THE BODY SHOP MARKETING PLAN ANALYSIS
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19th, December, 2012
Effectiveness of the Current CRM of the Body Shop
Customer Relations Management involves the strategies used by a company to obtain customers and develop long-term relationships with them.
Current CRM Strategy
The body shop considers customer relations as one of the most crucial aspect in its operations. This is because the management has realized the long-term benefits of customer retention as well as customer commitment. The current body shop CRM aims at developing and managing the relationships between the company and the customers and other stakeholders. The strategies entail use of mechanisms such as technology in organizing and coordinating business processes particularly those involved in marketing of the products. The aim of the Body Shop CRM is to attract new customers, retain the existing customers, and entice customers who have ever used their products to start using them again. Moreover, the Body Shop hopes to make use of CRM in reducing its operational cost by decreasing the need for excessive use of other marketing strategies (Berndt & Brink, 2004).
The company has realized that the loyalty of customers is critical for the success of their business. However, the company needs to dedicate their business to meeting the company’s financial needs and the needs of the customers. Moreover, The Body Shop continues to protect the environment to ensure that the needs of the current society are met without compromising on the needs of the future generations. Other strategies that The Body Shop uses to acquire and retain customer include taking corporate social responsibility through its stand against animal testing, supporting community trading, defending human rights, and protecting the environment.
The Body Shop follows three phases in implementing the CRM. The first phase entails acquisition of the customers. The Body Shop acquires new customers through use of strategies such as contact management, web-based CRM, selling of quality products, and fulfillment. The second phase entails enhancement. The Body Shop makes use of strategies such as web-enabled CRM and other customer service tools to enhance the quality of services. The company has hired sales representative and specialists in different specialties to enable them identify and meet the need of the current customers. Moreover, the company uses social networks such as Facebook to offer consultant services on their products (Berndt & Brink, 2004).
The third phase entails retaining the existing customer. The Body Shop has CRM software and other databases that enable it to recognize and reward those customers who have remained loyal for a long period by giving those offers and discounts. The Love Your Body Rewards is one of the groups through which The Body Shop identifies and rewards loyal customers. Moreover, thee databases enable The Body Shop improve its target market as well as develop appropriate marketing initiatives (Berndt, & Brink, 2004).
Ineffectiveness of Current CRM
The Body Shop CRM is not working appropriately. Although the websites attract several users who eventually start buying from The Body Shop, The Company has not been making adequate profits especially in the recent past. This is due to excessive use of activities meant to enhance corporate social responsibility and excessive use of offers and discounts. Moreover, the websites lack important information that cosmetic customers seek for while deciding whether to buy a product.
New CRM Objectives
The current CRM requires improvement and alterations in some areas. One of the objectives should aim at improving the rewarding systems. The time sensitive offers by The Body Shop creates a notion that the company is manipulating its customers. Another objective should be improving on the time scale for the offers since the current period for the offers is at times too short. Moreover, the discounts are at times too high, and should be decreased to avoid the customers’ doubt the quality of the products. Another objective should focus on changing the communication strategies to increase the sales. Although The Body Shop has been using emails to inform their customers of their existing products, the descriptions given are too shallow. Moreover, their website lacks in-depth descriptions of products. Most cosmetic companies use their websites to teach different aspects on how the body functions, which has attracted customers. The several offer messages sent to the customers through the phones create a sense of desperation on the side of the company.
How the objectives will be achieved
The new of the company should focus on creating the idea of the unique effectiveness of their products. Moreover, the company should increase the use of media through advertisements. By enhanced use of emails, the company will be able to connect appropriately with the customers, identify their needs, and manufacture products that meet their needs. Using emails and websites to educate the customers will make them informed of the different products and increase their willingness to buy. The company can reorganize their offer schedules and make offers during certain periods such as festive seasons. (Lindgreen, 2004; Sumit & Chaudhuri, 2005).
Supporting the New CRM Strategy Using the 4Ps of Marketing Mix
The new CRM can be supported by the four Ps, which include Product, Promotion, Place, and Price. By using websites to demonstrate the effectiveness of their products, the Body Shop will be able to convince customers that the price of the products is worth. This is more so in India where people view the products as too expensive (Berndt & Brink, 2204).
