BorjaComp1Quest8

Essay: //**Body Shop**// aims to achieve long term corporate growth through the exploitation of a differentiation strategy in satisfying customer needs in terms of beauty products supporting a relaxed, natural and healthy life style. In addition the Body Shop seeks to contribute to society by holding campaigns including ones against animal testing, on environmental issues as well as support for domestic violence help hotlines. > To provide varied ranges of high quality natural and/or environmentally friendly products to the public. > To build good relationships with interested parties including shareholders, employees, customers and the general public. > To create and maintain a strong brand name for the Body Shop in terms of high levels of awareness and recognition in the market for quality products and superior service. > To achieve organisational growth over the long term. > To encourage community trade and in turn to develop solid relationships with suppliers who provide natural ingredients. > To consistently oppose the testing of products on animals. > To focus on the protection of human rights such as in actions against child labour. As one of the most famous beauty products brand the Body Shop is positioned as a natural ingredient cosmetics producer and provider. A core image of the brand is that it seeks to improve the quality of people's life through sourcing and producing environmentally friendly and natural products. In adding to this element of the brand the strong promotion of corporate and social responsibility through supporting various campaigns further strengthens the brand's positioning as an internationally 'Green' company. The marketing strategic objectives are based on the corporate aims outlined for 2006 which are focused on different areas including product, people, branding, organisation and social responsibilities. 1. Offer high quality beauty products sourced from natural ingredients based suppliers. 2. Offer products which are able to improve quality of life including both cosmetics and home goods ranges such as home fragrance products. 3. Offer a high level of professional customer service through motivated and trained customer care and beauty consultants. 1. Provide superior and professional customer services based on high quality products and high standards of employee training. 2. Maintain a stable relationship with employees in order to fulfil effective work performance in terms of customer service. 3. Satisfy the corporate board by achieving financial goals including increasing sales and profit returns in 2006 and achieve organisational growth through securing a 10% market share. 1. Improve brand awareness through an effective marketing and communication mix. 2. Maintain brand images reflecting core business principles 3. Improve sales performance supported by branding strategy. 1. Secure organisational expansion in the next three years in the UK and Irish regions. 2. Achieve a 10% growth rate in 2006 and 5% in the following two years. 3. Achieve market leadership in the natural beauty product retailing industry. 4. Maintain effective organisational controls through intranet and supporting team work between different departments. 5. Maintain good relationships with suppliers in order to obtain cost advantage and logistical efficiencies. 1. Continuously express concerns with protecting animals and advocate against testing products on animals. 2. Improve public awareness on protecting the environment. 3. Improve performance in supporting protections of human rights. 4. Contribute to healthy industrial growth through supporting small natural ingredient suppliers and local fair trade produce. Market segmentation is able to provide the basis for the selection of target markets which for the Body Shop's targeted customers are general members of the public at all ages who seek natural and healthy beauty products. Additionally people who have an awareness of particular social issues which concern them such as animal testing and environmental protection are also targeted as potential customers. Firstly the Body Shop provides natural beauty product ranges including cosmetics for both women and men and home range. In this sense the general public from all age groups can be seen as potential customers. Secondly the most important variable in defining possible segmentations is based on psychographic characteristics namely lifestyle which will be discussed in detail in the next section. In additional the Body Shop brand is a quite famous national brand for beauty products in the UK and its brand image is closely linked with the campaigns it pursues in light of its corporate social responsibility objectives. Customer segmentation for the Body Shop is strongly associated with psychographic variables namely lifestyle ones with one of the major characteristic of customers being growing levels of awareness over health and social issues Additionally another characteristic of beauty goods customers is that they are concerned with brands to a high degree. This is to say people prefer products which are both perceived as being healthy and which have a strong brand image linked with beauty products. Of note also is that along with traditional media forms the emergence and growth of new media channels in the UK such as the Internet represent new challenges and opportunities in targeting customers. According to research by BT it is forecasted that 90% of the country will have some type of Internet connection by 2010 with a large proportion being on high bandwidth connections such as ADSL which is suggested as being the basis for a new integrated communication and information environment (Kitchin, 1998). Arguably then the wide use of the Internet has become a vital characteristic of modern customers which the Body Shop needs to address. It is undoubted that the female customer group is the most important and major source of customers and that due to increasing pressures resulting from the growing role of women in the workplace there is a growing demand for lifestyle linked products. A healthy lifestyle has become a key expressed principle in modern life which is linked with people becoming more concerned with the environment and social issues. The Body Shop's strong social responsibility programs in this area represent a significant advantage in targeting these customers which can be leveraged further. The Body Shop cosmetics product ranges are mainly based on natural ingredients which is able to respond to the requirements for better levels of product quality exploiting an image of namely the more natural the better the product will be. While the strong brand image of the Body Shop generates competitive advantages in the natural beauty product market its association with the protection of animals, environmental issues and human rights allow it to respond to the changing preferences of customers in terms of supporting ethical and socially responsible companies. In response to the use of the Internet the online corporate website will play an increasing role in communicating with customers as well as the creation of new customers through effective web based communication.
 * Product:
 * People:
 * Branding:
 * Organisation:
 * Social responsibility
 * 2. //Competitive and Brand positioning//**
 * 3. //Marketing Strategic Objectives for 2006//**
 * Product:**
 * People:**
 * Branding:**
 * Achieve organisational growth.**
 * Social responsibilities**
 * //4. Segmentation - Target Markets//**
 * //5. Target Characteristics//**
 * 6. //Marketing Messages by Segment//**

Characteristics: Outline format

Criteria: Breaks down important pieces of the body into outline format emphasizing main ideas of interest for the reader.

Poem: WINDFALL

When she objected that the bedroom was too hot that summer day for what I had proposed and suggested we create a spectacle of ourselves for the audience of trees and shrubs in our backyard, I had forgotten about the apples.

And when we spread wide open the sheet and sleeping bag on the grass, out of sight (mostly) of the road, and released our entire bodies, piece by piece of clothing, into the arms of the air (which, unaccustomed to such an opportunity, puffed excitedly), I was not thinking at all of the apples.

And even when we laid ourselves down and sanctified that country acre as it had long deserved to be sanctified, sending birds racing between trees while the whole world gathered itself in her eyes, into which I looked and looked, I did not see the apples.

But later that afternoon, as I carried our clothes toward the house, and she, walking ahead of me, stopped to pick up a windfall apple and tasted it, declaring it delicious and urging me to take a bite, I most certainly noticed not only the apple but the garden surrounding it, like a scene from a familiar story, one including a man happy in his skin and a woman as tall and shapely as she was naked--

naked, that is, except for the Raybans, which she'd slipped on when she went to get us each a beer after our holy expense of energy and which, with their Vogue-like stylish incongruity, saved me from an insufferably poetic moment and let me enjoy the very apple that the apple was.

Cider Press Review, 2004

Characteristics: Vivid visual expression.

Criteria: The words and descriptive detail paint a realistic mental picture for the reader.