Case Study: A Deeper Insight Into the Marketing Strategy of Lush

 

In this blog, we will be Dissecting the Innovative Marketing Strategy of Lush taking a deep dive into the world of  yet another leading cosmetics brand that is anything but ordinary. With a strong presence in over 50 countries, the use of the wildly colorful and playful nature of products has helped it win millions of users around the globe.

This blog will peel back the layers of Lush’s marketing strategy, exploring the mix of tactics that have helped them carve out a huge chunk of the market. We’ll delve into their unique approach, analyze their competitors’ strategies, and run a quick analysis to figure out who’s got the competitive advantage when it comes to social media strategies.

About Lush

Headquartered in Poole, United Kingdom, Lush was cofounded by trichologist Mark Constantine with his five friends and creative partners in 1995 after the collapse of their previous mail-order business Cosmetics To Go. The company has 951 stores in 49 countries worldwide and major production facilities in the United Kingdom, Canada, Croatia, Germany, and Australia producing and selling a variety of cosmetic products ranging from soaps and shampoos to scrubs and masks. One-fifth of its stores are located in the USA alone.

Lush doesn’t believe in advertising policies and hence, doesn’t spend extravagantly on television campaigns and celebrity endorsements unlike most of the other competitive brands. 

However, it has been seen partnering with third parties occasionally. During the holiday season of 2018, the company partnered with several famous drag queens to promote its newest collections. 

Through a “random act of kindness”, the company sometimes allows the staff to organize giveaways. Lush says that it works on the principle of making the store welcoming to all.

What’s new with Lush

Check out some current news about Lush:

• Lush is among several UK beauty and fashion brands joining India’s Fashion Forum 2023.
• Lush Cosmetics opening a Lush Hair Lab salon in Brighton.
• Lush taps into the Barbie craze with a limited-edition collection. A comprehensive selection of personal and beauty care items in the iconic pink color of the doll is available in the Barbie x Lush Collection.
• In September 2023, Lush unveiled its latest innovation a “worlds-first” device to help elevate bathing and wellness experiences at home. This new innovative waterproof product called a Bath-bots sits at the bottom of your tub and provides a fun light, sound, and color display.

Now that we know about Lush let’s understand the target customers of Lush.

Target Audience of Lush

The primary target market of Lush Cosmetics is young, working women between 18 and 45 years old. These women earn middle-to-high wages and have advanced degrees. Additionally, they typically reside in cities or close by.

To get a clear understanding have a look at the buyer’s persona of Lush given below:

Now that we know about Lush and its vision, let’s directly jump to its marketing mix to develop a clearer understanding of the study.

Marketing Mix of Lush

The marketing mix focuses on the 4Ps of Product, Pricing, Place, and Promotion, which play a vital role in determining a company’s ultimate offering to its target audience. So let’s have a look at the marketing mix of Lush:

Product Strategy of Lush

Lush is known for its natural handmade body care products. It is known for its handmade cosmetics and has positioned itself as a natural brand, providing fresh products without the use of any preservatives. It targets potential customers who prefer a natural and vegan lifestyle. 

It produces and sells cosmetic products like hair and shower gel, face wash, bath bombs, body wash and fragrances, scrubs, and face masks. 

It uses the following product strategies to attract its customers:

• All the products are made using vegetable recipes only, 85% of which are also vegan.
• It offers different varieties of various cosmetics based on the type of fruits used in flavouring.
• It emphasizes the need for a greener environment by using biodegradable products and re-used bottles.

A Lush store displaying their various products

Price Strategy of Lush

Lush has adopted a premium pricing strategy. To reduce costs, the company pays special attention to keeping packaging costs to a minimum. It prices its products comparatively higher due to the following reasons:

• Organic and handmade products drive up the cost
• It follows a strategy to keep the products fresh for a longer time which increases the cost

Their target audience is mainly upper-class women making the premium pricing strategy successful.

Place & Distribution Strategy of Lush

Lush operates in over 50 countries with 950+ stores globally and has partnered with many retailers worldwide. 

It started its journey from a small place at Poole in England and spread its presence in several places in the world. Products can be purchased via retail outlets as well they are available online.

Promotion Strategy of Lush

Lush has adopted several marketing policies to promote its products. Lush’s promotion strategy is executed through both offline and online means. Its website provides various discounts and coupons on certain purchases. Lush primarily focuses on creating print/poster ad campaigns.

The site’s landing page provides an option to choose a language as per one’s country. Customers’ word of mouth also plays a huge role in their brand’s advertising.

The brand launched an advertising campaign for its newly launched product in 2021, you can check it out here –

 

Let’s now understand Lush’s unique marketing strategies that helped it to prosper globally.

Marketing Strategy of Lush

Marketing strategies are a company’s long-term plan for acquiring prospective customers and retaining existing ones. 

