Posted bykosha31June 19, 2017March 12, 2019Posted inTrendSetGo@BrandsTags:#Bathandbodyworks, #beauty, #bodypositivity, #bodywash, #fall, #fashion, #handwash, #lotion, #mist, #pumpkinpie, #retail, #retailtherapy, #seasonalsale, #shopsmall, #spring, #store, #summer, #winter
Bath and Body works is an American retail store and is a part of L brands i.e. The Limited brands umbrella. Bath and Body Works targets men and women who love aromatic products. Products include body lotions, body wash and mist. It also sells therapy creams, candles and sanitizers. Bath and Body Works is located as single stores in malls across the USA
Backward Glance
Bath and Body works is in business since 1991.The first store was opened in Cambridge, MA. Headquartered in Ohio, it has 1600 stores in North America alone. Bath and Body works store spans across many places in the world including Latin America, Singapore, Middle East and Turkey. Bath And Body works sells fragrance. It is mainly into personal care and intimates. Bath and Body works began as a beauty line which was sold to Express, which was previously owned by the L brands. However Bath and Body works wanted to project itself as a down home style store. They created a fictional founder called Kate and told her stories to the employees. Each store was viewed as Kate’s home and employees were asked to treat customers as guests at Kate’s home. Kate was a part of Bath And Body Works emotional branding. A major re branding was done in the year 2008 wherein many changes were made. New look and new packing styles were designed for most of the Bath And Body Works products. Also the store started placing many non-bath and body products like the true blue spa and the C.O Bigelow. Later they were all removed. The biggest kind of restructuring came when Bath And Body works forayed in the home fragrance category. Home fragrance was something that was at a very nascent stage when B&B started its journey. Today B&B carries nearly 200 private label brands under its portfolio.
Target Audience
B&B has a deep understanding of its target audience. Its products are for the masses who wish some sort of premium touch . It is for those kind of people who don’t want to purchase luxury brands like l’oreal and Estée Lauder but at the same time want something that feels premium but is affordable. Such kind of target audience is called as ‘masstige’ known as a combination of mass and prestige. It is for men and women who love fragrances and want something new in affordable prices.
Marketing Mix of Bath and Body works:
Product:
Fragrance is their product. An ideal B&B store pulls the fragrance loving consumer just like a magnet does.
Each new scent of Bath And Body Works may represent a season or it may be vintage or off season. The new fragrances are displayed at the fore front of the store. The store has watermelon, pineapple, apple,lemon and other refreshing fragrances in summer. Fall is marked by pumpkin, cinnamon, cedar, firewood and Merlot kinds of fragrances and winter is categorized by sweet pea and cashmere glow kinds of fragrances. The list of fragrances that B&B provides is endless.Each time it launches the fragrance of the season and the same is extensively pushed to the customers. There are different scents like cup of warmth (Vanilla chai and biscotti), Cozy Sunday morning (soft chamomile and bergamot) and vanilla and coconut.
Price:
Bath And Body Works uses price in promoting its products. Time and now, It launches offers like 3 for $12 or 5 for $18.They follow a push strategy for all its products. In pricing, Bath And Body Works doesn’t compete with The Body Shop. The price is perceived to be quite reasonable for many of its products. One can easily relate to Bath & Body Works on its pricing strategies.
Place:
Bath and Body works chooses malls as its prime location.It has more footfalls in a mall as compared to a stand alone sites. Bath And Body works has a huge entrance with latest products displayed at the forefront. It spans across different places in the world. Apart from physical location, Bath And Body Works also has digital presence in form of website and blogs. It provides options of online shopping and window shopping on its digital platform.
Promotion:
Bath And Body works has a unique promotional strategy.It focuses more on customer testimonials and seasonal sales rather than the traditional method of placing an advertisem*nt in magazine like the way Victoria Secret does.It has identified set of customers who regularly update the few others through blogs and videos.The content describes more of the upcoming fragrances and the new arrivals.Bath And Body Works focuses on the freshness aspect.They pull out new fragrances in the holiday season and promote it more via word of mouth.It also promotes through coupons.They have special coupons for Black Friday ,Labour Day and Memorial Day.Also,they have door busters and discounted prices on weekends.Inside the store promotions are also very strong. Arrangement of soaps,mist .shower gel and lotions is very attractive.One section is for men fragrance and the other is for therapy creams.The store has a seasonal look.Employees greet the customers and explain the new arrivals.Also, Bath and body works follows a push strategy for all its products.They promote their products through percent offs and in bulk.Bath and Body works promotes actively through mailing list
Some quick facts on Bath and Body Works :
- Bath and Body Works also facilitates learning through workshops for its ardent fans.
- In the Year 1998,several Bath And Body Works stores were converted to White Barn candle shops to target the home fragrance category.
- Bath And Body Works is in close competition to The Body Shop. Body Shop filed a lawsuit against Bath and Body Works in the early nineties for imitation of name.However, Bath and Body works still continues to roll out products similar to that of Body shop.
Published by kosha31
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