Product: The Body Shop should ensure that the quality of their product is retained. Moreover, the company should avoid overusing offers and discounts to market its products. This is because this strategy is creating a bad image of the company.
People: The Company should thus focus on educating the customers about the products. This could be through use of their online consultants who can post materials related to the company’s products using simpler language (Lau & Seetner, 2011; Lindgreen, 2004).
Place: The company can use google map to enable customers locate places where their shops are located.
Promotions: Moreover, promotions should be used moderately especially in areas with much competition. The promotions should be strategic and aim at demonstrating the uniqueness of The Body Shop’s products as compared to those from competitors (Mennen, 2011).
The Body Shop Marketing Plan
Business objectives can be defined as the stated and measurable goals that a company comes up to enable it achieve its aims. The business objectives depict the future of any company. Moreover, the objective should be measurable, specific, time specific, realistic and agreed upon by the major stakeholders in a company. The business objective of any company can be considered as its statement of purpose (Epstein & Yuthas, 2009).
Current Market, Customer, and Industry Trend
The objectives of The Body Shop are mainly asked on the conviction that the success of a business is determined by how a company treats the environment and people, especially the less fortunate (Sumit & Chaudhuri, 2005; Marsh, 2001). Currently, the marketing strategy focuses on the products as being natural and earthly. The major customers are women since most of the products serve the needs of women. However, there are some products meant for men. The cosmetic industry is becoming more diverse and competitive due to the increasing number of cosmetic shops in the market. Moreover, the number of men using cosmetics has increased. Most cosmetic companies are focusing more on retaining their customers as opposed to creating new ones (Marsh, 2001). One of the major objectives of The Body Shop is to involve itself in activities aimed at bringing change to the environment and the social lives of the society. This objective targets the society. Moreover, it will enable The Body Shop gain an image of a caring company. Current marketing objectives have not been very successful.
New Market Objectives
The new Objectives should focus on the 4Ps of the marketing mix. The company’s objective should be to meet the 4Ps in a way that attracts the groups targeted by its products. The company should consider if their products meets the needs of the target group. The company should focus on attracting young customers and retaining them. Therefore, the marketing strategies should be more youth-oriented. This is because the company is making plans to expand its market in addition to increasing the profitability of its business operations. The main objective here should be ensuring that the products manufacture reflect the needs of the consumers. The other objective should focus on the price. If product manufactured is of good quality, it will be easy for the company to fix competitive prices. The company should consider fixing the price depending on location of the store. Moreover, the company should identify the amount of money the target group is willing to pay and beware of the competitor’s price (Lindgreen, 2004; Berndt & Brink, 2204). The overuse of promotions has created a negative notion about the quality of The Body Shops product. Therefore, the company should consider marketing strategies that attract the target group, which are the Youths. The promotion should thus include activities such as sponsoring beauty shows and sporting activities. Social Network is another marketing strategy that should be used to attract young people. Moreover, their websites should be more detailed to orient the customers to different products. Additionally, advertisements using bill boards television and magazines should be enhances (Lau & Seetner, 2011).
In the franchised shops, the company should enhance selective distribution. Different people from different regions prefer varying products. Therefore, the company should identify the varying needs of the customers in different localities. Moreover, the company should carry out a study to find out the distribution of their customers and locate their distributors appropriately (Berndt & Brink, 2204). Hence, the company requires improving on the strategies of making offers to avoid it appearing too desperate. The offers should be reasonable and should last for longer periods to ensure the customers enjoy them. Currently, the offers are short lived and most customers complain that such offers are unreasonable (Lau & Seetner, 2011).
