«The Body Shop» – Dossier in BriefThe Body Shop International PLC is a value-driven, high quality skin and hair care retailer operating in 48 countries with over 1,600 outlets spanning 12 time zones. The company is famous for creating a niche market sector for naturally-inspired skin and hair care. The NumbersWorldwide retail sales – total takings through all shops – were £605.8 million in the 1998/99 financial year. The company’s turnover was up %4 in 1998/99 to £303.7 million, with operating profit of £24.6 million. The Body Shop International operates as head franchisee in UK, USA, France, Germany and Singapore with the remaining 43 markets owned and operated by independent head franchisees. It is estimated that in 1998/99 the Body Shop sold a product every 0.4 seconds with over 84 million customers transactions through stores worldwide. Business PhilosophyThe success of the company is based on its relationships with stakeholders including its employees, franchisees, customers, communities, suppliers, shareholders and NGOs. The Body Shop believes that business has responsibility to the communities in which it operates. To this end, it supports and encourages employees throughout the world to volunteer their time in local action. Its community action covers a wide range of activities from conservation work to providing massages and counseling for people with AIDS. The Body Shop has developed a Community Trade Program that creates sustainable trading relations with communities in need around the world. The goal is to help building livelihoods and to explore trade-based approaches to supporting sustainable development by sourcing ingredients and accessories from socially and economically marginalised producer communities. The program is mutually beneficial. On the one hand, this program provides the Body Shop with raw materials for inclusion in some of its best-selling products from cocoa butter in Cocoa Butter Hand & Body Lotion to babassu oil used in White Musk Body Lotion, as well as accessory items including massagers from India and baskets from the Philippines. On the other hand, the program has helped to support hundreds of people in building livelihoods for their families across the globe and brought educational and health benefits to many of Community Trade suppliers. The Body Shop assisted two of our longest-standing suppliers in India and Nepal in setting up AIDS awareness projects which now attract international funding. Now the Body Shop trades with over 37 Community Trade suppliers in 21 countries. PhilanthropyThe Body Shop Foundation was established by the company in 1990. It established the Brazilian Healthcare Project in 1992 in conjunction with Brazilian agencies to fund and organize immunization. The Body Shop Foundation initiated a project «Children On the Edge» in 1990 to work with orphans and street children in Romania. Similar work was done in Albania and Bosnia. During the 1999 Kosovo crisis, «Children On the Edge» project provided aid through their local networks to thousands of refugees. Nowadays the Body Shop Foundation is a grant-making foundation working in the fields of human and civil rights, animal and environmental protection. The Company Founder.The Body Shop was founded by entrepreneur Anita Roddick. Anita was born in a small English seaside town in a family of Italian immigrants. The hardship of the post World War II period taught her family to meet their ends by rationing and savings and Anita learnt how to survive . She graduated from the college and started her teaching career. She worked in Israel for some time and then she decided to go for a long business trip. She became acquainted with different traditions and customs in different countries while travelling. Upon her return to England, Anita met a young Scottish man, Gordon Roddick who soon became her husband and father of her children. Anita Roddick opened her first shop in Brighton in 1976, in six months she opened another one. Thanks to the idea of franchising the network of shops grew rapidly and expanded internationally. The worldwide popularity came in 1984. According to Anita, success is something more than just a good idea. It is crucial that the idea came at the right time. The Body Shop was established at the time when the Europe began «greening». In this respect the style of the Body Shop anticipated the European fashion and spurred its rapid growth. The Body Shop became a leader in different business spheres. It spoke for social changes and environmental protection. Anita Roddick campaigns in favor of human rights, animal and environmental protection besides her engagement into business and philanthropy. Recently, she has campaigned to raise women’s self-esteem and she challenged the stereotypes of beauty perpetuated by the cosmetic industry.
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