lush differentiation strategy

Lush also runs a number of charitable initiatives including its ten-year-old Charity Pot scheme, where the whole price of the product (minus VAT) is donated to good causes. Lush Company has been able to position itself ahead of its rivals due to its differentiation strategy. This messaging is communicated across all of Lush’s channels from social media to product packaging to window displays. Lush is a global beauty retailer. The policy even extends to Lush’s ecommerce site with customers able to request samples to be included with their orders. Inventors of the bath bomb and home of bath art. Company: Lush Handmade Cosmetics 1. Lush is always working to use as many natural ingredients as possible in its products, to reduce its environmental impact, to reduce packaging (and make it reusable where it is used) and more. Rather than selling an image, LUSH found its niche by selling a viewpoint on how they define beauty. There aren’t many brands that have the customer love and loyalty to have people excited to spend a day with them, but Lush is a special case. This makes Lush something of a hub for customers with the same views. Their products range from cosmetics, skincare, and even baby So for this reason, I follow different brands to observe their strategies and tactics. LUSH. By Sarah Vizard 1 Apr 2014 Again, this can be a major draw for customers who want to make better choices with their buying. http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/457/151534.html, https://www.instagram.com/lushsouthafrica/. Don’t miss the top 50 uses of visual merchandising in retail for top inspiration. The change in approach to packaging detailed on the Lush website was launched by making a statement in-store. Upon researching its top competitor is The Body Shop and Aubrey Organics. Can you say the same? EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this report is to investigate the brand, Lush, as an industry leader and delve into what essentially makes Lush successful, what are the internal strengths and weaknesses , the external opportunities and threats as well as a marketing strategy on how Lush is … Even casual Lush fans get a boost from buying ethically – even if it was the fun that brought them to the brand first. A differentiation strategy is where the product or service is either perceived to be, or is, of superior customer value and has a definite price premium. Brand-conscious, impulsive and brand loyal customers will be viable segments. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. From minimal packaging to protests against animal testing – it has become just as well-known for its charitable endeavours as its use of organic ingredients. It's fast growth is helped by bigger store formats. The programme is now being revamped, but exclusive products are still available to buy from the website. In contrast, Lush stores are a riot of colour and smell. To be able to hold two highly-attended events in one year shows impressive brand power. Community is a huge element of Lush’s strategy, driven in equal parts by its brand fans, or ‘Lushies’ and its ethical stance. As a consequence, the company is addressing various ethical challenges in order to differentiate itself from other brands. It presents Lush as a company that cares – about you and the wider world. On the one hand the company has managed to make buying, and using, relatively dull, essential items like soap and shampoo fun. From product demonstrations, sneak peeks at new items, to live product making and experiential installations, it’s a completely immersive brand experience. Lush’s retail strategy is all about turning the usual cosmetics buying process on its head. Customers are also able to submit requests as to which products they’d like to see made available to buy. The four strategies to choose from are: Cost Leadership Differentiation Cost Focus Some Lush stores take this experiential offering even further with in-store spas offering a series of treatments using Lush products. The stores also help to communicate the freshness of Lush products and ingredients. The differentiation through natural handmade products and socially responsible production sets Lush apart from the competition and encourages the audience to associate with the brand and these positive attributes. Where products are packaged in bottles or pots, they each have a sticker on them showing the face and name of the person who made it, as well as the production and use-by date. Michael Porter uses 4 strategies that an organisation can choose from. Staff don’t need to check these with someone higher up, but are allowed to use their discretion to offer occasional free products to customers who need cheering up, are celebrating a special occasion, who they had a good rapport with and more. When a person is faced with a shelf of products or similar services, … This again emphasises the freshness as customers can see exactly when it was made. …..teacher growth in differentiation is not so much about introducing tiered lessons, independent study alternative forms of assessment – or even moving to multi-text adoption. Lush is a self-proclaimed cosmetics grocer and the experience in-store is an integral part of the brand positioning. Goran's layout adjusts itself depending on the device you are using. The company offers other perks as well, such as paid holiday if your birthday falls on a normal working day. But the experience