(Photo credits: Natural Girl)

Speaking with a friend over dinner, she brought up her delightful experience of working at Lush and went to talk about why she loved working there. She explained to me how the company declines doing business with any supplier who is associated with animal testing or EVEN sold to a company who does animal testing. Furthermore, she found that the company’s culture was very loving and caring – seeing how the employees would be continuously caring for each other even on days outside of work. My interest in the company’s efforts is the reason why Tim’s post about Lush’s Charity Pot provoked me to read on about his understanding of Lush. He stated,

“The Charity pot is part of a larger strategy that sets out to position Lush as a brand with an exceptionally positive impact on the environment, humanitarian cause, and an ethical approach to doing business.”

In his post, he pointed out several interesting points, which made me recognize the interesting methods that Lush uses to interact with consumers and engage them with the brand. In correspondence with what Tim said about the campaigns supporting ethical issues, I recognize the kind of value it creates for a customer, especially as it is done a personal level. Lush does not use mainstream marketing channels to communicate its brand to consumers. In my experience, I have never seen any TV or newspaper ads from the company; instead, Lush gains a lot of publicity from its campaigns, which are often published as articles. Also getting much attention through word-of-mouth (in my case for example).

Its key point of differentiation is that all its products are handmade and completely organic. Being environmentally friendly and using organic products are one of the most significant issues today and this market creates a strong potential for Lush, as it is already one step ahead of the game. I remember buying some bath bombs from its mother’s day collection and nothing but a simple tag was attached, which was compostable and was suggested to be planted, as it was embedded with seeds. It was quite interesting to see the packaging of the product and noting that the packaging of all its products are either non-existent (bath bomb example) or recyclable. This entices consumers to buy from Lush, as it will allow them to feel a sense of positive contribution and impact to the environment. Lush has done an excellent job of covering all bases of their operations and has successfully positioned itself in such a way that has differentiated itself from its competitors and created a sustainable competitive advantage.

Lush’s most current endeavour? To no surprise, it’s getting on board with European Week of Waste Reduction. Read more: http://www.ashbournenewstelegraph.co.uk/Homes-and-Gardens/Green-Living/LUSH-Cosmetics-get-on-board-for-European-Week-for-Waste-Reduction-18112013.htm

Tim Martiniak’s post: https://blogs.ubc.ca/timmartiniak/2013/10/14/lush-charity-pot/