The Body Shop: Marketing Strategy and Competitive Analysis Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of The Body Shop's marketing strategy. It begins with an overview of the brand, its history, and its core values, followed by an environmental analysis using PESTEL and SWOT frameworks. The report evaluates the existing marketing strategies, including the brand's positioning as a natural and ethical brand, and analyzes its competitive edge against key competitors like Weleda and Lush. Furthermore, the report justifies the launch of a new product, the Tea Tree Face Moderator, detailing its product anatomy, STP (Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning), and marketing objectives. It concludes with a discussion of the marketing strategies for the new product, emphasizing the importance of innovation and ethical practices in the competitive cosmetics market. The report highlights the significance of marketing strategy for business success, particularly in the context of globalization and increasing consumer awareness.

MARKETING STRATEGY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
For every firm whether small, medium and large, innovation is the key to success and
is considered as the most critical phase as well. Innovation is accompanied with high level of
risk related to failure of the product being innovated. Here comes the role of marketing and
its relative strategies. The marketing plan of any organization encompasses numerous facets
like product strategy, situation analysis, positioning, promotion strategy, target market,
marketing strategy and many more. Consequently, the main focus of current research is also
on the nature of marketing strategy and its relative significance for The Body Shop. It deals
in naturally inspired ethical produced beauty as well as cosmetics products, which is targeted
on different females and males of higher income groups. The current research study has
successfully analysed different models and methods that has supported the marketing process
of the Body Shop and has also evaluated various existing issues related to marketing in
strategic context
While carrying out research, it was accumulated that marketing strategy as well as
marketing plan for launching a new product i.e. Tea Tree Face moderator is quite complex
process but once it has been developed and monitored properly, the firm can acquire
anticipated results.

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................1
TASK – 1.................................................................................................................................................1
Overview of the brand The Body Shop...............................................................................................1
Environmental analysis of The Body Shop.........................................................................................2
Evaluation of existing marketing strategy of The Body Shop.............................................................4
Analysis of competitive edge of The Body Shop with comparison to the main competitive brands in
the market............................................................................................................................................4
Brand effectiveness of The Body Shop...............................................................................................5
TASK – 2.................................................................................................................................................5
Justification for launching a new product............................................................................................5
Tea Tree Face moderator ’s poduct anatomy.......................................................................................6
STP (Segmentation, targeting and positioning)...................................................................................6
Marketing objectives and goals...........................................................................................................7
Tea Tree Face moderator – Marketing strategies...............................................................................8
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Due to increasing pace of implementation of free trade as well as globalization,
organizations are stepping out from their domestic market to avail greater opportunities. They
are making an effort to enter into a novel market with strong back up of effective marketing
plan in place, as it is being regarded as a vital base for achieving growth and desired
objectives (Doyle and Stern, 2006). Consequently, the main focus of current research is also
on the nature of marketing strategy and its relative significance for a specified company. The
writing will analyse the drivers as well as elements that impacts the choice of marketing
strategies. Concerning this, The Body Shop is being taken as a case company for undertaking
research. It was founded in the year 1976 by Dame Anita Roddick in the United Kingdom.
The company deals in naturally inspired ethical produced beauty as well as cosmetics
products, which is targeted on different females and males of higher income groups (The
Body Shop, 2018). Thus, the present research study will focus on different models and
methods that has supported the marketing process of the firm and will analyse various current
issues related to marketing in strategic context.
TASK – 1
Overview of the brand The Body Shop
Focusing in regards with The Body Shop, is the leading cosmetic manufactures all
over the world. Right from its inception, the firm was successful enough in maintaining
incredible level of customer satisfaction which was only because of the continuous
improvement in the brand. Since it was established in the year 1976, they have continued to
grow rapidly to an extent that presently they have more than 2500 stores in almost 61 nations
of the world. Furthermore, the firm carry out their operations in 25 different languages as
well as 12 time zones (Assenmacher, 2012). The brand is recognized and quite popular at the
international level having a product range of over 1200 products typically including
fragrances, body butter, gifts, accessories, make-up products, creams, moisturisers, body
wash and many more. In addition to this, The Body Shop was also able to develop sustainable
business relationship with different communities all throughout the world by satisfying the
demands for the accessories, gifts and ingredients in a fair method. The core values of the
organization is that they believe that business possesses an ability to make appropriate
difference to the world which obliges to lead the world by examples so as to influence others.