is better than most retail brands with comparable rates. Lush has adopted an exclusive distribution strategy that is consistent with its high-end positioning and its one-to-one strategy. It also makes for a great shareable moment for online as well, which means customers want to capture it. It shows that fun and interaction sells, and that if you do it right you can charge more for products and still give customers value for money. Lush had developed an evangelical customer base, which included many celebrities. This is how Lush is able to get customers to pay many times more for basic hygiene products, such as up to £9.00 for soap and £6.00 for toothpaste. A focused differentiation strategy requires the business to offer unique features to a product or service, and it must fulfill the requirements of a niche or narrow market. Differentiation is a strategy that has the ability to give business organizations a competitive advantage ahead of their rivals. (Renbarger,2014) Lush’s products are designed to create differentiation on the marketplace, therefore everything is handmade in the Lush Kitchen. Lush takes community to the next level though with its annual Creative Showcase, which invites fans to spend a whole day exploring all things Lush. Vegetarian, vegan and cruelty free cosmetics, handmade by real people fresh from our kitchens straight to your bathroom. Lush also prove that great staff can be motivated by more than money as the company don’t pay much over minimum wage (or the Living Wage in London). Customers like to buy into the brand’s expertise and quality products. In contrast, Lush stores are a riot of colour and smell. Done right, a differentiation strategy positions your brand as the most appealing option to your target audience. It also makes customers more confident in parting with their money as Lush products often cost a lot more than equivalent items. This positioning works very well for Lush as indulging in their products is a pampering, guilt-free and fun experience for customers. Lush Inc. specializes in organic beauty products that range from skincare, hair care, body, shower ,and perfumes. Now, what does this look like in action? When it came to complete mail orders, the company goes as far as using recyclable potato starch to protect breakage during shipping (Storify, 2015) Corporate Social Responsibility is very important to Lush. Producers use the fresh fruits or vegetables to make different shaped products with different color for looking artisanal, which create the differentiation on the market. In addition, Lush does not have to compete based on price as other brands do not offer the same products, experience, benefits or quirky positioning and this allows for a premium pricing structure. Thanks to this strategy Lush has control of its image and its costs. There are two ways a business can use pricing strategy for product differentiation: premium pricing and under-cutting the competition. All Rights Reserved. Here is what makes the company stand out: Through product interaction customers are buying into the theatre that Lush stores promise and falling in love with products. ( Log Out /  These product items are 100% vegetarian and have vegetables and fruits as its main ingredient like coconut, papaya, rosemary oil, avocado butter, vanilla beans and grapefruit juice. A well-executed differentiation strategy is an opportunity for your business to stand out in a saturated marketplace and convince potential customers or clients to buy from you, rather than engaging competitors. The Emotional Brilliance line is composed of a wide selection of liquid lipsticks, cream eyeshadows, and liquid eyeliners. But the innovation and highlights of the products in Lush company are: differentiation, communication, fresh ingredients, environmentally-friendly packing. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Differentiation is a marketing strategy in which your brand identifies the one thing that makes it genuinely different from competitors and then leverages that notion in its branding and messaging to effectively attract ideal customers. Lush always chose strategic location of its shops. What makes Lush different to other retailers and The Body Shop in particular is the in-store and online experience. A point in the brand’s differentiation scale, was the the Naked campaign. The brand shows that you can have a stance and use your brand as a platform, and still be successful. In Lush, there hasn't been much diversification this year, however Lush Cosmetics made a bold step last year into the world of makeup with their Emotional Brilliance line. What makes Lush different is the fresh approach to the way their products are made. For this reason, I couldn’t help but put it on our list of differentiation strategy examples. Face masks are displayed in bowls on ice like a deli counter which customers can dip in and out of to try. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. This can be attributed to the fact that more of Lush’s products are perceived to have health benefits, attracting shoppers who would not normally consider shopping at the brand, particularly as we are seeing a blurring of the separation between beauty and wellbeing. Interaction is the cornerstone of the Lush experience, with the company designing its stores for customers to get stuck in by using all their senses to explore the products. Lush is against animal testing and focuses on sustainability as seen in this Bizcommunity article  as well as through the production of the cosmetics, ethical buying and the “naked” approach to packaging. The random acts help make customers feel more valued, as well as warmer towards the brand, which can keep them coming back. The case also discusses the views of some analysts who felt that the absence of a regular marketing … The strengths and weaknesses are obtained from internal organization. The store design and all touchpoints relate to the positioning as customers are encouraged to test, smell and sample the products. Lush creates a feel-good experience for customers as it allows people to affiliate themselves with an innovative environmentally-conscious approach through their daily pampering rituals. Larger stores and moe personalized service. Experts felt that Lush was a cult brand that differentiated itself from other retailers of beauty products due to its innovative products, superior customer service, and unconventional marketing approach. This strategy helps the company to make any strategy that would differentiate the company from competitors, so that the organization can compete successfully in the industry. Typically shopping for bath products or face cleansers is just a case of trawling aisles and comparing packaging. It does not use animal fats, n… There’s nothing like seeing the results from a product to get a customer to come back and buy the full-sized version. Unlike other cosmetics brands on the market, LUSH advocates for ethical buying and purity of handmade products. Since it first began in 1995, Lush has always prided itself on its ethical principles. Lush positions itself as ‘more than a soap shop’ Lush is making a digital push to improve its ‘disparate’ global brand presence with a relaunched website focused on content and ‘deli-style cosmetics’ that aims to communicate the story behind its products and ethical values. For Lush devotees, until very recently the company ran its Kitchen programme, where customers could buy short-run exclusive or discontinued products. This shows a holistic way in which the brand values were communicated through public relations activities. A not-for-profit can use a Cost Leadership strategy to minimize the cost of getting donations and achieving more for its income, while one pursuing a Differentiation strategy will be committed to the very best outcomes, even if the volume of work it does, as a result, is smaller. Marketing and Lush Fresh Handmade 7455 Words | 30 Pages. It also humanises the production process by making it clear that a person, not a machine was involved in the making. During the launch, all the staff in the store were naked, except for their aprons that had the phrase “Ask me why I am naked” emblazoned across the front. This makes customers feel closer to the company and the people who work there – you almost feel as though the item was made just for you. No matter the size of your business, or which industry you come from, you should find that a differentiation strategy helps to give you a competitive advantage in a market that’s dominated by bigger, more deeply-ingrained companies. To experience the very best of London’s retail for yourself, book one of our Insider Trends retail safaris. Lush Cosmetics, a brand originated from the United Kingdom, is well-known with its unique products, in which differentiates it from other competitors in the cosmetics industry. There’s the promise of surprise and magic with Lush products that your average bottle of bubble bath doesn’t have. The closest competition to Lush Cosmetics is The Body Shop in that both brands sell body products and cosmetics and are against animal testing and use sustainable business practices. ( Log Out /  They’re also allowed to give away products to customers in ‘random acts of kindness’. He believes that a company must choose a clear course in order to be able to beat the competition. Find out how we use and protect your data in our privacy notice. By bringing together all of the different elements of its strategy, Lush has achieved the ultimate brand goal – you always instantly know when you are in a Lush store or using a Lush product. The Lush approach to sustainable practices aligns with the market trends of more socially aware consumers that are interested in conservation, sustainability and how our consumerism can effect the world we live in. The resulting T-Mobile brand strategy differentiated the company from its competitors by emphasizing simplicity, fairness and value. In fact this year it also held a two-day Lush Summit where customers could see new and exclusive products first. Find out how they can benefit your business here. To help customers with their purchases Lush’s staff can give out small, free samples of products (where possible) that they can try at home first. Lush isn’t one of those places you suddenly decide to pop in to for some bubble bath. On the other it’s a serious campaigner for major ethical issues, from animal testing to the environment, and it’s not afraid to share these views with customers. Some items have beeswax, honey, eggs, milk and lanolin. By using this site, you agree to our use of cookies, Ongoing ‘personal training’ for retail excellence, Omnichannel audit and strategic recommendations, top 50 uses of visual merchandising in retail. Boards around the store provide details about specific ingredients and their benefits. 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