Marketing Management

Individual Assignment

Submitted to
Prof. Kinnari Pancholi
On
05/03/2024

Submitted by
Name: Somya Agrawal

Roll No.- 227161

Word count - 2823

Second Year –A Division

Batch-2022-27
• Introduction:
Originated in Ohio, America, Bath and Body Works (BnBW) is a retail company and
chain of stores catering to the ‘Beauty and Fragrances’ industry. Founded in the year
1990, Bath and Body Works was rather quick to capture the bath soap market in the
United States, acquiring the top position within 7 years of its operations.

Over the years, the company has successfully expanded to over 1700 locations
scattered across the globe. With products draped under the veil of ‘naturally and
locally sourced’, the brand associates its extensive line of products with the
make-believe mascot, Kate, who appeals to the general audience as the typical ‘girl
next-door’ with an affinity towards extravagant scents.

The brand has shown tremendous growth over time and as of January 2024, BBW
holds a market cap of $9.73 Billion, securing a place among the most valuable
companies of the world. In fragrances alone, it holds about 7% of the total industry
revenue, generating a notable market share.

• Competitor analysis:
Sorting by customer popularity, Bath and Body Works faces competition from two
major beauty and personal care brands. The first is The Body Shop, with whom
BnBW gained its rivals rather early in the business. Initially, BnBW marketed itself with
heavy usage of green packaging and an ‘eco-friendly’ label, hoping to stand apart.
This, however, backfired quickly when BBW’s biggest competitor, The Body Shop, filed
a lawsuit against it, for the misleading similarities.
The Body Shop won the case, forcing BBW to rebrand entirely, clarifying what was the
major differentiator when it comes to the two equally popular brands.
Brand Philosophy: The Body Shop is renowned for its ethical approach, emphasizing
cruelty-free and environmentally sustainable products.
Product Range: Offers a wide variety of skincare, haircare, and cosmetics, often with
natural and fair-trade ingredients.
Global Presence: A strong international retail presence, with stores in numerous
countries, providing a broad market reach.
Customer Loyalty: Known for a loyal customer base that aligns with the brand’s values
of ethical consumerism.
Marketing Strategy: Engages in community-focused campaigns and partnerships,
enhancing its brand image as socially responsible.

Yet another counterpart of Bath and Body Works is Victoria’s Secret.

Victoria’s Secret is an American brand which encompasses a variety of products
ranging from clothing and women's lingerie, to beauty care. They target the other
extreme of the market, which is the fashion- conscious, luxury indulging chunk of
women, marketing their collection to be a symbol of confidence and glamor, by
adapting the strategy of getting several A- list celebrities to market their products
calling them Victoria’s angels. For example, supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio
showcases a strong, independent woman who gracefully balances being a wife and a
mother with her career, reflecting strong and forward feminist social values. In terms of
market size, Victoria’s Secret has the majority share, considering the sales of other
products as well. They target the audience that is on the higher end of the income
divisions, and who can afford to regularly spend on luxury goods.

Brand Image: Victoria’s Secret has a strong brand image associated with luxury and
allure, particularly in lingerie.
Product Diversity: Beyond lingerie, they offer a range of beauty products, fragrances,
and body care, competing directly with Bath & Body Works.
Innovative Marketing: Known for its iconic fashion shows and marketing campaigns
that create significant media buzz.
Customer Base: Targets a diverse demographic with its PINK line for younger
consumers and its core products for a broader audience.
Retail Experience: Provides a premium in-store experience, which is a key
differentiator from competitors.

Both these BBW competitor brands differ majorly in terms of the customers they
target, and accordingly vary in the brand image they portray. Since the sentiment
attached to all three brands is quite distinct, conflicts rarely occur directly in the market.