The success of the brand at the global level can be related to the fact that the company
has been created to become a truly marketing oriented organization all throughout its history
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that bounces back to around 3 decades ago. Dame Anita Roddick, disregarded the role of
marketing in business during its initials years of business and focused mainly on the concept
of environmentally and socially responsible business (Lamb and Hair, 2008). However, in the
late 1990’s there has been dramatic change in the marketing strategy of the firm due to
decreasing sales and share prices of the company. After that decline, The Body Shop was
compelled to adopt new approaches to marketing to an extent that they can developed a truly
marketing oriented firm.
Environmental analysis of The Body Shop
Environmental analysis is being referred as a process that helps in analysing the
macro as well as micro factors of the firm wherein they perform their business operations.
The evaluation of the macro as well as micro environmental analysis of The Body Shop is
being done below:
PESTEL analysis of The Body Shop
Political – The political factors has direct and in-direct impact on the activities of the
organization. Verdicts undertaken by the United Kingdom’s government may
influence the business of the firm. The cosmetic industry in UK involves Cosmetics
regulations 1223/2009, which is very essential as it comprise all the law that needs to
be adhered by every firm dealing in this industry like safety measures, animal testing,
free movement of products, restriction of specified substances or ingredient etc. The
Body Shop source Brazil nut oil from Peru and their unstable political condition will
affect the functioning of the firm (Blythe and Megicks, 2010).
Economic – Economic factors are those factors that affect the purchasing power of the
patrons. The rising demand of the product in the market will increase the profitability
of the firm and vice-versa. Thus this element encompasses the rate of unemployment,
inflation, interest rate, economic growth rate, income level and many more. It has
been witnessed that there is high rate of unemployment in UK in the year 2009 and
because of this, the purchasing power of people will decrease mainly for luxury
products. Further, there has been decrease in the interest rates in the nation and this
will help the franchising policy of The Body Shop as a growth strategy.
Social – The people of UK are now quite aware regarding the fair trade practices,
animal testing and natural products. Even the male population are concerned about
their appearance. Pertaining to this, the firm has to develop such products that
significantly meet out the demand and expectations of these customers (Berndit and
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Brink, 2004). Additionally, the ageing population in United Kingdom is also willing
to spend more money on premium products that claims anti-ageing. The internet
buyers have increased, as 65 percent of the British Household have internet facility at
home.
Technological – The market of UK occupies third position in the areas of e-commerce
market all throughout the world. Near about thirteen percent of the sales of cosmetic
industry is generated via online means and this is adding benefits to the organization.
Further, there has been increased use of toxic chemicals such as Kojic acid which
decreases the melanin count in the skin and harm it too.
SWOT analysis of The Body Shop
Strength
 The Body Shop brand has high level of loyalty
 Occupies the position of leader in terms of animal protection
 Keep innovating their products with special natural ingredients
 Wide spread e-commerce activities of the firm is its major strength
 They offer discounts as well as bundle priced offers to customers
(Kossowski, 2007)
Weakness
 The Body Shop has small number of stores in the market of United
Kingdom
 They spent very little in advertising
 Many products of the firm are at the declining stage
 There is lack of product awareness due to less marketing activities
Opportunities
 Increasing the number of online buyers
 Rising the awareness of eco-friendly and organic product
 Ban in regards with animal testing will support the firm in
attracting more customers (Mennen, 2011)
Threats
 Risk related to the material supply
 There is high level of competition in the cosmetic market of UK
 The shrinkage of the finance will impact the willingness of the
people to purchase products
 L’Oreal is considered to be unethical and this can alter the
perception of people regarding The Body Shop
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Evaluation of existing marketing strategy of The Body Shop
Talking in reference with the current marketing strategy of The Body Shop, it bases
its image of being natural as well as earthy brand to promote themselves in the market.
Pertaining to this, the brand message also carries the same information. Most of the
marketing of the company is being carried out online because the firm is of the view that
most of the people who have concerned over the environment does not utilize newspaper.
