Retail Marketing and Shoppers Experience Assignment

Forest Essentials and LUSH

Submitted By:Disha Bedi

PGDM – MCRoll No 14

FOREST ESSENTIALS

Forest Essentials was founded in 2000 by Mira Kulkarni after many years of meticulous research and development with trained Ayurvedic physicians and is today one of the leading beauty brands in the country.The company has more than 100 products, which are sold in Forest Essential's freestanding stores in India and in high-end hotels and spas.

1. History of the retailer/retail chain

Mira Kulkarni graduated in Fine Arts from Stella Maris College, Chennai after completing her schooling from Loretto Tara Hall, Shimla. Her creations in natural products for skin and hair care is a passion since childhood, always using hand ground herbal powders or ubtans for cleansing and so on. The south was an amazing learning experience for her because it was the norm to use freshly made products for skin and hair using old recipes. She used this to source local herbs from tehri garwal, oils and medicinal roots, which were then made in Ashrams according to ancient Ayurvedic recipes. She realized a gap in the market for user-friendly Ayurvedic products in relation to the traditional Ayurvedic products available, which were too strongly scented and though very effective, not very pleasant to use. Mira Kulkarni worked for many years with vaids and modern biochemists to produce a range, which while keeping the inherent properties of Ayurveda intact, are wonderfully scented and pleasurable to use. Thus the range of Forest Essentials was born.

It was in 2000 that Mira Kulkarni started the brand, first as a hobby. With the help of vaids and modern biochemists, handmade soaps were made and oils were extracted using the cold press ayurvedic method. She wanted to introduce a traditional version of cosmetics made according to ayurveda but with a modern twist. At that time, there was a need for high quality Indian skincare products. It was just the right idea at the right time. By the end of 2002, Forest Essentials had its first customer—general manager at Hyatt Regency in Delhi and eventually the soaps were introduced in room amenities at the hotel.

From its humble beginnings in 2000 and a first store in the Delhi's posh Khan Market in 2003, the brand today has expanded its presence to 16 stores across seven cities. There are two factories in Haridwar and one in Lodsi in Uttarakhand. With an estimated turnover of Rs 50 crore as of 2008 and growing at 70% year-on-year, next on agenda is making it a global brand by 2012. "We want to start with Europe as our first international market.

2. Owners

Mira Kulkarni, managing director of ayurvedic cosmetic brand Forest Essentials, loves the 'exotic' way of life. With a home in Rishikesh's Tehri Garhwal—a hub of ayurveda—Kulkarni was exposed to the benefits of ayurveda from the start.

Her son, Samrath and daughter Divya, are also involved in the business. While Samrath looks after the global growth of the brand, Divya has recently been roped into the retail operations. From its humble beginnings in 2001 and a first store in the Capital's posh Khan Market in 2003, the brand today has expanded its presence to 16 stores across seven cities. There are two factories in Haridwar and one in Lodsi in Uttarakhand. With an estimated turnover of Rs 50 crore as of 2008 and growing at 70% year-on-year, next on agenda is making it a global brand by 2012. "We want to start with Europe as our first international market.

3. Country

Forest Essentials was launched in Delhi, India initially and is expanding globally now. They also ship their products to European and American markets.

4. Formats in which the retailer is present

Forest Essentials is present in India in the following formats:

Brick and Mortar Stores: Today Forest Essentials has 35 stores spread across India.

E-Store: It also sells all its products through its online store in India, as well as globally.

Hospitality Industry: Present as room amenities at leading hotels- Oberoi, Taj, Hyatt.

Spas: Their products are used in various spas and are also sold there.

5. Products

Their range of natural skin care and hair care products advocates the Ayurvedic view that a holistic approach is necessary for beauty care using only naturally distilled pure essential oils, pure cold pressed, organically grown vegetable oils and plant extracts should be used in skin applications. They use age-old Ayurvedic formulations from scholars in many of their herb ingredients, oil formulas, and Vedic treatments. This is then interspersed with the understanding of a modern biochemist’s point of view to create products that have their basis in India’s oldest science but presented in an easy-to-use manner.

They have products broadly classified under four categories:

Body Care

Facial Care

Hair Care

Wellness

With a price range of Rs 100 for soaps and Rs 2,000 for serums and night creams in the skincare range and hair oils between Rs 395 - Rs 495, Forest Essentials' clients are from among the well-off.

6. Store Positioning

Forest Essentials aims to provide a unique and personalised shopping experience to the customers. It is currently competing with global brands like L’Occitane, Kiehl’s, and The Body Shop to certain extent. All these brands, like Forest Essentials, offer nature based products, and follow aromatherapy, and many ayurvedic beauty care recipes. Since the products from each of these brands offer similar product experience, so Forest Essentials is trying to establish a brand identity by creating an experience that feeds a customer’s sense of the exotic.

