The Marketing mix of Lush analyses the 4Ps of Lush, which includes the Product, Price, Place, and Promotion of Lush. Lush Ltd is a private limited company based in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1995 by its co-founders, Liz Weir and Mark Constantine, a beauty therapist and a trichologist, respectively. The company is associated with the retail cosmetics industry as it deals in the cosmetic sector. As the world is leaning towards everything green and natural, Lush has retained its solid foothold as a dependable and organic cosmetic brand in the consumer market. It faces competition from the following-
- Johnson & Johnson
- Mark
- The Procter & Gamble Company
About Lush Cosmetics
- Type: British cosmetics retailer
- Industry: Personal care
- Founded: 1995
- Founders: Mark Constantine, Mo Constantine, Rowena Bird, Helen Ambrose, Liz Weir, and Paul Greeves
- Headquarters: Poole, Dorset, United Kingdom
- Area served: Over 50 countries around the world
- Current CEO: Mark Constantine
- Number of employees: Over 8,000 worldwide
- Major products: Handmade cosmetics, including soaps, shampoos, conditioners, lotions, moisturizers, bath bombs, bubble bars, face masks, and makeup
Table of Contents
Lush Product Strategy
Its customers have defined Lush in three simple words: verdant, green, and fresh. It is a healthcare brand that manufactures several body products using only vegan or vegetarian recipes. These products are 100% vegetarian and have vegetables and fruits as their main ingredients, like coconut, papaya, rosemary oil, avocado butter, vanilla beans, and grapefruit juice. Some items have beeswax, honey, eggs, milk, and lanolin. Lush has a diversified product portfolio that includes several items relating to various body parts, for instance-
Face- Color Essentials, Teeth Products, Shaving Items, Lip Care, Masks, Steamers, Toners, Moisturizers and Cleansers
- Cosmic Lad Moisturizer
- Enchanted Eye Cream
- Magical Moringa Primer
Shower- Shower Scrubs, Body Conditioners, Shower Jellies, shower Gels and Soap
- Face & Body Scrub Ocean Salt
- Soap Rosebud
- Soap Sexy Peel
Bath- Bath Oils, Bubble Bars and Bath Bombs
- Dreamy Lavender Froth
- Aphrodisiac Jasmine Soak
- Bubble Bar Milky Bath
Hair- Henna Hair Dyes, Styling Products, Hair Treatments, Conditioners, Shampoo Bars and Shampoo
- Hair Moisturizer R&B
- Shampoo BIG
- Styling Cream Dirty
Body- Dusting Powders, Deodorants, Solid Body Tints, Massage Bars, Foot Care, Hand Care, Body Cleansers, Shaving Creams, Body Butters and Body Lotions
- Body Lotion Dream Cream
- Body Butter Scrub
- Face and Body Scrub Ocean Salt
Makeup- Skin makeup and eye makeup
- Eyeliner Independent
- Skin Tint Charisma
- Face Powder Emotional Brilliance
Fragrances- Body sprays and Perfumes
- Body Spray Rose Jam
- Body Spray Twilight
- Solid Perfume Breath of God
Lush, known for its environmentally conscious and ethically sourced products, offers diverse items.
The product mix of Lush in 2023 is as follows (Source)
- Bath Bombs: Handmade and often colorful, these bath bombs are a staple of Lush, known for their unique fragrances and effervescent properties.
- Soaps: Lush offers a variety of soaps made with natural ingredients, each with distinctive scents and skin benefits.
- Shampoo Bars: Compact and eco-friendly, these bars are designed for different hair types and are free from harsh chemicals.
- Conditioners: Available in both traditional and solid bar forms, these conditioners are formulated to complement LushLush’smpoos.
- Face Masks: Fresh face masks made with natural ingredients, targeting various skin concerns like dryness, oiliness, or dullness.
- Shower Gels and Jellies: These products come in various scents and textures, offering unique shower experiences.
- Body Lotions: Moisturizing lotions with natural ingredients, each with a unique scent.
- Massage Bars: Solid bars for massage, melting slightly with body heat and often containing essential oils for aromatherapy benefits.
- Perfumes: Lush produces a line of perfumes and body sprays, often inspired by their popular product scents.
- Makeup: A smaller range but includes items like lipsticks and eyeliners, focusing on natural ingredients.
- Environmental Packaging: Lush emphasizes minimal packaging, using recycled materials, and encouraging customers to return containers for recycling.
Lush products are cruelty-free, and many are vegan, aligning their marketing strategy with their ethical stance on animal testing and environmental responsibility.
Lush Place Strategy
Lush is a global brand with a product presence in over fifty countries via an estimated eight hundred outlets. Lush started its journey from a small place at Poole in England and spread its brand’s presence to several places worldwide. Its headquarters are based at Poole in England.
