The Body Shop is going for insolvency

[Gymnopedie]

Only recently bought, the new owners either weren't told or didn't absorb the information about the amount of debt compared to assets.

It could mean anything from total closure to restructuring the finances or any point in between. If there's a particular TBS product you like, stock up.

Body Shop prepares for insolvency process

(Link from This Is Money and elsewhere via MSN)

Same here. I was a regular customer in my teens/20s but I actively don't shop there now because of their treatment of JKR. I used to shop in Lush too and then stopped once I realised.

The same here.

Another person who shopped in there regularly (I’m 50 so it was a brand I had loyalty to) but I refused to buy from them once they showed they were complete mysoginists.

I am not at all surprised. They haven't moved on since the 1980s.They had a golden group of consumers they won over emotionally in their teens and twenties, but didn't move through life with them, nor did they attract new ones. Once Anita Roddick died, they lost their identity and never recovered it. And that is all before JKR!

They could have revived old favourites and lots of us would have gone back to try them for the nostalgia value.

Capitalizing on the refillable packaging and other environmental features should have been an open door, now everyone has caught up on green issues.

But instead they chose to attack the world's most popular children's author because she's a feminist.

Bye.

I used to buy the million pound body butter but I changed to the M&S one after the JKR debacle.
My teenagers don't even know what Body Shop is so trying to lure in the woke generation didn't work either.

That’s a shame. I liked the story of the founder and some aspects of the company. I had one of their advent calendars this year so I might stock up on some of the items I liked.

I was full White Musk, but it really feels like they haven’t been able to keep the brand offering current at all. I live close to a very busy shopping centre and while Lush is usually heaving, The Body Shop is usually deserted. They don’t really have demographic any more - you can see who Lush is for, Neal’s Yard, L’occitane etc, but not really The Body Shop.

Remember the lovely dark green and black packaging of the 80’s?

It feels like a rebrand and overhaul of their entire presentation with a clear demographic (probably women in their 30’s and 40’s who would like to afford The White Company and Anthropologie, but want something with more vibes than M&S own brand etc) in mind would save them.

Realised what about Lush?

I'm evidently unaware of something!! Don't actually shop there anymore, bar once a year when I get something for my son as a present.

Once a year is enough as it' seems to habr gone farmore expensive than from when I used yo buy from there (25 years ago).

Mind you I'm pretty sure the Bodyshop is far more pricey than it was in the 80s (even taking inflation into account). I looked it up online to see if they still did Dewberry/White Musk and wA taken aback by the prices. There's no way it was that expensive back then as I used to buy thimgs from tbere as a teenager.

I’d better stock up on some white musk and dewberry 😄

I thought they’d gone years ago. A relic of the 80s like Tie Rack.

I'm surprised that they still exist, there's been a shop in my local Big Town since I was a teen, I never saw anybody in there and when I went in as a teen to browse they always tried to upsell things that cost £50+, I was clearly not the market they should have been trying to sell those things to when browsing the cheap bits and shampoos 🙄

I saw a clip of someone talking about how companies think if they put young people in charge of SM/marketing that will equal success. But it doesn’t. They often don’t understand they are mean to be talking to their key audience, it’s not a platform for their personal beliefs. You actually need lots of experience in these roles.

Im sure this has happened to them.

No company has managed to alienate their key demographic and managed to pick up another one straight away. My teenager also had never ever heard of them, they’re not on their radar. They aren’t impressed with reduced plastics and cruelty free etc they expect it.

Im always shocked at how companies seemed to have no interest in keeping their loyal customer base. DD is doing GCSE business and they talk about how an existing customer is much more valuable and cheaper than a new customer, how do these companies not know this. Companies will fail chasing young people with no money and no interest in them.

Another one who hasn’t shopped there since their appalling attack on JKR. I for one am shocked to hear that alienating the middle aged women who’ve shopped with you since their teenage years turned out NOT to be a good sales technique

Our shop has been devoid of customers for years-I don’t think I have seen more customers than shop assistants in there for about 20 years.

In the 90s, you couldn’t move in there for teenagers (you would always seen someone from school!) buying little bath pearls, fruity soaps and little bottles of shampoo/condition for about £1.25! The whole school smelt of Dewberry as well-probably staff and kids using it.

Now, you can buy a tiny bottle of face serum for £17. If you have that sort of money to spend, you probably aren’t going to shop there!

Such a shame-they lost their target audience.

I found it off putting the moment you walked in staff pounced on you asking what you were looking for . I know they are only doing their job and have to do it but it made me feel uncomfortable.

I agree that pissing off your key demographic was a disaster. I do still buy the odd thing in there when I've got a voucher but I used to spend much more. My teen DD has never set foot in a branch AFAIK. I remember when I was a young teen my mum's friend (who was very hip and trendy) discovered it and bought me a bottle of shower gel with a handwritten label on a trip to Brighton and then a branch opening in London and going in on my first trip there without parents.

I remember the Anita Roddick years and how pioneering it was. The first shop to ask you if you really did need a bag for your purchases. What a shame.

Yeah inevitable I think. No thought to their customer base at all. I've used their make up for 30 years (gulp!) and still use the face base but I'm at my wits end with the constant sudden changes to it. Have wasted so much money buying the number they say is the 'new 05' or whatever and it's nothing like it.

Bollox, just when I found an anti dandruff shampoo that doesn't make my scalp itch 🙄 I hope someone buys it.

Loved it in my teens Dewberry fragrance from the big bottles, banana shampoo, bath pearls, gel soaps...it lost its way, I retained a little nostalgic fondness, quite liked pink grapefruit products and hemp range and would buy those now and then as a treat. I haven't put a foot over the door since the JKR business.

Yes, I'll miss ginger shampoo. But even though I didn't boycott it completely they pissed me off enough that I only go there for one or two specific things now and don't browse, don't try new things. I quite like the chatty assistants though and feel sorry that their jobs are now in danger.

I have shopped at BS since the 80s, and still do. Most of my toiletries come from there.

Having said that I have sensed it's been on its way out for years. There's no one in the shops and it just seems to not appeal to the young (apart from my DD).

I will really miss it if it goes.

I have been a customer since the very first shop opened in Brighton (I used to live there). Now I only buy the banana shampoo and conditioner. It really is the only shampoo that works for my hair (dry, thick, frizzy and reacts badly to silicone). Is anyone else the same and could recommend an alternative?

I used to love it. Especially face serums. However once they started up body shop at home I just couldn't shop there anymore.

I'm passionately against mlm schemes as I think they are a legal con and mainly target women