Furthermore, the body Shop makes use of different strategies to appeal to the patrons (Marsh,
2001). They are standing against animal testing and favours fair trade practices and
communities’ trade shows passion. Thus, the main mission of the firm is to activate self-
esteem and protect the environment as well as human rights and to bring out the organization
as a responsible brand in front of the customers.
There are numerous products being offered by The Body Shop such as face care,
accessories, face cream, body butter, hair and body, fragrances and shaving. Further, annual
research is conducted by the company in regards with the relations amid market as well as
product demand. Speaking about the prices of the organization’s products, it is relatively
high, as there is great differentiation and secondly, because of the environmental friendly and
ethical nature of the branding. The big packages of products are quite highly priced and thus,
they have targeted high income groups. The products of women are being advertised by
making use of flyers and varied channels (Haywood, 2001). On the other hand, products of
men are advertised on google ads and other promotional sites.
Analysis of competitive edge of The Body Shop with comparison to the main competitive
brands in the market
Speaking in volume about The Body Shop, it has always been a brand that creates a
difference. There are many marketers who considers the company as a marketing icon. The
firm was successful enough in developing this brand image without using conventional
branding. They are quite different and unique form other cosmetic brands, as its brand values
are different. The organization is also very nature and eco-friendly and desires to spread this
idea all throughout the world. In addition to this, they also follows these values and makes
use of natural ingredients and avoid animal testing. This is the unique selling preposition
(USP) of The Body Shop and a major source of competitive advantage for the firm (Hooley,
Saunders and Piercy, 2003).
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When the company initiated their business, it was the only ethical brand in the market.
Their main aim is to make improvement in the life of people by manufacturing environmental
friendly as well as natural products. Moreover, due to the strong promotion of the corporate
social responsibility by seeking help from different campaigns, the brand positioning of the
company has been strengthen as an internationally green company. Weleda, Lush, Rocher,
L’Occitane and Yves are the major competitor of The Body Shop (TBS). These companies
are also paying attention on natural ingredients. Even Maybelline is a not a noticeable
competitor of the company, it has also started positioning itself against animal testing and
giving threats to TBS (Body Shop beats High Street blues, 2005).
Brand effectiveness of The Body Shop
The business of The Body Shop is built on the principles of giving back to the
communities. The successful business of the firm has been pioneering in force for good and
positive change within the community. The firm invested lot of money in the CSR activities
soon after the death of Anita Roddick’s. The success and growth of the company’s brand has
always been given to its unique business model. They have mainly paid attention on public
relations and word of mouth as a means to make more sales then residing on advertising like
its competitors such as Weleda, Lush, Rocher, L’Occitane etc. The Body Shop’s annual
revenue is about 1.1 billion dollar which is quite high from the sales of Lush i.e. 550 million
dollar (Dennis, Neck and Goldsby, 2008).
TASK – 2
Justification for launching a new product
For every firm whether small, medium and large, innovation is the key to success and
is considered as the most critical phase as well. Innovation is accompanied with high level of
risk related to failure of the product being innovated. Market all over the world is composed
for different taste and preferences of the people and consequently, in this altering needs of the
customers, it becomes essential for The Body Shop to launch such product in the market that
satisfy the targeted segments of the market. For this purpose, market research, innovation and
development is being done for creating an effective product that satisfies the desires of the
people. Due to improvement in the technology, more and more cosmetics company are
appearing in the market and causing keen competition (Mintel, 2004). Further, it was
revealed from the research that make up market for men is expanding tremendously in UK
and more men are now focused on their appearance for various perspective. Considering this,
The Body Shop wants to launch new product known as “Tea Tree Face moderator” for Men.
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Tea Tree Face moderator’s product anatomy
Speaking in volume in regards with the anatomy of the product the Tea Tree Face
moderator, it is nothing but a process of analysis of the product according to its various
benefits. The product offers many benefits based on the buyers such as core product,
augmented product and actual product. The Body Shop is launching a new Tea Tree Face
moderator for men in the market of UK and thus, the core product is the fundamental benefit
that men will look in the product and make purchase decision. For example, the face
moderator will reduce the appearance of defects and make men look flawless. The second
level is the actual product wherein the benefits of the products are being translated into
products that will be purchased by customers. It simply comprises features, branding,
packaging, level of quality and styling that encourages people to make purchase of such
products (Nicholls, 2002). Tea Tree Face moderator of Body Shop is styled in a good looking
sleek and handy portable stick to attract the customers. Furthermore, the last level of the
product is augmented benefit that encompasses added benefits being attached with the
product that is intangible in nature. It is concerned with the after sales service like free or
cheap delivery, helplines etc. The Body Shop have helpline numbers on which the customers
can contact and give their feedback.
