The Body Shop was an revolutionary, fiercely moral and thriving a part of the British excessive road for nearly 5 many years.
To enter a retailer was an assault on the senses from color to unique names and fragrances. We had by no means seen the like earlier than.
Though affirmation on Tuesday that the UK arm had been positioned within the palms of directors got here as no shock.
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Sky News revealed on Saturday how the group’s newest homeowners had been getting ready the bottom for an insolvency course of of the UK enterprise.
So, what went fallacious for The Body Shop?
From small beginnings…
The enterprise was based in 1976 by environmental campaigners Anita Roddick and her husband Gordon.
They seemed to champion moral merchandise whereas their opposition to the animal testing of cosmetics was additionally a singular promoting level inside the business.
It was additionally a feminist model that, over the many years, challenged the business’s perceived view of how ladies and ladies ought to look.
The Body Shop grew from a single outlet in Brighton with simply 25 merchandise and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1984.
No longer in full management
Roddick admitted in 2001 that the flotation was a double-edged sword.
While it gave the corporate the cash to proceed its growth, she stated investor urge for food for earnings and rewards meant the corporate had successfully misplaced its soul.
She stepped away from day-to-day administration of the agency in 2002 and it was bought in 2006 to L’Oreal for £652m.
She and Gordon made about £130m from the sale, three years after she was made a dame.
Roddick died in 2007 following a mind haemorrhage. She was 64.
Life after the Roddicks
While The Body Shop model lived on, and continued to develop its worldwide presence, L’Oreal’s possession was dogged by questions from clients on whether or not their values had been aligned.
The French cosmetics agency bought The Body Shop in 2017 to Brazil’s Natura for £877m.
It was at this level that issues took an enormous flip for the more severe, with the pressure of elevated competitors within the moral merchandise sphere from the likes of Lush being exacerbated by enormous disruption to demand from the COVID pandemic.
Natura bought the model to the non-public fairness agency Aurelius final November.
The price ticket was simply £207m. At that point, The Body Shop employed about 10,000 folks and operated roughly 3,000 shops in 70 international locations.
Another proprietor…
Aurelius stated it needed to “re-energise” the corporate nevertheless it later emerged that it had bought off its Body Shop at Home division, which was struggling financially.
It concluded that extra drastic motion was wanted as the corporate had inadequate working capital and was buying and selling extra weakly than it had anticipated over Christmas and early January.
The UK operation, with its 200 shops, was stated to be struggling greater than elsewhere, culminating within the restructuring course of being dealt with by FRP Advisory.
In conclusion
You may actually argue that Dame Anita Roddick was the beating coronary heart of The Body Shop and that her loss meant that the model was not the fierce champion for the numerous causes that attracted clients within the first place.
Financial analysts say that its failure to draw new clients in a crowded market was key.
Susannah Streeter, head of cash and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, stated: “In the 1980s, The Body Shop was the place to go for young shoppers to splash out on fresh scented bubbles and beauty ranges, with a deep environmental conscience and a focus on social justice and conserving nature.
“But now shops like Lush maintain the larger pocket cash draw for tweens and teenagers, lured in by aromatic tub bombs and revolutionary product components.
“Rivals have stolen a march on what used to be The Body Shop’s unique eco-credentials.”
Source: information.sky.com”