The Body Shop Background
The Body Shop International (BSI)
The Body Shop was founded by entrepreneur Anita Roddick who started retailing homemade naturally inspired products with minimal packaging in 1976. The Body Shop rapidly evolved from one small shop in Brighton on the south coast of England, with only around 25 hand-mixed products on sale, to a worldwide network of shops. Franchising allowed for rapid growth and international expansion in 50 countries.
In 1999 The Body Shop brand was voted the second most trusted brand in the UK by the Consumers Association. According to the 1997 Interbrand survey criteria, the company was named 28th top brand in the world, second in the retail sector. In a 1998 report, a survey of international chief executives in The Financial Times ranked The Body Shop the 27th most respected company in the world.
The Body Shop Thailand (BST)
The Body Shop Thailand has been established since 1993 by acquiring the exclusive license program from BSI. In the Asia Pacific region BSI headquarter is located in Singapore from where BST directly receives all the strategies and directions from.
BST’s shareholders include an individual investor, Mr.Kew, (30%) and Central Trading Group (70%) who owns several well known Department stores in Thailand. BST is divided in to 4 main functional departments including Marketing, Finance, Accounting, Warehouse. BST operated all functions internally because outsourcing could incur higher cost. Currently BST employs about 240 employees including staffs in retail stores. BST shops consist of company-owned stand-alone shops in the shopping mall and consignment in department store. The Body Shop has a total of 10 product lines. However, the analysis of this paper is based on 4 of its main prod ...