Perhaps John Boot had intended a transatlantic brand from the very beginning. His "British and American Botanic Establishment", which opened in Nottingham, England, in 1849, certainly makes it sound that way. Yet it's probably only UK readers who will be familiar with his high street chemist chain that is today known simply as Boots. American readers may not have a clue.
But that's all about to change if Boots Retail International USA gets its way. The Stateside division of Boots Plc is making its foray into Americaby partnering with US pharmacists, CVS. Fair enough, you might think. After all, as a chemists with a broad range of health and beauty lines, CVS seems a good enough match.
Somehow I doubt it. Anyone who's shopped at CVS and Boots can tell you that the style of the stores is very different indeed. For US consumers, European brands often represent an upscale alternative. This can be witnessed, for example, in the auto industry with the success of exclusive makes like Mercedes-Benz and BMW compared to the failure of mid-market brands like Peugeot and Rover. If Americans are going to buy something European, aspirational status is very often a prerequisite.
Boots, with its position on almost every British high street, is undoubtedly a mid-market brand, but in the US it is unknown. When its carefully selected product range shows up on the decidedly ordinary shelves of CVS, even with the song and dance of swanky in-store displays and specially trained staff, it's not going to feel very special. Not understanding what drives Americans to purchase from companies that hail beyond their shores demonstrates an astonishing failure by Boots to translate its brand values to the tastes of US consumers.
It's not that I believe partnerships are a bad route to take. Indeed, the tried and tested approach of in-store concessions avoids Boots having to establish its own retail outlets in the US’s crowded and competitive heath and beauty market – an undertaking that would be as foolhardy as it would be expensive. However, if they'd asked the Professor, I would advised a different bedfellow.
To be fair to Boots management, a dearth of analogous retailers does make an apt partnership difficult to find. The cosmetic and body care lines the company is peddling are never going to find natural shelf space in typical US drug stores and the staffed cosmetics counters of department stores demand a much larger investment, which means greater risk. There is however, one retailer that we believe would have been a far superior choice. Sephora.
A division of luxury products group, Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Sephora is a leading beauty retail chain in Europe and rapidly growing throughout the US. Its customer base better represents the sort of consumers Boots should be targeting and its shelves make a much more natural home for new Boot’s own brand products than those of CVS. A more focused range of aspirational yet reasonably affordable lines, often from lesser known manufacturers, will mean the products will face less of a fight for attention, and, as a European retailer, Sephora is likely to possess a better understanding and greater ability to represent Boots’ brand identity.
Reappraisal of the how its brand will be perceived in the US and a change in partnership arrangements are my advice if Boots truly wants to get its foot in the door with American consumers.
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