Using natural ingredients, The Body Shop has built a successful skin and hair care product line. Responsibility for the environment is also key.
Product Communications, The Body Shop Canada
In 1980, The Body Shop Canada was a single shop hidden under a deli in Toronto's Yorkville district. It's products were hand-labelled and the warehouse consisted of boxes wedged into the basement of a house. Today The Body Shop, respected for its distinctive and honest approach to retailing and its commitment to profits with principles, has 120 shops across Canada selling high-quality skin care and hair care products that are not tested on animals and simply packaged, without hype.
The Body Shop was founded by Anita Roddick in Brighton, England in 1976. Her simple concept was to offer skin and hair care products based on naturally-derived ingredients - such as aloe vera, cocoa butter, jojoba oil, almond oil - inspired by her travels around the world. Anita's observations of Sri Lankan women rubbing pineapple on their skin resulted in the development of Pineapple Facial Wash.
The Body Shop's first shop was painted green to cover the damp patches, and shelf space was filled by offering 25 products in five different sizes - that way customers could buy exactly the amount they needed, at a price they could afford to pay. The Body Shop's refill program was born from necessity. When Anita first opened her shop, she couldn't afford to buy new bottles and thus began offering her customers a small discount incentive for bringing back their bottles for refilling. Now, 75 products can be refilled at The Body Shop including The Body Shop Colourings Make-up line and Perfume Oils.
Today, The Body Shop is an international retail phenomenon, with more than 1,400 shops in 46 countries including Japan, Finland and Australia.
Margot Franssen, President and partner of The Body Shop Canada, obtained the Canadian franchise rights in 1979 from Anita. Margot recruited her sister Betty-Ann, and her husband Quig Tingley to become partners in the venture. "We started without retail experience, let alone MBAs," recalls Margot, "but we knew that Canada was ready for The Body Shop concept". Her instincts proved right.
The Body Shop's products are focused on a simple, …
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