The ironic down fall of the Body Shop, or is it?

3 words come to mind: Authenticity, Dilution, Innovation. 

OR perhaps, lack thereof. 

Let’s dive in. 

When Dame Anita Roddick was at the helm of The Body Shop, a social equity skincare and body care company she built in 1976, she was the soul of the brand. For over 30 years, her energy, authentic embodiment of mission, purpose, and ethos was the driving force behind building The Body Shop to the success that it was.

18 months prior to her death, it was sold to L’Oreal for over $800 million dollars, to which many questioned: Does L’Oreal embody Dame Roddick’s mission, purpose, and business ethics? I think we all know the answer. As the new owner of L’Oreal, the largest beauty conglomerate in the world, in order to protect their investment, bottom line became more important, and The Body Shop lost its direction of what it truly embodied. The soul of The Body Shop was reduced to words, and as smart as consumers are today, claims of being an ethical brand are different from the embodiment of being an ethical brand. 

Think Lush. Their commitment to ensuring their employees are well looked after.  The company states: “We believe in happy people making happy soap, putting our faces on the products and making our mums proud.”

The complacency of The Body Shop was engulfed by a noisy yet innovative market. Their radical messaging had become standard for beauty brands, thus without consumer awareness, a deep understanding in consumer behaviour, and cultural shifts – The Body Shop became an antiquated brand. 

The Body Shop did try to pivot, however, as David Boynton, former global CEO of The Body Shop said, “in 2018, we began a journey to fix everything we had inherited - according to that new higher standard” Mr. Boynton also said, “... telling the story to change people’s minds takes resources, and those were in short supply…” 

They realized they had gotten away from Dame Anita Roddick’s purpose of building a business. So, they implemented a major overhaul to get back to its core purpose. Some of those include: creating 700+ new products – all that are worth the price, introduced the real living wage to the UL and other markets, invested heavily in a purpose driven leadership development program for all store managers, double down on community fair trade in Nepal, India, Ghana, Kenya– only doing it if they could make a real difference in communities, reinstituted a refill program in hundreds of stores from 2019, a new cool workshop concept store, bring back new visual and verbal identity and Anita’s green …. etc. 

However, instead of trying to ‘fix’ things, perhaps, they could have reflected on The Body Shop’s core business practices and innovate. This is also where the understanding of the intersection between financial model and analysis and business model is crucial. Ensuring any change, pivot, launch can be supported financially with sound financial modeling and analysis. 

It is like baking a cake. Depending on the desired outcome will depend on measurements. All of the elements are there, every competitor has the same elements. The question becomes:  HOW do we set ourselves apart while remaining true to our roots, mission, ethos, purpose? All remaining financially sound. This is where true innovation becomes your point of difference. 

Dame Anita Roddick started her business from one shop in Brighton in 1976 simply because she was inspired by natural ingredients she encountered on her travels. She believed if she was going to start a business, it must be a force for good. Every extension, messaging, new product, new initiative stems from her core value system. When you build from that space, and stand apart from the others, customers fall in line and also buy into your mission, purpose, ethos. The Body Shop, in its pinnacle, was a testament to how mission, ethos, and purpose drives community and customers, which is interconnected and can continuously convert. 

But the music stops when there is dilution of brand equity, and brand alignment becomes secondary. This includes who becomes the next steward of a business.  

The silver lining is the customers are there. The job will be whether or not the right people will be brough on to steward this next phase of The Body Shop. 

What wisdom can early-stage mission driven and sustainable businesses impart? 

Stay nimble and innovate

Stay aware of cultural shifts and consumer behaviour and pivot accordingly.

Customer data reigns supreme

Align financial and marketing efforts 

Ensure your brand DNA can sustain challenges outside your control

Stress test your brand equity and brand DNA

When you embody authentically to your mission, purpose, and ethos, The Body Shop proved the community will join your mission and convert to customers. 

It can be done. Make sure you have the right people in your corner to support you. It will make all the difference.

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To your success xx