Anita Roddick opened the first Body Shop store in Brighton, England in 1976 to provide an income for herself and her two daughters while her husband was away trekking in South America. The Body Shop was remarkably different from conventional cosmetic stores at the time. It offered quality skin care products in plain refillable containers and sample sizes with no advertising or hype. Roddick created a range of products based on natural ingredients at a time when people were increasingly anxious over the use of chemicals. She appealed to her customers’ concern for the environment. She offered discounted refills to customers who brought back their empty containers. This fresh approach proved a storming success. Her husband joined the business on his return. They opened more shops – by 1991, they had 700 and Anita was given the World Vision Award for Development Initiative.
Anita and Gordon Roddick took The Body Shop public in 1984. After just one day of trading, the stock doubled in value. It continued to climb over the next decade as hundreds of Body Shop franchises were launched across Europe and the USA. By 2004, there were 1,980 stores with over 77 million customers worldwide. In that year, The Body Shop was voted the second most trusted brand in the United Kingdom and ranked in the world’s top 30 brands. In 2006, L’Oréal purchased The Body Shop for £652 million.
One of the causes of Roddick’s success was her social activism. Her company was one of the first to prohibit the use of animal testing on products and was a leader in promoting fair trade with Third World countries. She became a high profile figure with her vociferous support for causes such as Greenpeace, Amnesty International and saving the rainforests. This approach generated free publicity and a loyal customer base. The company supported local community and environmental groups. The chain became a movement people believed in rather than just another commercial enterprise. In 1997, Anita Roddick launched a global campaign to raise self-esteem in women and to oppose the media stereotyping of women.
Although the company’s approach looked like a dazzling business strategy, it was something that Roddick stumbled upon. She told Third Way magazine, ‘The original Body Shop was a series of brilliant accidents. It had a great smell, it had a funky name. It was positioned between two funeral parlours; that always caused controversy. It was incredibly sensuous. We knew about storytelling then, so all the products had stories. We recycled everything, not because we were environmentally friendly, but because we didn’t have enough bottles. It was a good idea. What was unique about it, with no intent at all, no marketing nous, was that it translated across cultures, across geographical barriers and social structures. It wasn’t a sophisticated plan, it just happened like that.’
Roddick grew a single shop into an international empire. She showed that a company can gain loyal customers and succeed with simple products and environmentally friendly approaches and by eschewing expensive packaging and advertising.
Do the opposite. Swim against the tide. Anita Roddick deliberately did the reverse of what the industry leaders and experts did. She saw that cosmetic stores were stuffy places that sold toiletries, perfumes and medicinal creams in expensive packaging and pretty bottles. She did the opposite by packaging the goods in The Body Shop stores in cheap, plastic bottles with plain labels. The store gave refills. It saved costs and it made a statement that the contents of the packages were what mattered.
Stand for what you believe in. Become a movement. The Body Shop differentiated itself by stating that it would never use animal testing in its product development. It was seen as natural, spiritual and in tune with an environmentally friendly consumer.
Generate publicity through activism and controversy. Roddick had a natural talent for reaping free publicity. The funeral parlour owners next door to her first shop complained that her store’s name would hurt their business. So she went to the local press with a story saying the undertakers were intimidating a woman entrepreneur starting a business. As a result, many people came to the store to see what the fuss was about. Throughout her career, Roddick continued to be vocal on many high-profile causes.