For the last several years L Brands’ Bath & Body Works division, with just over 1,700 North American stores, has been its shining star. While its flagship, Victoria’s Secret has experienced steep declines, with revenues down 6.5% year-to-date, Bath and Body Works is up 11.8%.   Still small compared with Victoria’s Secret—$3 billion in year-to-date sales compared with $4.5 billion for VS (excluding its international division)—Bath & Body Works is on track to reach upwards of $5 billion for fiscal year 2019 and bring in over 35% of total corporate revenue. The Trefis Team reports that virtually all of L Brands’ incremental revenue growth since 2015 is owing to Bath & Body Works.   At a time when L Brands’ doesn’t need any more competition in the highly contested personal care market, its chief competitor from back in the day, The Body Shop, has found its second wind under its new owner, Brazil-based Natura & Co.   As its name implies, Natura is a natural personal care company founded on principles of sustainability and “clean beauty.” It hits the sweet spot in personal care today, estimated to be a $13.3 billion global market in 2018 with projections it will achieve 9.4% CAGR from 2019-2025 to reach $25 billion.   For many years Bath & Body Works didn’t have to worry about The Body Shop, which lost its footing under L’Oreal’s ownership after it bought the brand in 2006 only to sell it off to Natura in 2017. But in Bath & Body Works’ early days, The Body Shop was its chief rival.   Rumor has it that Bath & Body Works was started in 1990 as a knockoff of The Body Shop with look-alike logo and packaging. The Body Shop followed with a lawsuit, which it won, so Bath & Body Works adopted its gingham-themed Heartland Era branding that lasted through 2002 when it updated again.   Though Bath & Body Works copied The Body Shop’s style, it didn’t copy its spirit, which was based on sustainability, natural, and ethically sourced ingredients. Founded in 1976 by the late environmental and human rights activist Dame Anita Roddick, The Body Shop was early to natural beauty. It was one of the first beauty companies to ban animal testing and it led in Fair Trade practices in the beauty business.   Recently, Bath & Body Works adopted The Body Shop’s animal cruelty position, but not much else. A search on its website yields no hits on the term “Organic” and “Natural” yields a handful of products containing essential oils. Bath & Body Works did not respond to my request for comment.  

The Body Shop goes back to the future

  For The Body Shop, the period from 2006-2017 under L’Oreal were its dark ages. Roddick passed away only a year after L’Oreal took over and The Body Shop didn’t fit nicely under the corporate umbrella. U.K.-based retail analyst Richard Hyman was quoted by the BBC saying, “Frankly it’s a bit of mystery them [L’Oreal] buying it in the first place. What they bought is a retailer, and what they’re good at is brands.”   Now under Natura, The Body Shop has an owner that understands the brand’s DNA and can capitalize on it. “With Natura we are bringing back the spirit of Anita Roddick and the whole reason she created The Body Shop. It feels like a coming-home party, but we should never have left that home because it’s always who we were and are,” shared Andrea Blieden, The Body Shop’s U.S. general manager who came over from L’Oreal after working as vice president of marketing for Kiehl’s.   “The brand is going back to its roots, after veering off course. We are going back to our brilliant founder’s vision that we should never have departed from,” she continues.   Now customers can experience the reincarnated spirit of the brand in a new concept store on Oxford Street in London, soon to be followed by similar prototype stores in eight cities across the globe over the next 12 to 18 months, including two planned for the U.S.   A prototype store in Los Angeles is slated for second quarter of 2020 and a store in New York will open in late second quarter or early third quarter of 2020. Blieden and team are still working on the details.  

Setting the stage

  Described as an “Activist Makers’ Workshop,” the new prototype store is designed to reflect the zeitgeist of today’s environmental-activist culture. “A key component of our workshop is to give space in the stores to be activists and to educate customers in the community what we stand for and how we support what they stand for too,” Blieden says.   “For example, we are employing plastic waste pickers in India who previously struggled to get a fair wage for their work. We are buying that plastic for a premium price and reusing it in all of our shampoo and conditioner bottles,” she continues.   The Body Shop was just awarded a B Corp certification, which means, “We are a business recognized for putting people and the planet first, not just profit,” she explains.   “All the components of Roddick’s activism, which was rare in the 1980s and 1990s, comes to life in our workshop where we are reusing and repurposing materials that would have been thrown out or wasted,” Blieden continues, explaining that the store’s fixtures are made from such materials, including recycled zinc and reclaimed wood.   Taking center stage in the store is a craftsman’s bench where customers can mix their own shea body butter concoction using spatulas and bowls provided with the resulting product ready to take home in wrapped paper.   “The craftsman idea is important to us because it goes back to The Body Shop roots, where Anita made her lotions and potions in her kitchen,” she says, adding that this hands-on experience allows deeper engagement with the brand, the store staff and among the customers as well. “It gives people a space to experience and test out the product. It is a place to play.” Next to the craftsman’s bench is an activism zone, where customers can sign up and promote their favorite causes and take selfies to share with their friends. For example, the London store has a collection bin for donations to Bloody Good Period, which sends sanitary products to women in need. “Female empowerment is really important to the company,” Blieden adds.   Returning to prominence in the new prototype store is the refill station where customers can personally fill a reusable metal container with the most popular shower gels and creams, with the offerings changing seasonally. This concept was first introduced in 1993, but it was before its time. And besides the refill station, there is also a TerraCycle bin to collect plastic bottles for recycling. Long term, the plan is to convert more of the 1,000 company-owned stores throughout 69 countries to the new model. Or if a full-scale remodel isn’t called for, the company will bring essential elements of the prototype stores into them, like the refilling and plastic recycling station.   “We are trying to build a more sustainable shop for the future,” she says. “We still want customers to get the essence of The Body Shop experience no matter what store they go to.”  

Compare and contrast

  With only about 100 The Body Shop stores in the U.S. compared with 1,600 Bath & Body Works stores, L Brands is probably not too worried right now about The Body Shop cutting into its business. But The Body Shop is leaning aggressively into the future by returning to its past, which was ahead of its time in the 1980s and 1990s, but perfect for today.   Bath & Body Works, like its corporate sister Victoria’s Secret, seems to be stuck in the past. And if L Brands’ past behavior is a predictor of its future behavior, it will be slow to pick up the clues that its gravy train is running out of steam.