To wonder what happened to Body Shop?

[Handbaghag]

Where have they gone wrong? Why are their shops so dead on the high Street. They were buzzing in the 80s. Is it online shopping? Lush?

Chamomile cleanser, hemp
Face moisturiser and the milky clarifying tonic all work and don’t aggravate my skin and are competitively priced with 25% off.

I stay away from all the fruity stuff though - find it cloying and old fashioned.

I used to spend a lot of time and pocketh money/wages from Saturday job in The Body Shop during my mid to late teens. Back in the late eighties and early nineties the stuff they sold was quality, a bit edgy anda ethically.

Fond memories of fuzzy peach, blue ice, dewberry, white musk, animal soaps, shower gel and cloth reusable bags with slogans on.

I thinpk the first wave demise of The Body Shop was when Cosmetics 2 Go (predocessor to Lush) launched. I

Can C2 Go coming in to school giving a talk then being able to order (Pre Internet) from their catalogue. At that time all of my friends and I thought their products were better, cheaper, not tested on animals and more earth friendly than Body Shop stuff. We also liked the fact that you could order from a catalogue and did not have waste time going shop being followed around as if you were going to shop lift.

I stopped buying stuff for myself in The Body Shop when they sold to L, reduced both their quality and product range.

I went in last Christmas to buy a couple of Secret Santa gifts. Was harrased and followed. Ended up buying two bars of soap. Was disappointed to see no refills or different size products. The sample size products and refil sizes used to be great.

It is over priced for what it is these days. Body Shop need to go back to their roots and then I may start shopping in there again. Until they do I think that there are better companies out there offering similar products.

You can get perfectly adequate stuff to wash yourself with in the pound shop. I don't know why anyone would bother with poncy posh stuff that is basically just the same with another label on.

I hate Lush with it's highly scented products, just walking past the store makes me feel sick and I think Body Shop products aren't far behind.
It all appears highly processed, overpriced and synthetic to me.
I much prefer Superdrug.

That’s the point, though, SGB. The Body Shop used to be the polar opposite of poncy posh stuff. Long gone, sadly.

I think body shop would do well to go totally back to its roots, the old plain green labels (you know, for the nostalgia), recycling the bottles you bought the products in by bringing them back to refill for a reduced price, focus on ethical products etc. There’s just nothing particularly special there when I go in and they have so many codes online for a decent discount that I’d never go in to a shop and pay full price. Agree I hate being pounced on in the shop.

Because I refuse to support a company that uses a MLM business model. And yes that included neals yard too.
The reps offer better prices because the only way for them to get sales is to be cheaper than the shop and the thousands of other reps they are competing for sales with.

I used to go to body shop - now i go to lush. I'm looking for unique, very natural aromatic products, and you can smell a lush shop down the road.

Body Shop has been on the slide for a long time. To be honest, I'm surprised they're still around.

When they started out back in the day, they were sort of unique, with their 'natural' products and those nifty bottles you could take back for a refill. Now, they're just another corporate outfit among so many others. There are any number of places selling 'natural' smelly stuff, often for much cheaper than The Body Shop. So why bother?

And I agree with other posters who have said that you can't really browse in peace as the staff are constantly asking if they can help. I dont' really blame them as they're probably under pressure to sell as mcuh as possible, but it's another reason not to bother and just go to Boots or Superdrug instead.

I do have to say that their Mango body butter is gorgeous stuff. I am using it daily and it smells divine,

I like the body shop, I treat myself now and then when I can get a code. The staff are always friendly too.

I avoid any shop where the staff come over, make eye contact and start badgering you before you've had time to pick something up.

Drives me mad!

'Let me know if you need any help' - well, obviously I will, that is literally your job. Makes me feel observed, like someone is scrutinising everything I do, when I just want to browse.

When I went to the outlet shop I was greeted and they asked if they could help. I asked them where the banana shampoo and conditioner was.
They showed me and said if I bought 4 there was 40% off.

Result.

I hate the MLM side. An old friend from school has started it and it’s sad to see how her posts are all offering discounts all the time and how “amaaaaazing” the products are.

I also think they made a mistake ditching their original fragrances and products. I loved Fuzzy Peach, Dewberry and their perfumes and lip balms. If they relaunched those I’d probably go back but as it is they don’t offer anything I can’t get in Boots/Superdrug.

Their Passion fruit cleansing gel used to be my fav thing ever but they seemed to stop making all the good stuff

Omg, I flipping LOVED that as a teenager. I wish they’d bring it back.

I can't believe the body shop is still around.
Anita R sold her soul.
This is what it was about back in the day...
www.google.co.uk/search?q=1980s+bodyshop+campaign&client=safari&hl=en&prmd=isnv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj0rovQrKHkAhWDIVAKHQbYAYgQ_AUoAXoECBIQAQ&biw=375&bih=526&dpr=3

I wanted some shampoo and conditioner and got their ginger one. Very nice actually.

Anyway in 1 minute at the till they tried to upsell to larger bottles, 3 for 2, some special deal on handcream and a loyalty card thing. Aghh

O.M.G. I just found a small bottle of passion fruit cleanser on eBay and bought it, obviously!

Anita Roddick didn't "sell out".She died. She had a stroke and died a year later.

From 'A brief history of the Body shop:

That all sounds very wholesome. Well yes and no.

The Body Shop boasts of being one the first cosmetics brands to prohibit testing on animals, and also the first company to introduce Fair Trade to the beauty industry, which is all very well.

But in 2006, Roddick rather controversially sold The Body Shop to cosmetics giant L'Oréal for the princely sum of £652m.

The same L'Oréal that is part-owned by Nestlé and the same L'Oréal that continues to test new ingredients on animals (it is, regrettably, still required by law in some countries).

Further to this, Roddick had never been your stereotypical beauty entrepreneur. She had strong opinions on the world she was part of, once famously saying that she hated the beauty industry, calling it "a monster selling unattainable dreams".

When questioned about the seemingly hypocritical decision to sell to L'Oréal, Roddick reasoned that The Body Shop would act like a "Trojan horse" that could influence the huge business from the inside.

Unfortunately, Roddick died in 2007, so what influence she may have had we will never know.

For those who haven’t kept up to date - L’Oreal don’t own them any more They sold the company to Natura in 2017. They are now a cruelty free company again.

I agree that The Bodyshop aren’t cheap, but I like their products. I much prefer them to Lush. I like their vitamin E range (pity they discontinued the soap though), the Fuji Green Tea range, the Camomile cleansing butter and the Drops of Youth moisturiser.

Body Shop used to be brilliant. They had ethics and they sold products different to everywhere else.

Now they are as bland, and as generic, and as safe-profit-over-innovation as the vast majority of high street chains.

Whether Roddick herself sold out, the chain sold itself out when it became so incredibly dull and uninteresting with only a veneer of being ethical or different.

Kiwi lip balm, white musk and ananya perfume !

For those who haven’t kept up to date - L’Oreal don’t own them any more They sold the company to Natura in 2017. They are now a cruelty free company again.

Customers lost trust in the brand when it was first sold to the dark side
I don't think anyone can turn that round.

I don’t use my local store as the manageress is so rude. I have recently started using their aloe face cream and chamomile face cleanser, and they are very nice.

Their body yoghurt is amazing, just sinks in without any stickiness, which i hate.

A lot of their stuff is expensive, but they often have 3 for 2 on.

I like their drops of youth peel thingy and their factor 50 moisturiser, one of the few things with a high spf that doesn't break me out, but it's never in stock!