• Positioning strategy:
Even in the excess availability of body-care products, Bath and Body Works has
crafted a comfortable space for itself in the market. Just like its competitors, the brand
focuses on its target segment alone and maintains the retention by always keeping the
customers on their toes as to what’s next.
Bath and Body Works has recognised its strength extremely well, and knows that
creating a unique in-store shopping experience for the customers is what will keep
them interested. BBW stores are designed keeping in mind their mascot, Kate, and the
spaces are decorated similar to a country house, giving it a low-key and cozy vibe.
Secondly, BBW established its fragrances as its USP. It neither claims control over
sentiments, nor adds any morals to the product. It is a fragrance-selling company, and
that’s it. The brand launches a new fragrance every 2-4 weeks, adding upto to roughly
200 scents every year. With such an extensive scent collection, any person visiting the
store will not only spend a significant amount of their time exploring the aisles, but also
is bound to find at least one ‘signature’ scent, if not give into the temptation to buy a
huge variety. Every scent that they launch is available in every form, i.e- candles,
shower gels, moisturizers, body mists, perfumes, hand gels, hand and nail creams,
and even room freshners. Just the range available to customers itself is what makes
BBW stand apart. The cherry on top is that all this is affordable, so that the products
lie well within a pocket-friendly range for the customers.
The scents are often limited editions, staying relevant to the market by indulging in and
collaborating with pop culture, including collaborations with Disney. Bath and Body
Works faces minimal threat from competition and stands strong based majorly on the
variety, and the pricing of its products. It is different from The Body Shop because of
the range of products. Compared to Victoria’s Secret, BBW is more inviting to the
younger generations, unlike the former, which focuses on a niche aesthetic of
promoting false-ish body confidence by confirming unrealistic beauty standards. Even
among the home fragrances, BBW offers fragrances in various forms, be it candles,
diffusers, wallflowers, or hand soaps. The overall appeal of BBW lies within its ability
to create a multi-sensory experience, allowing the customers to indulge in a world of
playful yet affordable scents, and thus also keeping alive the enthusiasm of visiting a
store, rather than simply browsing online.

• Target Audience:
Bath and Body Works understands that in order to hold its market, it needs to be
selective in the terms of the target audience. The primary focus always stays on Gen Z
and the millennials, as both the generations prioritize personal expressions and have a
knack for experimenting on trends. With affordability in mind, mixed with influencer
culture, the brand easily appeals to the generation Z. For millennials, a few of Bath and
Body Works’ signature scents are reminiscent of their own teenage years, and BBW
has picked up on this. They stay relevant to the millennials by re-launching their
staples, maintaining their hold over the masses.
Secondly, Bath and Body Works is also big in the gift-giving segment. Around the
holiday season of November-January, they launch season special collections, as well
as provide lucrative discounts on curated gift-sets. For any occasion, a fragrance set
from BBW is a no-brainer gift which promises to be a hit for all age groups. Over time,
BBW has been remarkably successful in choosing its demographic of trend-driven and
social media savvy consumers, who not only like hopping on stylish trends, but also
don’t mind occasionally spending on the rich experience that the products allow the
customers to indulge in. By extensive understanding of their audience, they can easily
tailor their marketing campaigns and mould them to suit the customers. By being
specific and customer-centric, they ensure a higher engagement. They understand the
prevalent pace of fashion and self-care, and make sure to develop unique scents
periodically to create an air of excitement in the customers, and to stay on top of their
game. They understand their demographic to the point where they can manipulate the
audience to be either more adaptable and divert from typical fragrances, or ensure
their loyalty by allowing them to pick their signature scent in every format.

• Marketing channels:
Brand dominance comes easy to BBW after having perfectly understood the niche it
caters to. The objective of the brand is simple- staying relevant, and staying affordable.
Affordability has never been a major issue for the brand. The customers are always
willing to pay for the experience. In the earlier days, Bath and Body Works used to
provide discounts to people who would be willing to fill out a short survey, which, for a
brand that had just begun getting big, was not only an excellent sales promotion tactic,
but was also a clever way of collecting customer data. Based on this data, they
performed targeted marketing via e-mails, and suggested products and offers based on
individual preferences, making the customer feel unique to the brand. The emails often
include interactive elements such as quizzes or polls, once again, with perks to those
who filled them out. With the advent of mobile applications and websites, it became
easier for the brand to grow its reach. Using specific and immersive scent descriptions,
360 degree product viewing, pictures, videos, and other graphics, they appealed to the
audience online, luring them to explore the collections that they had to offer. At the
same time, they decided to give out memberships as a part of loyalty programs,
maintaining customer retention and offering incentives to keep shopping online and in
stores. The world of social media allowed BBW to connect with its Gen Z shoppers on
a deeper level, by promoting sales through influencers. YouTube collaborations in the
form of unboxing videos, primarily have been a source of piquing interest of younger
generations, building a curiosity for the products among them, that could only be
satisfied by purchasing the products. While indulging in social media marketing, BBW
focuses equally on the in-store experience. The stores are always decorated
aesthetically to create a cozy- suburban type setting, products, especially candles,
being arranged according to the color wheel, creating a stunning visual display, which
is striking even when someone is simply walking by the store. They also allow the
customers to try out all fragrances by allowing them to use tester products on
scent-strips. In a lot of the stores, they have dedicated wash basins with their
hand-wash soaps lined up around the basin, letting the customers try out how every
soap lands on their skin. Even the staff they appoint is trained to encourage customers
to try out new fragrances. Besides, one can almost always find a huge banner in the
front of the store, either announcing a discount or sales offer, or promoting a new
fragrance. The unique, bright, and subtly out-there designs of the banners and
advertisements are sure-shot head-turners and just add to the appeal of the store.
Since the stores are usually located in malls or large-enough complexes, BBW often
places its scent diffusers in the surroundings to create a scintillating environment,
arousing curiosity among the people, again, drawing them towards the store. BBW has
deciphered the key to a successful marketing channel, by productively amalgamating
its online database with offline marketing strategies to curate a personalized marketing
tactic, which perfectly captures the spirit of individuality among its target buyers, and
keeps them coming back for more.

