Body Shop

Body Shop International

1) How has the Body Shop become such an outstanding success? Can you identify its sources of competitive advantages?

1. Philosophy, innovation, differentiation - the product line had an environmentally conscious philosophy and consisted of natural products for body, face and hair. Some of the reasons that made Body Shop different from the mass cosmetic industry were the following: no animal tested products, no promises to correct woman’s flaws, plain and recyclable packaging, no advertisement, social activism.

2. The smart price policy (the products were priced more expensive than mass merchandised products but well under exclusive department store lines), the pleasant environment of the stores and the environmental sensitiveness. It resulted in the company’s an outstanding growth (visible in sales level, market share and revenues numbers).

3. The strict selection of the franchisees as a part of the company's plan to preserve the image of the company and to ensure that every shop will be guided under Roddick's principles, avoiding focusing only on profit.

4. The constant education provided to the staff individually in several ways, such as updated news, monthly video magazine, training tapes and documentaries – to keep the staff informed and ready to deal with each store’s local needs.

The set-up of the company as well as the corporate model turned out to be excellent, providing outstanding and immediate success. The environmental-friendly profile, the social awareness and the political involvement were very innovative strategic movements - rarely used in the past by other companies (never used in the cosmetic industry) resulted in the foundation of an excellent image for Body Shop - displaying the differences from common industry norms and strategies.

2. Do you see a conflict between social responsibility and profitability? Is the Body Shop an ethical company?

Stockholders - Body Shop was regarded as a...