Product Type: Market Research Report
Published by: Datamonitor
Published: April 2008
Product Code: R313-32506Description Introduction
This report on Burt's Bees forms part of Datamonitor's case studies series, which explores business practices across a variety of disciplines and business sectors. It looks at how Burt's Bees is planning to retain its original business focus following its acquisition by the bleach giant Clorox.
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Gain insight into the methods used by important industry players to give them a competitive edge
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Table of Contents - DATAMONITOR VIEW
- CATALYST
- SUMMARY
- ANALYSIS
- Introduction
- The natural personal care market is a key growth segment
- Large companies are looking to capitalize on the growing natural and ethical segment by purchasing successful natural personal care players
- Colgate-Palmolive and L'Oreal have recently purchased natural personal care companies
- Clorox follows their lead by purchasing Burt's Bees, in order to improve its 'natural' focus
- The purchase price far exceeds Burt's sales, showing how much the company believes in Burt's future sales potential
- The company also produces a 'green' Clorox line, which has caused criticism that it is jumping on the bandwagon
- The sale of Burt's caused criticism from Burt's core enthusiasts
- Critics fear the sale will dilute Burt's ethical focus
- But Burt's plans to operate as a separate entity in order to retain original ethical philosophy
- The company continues to self-regulate its products to assure consumers that their naturalness is authentic, which could reassure critics of the sale
- Burt's markets its ethical business through novel initiatives
- The company relied on grass roots level marketing prior to its acquisition, including touring the US with the 'Bee-utify Your World' tour
- Post acquisition, the company has utilized Clorox's extensive marketing budget by forming a national campaign, clamping down on 'natural' products that aren't natural
- The company forms a national print campaign to promote 'real' natural products
- Burt's chaired a meeting with the NPA to attempt to form industry standards on natural products
- Burts new product introductions are well aligned with consumer and product trends in the industry as a whole
- The popular pomegranate ingredient is used in some of Burt's' products
- The company has added an anti-aging range with on-trend antioxidant ingredients
- Burt's has also developed a men's range to capture this growing market
- APPENDIX
- Case study series
- Methodology
- Secondary sources
- Further reading
- Ask the analyst
- Datamonitor consulting
- Disclaimer
- List of Figures
- Figure 1: Natural personal care is best analyzed from the perspective of 'broad', 'narrow' and 'organic' definitions
- Figure 2: Clorox highlighted its interest in green products with the introduction of an environmentally-friendly household product range at the beginning of 2008
- Figure 3: Burt's Bees The Greater Good Business Model, highlighting its main areas of focus
- Figure 4: Burt's Bees US tour tent at the Earth Day event in New York, 2007
- Figure 5: Burt's Bees' campaign aimed to educate consumers on the ingredients they should look for in natural products
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