STP (Segmentation, targeting and positioning)
Segmentation
According to the views of Kotler, segmentation of the market is a process of dividing
a market into different sub-sections that can be easily determined. The marketers can target
any one or two segments by utilizing a specified marketing mix. Segmentation is considered
as the crucial factor in marketing strategy. A firm’s failure in respect of market segmentation
can bring appalling effect. There are five sets of variables on the basis of which the market
can be categorized such as behavioural, demographic, psychographic, geo-demographic and
geographic segmentation. The Body Shop has segmented their new product i.e. “Tree Tea
Face moderator” on the basis of demographic segmentation which comprises income, age,
occupation, education and gender (Smith, 2006). They are targeting upper middle class and
upper class men belonging to high income group.
Target market
Targeting a particular market refers to the process through which groups possessing
similar needs are segmented. In other words, it is an important procedure to make decisions
regarding the segment to be targeted. The Body Shop will target men falling in the age group
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of 25-50 years both professional as well as non-professionals. All these groups are willing to
spend extra money on skin care products (Fitch and Knobel, 1990).
Market positioning
Market positioning is the final level of the whole process. At this level, the
organization makes decision regarding the techniques that could be adopted for positioning
the new product in the market. The firm identifies their Unique Selling Prepositions and
creates a positioning map so as to understand each and every segment. The customer of The
Body Shop belongs to higher income group, it is regarded as a high end brand. There is a
need to position their product by features of the products, values as well as beliefs. The
company can use campaigns with celebrities that significantly highlight the benefits of the
face moderator like it helps in reducing the appearance of defects, balance the oily skin and
protect the environmental aggressors (Kotler and Armstrong, 2013).
Marketing objectives and goals
Setting and deciding marketing objectives as well as goals is quite vital for every
firm, as it helps in providing direction and leads the firm to the path of success and glory. But
at the same time, it is also very important to notice that marketing objectives should be
SMART and they must be achievable, relevant and time bound. Thus, it can be said that
marketing objectives which works effectively are acknowledged as SMART objectives. The
marketing objectives of The Body Shop’s new product launch can be categorized into two
parts i.e. short term as well as long-term marketing objectives. Focusing in relation with the
short term goals, the Tea Tree Face moderator needs to be more popular and thus, the
marketing objectives should be to enhance the promotion of the product in such a manner that
it achieves an increased sales of 5 to 10 percent in 6 months. Furthermore, the long term
objective of the company is to develop a new product for men (Ojiambo, 2004). This pertains
to the fact that, in UK more and more men are now concerned about their appearance for
various perspectives and thus, the organization has innovated a new product known as Tea
Tree Face moderator that will pay attention on men and will help in reducing their
appearance of defects. In addition to this, the firm also wants to sale 10000 face moderator
within 6 months and maximize the profit. For this, the company will have questionnaire in
future which will include the feedback of the customers regarding the expectation of the price
of the product, needs and demands of the customers etc. Thus, by summing up all the short
term as well as long term objectives of The Body Shop, below are the objectives for Tea Tree
Face moderator :
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To augment the sale of the new product by 5 to 10 percent in next 6 months
To produce 300 leads through websites twice in a month
To sale 10000 face moderator in six months (Welford and Gouldson, 2003)
To increase the market share by 8 percent and awareness of the product over the next
12 months
Tea Tree Face moderator – Marketing strategies
Marketing strategies can be developed based on the segmentation as well as target
market. After determining the market to be targeted, the next stage is developing as well as
implementing appropriate marketing mix.