Lush has always been involved in some innovative marketing strategies that distinguish the brand in the market. Let’s have a look at the marketing strategy of Lush:

Branding and Positioning

Lush has created a vibrant and distinctive brand identity to attain maximum recognition in the cosmetics sector. Lush has developed an instantly recognized brand image thanks to its vividly colored packaging and creative product names.

The utilization of the interesting marketing strategy of Lush and an active social media presence, both have positioned Lush as a premium, yet quirky and approachable company, further strengthening this brand image.

The Unmarketing Philosophy

In the initial stages, Lush started experimenting with content to communicate its core values of protecting the environment with handmade natural products on its website. 

It acted on its customers’ feedback from there and adjusted its content accordingly. This strategy may seem a basic step but it helped Lush with 40% more sales in 2016.

No Traditional Marketing

Lush does not believe in traditional marketing and hence, does not have a separate department for the same. 

The founders believed that a good product is the best advertising a brand can have and thus, always focused on providing the customers with the best quality and innovative products.

Against Animal Testing – A Unique Selling Point

The founders were against animal testing even before starting the company and incorporated their ethical values in Lush too. 

The company tested its products on human testers instead and did not relate with suppliers who did not share the same ideology. 

Lush’s love for the environment is one constant that has always attracted new customers to its products.

In-store experience

Lush demonstrates that even in a digital-first world, a well-crafted in-store experience can be a powerful differentiator, fostering brand loyalty and driving sales. Lush recognizes the irreplaceable value of physical retail. Their vibrant stores, filled with unique displays and captivating aromas, go beyond mere product sales Customers can touch the textures, smell the invigorating scents, and even see product demonstrations, fostering a deeper connection with the brand.

Enthusiastic employees serve as knowledgeable guides, answering questions and creating a personalized shopping experience.

This commitment to physical retail complements their digital presence. Online shoppers might be drawn in by aesthetics or product information, but the in-store experience allows customers to fully understand and appreciate Lush’s unique offerings.

Now that we have a good idea about the marketing strategy of lush, let us dive further into its collaborations programs

Lush’s Collaborations

Over the past year, Lush has made limited edition licensed product agreements a key component of its retail strategy, and it is reaping the benefits. It has released cross-collaborations with some of the largest brands in gaming, TV, toys, and entertainment. Some of them are mentioned here:

• Lush’s limited edition bathing range is inspired by Nintendo’s popular Super Mario Bros gaming franchise.
• The exclusive Lush x SpongeBob collection a partnership with TV network Paramount has been another huge success.
• Mattel-approved Lush X Barbie product range and pop-up is the recently launched limited edition. Celebrating the pink color in all its glory. Tapping into Barbiemania, day one sales for the bathing collection on the retailer’s app came in at £138,000 – the biggest sales day reported in its app history. 

Marketing Campaigns of Lush

Sometimes it is fury over how people treat animals, sadness over how people treat one another or fear over the state of climate change and our vulnerable earth.

Lush always collaborates with activists, grass-roots organizations, and campaign organizations who devote their life to the featured problem when they launch campaigns about these issues through their stores and websites. Following are some examples of the campaigns of Lush:

Have a Heart Campaign

Lush collaborated with the nonprofit Galop to create the Have a Heart Campaign, which seeks to outlaw “conversion therapy.”

Around Valentine’s Day in the UK, our campaign urged our clients and staff to scan a QR code to email their local representatives urging them to support the ban.

Ban Snares

In August 2021, we witnessed the start of Animal Aid’s campaign to #BanSnares, featuring across all 101 UK Lush shops. A stunning performance by aerial dancers in Lush Oxford Street over the weekend beautifully depicted the pain of being caught in a snare.

Lush campaign to raise awareness of the importance of pollinators

Lush Cosmetics has started a new campaign to increase public awareness of the value of pollinators to the global food supply and ecosystem.
Sales of Lush’s limited-edition Rose Butterfly Bath Bomb benefit charities that seek to safeguard important insects and mammals.

Now that we know the company’s ideology and strategy to acquire customers, let’s have a look at the digital marketing strategy of Lush in the coming section.

Land defenders, water protectors

This campaign was made in collaboration with the Indigenous Peoples Rights International & The Blue Planet Project. The bath bomb created for this initiative was called Guardian of the Forest. It had blue and green hues resembling that of a globe. This new campaign was launched to continue to show support to the indigenous community mainly focusing on women and girls battling at the front lines of climate crisis.

Now that we know the company’s ideology and strategy to acquire customers, let’s have a look at the digital marketing strategy of Lush in the coming section.

Digital Marketing Strategy of Lush

Lush has a successful digital marketing strategy in place. It has a wide social media presence and can be found on various platforms namely Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. It promotes its products through digital means.

Lush’s Instagram Page

Lush’s Facebook Page

Lush’s Twitter Page

Lush’s Youtube Page

Lush has a huge following on all the given platforms. The company also has different channels based on geographical areas such as Lush UK, Lush Russia, and Lush Switzerland.

After having a closer look at Lush’s Instagram account, it was found that their reels can gather a reach of 43k views, their recent posts had an engagement of around 3k likes only. 