• Building Brand equity:

While BBW enjoys its dominance in the kingdom of beauty brands, to ensure its
sustained reign, there are a few additional feathers to add in its cap. For some short
term approaches, keeping in view the features that BBW provides versus what other
major brands do, its about time they too introduced the facility of BOPIS- i.e Buy
Online Pickup in Store option as a part of its web shopping experience. Since
trend-driven exclusive collections is something they are already working on, further
emphasis on the same, especially in the fast-paced changing consumer choices of
BBW’s target audience, could be the game definer for the brand.
A major point of discussion where BBW falls behind its major competitors is the subject
of being sustainable, which is a growing concern among consumers. It is
understandable for BBW to focus on fun products, but they could acquire a larger
customer share by also introducing a segment on environment friendly, sustainable
products, which, considering where BBW stands, should not be that difficult. Further,
focusing on community based reward systems and emphasis on loyalty programs will
allow BBW to hold its customers and not divert the market in the case of new
competition arising.

• Enhancing Customer engagement:

Even though BBW has a decent social media presence, it is quite insignificant
compared to the modern world of marketing. A game changer for BBW would be to
harness the strength of social media to increase its appeal to the gen-z audience,
which is the most prospective market for body care products. Further, they can set-up
booths where customers can customize their preferences and create new fragrances
exclusively for them, which will be a great way to ensure the ‘individualistic’ factor of
the brand. Additional perks such as refill options, or gift box customization, are some
lucrative techniques of holding customers. It is established that engagement is road
that goes both ways, and by continuously listening to the customers, BBW can keep its
window of growth open.

• Challenges and recommendations:

As a long-time player in the game, BBW has dodged several hurdles and emerged
victoriously. However, a well-established brand doesn’t equate to a challenge free
lifetime, and BBW will be no exception to the rule. As the younger generations
continually become aware of their carbon footprint, it is inevitable that they will become
environmentally conscious and carefully take decisions regarding their consumer
choices. In such a scenario, what once again is demanded of BBW is to branch out its
product range to include eco-friendly products, along with sustainable packaging
alternatives, to also include the conscious consumer base. While this does sound
simple enough, it is quite contradictory to the USP of BBW, which stands out because
of its ever evolving and dynamic range of products. Focusing on recycling, reusing
packaging, and adapting other ways of going green will give a major boost to the
sales. BBW also claims to be the “affordable” body care brand, but can't really play the
same card in countries such as India. People in such countries might not be
accustomed to the concept of indulging into body care, and even if they are, there is
always a sense of hesitation when it comes to spending their hard-earned money in
these areas. In such cases BBW as a brand, needs to either accept its position as a
luxury brand, or launch region-specific fragrance options which are available at a lower
price. This will not only attract more customers to be a part of the clan, but also will
boost sales tremendously.

• Conclusion:

Understanding the current landscape of the beauty and body care market that is a
sensory driven segment, Bath and Body Works is a true example of building an empire
through understanding the nitty-gritties of its target market. They understand that
marketing isn’t a stagnant accessory, but a dynamic necessity. Building their brand
over the years, by first capturing the attention of audience by being relatable, and then
slowly carving out a niche that customers feel comfortable in and accustomed to, thus
ensuring retention, has been their recipe to success, which they have boldly identified
and replicated across the globe to gain international validation. For decades it has
survived among competition, and the differentiator, being the range and product
variety, has definitely boosted the reputation of the brand, scintillating enthusiasm
among all customers, who don’t shy away in indulging self- care through fragrances.
Their evolving marketing techniques and tactics have kept the brand relevant enough
to stand the test of time, and digitization in just the appropriate amount has been a
major aid in adding the personal touch to the several marketing campaigns and letting
customers enjoy justified perks as a part of their loyalty program. Being relatively
successful for the long haul, however, in no ways indicates that the future for the brand
will be unproblematic. With the changing times and customer demographics and
preferences, it is obvious that BBW will need to shift towards including certain new
strategies, such as eco-friendly products, more engaging loyalty programs, extra perks,
and a more personalized shopping experience, both in-store as well as online. By
inculcating such tactics, Bath and Body Works will be able to sail smoothly through the
waters, continuing the legacy they built on a strong foundation years ago, which still
keeps BBW at the top of its game.