The body shop: Case study

Résumé du document

What is 'Body Shop' selling and what are the elements of its marketing strategy ? What gives Body Shop its competitive advantage in its sustainablility ? Why were the Roddicks able to spread their business out so quickly and successfully ? What do you think the future holds for the Body Shop ? Anita Roddick opened it first, in a cobbled back street in Brighton, England in 1976. The roof leaked and the ugly unpainted walls were covered with green garden lattice.The shop had lots of pine shelves but stocked only about a dozen inexpensive, natural cosmetics, herbal creams and shampoos sold in simple packaging; and so pot plants were placed between the products. Since then, the Body Shop has become a multinational company with a shop in every high street.

Extraits

[...] If you don't take £300 a week, give it up and come over with the kids and join me in Lima!' The offer was never taken up. From the takings and the reaction of customers and the local press, it was clear that the Body Shop concept was going to work. Within a matter of months, Anita had taken the decision to open another shop, this time further west along the coast, in Chichester. Meanwhile, in South America events had not been going according to plan and Gordon Roddick returned to the UK prematurely. He too could tell they had a success on their hands. [...]

[...] All the company's products are biodegradable, including plastic carrier bags. make products for people, tested by people' says Anita. Even the company's literature has the words ‘Save and Recycle' printed on the bottom. Body Shop is trying to help communities in developing countries by setting them up as suppliers under a programme called ‘Trade Not Aid' which encourages long-term relationships with organisations in developing countries. This is based upon ‘mutual benefit and respect', rather than demoralising feeling of reliance that characterises traditional aid programmes. [...]

[...] These not only show themselves in window displays and PR activities, they also underscore everything the company does. Franchisees are selected partly upon their ‘fit' with her ideas. Employees receive regular newsletters and videos concentrating on Body Shop campaigns. Employees are given time off to work on local social projects. In 1995 the firm introduced in-store satellite transmitted radio. Body Shop takes every opportunity to put forward its values and beliefs, which it believes sets it out as distinctive and different from its high- street competition. [...]

[...] In 1998 a new Chief Executive, Patrick Gournay, was recruited with the Roddicks becoming co-chairman. In 1999 the company withdrew from manufacturing. In 2000 Anita Roddick resigned from Body Shop, a multi-millionaire. The Roddicks and McGlinn still, however, own nearly 52% of Body Shop's shares. But the future looks uncertain, particularly in the USA. One retail analyst was quoted as saying: ‘Body Shop is a great brand that has lost direction. I think it needs someone with deeper pockets and more marketing power to take it to the next stage' (Sunday Times .01). [...]

[...] So what did they do right and why was Body Shop able to grow so rapidly? Anita Roddick Anita Lucia Roddick, nee Perilla, was born in Littlehampton, England, in 1942, one of four children of Italian immigrants. Her parents settled in Littlehampton to run the Clifton Cafe. Her father died when she was ten and the children then helped to run the cafe. From school she went to Bath College of Education where she took a Teacher Training course. She started teaching, but wanted to live abroad so she got a job with the United Nations in Geneva. [...]