Manufacturing facilities of Lush products have been set up in several places like Dorset and Poole in the United Kingdom, Zagreb in Croatia, Ontario, Toronto, British Columbia, Vancouver in Canada, and Dusseldorf in Germany. Lush makes its products by hand and not via mass machinery production in factory outlets to ensure fresh items in retail stores.
The company has entered some partnership deals to market and sell its products internationally. Products can be purchased via its physical stores, retail outlets, and online platforms. It has tie-ups with online shopping portals that sell its products online to interested customers. Its official website is also its primary outlet for sales and promotional activities.
Lush’s place strategy is as follows:
- Lush predominantly operates brick-and-mortar stores in high-traffic areas like shopping malls and city centers, focusing on accessibility and customer experience.
- The company also has a robust online presence, offering an extensive e-commerce platform that allows customers to shop from the comfort of their homes.
- They often choose locations with a strong community focus, aligning with their environmental awareness and social activism brand ethos.
- Lush stores are distinctively designed with an open-plan layout and minimal packaging, emphasizing their commitment to sustainability and product freshness.
- In select markets, Lush has flagship stores that provide a more immersive experience, showcasing their innovative products and ethical practices.
Lush Pricing Strategy
Lush is known for its handmade cosmetics and has positioned itself as a natural brand offering fresh products without preservatives. It targets women as its prospective customers inclined towards a natural and vegan lifestyle.
The company has paid particular attention to keeping its packaging expenses to the minimum to cut costs, even taking back the used tubs in which the products are sold so that it could recycle them and reuse bottles to save the extra cost. Packaging expenses constitute a significant part of any company, and by keeping them to a minimum, the company has been able to keep its product prices reasonable and affordable.
All its products are handmade and natural, so natural products tend to be a little costly. Organic and handmade products cost more than chemically induced products. Lush has adopted a premium pricing strategy for its products that typically tends towards mid-premium prices.
As its customers are beauty- and health-conscious women from urban cities, they do not hesitate to spend a few extra bucks for these organic items. Lush is a luxury item and has retained its customer base due to a lack of severe competitors in the consumer market.
Lush’s pricing and distribution strategy reflects its commitment to quality, ethics, and sustainability, and it is strategically crafted to align with its brand image and customer expectations. Here’s an overview:
- Value-Based Pricing: Lush sets prices based on the customer’s perceived value of their products. This involves considering the unique benefits of natural ingredients, ethical sourcing, and handcrafted production.
- Premium Pricing: Reflecting the high-quality, ethically sourced ingredients and the handcrafted nature of their products, Lush adopts a premium pricing model. This positions them in the market as a high-end luxury brand.
- Cost-Plus Pricing: For some products, Lush considers the cost of materials, labor, and overheads, adding a fair markup to ensure the sustainability of their business while maintaining ethical standards.
- Psychological Pricing: Lush occasionally employs psychological pricing strategies to make their products more appealing. For instance, pricing items below a round number (like $9.99 instead of $10) can make products seem more affordable.
- Competitive Positioning: While LushLush’scing is generally higher than many mass-market brands, it’s competitive within eco-friendly and ethically produced beauty products. This allows them to stay relevant and appealing to their target market.
Overall, LushLush’s strategy is a careful balance between reflecting the quality and ethics of its products and ensuring market competitiveness, competitive advantage, and customer accessibility.
Lush Promotion Strategy
Lush is a famous organic brand that has adopted various marketing strategies and policies to promote its products in the consumer market. It is known for its unique products, and to maintain this quality, the company marks its products in the black tub with the unique trademark.
As part of its marketing policy, five used black pots are taken back, and in return, the brand gives out a fresh face mask for free. The company has digital marketing, an in-store, newspaper-style catalog, and a stringent policy of not buying ingredients from companies that believe in animal testing. Products are tested on human volunteers before reaching the consumer market.
In 2007, the Charity Pot campaign was launched by Lush. It is a hand and body lotion. The company y donates 100% of the price for every product purchased at its outlets to small-scale organizations working towards human rights, animal welfare, and environmental conservation. Since its launch, the cosmetics company has donated an estimated 10,000,000 Dollars to more than eight hundred and fifty charities in forty-two countries.
Lush is an avid supporter of Sea Shepherd, a group that works towards protecting aquatic animals. It has participated in various CSR campaigns like No Nukes, Stop the Tar Sands, and Save the Seals. Lush believes in content marketing campaigns and, via its official website, offers videos, stories, and product information to stay in direct touch with its customers.
The company gathers feedback and uses it constructively by making healthy changes to improve its brand and products. It also works towards cutting environmental waste by using minimum packaging and recycling its products. Lush has launched a new app to deal directly with its customers. Besides this, the brand promotes heavily via website visits and shop windows designed to educate customers.
Some Recent Video ads and Print ads of Lush are:
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Krisztina Fraknói says
Hi! This is a great artcle! Do you have more detailed material about Lush marketing mix? Thank you. I would need it for my research.