Changing ‘Business as Usual’: The Body Shop Becomes a Success
For the first three years of their marriage, Roddick and her husband were content running their restaurant and eight-room hotel. She dealt with the customers while he took care of the behind-the-scenes management. However, after three years, the pair found themselves overworked and separated from their children. They decided to sell their restaurant and embark on their own pursuits.
Roddick’s husband, an equally avid traveler, decided that he wanted to ride a horse from Buenos Aires, Argentina to New York City. Ever the supportive wife, Roddick agreed and stayed home to care for their two children. It was during her husband’s time away that 33-year-old Roddick decided to open up a cosmetics store. But, it wouldn’t be just any cosmetics store. Roddick wanted her operation to be natural and environmentally conscious.
In 1976, Roddick opened up her first Body Shop adjacent to a funeral home in Brighton, only ten minutes from her home, in order to be close to her children. She had used the hotel as collateral to obtain a $6,500 bank loan. Initially, Roddick limited her product line to 15 natural cosmetic products that she had manufactured in her own garage, all of which were packaged and sold in small, recyclable bottles in order to reduce costs.
The Body Shop proved so successful that soon Roddick wanted to open a second store. When she was rejected for a $8,000 loan from the bank, Roddick turned to a gas station owner named Ian McGlinn, who agreed to purchase half a share in the company. By the time her husband returned, Roddick’s chain had become so popular that more and more people had begun inquiring about franchise rights.
With little experience in franchising, Roddick decided not to charge startup or royalty fees. However, before someone could acquire the rights to open a Body Shop franchise, Roddick would personally interview all of the candidates, asking them such questions as “What is your favourite flower?” and “How would you like to die?” At the time, most of the franchises were, and continue to be operated by women.
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For the first three years of their marriage, Roddick and her husband were content running their restaurant and eight-room hotel. She dealt with the customers while he took care of the behind-the-scenes management. However, after three years, the pair found themselves overworked and separated from their children. They decided to sell their restaurant and embark on their own pursuits.
Roddick’s husband, an equally avid traveler, decided that he wanted to ride a horse from Buenos Aires, Argentina to New York City. Ever the supportive wife, Roddick agreed and stayed home to care for their two children. It was during her husband’s time away that 33-year-old Roddick decided to open up a cosmetics store. But, it wouldn’t be just any cosmetics store. Roddick wanted her operation to be natural and environmentally conscious.
In 1976, Roddick opened up her first Body Shop adjacent to a funeral home in Brighton, only ten minutes from her home, in order to be close to her children. She had used the hotel as collateral to obtain a $6,500 bank loan. Initially, Roddick limited her product line to 15 natural cosmetic products that she had manufactured in her own garage, all of which were packaged and sold in small, recyclable bottles in order to reduce costs.
The Body Shop proved so successful that soon Roddick wanted to open a second store. When she was rejected for a $8,000 loan from the bank, Roddick turned to a gas station owner named Ian McGlinn, who agreed to purchase half a share in the company. By the time her husband returned, Roddick’s chain had become so popular that more and more people had begun inquiring about franchise rights.
With little experience in franchising, Roddick decided not to charge startup or royalty fees. However, before someone could acquire the rights to open a Body Shop franchise, Roddick would personally interview all of the candidates, asking them such questions as “What is your favourite flower?” and “How would you like to die?” At the time, most of the franchises were, and continue to be operated by women.
The Body Shop franchise was based on a unique business philosophy; its goal would not be limited to profits, but would also try to encompass socially responsible principles. Roddick wanted her company to offer “a two-for-one sale no other cosmetic company could ever hope to match: buy a bottle of ‘natural’ lotion and get social justice for free.” The company also employed unique advertising techniques, such as lining the sidewalk leading into her store with Body Shop perfume and hanging potpourri.
From campaigning to save Brazilian rainforests to fighting for fairer trade rules, Roddick has dedicated her company to social activism both at home and abroad. By 2004, there were over 1,980 Body Shop stores in over 40 countries around the world. It was voted the second most trust brand in the United Kingdom and Roddick was knighted by the Queen. More recently, the Body Shop was bought out by L’Oreal. Roddick has since spent most of her time giving away the majority of her accumulated $104 million fortune.
Changing the World One Shampoo at a Time: How The Body Shop Became a Success
“If you do things well, do them better. Be daring, be first, be different, be just,” says Roddick – a phrase that could very well be her company motto. She has taken her $6,500 loan and turned it into a successful multi-million dollar corporation that continues to not only make popular cosmetic products but also push the boundaries of corporate social responsibility. She may no longer be the driving force behind the company, but her influence on the business world is undisputed. How did she do it?
Social Change: “If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito,” Roddick used to say. Perhaps she had too little knowledge about the business world to know that it couldn’t be done, but Roddick set out not only to meet the needs of her stakeholders, but also “to courageously ensure that our business is ecologically sustainable, meeting the needs of the present without compromising the future.” In doing so, Roddick not only turned a profit but garnered a large and dedicated following of consumers who were onside with her vision.
Vision: Roddick used her creativity and imagination to come up with both a unique product line and corporate philosophy by which to operate. She also understood the importance of cultivating this spirit throughout her company, inspiring the free thought of others around her. It was in looking at the world through a positive and creative lens that Roddick was able to see the solutions ahead.
Experience: “If you can shape your business life or your working life, you can just look at it as another extension – you just fulfill all your values as a human being in the work place,” says Roddick. “If you are an activist, you bring the activism of your life into your business, or if you love creative art, you can bring that in.” Roddick used what she knew best to inspire and inform her business – her own experiences. Whether it was working in her mother’s café as a child, or bathing along side indigenous tribes in Brazil, Roddick brought in her own past to chart her future.
Survival: “For myself, I needed to earn money, to look after the kids while my husband was traveling for two years across South America,” says Roddick. Born out of a need to stay alive, The Body Shop has been infused with a survivor mentality since day one. It continues his trend today, making the most of every opportunity it can and remaining unsatisfied with the status quo.
Passion: “It’s not really work for me because I have no idea what work is anymore,” says Roddick. “It is so much a part of my life.” Since she was a little girl, the entrepreneurial instinct was cultivated within Roddick. The passion and determination with which she approached her business not only made up for her lack of business knowledge, but actually helped her in achieving her dreams. “I hadn’t a clue,” she recalls of her early days in business and that is what propelled her to the top.
It was while Roddick was running her first store that she learned the true nature of business: “It’s about creating a product or service so good that people will pay for it. Now 30 years on The Body Shop is a multi local business with over 2.045 stores serving over 77 million customers in 51 different markets in 25 different languages and across 12 time zones. And I haven’t a clue how we got here!”