The Body Shop

The Body Shop was founded in 1976 in Littlehampton England and is an original, ethical and natural beauty brand that aims to produce high quality skincare, hair care and makeup products. It was founded by Anita Roddick, who was inspired by natural products producing hard to beat results, but was later taken over by L'Oreal.

Franchise System

The Body Shop focused on franchising early on in their business model as a way of sustaining competitive advantage in an industry that is easy to replicate. The Body Shop has a franchise network of over 1,900 stores and has a dedicated team of franchising managers, field study managers, operational managers and training staff, ensuring that the process of franchising is manageable and successful.

The first international shop was established in 1978 in Brussels and by 1982 new shops began to open at a rate of two per month. In 1989 The Body shop launched in New Zealand. Expansion was vast, with the company trading in 39 different countries within 14 years after the first shop was opened. European countries include Denmark, Ireland, France, the Netherlands and Spain.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Ethical Trade

The Body Shop places emphasis on producing products in a way that is fair and right. It was the first international cosmetics company to introduce fair trade to the cosmetics industry in 1987.

It was a part of the Community Trade Programme which saw that raw materials were taken from all over the world and that with this there needed to be commitment to trade fairly with consumers and small scale farmers.

The Body Shop was also a founding member of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) who aim to improve the working lives of people around the world.

Campaigns

Campaigning remains an important aspect of The Body Shop's value system. Throughout history they have campaigned to prevent HIV, to stop domestic violence and to protest against animal testing, among others.

In 1985, The Body Shop started to sponsor posters for Greenpeace. Their first major campaign together was Save the Whale.

News

In June 2017, L'Oreal agreed to sell The Body Shop to one of the largest beauty companies in Brazil, Natura Cosmeticos. Natura Cosmeticos is seeking to grow further internationally and The Body Shop seeks to increase its sales. Arguably, the pair will blend together perfectly and create an international franchise that succeeds. The companies will be able to work with one another because they have common principles and shared values. Both believe in the sustainable use of biodiversity as well as proceeding with ethical production methods in which the environment will not be harmed.

The Body Shop have also launched a new campaign called "Forever Against Animal Testing." The Body Shop have always fought for cosmetic products to be produced without the need for animal testing. They have partnered with the non-profit organisation, Cruelty Free International, and their aim is to gather eight million petition signatures before sending it on to The United Nations.

The Body Shop have also recently teamed up with the air cleaning company AirLabs to launch an anti-pollution initiative in London, with the aim of creating a safer and healthier environment.

Sources
http://www.thebodyshop.co.nz/AboutUs/OurHistory
http://franchise.thebodyshop.com/franchise-opportunities/
https://www.ft.com/content/10b37676-5b60-11e7-9bc8-8055f264aa8b?mhq5j=e1
https://globalcosmeticsnews.com/europe/4521/the-body-shop-launches-anti-pollution-initiative-in-london
http://www.marketing-interactive.com/the-body-shop-fights-animal-testing-with-new-campaign/ stem-for-true-watchanistas/