7. Branding

Forest Essentials plans to showcase its traditional Indian roots and enhance its branding as an exotic beauty and spa brand. By 2008, Forest Essentials emerged as the top spa products maker in the Indian Market.

8. Uniqueness of the retailer

Their products are not made in factories in industrial areas, but in the Himalayas, in villages in Uttaranchal, using local labour. Their very own spring water has therapeutic and regenerative qualities and has been certified by laboratories in France as being rich in mineral deposits, which makes for its unique properties. This water is used in all our products.

Kulkarni's strategy for her brand turned out to be very effective. She used lighter textures and pure essential oils as opposed to regular ayurveda products that were messy and uncomfortable. They gave the brand a connotation of luxury. Their USP has been in making the use of such products light, pleasurable and utilitarian. They try to make it as exotic as possible.

9. Future Plans

Premium ayurveda brand Forest Essentials is planning to add nine more exclusive stores by the end of 2016. In 2008 luxury brand Estée Lauder had picked up a minority stake in the company providing it access to the global network and practices of Estée Lauder. With its association with Estée Lauder, Forest Essentials has a chance to use the brand’s international network. Meanwhile the company is focusing on increasing its product portfolio and at the same time repackaging its products to ensure better quality and global standards. The company is also exploring the shop-in-shop option with retail chain such as Shoppers Stop. Currently about 60% of the company’s revenue comes from supplies to hotels and spas. The company, however, sees future growth in retail and not in hospitality. They also plan to have their own spas in the future.

10. Visual Merchandising

Forest Essential’s store design features traditional Indian aesthetics reminiscent of a princely pas, while classic Indian architecture and design with a fusion of natural materials become an interpretation of artisanal skills depicting Indian colours, vibrancy, form and structure.

Its flagship store in Khan Market, Delhi has been given an old world apothecary feel with jewel box setting where the products are displayed to maximum advantage. The ambience is coloured by beautiful photographs of women, taking inspiration from Indian classic painter Raja Ravi Verma’s paintings. The brand has collaborated with Peter D’Ascoli and Nomita Sawhney for design input and Ashish Chawla for his ethereal imagery. The company will be extending similar shopping ambience to its other stores across the country.

11. Promotional campaign

Forest Essentials promotes itself as brand that gets you products direct form the nature. It wants to showcase that the ayurvedic ingredients used in its products are 100% natural and are soothing for your body.

12. Advertisement

LUSH

Lush is a UK-based cosmetics company, famous for producing and selling a variety of hand-made products, including soaps, shampoos, shower gels, lotions, moisturizers, scrubs, masks and other cosmetics for the face, hair, and body. Lush uses vegetarian recipes and fresh ingredients, like organic fruits and vegetables. Globally, Lush has over 900 stores and 6000 employees in more than 50 countries. Lush is headquartered in Poole, Dorset, United Kingdom.

1. History of the retailer/retail chain

In the early 80s, Mark read about Anita Roddick who had just started The Body Shop. He thought she sounded like-minded, so called her and offered her some of his products. She put in an order for £1,200 to start with, and from there Mark and Liz developed phenomenal products for The Body Shop and became the company's biggest supplier for over a decade. It was at this point The Body Shop decided to buy their product formulas.

The Body Shop's purchase of their product formulas forbade Mark and Liz from opening another retail shop for five years, so they setup a mail order cosmetics company called Cosmetics-To-Go. They lavished all their money and attention on it, and it was a very successful although complicated venture that ended up burning out. The company went into administration and sold to someone from Poole, who took the product formulas and the Cosmetics-To-Go name.

Mark and Liz, along with Mo Constantine, Helen Ambrosen, Rowena Bird and Paul Greaves from Cosmetics-To-Go, spent what little moneythey had left on fresh fruits and vegetables at the market. In a little shop in Poole, they hand made products upstairs that were being sold downstairs. They had previously been paying another company to come up with the fragrances for their products, but found out the perfumes weren't always pure, so Mark decided he would create the perfumes himself. A competition was launched for customers to give the company a new name. One customer suggested LUSH, which is defined as being fresh, green, and verdant. And it fitted them very well.

2. Owners

Mark Constantine, a trained trichologist (one who studies the health of hair and scalp) and Liz Weir, a beauty therapist, met in a hair and beauty salon in Poole, England. A few years later, they decided to branch out and start their own business selling natural hair and beauty products. They set to work in their homes creating products with fresh, natural ingredients for the hair and skin.

3. Country

Lush was founded and headquartered in Poole, Dorset, United Kingdom. Today they have around 400 stores worldwide.

4. Formats in which the retailer is present

Lush is present in India in the following formats:

Brick and Mortar Stores: Today Lush has 900 stores spread across the world.

E-Store: It also sells all its products globally through its online store.