A Marketing Budget to Achieve the New Objectives
To achieve the new objectives, The Body Shop should consider altering its budget. The company should spend about 4% of its gross income on the development and maintenance of the IT including the websites, telecommunication, and databases. The databases should be used to collect customer’s feedback. The company should consider reducing its spending on offers and environment renovation programs. Though corporate social responsibility is an appropriate tool for Marketing, The Body Shop has been overspending on its projects aimed at improving the environment. The company should thus spend about 3% of the gross revenue. Moreover, some of the projects that are ineffective should be disregarded. The promotions should be more logical. For example, the company can use a strategy such donating about 1%, for every purchase made at a certain price to the charity and environmental organizations. This will enable the company make profits and conduct community projects (Cathy & Caryn, 1999). This is because customers will be willing to buy when they realize that their purchase contributes to donations. This campaign should cost the company about 2% of the gross revenue. Other forms of marketing should include billboard advertisements, advertisements through the magazines, social networks, television and sponsoring of activities should take about 3% of gross revenue. Therefore, the company should focus on marketing strategies that benefit both the company and the stakeholders (Pahlavanzadeh, 2011). During the sponsorship activities such as sports, the company should use banners. The company should also consider organizing conferences to create awareness on the environment, a method that should not take more than 1% off gross income. Moreover, their website should include educative articles on the environment. This will reduce the cost use in environmental issues. The total revenue use in marketing should not exceed 10% of the gross revenue (Berndt & Brink, 2004; Epstein & Yuthas, 2009).
Evaluating the Perfomance of New Marketing Objectives
After implementing a marketing strategy, it is important to measure its effectiveness and make changes where necessary. The monitoring and evaluation should entail analyzing the sales and comparing the changes in sales with the marketing cost. The effectiveness of the new marketing strategy can be assessed using various strategies. One strategy should be through measuring determination of change in sales following implementation of the different marketing strategies. Measurement should entail comparison of the performance with the different marketing strategies. Moreover, the management should collect data and analyzing it. Analysis of the performance can also be done through numerical counting and reporting. This can be through determining the number of people visiting the company websites and the different stores. Moreover, the performance can be measured through comparing data on the number of people visiting the store and the sales made on daily basis. To assess the online sales, the company can install software to analyze data through comparison of the number of visit and the number of online purchases. Moreover, the company can carry out online surveys to find out the number of customers who are triggered to make purchases by the different company’s marketing strategies (Epstein & Yuthas, 2009).
Conclusion
Customer Relations Management entails the strategies used by a company to obtain customers and develop long-term relationships with them. Currently, The Body Shop Mainly depends on offers to attract and retain customers. However, overuse of offers has created a negative attitude about this company. The new marketing objectives should focus on other strategies of attracting customers without appearing desperate. Such strategies include positioning of their franchises, advertisements, and customer education. The company can continue giving offers but they should be logical and reasonable. This will make the customer realize that the products are of quality and worth the price. The Body Shop marketing budget should be considerate to ensure the company does not continue reducing its profits. Moreover, focusing on creating environmental awareness using online techniques such as websites will enable The Body Shop spend fewer funds in conducting corporate social responsibility and increase profits.
Works Cited
Assenmacher, K 2012, The Body shop – An Analysis of the Company ́s Actions towards Sustainability, GRIN Verlag, London.
Berndit, A & Brink, A 2004, Customer Relationship Management and Customer Service, Juta and Company Ltd, New Jersey.
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Lindgreen, A 2004, The design, implementation and monitoring of a CRM programme: A case study, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 22(2), 160-186. Available at http://search.proquest.com/docview/213130431?accountid=45049
Marsh, H. 2001, Has the Body Shop lost its direction for good? Haymarket Business Publications Ltd, London, United Kingdom, London.
Mennen, M 2011, The Body Shop: Strategic Business Management, GRIN Verlag
Pahlavanzadeh, S 2011, ‘A Critical Analysis of Customer Relationship Management from
Strategic Perspective’, IPEDR vol.3, no. 1, retrieved 19 December 2012 <http://www.ipedr.com/vol3/69-M10082.pdf>
Sumit, S. & Chaudhuri, K 2005, The Body Shop: The Ethical Beauty Retailer’s Growth Strategies, Case Development Centre, Available at, Online: Available at http://www.ibscdc.org/Case_Studies/Corporate%20Social%20Responsibility/CSR0015.htm.
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