Introduction
Gruum is a British personal grooming brand established in 2016 and headquartered in the U.K. The company is known for creating sustainable shaving, haircare, and skin care solutions without adversely impacting the skin and the planet (Gruum, 2023). Also, Gruum is known for producing products that target both males and females. This is such that 56.84 % of the company’s customers are females, while males make up 43.16%, with the majority of the customers aged between 25-34 years (Similarweb.com, 2023). The company is still developing as it is expanding, considering it generates a revenue of between $ 2M -5M (Similarweb.com, 2023). When Gruum was started, it wanted to position itself differently and not engage in similar practices that other companies were using. Rather it wanted to position itself as a gender-fluid company (Fargo, 2021). This is such that instead of the company making female or male products, and they decided to make the product for everyone as the founders spent several years perfecting their product (Gruum, 2023). Therefore, the founders also pledged to make the product using quality ingredients and ensure the products were affordable (Gruum, 2023). Therefore, to have a detailed understanding of Gruum’s position, this report critically evaluates the market situation and also designs a poster for the company on how Gruum built its current position and the degree to which its strategies have succeeded.
Section 1: Market Situation of Gruum UK
The personal and beardy care industry is highly competitive, especially in the United Kingdom. This is such that as of 2023, the sector in the U.K. is worth about US$15.92bn and is anticipated to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 2.17% for the period running between 2023 and 2027 (Statista, 2023). Most of this growth is related to the fact that young customers have entered the market. More an increase in the use of e-commerce and social media. These trends have had numerous impacts on companies such as Gruum as they must also align their needs with the customers. Nonetheless, despite the intense competition from established brands, Gruum has managed to keep up with the competition by engaging in various activities such as introducing a creative subscription plan, using targeted marketing strategies, the use of e-commerce, and ethical positioning.
Subscription Plan
One of the ways Gruum has managed to keep up with the competition is by differentiating its products. Differentiation is important for a company as it helps it to offer and provide quality products by ensuring that they offer the products and services in a unique manner that is different from that of competitors. Gruum has differentiated itself by introducing subscription-based services to its customers (Gruum, 2023). Subscription is not a new strategy but has long existed and gained recognition in the consumer goods sector for all goods, such as razor blades and groceries. Hence due to the popularity of subscription plans, Gruum has introduced the subscription plan for its customers (Martins, 2019). This is such that the subscription plan service allows the company to customize the products for the customers. Customers can save up to 50 % if they subscribe to the company’s program.
Subscription has allowed the company to gain some form of competitive advantage in that, unlike other companies, Gruum lets customers build their Kit, choose their schedule, and deliver it (Gruum, 2023). This s is such that Gruum lets the customer build their Kit by allowing the customers to select their products from one item to the entire package. More the Plan allows the customer to decide when they can receive the Kit, once per month or after every two or three months (Gruum, 2023). Finally, the most appealing part about the subscription plan is that it allows it to be delivered to the customer’s location. Customers do not have to sign anywhere to receive the package (Gruum, 2023). Additionally, the differentiation strategy for Gruum has been top-notch in that instead of focusing on each gender, the company’s subscription-based option plan has taken a unisex approach where everybody can use all the products. Furthermore, the company’s subscription plan is much more flexible, allowing customers to pause, cancel, downgrade, or upgrade anytime.
Ethical Positioning
Another main strategy that Gruum has been using is ensuring it becomes one of the most recognized brands. Ethical positioning is critical since customers nowadays want to be affiliated with sustainable companies whose services have no adverse impact on the environment and the entire population. Ethical positioning in business has become common in the modern world as it ensures businesses engage in ethical and legal practices. As Such, Gruum is aware of this market trend, which is why it has committed to saving the planet. This is such that the company has implemented measures that help alleviate the impact of plastic packaging (Gruum, 2023). Just from the day Gruum was started, it has always been working towards reassuring its customers that they are well aware of their responsibility of reducing the negative impact on the planet. Hence, the company has been ensuring that it honors this commitment by evaluating how its manufacturing process and packaging will impact the environment (Gruum, 2023). This is the reason it has come up with various strategies
One of the strategies aims to deal with the impact of manufacturing Gruum products. Manufacturing is important, so Gruum ensures that most of its products are manufactured in the United Kingdom. However, if the company outsources the production, they have also taken appropriate measures (Gruum, 2023). This is such that the company has a policy whereby it uses the shipping freight for all of its internationally sourced products (Gruum, 2023). This move is ideal as it ensures the company reduces its carbon footprint by reducing emissions. This is an ideal strategy considering that carbon emissions are also the biggest contributor to climate change. Hence, Gruum’s decision to use shipping freight aims to combat climate change (Gruum, 2023). Besides reducing the carbon footprint, the company uses another strategy to reduce the environmental impact: properly designed bottles with distinct shapes. As such, Gruum has designed the bottles in ideal shapes, which makes it possible to be delivered via the letter box (Gruum, 2023). Also, the bottles are great for the environment as they occupy much less space, so Gruum’s products do not waste resources or space.