Marketing mix
Soon after the process of deciding the market to be targeted is over, it is necessary to
develop a marketing mix. This strategy will help The Body Shop in accomplishing the
position and perception in the intellects of the customers. It will also help in making the
product of the firm attractive to the targeted group. It is required to have right mixture of
place, price, product and promotion elements. Furthermore, the main aim of the marketing
mix should be to present such image of the product that significantly matches the way
organization desires to present an image for their new product in the mind of their patrons
(Cravens and Piercy, 2008). Following is the marketing mix of Tea Tree Face moderator
being launched by The Body Shop:
Product – Throwing light in relation with the products, it is being defined as a things
that helps in developing an image of the firm in the intellects of people. The Body
Shop has taken a decision to introduce a Tea Tree Face moderator for men in the UK
market. The face moderator will help in reducing the appearance of defects. The tea
tree oil present in the face moderator will help in cleaning and moderately sebum in
the skin surface. The product will hydrate the skin and at the same time makes it
softens to.
Price – Price of the product is being decided when the market demand and cost of
producing a process meet together and determine the profits level. For this new
product, the company takes the decision to follow market penetration pricing strategy.
Since, this product is new to the market so for the first time the company will charge
relatively low price for the product and when the customer will become used to they
can charge higher prices (McNair, 2008).
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Place – The Body Shop has its operation in around 61 nations and every market has
different needs. The Tea Tree face moderator is being launched for the UK market.
The product will be made able on special counters in shops. Sales person will be
appointed for promoting the product benefits to the general public. In addition to this,
it will be able in different outlets, shopping sites etc.
Promotion – For the purpose of promoting Tea Tree Face moderator, The Body Shop
will make use of advertisement strategy. For this purpose, various social media sites
such as Facebook, Google and Twitter will be used. In addition to this, sample will be
given to the Facebook fans of the page in order to promote the product. Other than
this, video promotional campaign technique will be used by the firm (Jobber, 2001).
The users of the product will require to make their video about sharing their
experience after using the product.
CONCLUSION
Subsequently, it can be articulated from the above writing that marketing strategy is
quite vital for making the manufactured products reach its right end users. It is also necessary
for achieving the success in set objectives. In addition to this, it has been evaluated in the
current research study that marketing strategy as well as marketing plan for launching a new
product i.e. Tea Tree Face moderator is quite complex process but once it has been developed
and monitored properly, the firm can acquire anticipated results.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
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Sustainability. London: GRIN Verlag,
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Blythe, J. and Megicks, P., 2010. Marketing planning: strategy, environment and context.
Financial Times.
Cravens, D. and Piercy, N.F., 2008. Strategic marketing. McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Dennis, B., Neck, C.P. and Goldsby, M., 2008. Body Shop International: an exploration of
corporate social responsibility. Management Decision, 36(10), pp.649-53.
Doyle, P. and Stern, P., 2006. Marketing Management and Strategy. England: Financial
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Fitch, R. and Knobel, L., 1990. Fitch on Retail Design. London: Phaidon.
Haywood, R., 2001. All About Public Relations: How to Build Business Success on Good
Communications. 2nded. UK: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
Hooley, G.J., Saunders, J.A. and Piercy, N.F., 2003. Marketing Strategy and Competitive
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Jobber, D., 2001. Principles & Practice of Marketing. 3rded. London UK: McGraw-Hill,
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Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G., 2013. Principles of Marketing. 15thed. Pearson.
Lamb, C. and Hair, J.C.M., 2008. The essentials of marketing. 6thed. Canada: Nelson
education.
Marsh, H., 2001. Has the Body Shop lost its direction for good? London: Haymarket
Business Publications Ltd.
McNair, L.C., 2008. Management Accounting Business Strategy. UK: CIMA.
Mennen, M., 2011. The Body Shop: Strategic Business Management. GRIN Verlag.
Mintel, 2004. Health and Beauty Retailing UK. London: Mintel International Group Limited.
Nicholls, A.J., 2002. Strategic options in fair trade retailing. International Journal of Retail
& Distribution Management, 30(1), pp.6-17.
Ojiambo, J.B., 2004. Application of marketing principles and techniques to libraries and
information centres. Library Review, 43(2), pp.46-51.
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Smith, N., 2006. The production of nature. London: Routledge.
Welford, R. And Gouldson, A., 2003. Environmental Management & Business Strategy.
Glasgow: Pitman Publishing.
Online references
Body Shop beats High Street blues. 2005. [Online]. Available through:
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4493103.stm>.
The Body Shop. 2018. [Online]. Available through: < https://www.thebodyshop.in/ >.
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