Burt’s bee – an American company
Burt’s bee is an American company that deals into personal care products. It has differentiated its self on the basis of ‘Earth Friendly, Natural Personal Care Company’. Their products are being made from beeswax, natural oils, herbs and minerals (Smith, Dulcinea Norton, 2008, March). This company begun its operations in the year 1984 when Roxanne Quimby and Burt Shavitz an ex-couple living in Maine started making candles. They were made from they by-product of beeswax obtained from Burt’s honey business. This invention made sale up to $20,000 by the end of first year.
Soon they product earned recognition and got orders form a boutique in New York. They added many organic beauty products to expend this line. In the year 1991 they added their best seller product lip balm. Soon they discontinued their famous candle production and concentrated on personal care items. Currently their product line includes face, body, men’s grooming, baby care, hair, lip care and outdoor remedies product. Their products are being sold in different countries of the world including United States, United Kingdoms, Canada, Ireland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Retail Experiment Burt’s bee distinguished itself on the basis of organic and eco friendly products. It created a niche for it’s product by targeting people who are more inclined towards purchasing and using less chemical oriented products. Retail business can be explained as sale of goods or merchandises directly to customers through a fixed point. Availability of logistics and expansion plans play a vital role in deciding either a company should move into retail business or not.
When a profit bearing company like Burt’s Bee plans to expand its operation they have to make an appearance in shelves of different departmental stores, malls, grocery stores even drug stores to be more visible over other competitor products. Making such strong appearance is not possible by limiting it’s self to being a manufacturer and a direct seller. Looking at online shopping websites (which is also a part of retail business) it brings products at a click of one button. It also saves human resource and middle man profit.
It gives endless shelf-space to a manufacturer to display its products. Burt’s bee was already selling their product through QVC and making handsome amount of profit on it. It was time to get into physical retail business to increase their profitability. Retail business has many different advantages. If one person is out to buy grocery for home might also want to purchase any product that he sees on shelves. We all try to experiment with new products. This experimental nature is at peek when we go out of the house to do a week’s shopping.
Instead of going at one particular shop to buy a specific product we all prefer one place stop that has all the products. It’s an era of expediency and we enjoy taking advantage of it. Retail business aids in saving time for a lot of customers. People are so busy in their personal and professional lives they prefer buying all what they need from one places rather than visiting different shops for specific products. Retail business also gives an edge over all those strong products available only at their dedicated shops.
Their presences can be easily overlapped with a product that is available at every nook and corner. People usually go out with friends to malls for shopping. Strong word of mouth can also play a heavy role in increasing sales. Burt’s bee has a reputable name in the market and a loyal set of customers. Changing brand habit should not be a difficult task for them once the presence of their product becomes prominent. Appearance of Roxxane Quimby at different retail shops once in a while will add to customer satisfaction.
When she started the business by selling beeswax candle she realized that most of her customers looked at the bottom of it to check its finishing. Costumers are very particular about quality maintenance. Heavy marketing can attract more customers to meet the proud owner of the product they are using. The fear of being discontinued from the end users can also be minimized through this strategy. This can also be done through comment cards. People can fill them and send it to her to give her. Retail business enables a customer to compare products at the location.
This comparison can be made on the basis of ingredients, prices and packaging. Burt’s bee has the competitive advantage of being organic and less chemically treated product over others. It has gain popularity for being made from natural oils unlike other products available in the market. Conclusion Thus opting for a retail business will help them achieve desired target in a given time period. It becomes difficult to be a direct seller and expend to different countries. Though sales and revenues increase can not be separated from good marketing campaign.
Promotion incentives like free samples can also be used to help purchase of new products and attract more customers. Heavy ATL (Above The Line) and BTL (Below The Line) marketing can also increase product awareness and spread the brand name amongst non users. Product availability will have a proportionate effect on increase sales. With higher demand price can also be increased. People are ready to pay a high amount but do not believe in compromising in quality. They will always choose convenience of purchasing ten things from one shop then roaming around 10 shops to buy one thing.
