Boots' Identity
Boots is an easily recognisable part of the UK retail scene. It has a long heritage in consumers' eyes, having been established since 1849. It offers a very wide range of products and services through its stores. This is an undoubted strength, but also a source of potential weakness, as the question 'What does Boots actually do?' can be hard to answer succinctly. A list of Boots' products and services illustrates this problem:
- Health and beauty
- Personal care
- Cosmetics and toiletries
- Baby care
- Bathroom toiletries
- Dental care
- Haircare
- Men's toiletries
- OTC medicines
- Prescription medicines
- Pharmacy services
- Paper products
- Perfumes
- Skincare
Boots is a very strong brand in itself. It also owns several very strong sub-brands: No.7, Soltan and Botanics. No.7 is regarded as being on a par with other beauty products manufacturers' branded cosmetics/skincare ranges. Its 'Protect and Perfect Serum' was found by the BBC TV Horizon programme to perform better than more costly brands. This widely reported finding provided a considerable boost to Boots' and No. 7's brand reputation.
Boots is very well regarded by consumers in the UK and beyond. Boots' reputation can be seen in the following table, summarising the UK's top ten favourite brands across a range of markets:
| Categories | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Consumers' Favourite Retailer | Tesco | Asda | M&S |
| Grocery | Tesco | Asda | Sainsbury's |
| Entertainment | HMV | Amazon | Play.com |
| Electrical | Currys | Comet | Argos |
| Telecoms | BT | Virgin | Carphone Warehouse |
| Home and Furnishings | IKEA | Argos | John Lewis |
| Clothing and Footwear | M&S | Next | Asda/George |
| Cosmetics/Toiletries | Boots | Superdrug | Avon |
| DIY | B&Q | Homebase | Focus |
Britain's favourite retailers 2007 per category (TNS Worldpanel)