Furthermore, Gruum, through ethical positioning, ensures that it uses safe packaging by ensuring its packaging is kept at a minimum (Gruum, 2023). The packaging is kept at a minimum because there are no unnecessary paddings, boxes within boxes, and extra cardboard trays. However, the company uses containers in its liquid product as it is unavoidable.
Social Media Marketing
Another marketing strategy that Gruum uses is social media marketing (SMM). SMM is a strategy that utilizes the power of social media platforms so that a company can attain its branding objectives. Companies use social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram (Saravanakumar and SuganthaLakshmi, 2012). Since SMM has become a common tactic used for branding, Gruum has also deployed this strategy to enhance its brand. The company uses Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to market social media. For instance, the company uses Facebook to promote its products by posting content regularly with over 30,000 followers (Gruum, 2023). Facebook content appeals to most followers in that Gruum’s Facebook page has been rated a 4.5/ rating by 228 individuals.
Besides Facebook, the company also uses Twitter to u post content about the company to its 8376 followers (Twitter, 2023). Another common platform that the company has been heavily using is Instagram. This is such that it has over 37000 followers and has posted over 600 images of Gruum products (Instagram, 2023). Hence, using SMM, Gruum has humanized its business as social media platforms are known for converting businesses into an active partaker markets. This s is such that Gruum’s posts and interactions on these platforms have made it approachable that its audience has familiarized themselves with the company. Apart from humanizing the business, Social media marketing has also enabled Gruum to build a relationship with its customers, allowing the company to obtain customer feedback about the products.
E-commerce
Another strategy that Gruum has deployed, intending to reach as many clients as possible, is the adoption of e-commerce. Gruum has adopted e-commerce, where the customers can view a product on the company’s website and then place an order and have and have it delivered to their location (Gruum, 2023). This strategy has become common, considering most customers prefer buying the online product platform. Through e-commerce, Gruum has decided to apply several strategies to increase sales. Bundling is one of the strategies they have deployed (Gruum, 2023). Bundling is simply putting several items together and selling them at a slightly lower price than what each item will cost. This marketing g strategy facilitates the expedient purchase of various products from a company, increasing sales (Bhargava, 2012).
In most cases, bundling usually ensures that customers purchase related but different items which appeal to them (Liberto, 2021). Although bundling is common for most online shopping, Gruum has taken a different approach in that it has used mystery bundles whereby the contents are not revealed (Gruum, 2023). However, in these mystery bundles, the company has informed the customers that if they buy the bundle, they can save up to 65% (Gruum, 2023). Therefore, the customers must select mystery bundles within their budget and wait for their surprise to be delivered. This bundling strategy is ideal for a company such as Gruum as it will not only enable it to increase sales but also allow it to offset some of the products that might be challenging to offload (Liberto, 2021). This is such that the content of Gruum’s mystery is unknown, making it easy to s offload those easy to ale products.
Free Shopping and Gifts
Also another marketing strategy that the company has deployed in its online shopping is free shipping and gifts. Free shipping is simply a marketing strategy whereby the customers and the shopper do not pay an extra fee whenever they order their product. This marketing strategy is a genius move since, from the customers’ perspective, getting no extra cost makes online shopping easy. Gruum knows this, so it has offered free shipping for orders over £25 (Gruum, 2023). By putting a certain set of conditions on what the customers have to do so that they enjoy free shopping, the company is therefore using a conditional shipping strategy. This is an ideal strategy since offering a free discount on every item will not be appealing and is not only profitable.
However, conditional free shipping is a top-notch marketing strategy that Gruum has deployed, allowing it to provide appealing shipping offers to the customers and marking profit on the units ordered. Therefore, by using free shipping on products above £25, Gruum is lowering the entry barriers by eliminating what the customers view as a prohibitive extra cost (Gruum, 2023). This is such that according to investigations that have been conducted s, most of the customers claim free shopping on the products is important as it reduces cart abandonment. This is such that in most cases, the customers usually abandon their carts and claim that it is the extra cost that makes them abandon the carts (Kukar-Kinney and Close, 2010). In doing so, the customers will abandon their carts as they wait for lower prices, which Gruum is working towards alleviating through conditional free shipping on all orders exceeding £25.
Besides providing free shipping on orders of specified amounts, Gruum also promotes its products through gifts. Gits are usually a genius tactic that aims to entice potential clients and turn them into buying customers (Austin, 2022). In most of the investigations that have been carried out, most customers, about 80% of them, like a tailored experience (Austin, 2022). Therefore, gifting the customer at the right time can inspire the likely customers to make more purchases. This is such that Gruum offers various types of Gifts. One way is that gifts are offered directly to customers if they purchase over £35 (Gruum, 2023). Another form of Gift that Gruum engages in is e-gift. The e-gift is common in scenarios where the customer is making purchases for a friend or family, but they are not sure what they should buy for them they can easily send them an e-gift card which will be delivered to the recipients’ email.
