The Body Shop: A Global Industry Analysis

Body Shop International, which is traded in the London Stock Exchange as BOS and more commonly known as The Body Shop, is founded by Anita Perella Roddick. During the 1970s, when Anita and her now-husband Gordon Roddick were visiting San Francisco, they came across this particular store on Berkeley, which was selling different skin care products. This store, which was called "The Body Shop" and was founded by two locals, was also publicly promoting their fight against certain environmental concerns, even offering price cuts to customers that will bring their own bottles instead of purchasing new ones.

The original store where Anita and Gordon Roddick got their idea is still continuing business in the Bay Area, but under a different name, "Body Time," after the entrepreneurs sold the rights to the name "The Body Shop" in the early 1980s to the Roddicks.

They opened their very first Body Shop in the mid-1970s in the United Kingdom, patterned after the San Francisco store. The Roddicks' offered homemade products made using natural and exotic ingredients, and without testing these products on animals. Their products' packaging was detailed with the ingredients used and together with their properties. The Body Shop's center of operations is located in the United Kingdom as well.

Due to their non-traditional products, they were more high-priced as compared to others, but still more inexpensive as compared to the exclusive names. Their marketing strategies were out of the ordinary, very much unlike traditional approaches, making use of innovative brochures and product catalogues. Anita Roddick was also highly accessible to the public and to the press, making her quest against social and environmental crises the center of The Body Shop's marketing campaigns.

Because of Roddick's unusual and revolutionary ideas and strategies, The Body Shop acquired loyal patrons and by the end of the 1970s, she had several outlets throughout the United Kingdom and had to employ a public relations firm.

The Body Shop was experiencing a rapid growth of 50% annually—from a tiny shop in Brighton, to expanding throughout the United Kingdom area, and now with a worldwide group of outlets. And after having franchised their Company, their international expansion was shared by a number of entrepreneurs, including Roddick's mission and vision for Body Shop International.

Business Definition, Internationalization, Locations, Consumer Satisfaction, Quality Issues, Channel Arrangements, Physical Distribution, and Promotional Efforts

The Body Shop International is not only a skin and body care products retail shop, but also an active advocate of their values and beliefs, especially with regard to animal and environmental care. As of the year 2005 and according to The Body Shop International PLC Annual Report and Accounts, the Company currently operates in over 50 different countries with 429 stores in the United States of America, 304 stores in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, 758 stores in Europe, Middle East, and Africa, and 554 in the Asia Pacific Region. It has created a niche market for products that are composed of natural ingredients, which in effect increases the loyalty of their sector of consumers.

The Company has always believed that their business is not about making profit and international growth and recognition. More than that, The Body Shop is about relationships—human to human, employer to employee, client to clientele, human to environment, human to animals. And because their market and everyone else around them is more important, the Company listens to their stakeholders and what they have to say, inevitably involving them in all the decision-making processes.

In the late 1990s, The Body Shop was voted as the second most trusted brand in the United Kingdom by the Consumers Association. And according to another survey done in the same decade, the Company was the 28th top brand in the world, and the second in the retail sector. In a survey done among international chief executives, The Body Shop was ranked by The Financial Times as the 27th most respected company worldwide.

Mission and Vision Statements, Goals, and Objectives

As a world-renowned company, The Body Shop International prides itself as a company that makes a difference. Part of their mission is to devote their time, energy, and effort to the quest for changes in the society and the environment. They believe that the Company should balance both the financial and human needs of their employees, their customers, their franchisees, their suppliers, and their shareholders. The Body Shop wants to ensure that their business can sustain their present needs without compromising anything down the line. They