Published
Jan 23, 2019
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The Body Shop to use stores as ‘activist hubs’ to fight weakening footfall

Published
Jan 23, 2019

The Body Shop is working on a new marketing strategy that will see it put activism at the centre of the brand and turn its stores into ‘activist hubs’.


The Body Shop India-Facebook


The cosmetics retailer, sold by L’Oréal to Brazilian firm Natura in a £885m deal in 2017, will be trying to lure shoppers back to its stores with a new brand purpose focused on activism and gender equality.

It has spent the past 18 months redefining its brand purpose, at a time when low consumer confidence and stagnating retail sales forecast a difficult year for traditional UK retailers.

Stores will get a renewed focus, and store staff will be trained to run local activism projects.

“One of my missions is to turn Body Shop [stores] into activist hubs. People love people, that’s human nature, and we want to be part of our community. We are working on all the ways we can do that in store,”Jessie Macneil-Brown, head of global activism, told Marketing Week on Tuesday.

In addition to launching campaigns, The Body Shop will be seeking cross-industry support to lobby lawmakers, replicating the success of the 2013 campaign which achieved a EU ban on animal-tested cosmetics.

“It is important to collaborate with your competitors because we all want the same thing. Industry and consumers all get that there is a better way of doing things,” Macneil-Brown said.

The cosmetics, skincare and perfume company has over 3,000 owned and franchised stores in 66 countries. It was founded in 1976 in Brighton by British businesswoman Anita Roddick.

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