5. Products

Lush produces soaps, shampoos, shower gels, lotions, moisturizers, scrubs, masks and other cosmetics for the face, hair, and body using vegetarian recipes. Solid shampoos as well as "Toothy Tabs" which are solid toothpaste tablets are also available for purchase online and in retail. Lush is also known for their "Bath Bombs" which are solid bars of sodium bicarbonate. In 2012, Lush began selling their "Emotional Brilliance" makeup collection, which includes 13 liquid lipsticks, 11 liquid eyeliners, and six cream shadows. Lush also launched their first mascara, Eyes Right, under the "Emotional Brilliance" line.

Lush products are made in factories around the world including Poole, Dorset, Toronto, Canada, and Vancouver, Canada, and are made in small batches based on orders from individual stores to ensure the freshness of the product. Lush marks its trademark black tub products with stickers of the actual creators of the product being sold, a unique trademark stamped on their recyclable polypropylene plastic black pots. The company also offers its customers a way to recycle their used black pots by bringing the empty ones back to the store for a free Fresh Face Mask for every five they return. Along with a digitally created photograph of the creator, there is an expiration date for each Lush product, since they are made from all natural ingredients. Most Lush products are to be stored at room temperature, with the exception of their Fresh Face Masks, which are to be refrigerated due to the absence of preservatives and the main ingredients being fruits and vegetables. Stores do not typically sell products older than four or five months and most products have a shelf life of approximately 14 months pending on the particular product.

6. Store Positioning

Lush positions itself as “Happy People Making Happy Soap”.

They also use the following points to position themselves:

Organic, fresh, handmade products that are unique No testing on animals - Products are developed in house Involved in recycling old products for future use Company creates new products annually and discontinues previous products to keep Lush innovative and interesting Relates to consumers in letting them know who actually makes the Products

7. Branding

One of the strongest qualities about Lush is that all their products are completely handmade and one hundred per cent organic. Their soaps, shampoos, and body wash are made from ingredients found in nature and often have a shelf life of one year. Most beauty products in the industry contain different kinds of chemicals and can sit on store shelves for years. For Lush, a bar of soap isn’t just a bar of soap—it’s a story. Each Lush product has a unique and important narrative that starts with the product’s invention and ingredient sourcing, and ends with the customer’s own experience. The company has been telling those stories in its stores for 20 years, inspiring a loyal fan following around the world.

The company does not have a traditional marketing department and relied more on unconventional products, wacky product names, in-store advertising, word-of-mouth advocacy, and public relations.

8. Uniqueness of the retailer

Lush products are handmade and 100% vegetarian. They are 83% vegan and 60% preservative-free and feature grapefruit juice, vanilla beans, avocado butter, rosemary oil, fresh papaya and coconut. They contain more traditional soap ingredients, including glycerine, potatoes, linalool, and methyl- and propyl-parabens. However, some products contain lanolin, milk, eggs, honey and beeswax.

The advantage of informing customers that Lush products are all made fresh and do not contain any preservative gives them a competitive edge against other competitors. Another factor distinguishes Lush from their competitors is their stance against cosmetic testing on animals. Lush is passionate about protecting and enforcing animal rights. Most companies in the industry like to experiment on animals to see how the chemicals in the products would affect the skin. With Lush, they know that by making all their products fresh and with organic ingredients, no further testing is called for.

9. Future Plans

The world is becoming more and more progressive by each day; the consumers want organic products that are politically and environmentally conscious. It is because of this that Lush Cosmetics aims to push their innovative products and eventually dominate the cosmetic industry. Constantine's vision was to have 1,000 Lush stores around the world by 2017. He admitted that the biggest challenge in expanding the number of stores was not financial resources, but availability of stores in the right location and at the right price. He also wants to strike the right balance between perfect ingredients and reasonable prices.

10. Visual Merchandising

The Furniture throughout the store is made up of polished wood, going in theme with the “natural” theme of Lush. Various different sized stools, tables, shelves, boxed etc are used to diplay the products. Thus the organized, clean yet casual display of the merchandise makes it very easy for the customer to browse through. Signage is extensively used throughout the showroom. And all these signages follow one simple design. Due to natural quality and simplicity of its merchandise, Lush focuses on more open and simple display, both for Window display and for merchandise Display.

11. Promotional campaign

Lush has very limited advertisements or marketing promotions. They rely on awareness of CSR campaigns, Green Initiative, No Animal Testing, Highly informative website. They also rely heavily on hands on experience and in store experience.

12. Advertisement

KEY LEARNINGSBoth Forest Essentials and LUSH are similar brands, they both make products that are natural. Still both brands have positioned themselves differently. Forest Essentials is more towards ethnic and luxurious side whereas LUSH is positioned with a Fun factor. The brands’ visual merchandising, product placement, logo, signage, advertisements vary and both maintain their respective position and brand personality in all communication.