for absolute
replacement of animals in science. In Animal Experimentation: Working Towards a Paradigm
Change (pp. 654-672). Brill.