Corporate background Essay Example for Free

Corporate background Essay The Body Shop International plc is a well-known brand in beauty care or cosmetics industry since the company stick to their string commitment or philosophy of developing and producing the natural and ethical beauty care and cosmetics product. The Body Shop was established in 1976 in UK by Dame Anita Roddick although some analysts see that the copy of The Body Shop brands from local entrepreneur in California, USA (The Body Shop International plc, 2008a). Currently, after the 30-year journey as well-known cosmetic product, The Body Shop already expands their services and retail shops in more than 55 countries with over 2,100 stores. Currently, while keep developing products continuously, the Body Shop already has more than 1,200 kind of natural-ingredient products (The Body Shop International plc, 2008a; Pirkayastha and Fernando, 2008). One competitive advantage that the Body Shop has is the awards that the company receives for their commitment of developing cosmetic products without conducting test on animals. The company becomes the first company that awarded the Humane Cosmetics Standard for our Against Animal Testing policy. Furthermore, The Body Shop’s philosophy also underlying their action to conduct a Community Trade, their fair trade program, resulting in the company’s complete strategy to trade fairly. To date, The Body Shop already conducts community trade programs with 31 suppliers that spanned in 24 countries, which represent more than 15,000 people across the globe (The Body Shop International plc, 2008a; Pirkayastha and Fernando, 2008). Figure 1 the Body Shop Source: http://images. businessweek. com/ss/05/10/index_awards/image/bodyshop-2. jpg 1. Marketing Strategy of Body Shop 1. 1 Issues in Cosmetic Industry In developing marketing strategy, a company should analyze their competitive position in the respective market by analyzing the potential market of products and the moves and actions of competitors. One aspect in determining the competitive position is the capability of a company to deal with issues in respective industry in appropriate manner. In attracting the consumers, especially women, a cosmetic and beauty care-producing company usually develops many kinds of product since there are many skin types, each has to be treated in different manner and thus need particular mix of ingredients as well. Since the development may involve the testing, branding/campaign, and regulation compliance; therefore the three components become three issues in the cosmetic industry.   Internet marketing The use of internet as media for product campaign is rising significantly within the last decade. According to a few reports, internet is considered to increase efficiency and product sales for cosmetic companies since the media offer the ability to develop new channel alternative, complementing the existence of retail shops that located in several locations. Amazon. com, for instances, firstly grows from selling book, but turns out today to sell various kinds of cosmetics in their online stores. Interestingly, it is found that the growing internet users have award several cosmetic with raising number of online purchase. In compliance with the internet marketing, The Body Shop also offers special price for customers who bought via their online stores (http://www. thebodyshop-usa. com/bodyshop/). Figure 2 shows the home page of the Body Shop official online store. Figure 2 Online Store of the Body Shop Source: http://www. thebodyshop-usa. com/bodyshop/ †¢ Corporate Responsibility Issues (CSR) Another issue that influences the marketing of cosmetic products is about the propaganda in which many companies involve in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) that found to produce real influence on the cosmetic industry. In addition, such CSR initiative is also driven by government control over the distribution of cosmetic product to comply with specific country’s requirement. In the U. S. , FDA (Food and Drug Administration) become the regulator that monitor the safety standards of cosmetics products in the market (Health Reports Co. UK, 2005). †¢ Animal testing Animal testing also considered as vital issues in cosmetic industry since the rising concerns of public about the humanity has brought significant influence towards the use of animal testing in the development of cosmetic products. F or example, in European Union, where the Body Shop located, announces its decision to ban animal testing on cosmetics products, which immediately raise pros and contras. This regional policy follows the previous policy made in several European countries including the Austria, Netherlands, and Britain in which they have already banned animal testing which means that several cosmetic products are receiving tight supervision on their research and production facilities (The Humane Society, 2005) 1. 2 Branding. The branding factor also highlights The Body Shop strategy in strengthen their awareness by incorporating their philosophy of natural ingredient products. The company’s brand of becoming the cosmetics manufacturer that only use natural ingredients products is strong since it provides customers with an image that The Body Shop develops and sells safe cosmetics, which in line with customers’ concerns of having safety. This is inline with the customers’ preferences, especially women that wants a secure feeling when using cosmetics. The demands are translated into The Body Shop program to use the highest quality natural ingredients. In addition, the company sticks to five values; they are Protect the Planet, Support Community Trade, Against Animal Testing, Defend Human Rights, and Activate Self Esteem (The Body Shop International plc, 2008). Figure 3 The Body Shop Morinaga Products Source: http://www. shinygloss. tv/Moringa%203. jpg Reference: Health Reports Co. UK. (2005). Cosmetic Industry on Notice. (2005). Retrieved March 5, 2009 form http://www.health-reports. co. uk/content/view/52/2 Perner, Lars. n. d. â€Å"Consumer Behavior and Marketing†. Consumer Psychologist Newsletter. San Diego University. Retrieved March 5, 2009 from http://www. consumerpsychologist. com/#Strategy Pirkayastha, Debaprati and Fernando, Rajiv. (2008). Body Shop Brand: Repositioning to Target the ‘Masstige’ Segment and Impacts of its Acquisition by L’Oreal. Icfai Center for Management Research The Body Shop International plc. (2008a). About Us. Retrieved March 5, 2009 from http://www.thebodyshop. com/bodyshop/company/index. jsp;jsessionid=ERFaLulEQWzSEOutEFWERw**. bsbwilapp03-bsprd-app-102? cm_re=themeB-_-Footer-_-About_Us . (2008b). Support Community Trade. Retrieved March 5, 2009 from http://www. thebodyshop. com/bodyshop/values/support_community_trade. jsp The Humane Society. (2005). French Government Challenges EU Cosmetic Directive. Retrieved March 5, 2009 from http://www. hsus. org/animals_in_research/animals_in_research_news/french_government_challenges_eu_cosmetics_directive. html.