Browsing through
the stores of EA mall in Chennai, I suddenly got drawn by the sweet scent of Jasmine
and lavender. I noticed that it was The Nature’s Co, a store that sells natural
beauty products. The first thing that I noticed about the store was that there are no doors to the store so the
sweet scent pulls in the passers-by into the store.
The ‘PETA’ logo at the entrance explains that no cruelty was shown to any animals
in the process of producing the beauty products. This feature creates a soft
corner in the hearts of the customers. This turns out to be the USP of the
store. To complement the above mentioned features, the colours of the products
and the store were very soothing and
light. The product categories- ‘Atmosphere’, ‘Earthborne’, ‘Foressence’,
‘Aquaspark’ and ‘Starrize’, suggest natural elements. These features seemed to
support the fact that the products were indeed 100% natural.
I had a long conversation with Ms. Saru, the store manager who gave me details about the
shop, the customers and the marketing strategies employed in general. She told
me that there are currently 9 outlets all over India and they are expanding
further in South India. The production unit is based in Dehradun. She informed that 60% of their
customers are foreigners, 30% are Indian customers who already know about
the product. The remaining 10% are the
Indians who have the money to purchase but have no knowledge about the
products. Customers are explained about the products and the company and the location of manufacture of the products. Many customers in Chennai find it enticing to
know that the products have been distributed
from the North. It gives an exotic feel to the product. The natural
ingredients of the products and their benefits are explained in detail to the
customers. The PETA logo is an added advantage.
Testers are made use of to demonstrate the products. They have
testers for every product. This creates
a level of confidence in the customer about
the products because use of testers seems to be the seller’s way of telling
the customers to buy it only if they like it.
This creates a feeling in the minds of the customers that the sellers
are not in any desperate situation to sell off their products and they hold a high opinion of their
products.
Ms. Saru also told me that they attract their customers by giving discounts
on fat purchases. The price range of the products is Rs. 250- Rs.2000. Different strategies are followed in
different seasons. I noticed an offer at the entrance of the store. “FACE the
SUMMER” – free 10 minute detox with a purchase of RS. 750/-. This is one of the
strategies that they employ to increase and retain their customer base. Their
peak sales are during holidays when people hop out to blow off some heat and
spend some time in the shopping malls.
Mainly Mumbai records the highest
sales closely followed by Delhi. In the other areas, more people still need to adapt
to the mall culture. Nature’s Co has plans to open stores in Hyderabad as well.
She even showed me their website- www.thenaturesco.com. It was well designed and had all the information about
the company and the products. The
attractive features of the website are that of ‘Cash on delivery’. This is a way of creating customer loyalty and
promoting online shopping. In online shopping the middlemen are avoided and
hence they can give out a share of the profits so generated by the elimination
of middlemen in the form of 15% discount
to the online customers.
Another important feature that I observed on
the site was the use of social media
i.e. the Facebook, to spread awareness about the company and its products.
I noticed that right next to this shop was that of ‘ForestEssentials’
and a little further away on the same floor was ‘Body shop’ which also sell
natural beauty products, so I asked Ms. Saru as to how do they deal with the
competition. She explained that their USP was that they support PETA and do not
use even honey or milk in their products. As the vegan movement is slowly getting
popular all over the world and 60% of their customers are foreigners, the PETA
support factor gives them an advantage. The pro-green initiative they have undertaken also creates a feel good factor in the hearts of the customers that by
purchasing products from Nature’s Co, they have contributed to the ‘go green’
movement.
Ms. Saru also told me that to
ensure customer loyalty, they have
even given out personalized gifts
for women’s day and invited the actress
Neha Dhupia for the celebrations
because women form the major chunk of the customers (98% women and just 2 %
men). In fact, the products that are
bought for men are also purchased by their wife or sister, as the men find it
embarrassing to enter a store with beauty products. I noticed that there was a
guy in the shop to help with the purchases but he did not seem to be well
equipped with the product knowledge. While I was in the shop, a man around the
age of 35 walked in with his two kids to take a look around the shop, but
looking at the posters that showed just pretty women, he felt out of place and
walked away.
I feel that they can expand their
customer base by starting products for men too. Products like fair and
handsome have crept into the market and men have showed great inclination
towards such products. Hence Nature’s Co should start targeting men too so that when the ladies are busy buying their products, the men will have something to browse around and make
purchases too.
Overall The Nature’s Co follows a
very planned and creative marketing strategy by making use of techniques like
social media, purchase based discounts, season based offers, soothing ambience,
open doors, PETA and pro-green initiatives, affiliation with celebrities and
customer loyalty techniques like personalized gifts and gifts vouchers etc. I
conclude my analysis by making a suggestion that by expanding into the men’s
segment they will be able to make further profits and gain an edge over their
competitors.
Srivani Thaduri
FT13480
FT13480
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