One of the reasons can be the fact that there is no way of finding the true views of a post but reels can still be a powerful tool to expand their reach and hence, should be looked into.

A Time for Change:

Recently, Lush UK took a bold move to evolve its social media strategy to primarily focus and invest more heavily in its owned platforms (Lush.com, Labs.lush.com, and Lush Labs app) rather than third-party platforms. 

They announced that they will no longer be posting on Lush UK’s main channels but will continue to communicate with their customers through hashtags such as #LashCommunity across Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. 

Competitors form a big part of a company’s success, doesn’t it? Let’s see what strategies Lush adopts that help it to remain one step ahead of its competitors.

Let’s do a quick analysis of their social media presence to learn more about the marketing strategy of Lush:

Design Element

 The Body Shop’s Twitter Page

A company’s social media designs help it to attract customers to a great extent and hence, should not be neglected. The Body Shop maintains consistency on its Twitter page by using natural colors while Lush focuses on fun, funky, and bright colors. Lush has remained one step ahead of The Body Shop in designing a colorful header photo for their page. The latter hasn’t taken out time to update it yet.

Voice Tone

A brand’s tone of voice determines its relationship with the customers and helps it to sound appealing.

Lush believes in a more friendly approach and occasionally shares about their experiences and team which has helped them to generate tons of customer interaction.

Engagement

Engagement is a vital component of the social media marketing strategy of Lush without which there is no point in putting all this hard work into thinking of new creative ideas and campaigns. Lush leveraged this rich user-generated content across their social channels and got positive results.

The Body Shop uses social media platforms to share about their products while Lush uses them to interact with their existing and potential customers. On average, Lush gains about 96 new followers with a loss of 2 followers a day. On the other hand, The Body Shop can gain only 45 new followers with a loss of 3 followers a day (Source: Audience Resources).

Did the blog get you curious about digital marketing? Want to learn and make your career in it? Our program can help you gain valuable insights, Enroll in our Post Graduation in Digital Marketing program and start your journey towards success.

Competitor Analysis of Lush

Let’s have a look at the competitors of Lush:

• Natura & Co: Natura & Co is a Brazilian global personal care cosmetics group headquartered in São Paulo.
• Body Shop: The Body Shop is a British manufacturer of cosmetics, skin care products, and fragrances.
• Sephora: Sephora is another French multinational retailer that provides personal care and beauty products. Check out the marketing strategy of Sephora to get more insights about the brand.
• Bath & Body Works: Bath & Body Works, LLC. is an American retail chain that provides candles, soaps, lotions, and scents. In 1990, it was established in New Albany, Ohio.
• Avon: Found in 1886, Avon is one of the most well-known and largest cosmetic companies in the world. As a global leader in direct selling, they’ve reached millions with a network spanning over 100 countries. With annual revenue exceeding $9 billion, Avon continues to be a force to be reckoned with in the cosmetics industry.
  

To beat the competition and sustain the changing market trends the marketing strategy of Lush needs to be well-planned. Lush needs to keep up with the new trends.

Failed Campaign

Before concluding let us see any campaign of Lush that did not work well or faced any backlash.

Go Naked – A Marketing Campaign of Lush

Lush is always busy discovering new ways of minimizing wastage. In one such discovery, it started selling its products with minimal packaging. It went with no packaging for some products which could be carried in colour-coded paper bags. 

Lush marketed its new initiative with a ‘Go Naked’ advert. It showed 4 naked women of various shapes and sizes standing with their backs to the camera to promote body positivity. 

Lush Cosmetics in Australia and New Zealand had clashed with the country’s Advertising Standards Board over this campaign. The image was deemed “pornographic” and “inappropriate for the family environment of the shopping center,” according to several complaints that were sent to the Advertising Standards Board.

Hence, the advert was highly criticized and termed as a pornographic campaign and eventually taken down.

Here we come to the end of a case study on the marketing strategy of Lush. Let’s conclude our analysis of the case study now.

Conclusion

From being just a supplier to The Body Shop to competing with it head-to-head, Lush has come a long way. It has acquired a place in the customers’ hearts with its handmade natural products even after having a premium pricing strategy. 

Lush believes in a ‘no-advertising’ policy. It is respected worldwide for its practices to ensure minimal wastage to protect the environment. It has a competitive advantage over The Body Shop on social media which it needs to maintain and subsequently, there should be a strong marketing strategy of Lush to execute on other platforms as well. 

This case study highlights the dynamic nature of Lush’s marketing strategy, emphasizing the need for continuous updates to maintain its strong market position. 

Like this blog? Interested in learning further? Do check our Online Digital Marketing Course and gain valuable experience from it.

Still unsure if our program is right for you? We can give you a thorough overview of its structure and benefits to help you decide, you can check out our Free Digital Marketing Masterclass by Karan Shah.

Let us know your thoughts on the in the comment section below. Thank you for reading, do share with your peers.