Affiliate Marketing
Just like most companies do, Gruum also engages in affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is the marketing model whereby the business pays third-party individuals to promote the business products. Since Amazon popularized affiliate marketing by introducing the affiliate marketing program, several other businesses have joined this marketing strategy by hiring an affiliate marketer. This is something that Gruum also engages in to ensure that it increases its brand awareness and online sales. This is true in that, according to Frankenfield (2022), an e-commerce platform that intends to increase its brand awareness will have to hire an affiliate marketer. In doing so, the company will hire an affiliate marketer with several websites. As such, marketers have a wider network (Frankenfield, 2022). The affiliate marketer will then market the products the e-commerce company offers by posting the referral links on their website. If the customers click the referral link provided by the affiliate marketer and make a successful purchase, they will receive some commission (Frankenfield, 2022). Hence as a way of engaging in affiliate marketing Gruum has developed an affiliate marketing program. The program requires affiliate marketers to provide their details, such as email, full names, and phone numbers (Gruum, 2023). Interested affiliate marketers must also provide their website and indicate the number of monthly website visits. (Gruum, 2023). This strategy by Gruum aims to increase its brand awareness and sales on its e-commerce platform.
Efficiency of Strategies
Gruum’s strategies have been efficient, considering it has a rating of 4.8/5 from 7671 customer reviews (Gruum, 2023). More so, its strategies have made it back to various awards Gruum was also voted the best new sustainable brand during the pure beauty Global awards. Furthermore, it was nominated in the Global Green Beauty Awards and won Gold in the category of ‘Best Zero Waste Beauty Product and a bronze in the Best Plastic Free Beauty Product (Gruum Europe, 2021). When Gruum started its business, it intended to make affordable, quality, and environmentally friendly products as it wanted to be a sustainable company that reduces the environmental impact. The company has attained its commitment to recycling its products (Gruum, 2023). This is such that Besides ensuring that its products are environmentally friendly, Gruum also ensures that its products are recyclable. Gruum usually ensures its packaging uses recyclable glass, metal, and plastic. This tactic of using recyclable materials is accepted by the Curbside recycling scheme in the U.K. (Gruum, 2023). Also, the company knows that recycling razor cartridges is much more complex. Hence, the company introduced the razor cartridges recycling scheme, the first in the U.K. to deal with such products (Gruum, 2023). The scheme works where customers can package their used razor cartridges and return them to the company. Furthermore, Gruum’s packaging, plastic bottles, glass bottles, and metal tins are recyclable.
The packaging is recyclable as it is made from cardboard. This makes it easy as customers have to ensure they put the cardboard in their paper recycling bin (Gruum, 2023). The company also understands that some orders usually have biodegradable packing peanuts from G.M. starch, making them compostable and dissolve in water. Furthermore, Gruum; s plastic bottles are recyclable as they are mainly made from LDPE or HDPE, while the bottle caps are made from PP. HDPE, LDPE, and P.P. are recyclable plastics (Gruum, 2023). However, the company usually urges the customer to confirm with the local authorities the recyclable plastics. The amber glass bottles, mainly used for housing the face oils, can be recycled by simply rinsing them and put together with customers’ glass recycling. Finally, the aluminum metal tins, common in beard wax, can be recycled by removing the cup liner and popping them in metal recycling (Gruum, 2023). Therefore, based on the above analysis, it can be seen that Gruum uses an ethical positioning strategy to reduce its negative impact on the planet and its inhabitants. Up to now, the strategy has helped the company to maintain its initial pledge of reducing the environmental impact. In return, the strategy has helped the company to appeal to environmentally conscious companies and, in the process, increase its market share.
Furthermore, the strategy deployed by Gruum has been efficient, as seen by its intended target audience. This is such that when Gruum started, it wanted to manufacture products that did not target males or females, but rather they wanted to make products that were gender fluid and could be used by everyone. The company has succeeded in that based on the customer’s demographics it has. This is such that 56.84 % of the company’s customers are females, while males make up 43.16%, with the majority of the customers aged between 25-34 years (Similarweb.com, 2023). Therefore, based on the above percentages, it has succeeded in making products used for everyone as both males and females use Gruum products.
Conclusion
Gruum is a British company that deals in various personal care products through its e-commerce platform. However, unlike other companies, it has taken a different approach in that it produces gender-fluid products. Based on its market situation analysis, it can be seen that the brand has deployed different marketing strategies and practices. This is such that it uses a subscription plan model to increase sales. It also positions itself as an ethical company that aims to reduce environmental impact by using eco-friendly and recyclable s products to appeal to environmentally conscious customers. Furthermore, the company engages in social media and affiliate marketing. Therefore, based on evaluating its strategies, Gruum’s strategies align with its ethical and sustainable brand image. More so, the strategy has been successful as its intended audience has been the same as the actual audience, which has made it back to various awards.
References
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