Project Management Reflective Blog: Competitors. 27/11/13.

I began this task by visiting and photographing Body Shop's competitive stores; luckily I was visiting Amsterdam at the weekend so I was able to document my shopping experience within the French based store Loccitane. I particularly enjoyed their customer service of adding free samples within my gift wrapped products which were wrapped within paper spritzed with their current perfume on offer at the counter.

photograph taken by moi.

I also received a mini hand massage to display how sparkly their shimmer body balm was! I liked the product but my boyfriend pitched in saying you’ll get glitter all over me! Me and the two loccitane sales women laughed and didn’t push me to buy the product, which I liked very much! As I feel many sales people push for sales and just push me out their store without purchasing a single product as they put me off like a pongy smell! Their approach to customer service I felt was to a high standard, high quality, indulgent, leaving the customer feeling pampered and special. I also did a little research with their relationships with the other companies to promote their product to their target audience, having an overnight kit containing sample products supplied to KLM airlines business class passengers, I thought that was a really clever use of company collaboration.

I also visited another competitor store of The Body Shop: Lush. Prepared with a notepad and a smile and a little white lie (I’m a student studying merchandising and interior design)wink wink, I walked over to my local Hull store. I located a very lovely employee who was very helpful and passionate about the company she worked for! Giving me ample information and history of Lush, here are a few statements she made ‘All employees have an input in merchandise displays’ ‘like a hippy, creative family, shouldn’t cost the earth’ ‘fresh, organic, ingenious, innovative retail’ Lush’s ethics are just as strong as The Body Shop’s own.

A few key things to remember is: they source their own vanilla absolute, their own sandalwood funded farm, they are passionate members of the palm oil federation, their soaps contains no palm oil, but use rapeseed oil for the soap base, in September 2013 the company invented and introduced their own seaweed glitter (normally made from plastic) within their bath bombs to prevent pollution when the their products enters our seas. They recycle their black pots that contain their products into colourful patterned scarves which are sold in the store which are promoted to be used to gift wrap products with a knotting technique,

an alternative to your average gift box, which also reminds me of what excited me most of all! Their gift box packaging! It was a great time to go as they had just received they Christmas collection! Inspired by traditional prints of William Morris, the costume worn by Ziggy Stardust and the popping and confetti of party poppers and Christmas crackers! After researching these current competitor designs I can’t wait to explore potential gift box packaging designs for The Body Shop within our project applying what I have found!