The Body Shop, a British skincare and beauty brand, has recently unveiled its most extensive skincare range to date, featuring the ingredient ‘Edelweiss’ as part of a makeover of its ‘Drops of Youth’ collection. Lionel Thoreau, the Chief Marketing Officer of The Body Shop, highlighted the brand’s commitment to the vision of its founder, Anita Roddick, who believed that businesses could contribute to positive societal change.
Renowned for positioning itself as a ‘change-making’ beauty brand, The Body Shop conducted a thorough review of its ‘Drops of Youth’ collection and its messaging, which raised concerns regarding age-related insecurities.
Explaining the rationale behind the new collection, Thoreau explained, “We felt that the name ‘Drops of Youth’ was not the right approach. We aimed to refresh and upgrade the product while also giving it a new name. It was a significant commercial risk, but we believed it was worthwhile because we wanted to align with our values. That’s why we relaunched it, ensuring our customers always feel their best at any age.” The brand’s objective is to communicate to its customers that it has returned to its core values, including the promotion of self-esteem and well-being.
The Body Shop’s target audience, as defined by Thoreau, comprises “ethically engaged people, especially women.” He elaborated, stating, “Our core target audience consists of individuals who value beauty products, seek high-performing products, and share our values. It’s not solely demographics; it’s a psychographic mindset. Our target audience believes in concepts like sustainability, environmental protection, and social equality, which are significant values in society.”
The themes of activism and sustainability have been central to The Body Shop’s messaging for its consumers, aligning with its brand identity. Recently, the brand initiated the Youth Activism campaign, reflecting the brand’s ethos. Thoreau explained, “We recognize that humanity faces significant challenges, and the younger generation is concerned about issues like climate change, social inequality, and gender inequality. They want their voices to be heard, just like other generations.”
This marks The Body Shop’s first partnership with the United Nations, collaborating with NGOs in each country to ensure campaign objectives are relevant to local contexts. In India, the campaign focuses on two goals: increasing voter registrations among young people and involving youth in decision-making processes.
The Body Shop is expanding its presence into smaller cities and towns in India, including Varanasi, Imphal, Indore, Bhopal, Patna, and Shimla. Expanding into these regions presents challenges, but Thoreau stressed the importance of tailoring the product portfolio to meet the needs of Indian consumers. The brand is committed to doubling its business in India by 2025, with plans to expand its retail network by 50%, adding 100 stores in 15 new cities.
The brand is also dedicated to nurturing a workforce motivated by its values, which enhances store productivity. During the pandemic, the India team launched a ‘ship from store’ program, converting stores into warehouses to fulfill product orders via WhatsApp, a practice now being adopted in the UK. The brand’s focus is on expanding its retail network, improving store efficiency, and enhancing eCommerce and omnichannel services.
Over the past two years, The Body Shop has been actively working to make its entire product portfolio more environmentally sustainable. By 2023, the brand aims to transition to a completely vegan product range. Thoreau explained that this decision stems from concerns about animal welfare and recognition of the environmental impact of the meat industry. The brand’s commitment to veganism extends beyond ingredient formulation to encompass the entire creation, development, and manufacturing process, with independent audits and controls in place. Thoreau also noted that the concept of animal welfare and veganism has deep roots in Indian culture, originating there and now spreading globally.
