INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND The body Shop is one of the most famous retail brands in the world, noted for

its range of naturally inspired skin and hair care products and ethical values. The name behind the famous cosmetic shop, is Anita Perella Roddick, who used to be a part-time teacher. Anita Parella Roddick traveled to different places like Madagascar, Mauritius, Australia and Reunion; she was mesmerized by the organic products that women in the Polynesian islands use to nurture their bodies. When she went back to England, she married a Scotsman poet and traveler named Gordon Roddick in 1971. During the 1970s, when Anita and her husband Gordon-Roddick were visiting San Francisco, they came across a store in Berkeley, which was called The Body Shop and founded by two locals. The two locals was also publicly promoting environmental concerns, they even offering price cuts to customer to encourage them to bring their own bottles instead of buying new ones. The right to the name The Body Shop was then sold to the Roddicks in the early 1980s, while the original store continuing their business in the Bay Area under the name Body Time. In the mid-1970s in United Kingdom, The very first Body Shop was established and offering products made using natural and exotic ingredients, without testing on animals. The Body Shop experienced rapid growth, expanding at a rate of 50 percent annually. The stock was then given a nickname the shares that defy gravity as the price increased by more than 500%. In March 2006, LOreal took over The Body Shop. The Body Shop operates as a distinct entity, with its own Board and Executive Committee within the LOreal Group. The business continue to expand, till year 2010, the total number of locations for The Body Shop exceeds 2605, trading in 61countries.

The number of stores in different areas, year 2005. Loreal 2010 Financial Statement

Besides being well known for the rapid growth, The Body Shop is also well recognized for social responsibilities programs. The first major campaign for The Body Shop is in years ago, when Anita used the window of The Body Shop store to campaign to Save the Whale. The Body Shop have also campaigned for, and won a UK-wide ban against animal testing on cosmetic products and ingredients with a largest petition in history against animal testing. In 1997, they ran a now famous headline: There are 3 billion women who dont look like supermodels. And only 8 who do, being the first retailer to speak out on selfesteem issues. Today, The Body Shop campaigns focus on three of the greatest challenges of our time; they are Stop HIV, Stop Sex Trafficking and Stop Violence in the Home.

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission statement of The Body Shop shows their deep dedication to their customers and also the environment we live in. They stay on top of the latest developments in order to provide the highest quality of product possible. The Body Shop will be entering a market that is well educated on environment issues and desire for organic products, they believe that as long as the quality of the products remain consistent with fair pricing, The Body Shop will retain customer.

Values

Based on the mission statement, The Body Shop created 5 core values. This is to ensure that the business will live by the mission statement, it will also act as a practical guide for decision making at all level in the company. The profits have to be made by principles. According to a survey conducted, 89% of The Body Shop Loyal customers think that it was very important to source in a responsible manner, treating people in the companys supply chain with dignity and respect. In 2007, The Body Shop were awarded a Big Tick by Business in the Community for our Community for their Community and Ethical Trades Programs. Besides that, due to the sustained commitment to animal welfare, The Body Shop was twice the winner for the Royal Society for Protection of Cruelty against Animal (RSPCA) Good Business Award.

CENTRAL PROBLEM The main problem that The Body Shop faces is the unethical conduct of The Body Shop top management and its policies which resulted loss. The main problem for The Body Shop is the unethical conduct of the founder. The main reasons for the brand recognition are their programs related to social problems and environmental issues. For example, protesting against the testing on animals, campaign against human rights abuse, environmental protection and social uplifting activities. However, The Body Shop no longer focus on the ethical business aspect of generating revenues as indicated in the mission statement. As a result, the company was plagued with numbers of controversies, between year 1995 and 2000. SUB PROBLEMS 1. Claims on the natural ingredients used in The Body Shop products. As the essence of the products is the unique selling point, The Body Shop has assured that they only used natural ingredients in their products. However, it was later discovered that The Body Shop products contains chemicals that was made in laboratories. It was not only that, even there were reports stating that Body Shop was selling contaminated product supplies to the consumers. In the year 1993, 151bottles of contaminated Banana Shampoo were sold to consumers in the USA. Besides that, The Body Shop did not mentioned the original sources of the ingredients used on the package as other marketed products did, the organic or natural sources were not mentioned. In fact like all big cosmetic companies The Body Shop make wide use of nonrenewable petrochemicals, synthetic colors, fragrances and preservatives, and in many of their products they use only tiny amounts of botanical-based ingredients. Some experts have warned about the potential adverse effects on the skin of some of the synthetic ingredients. The Body Shop also regularly irradiates certain products to try to kill microbes - radiation is generated from dangerous non-renewable uranium which cannot be disposed of safely.

2. Critics on the environmental issues towards The Body Shop. The Body Shop has successfully manufactured an image of being a caring company that is helping to protect the environment. But behind the green and cuddly image lies the reality The Body Shop's operations, like those of all multinationals, have a detrimental effect on the environment. A former US Body Shop environmental officer has accused the company of hypocrisy and putting manufacturing priorities before environmental concerns. The Body Shop, which prides itself on its green credentials, was responsible for two spills of shampoo and shower gel from its Hanover, New Jersey, plant in 1992 which then caused problems at a water treatment plant back to The Body Shop plant. The Body Shop's new US headquarters are on a site whose groundwater is contaminated from emissions by a previous owner. Its drainage is handled by a septic system, instead of flowing into the city sewer system. The Body Shop has also run into regulatory problems at its new plant in Wake Forest, North Carolina, which was visited by US Food and Drug Administration inspectors. The FDA officials recommended the firm correct certain practices after finding problems with product samples and plant-cleaning records. The FDA documents said the allegations were made by 'former and current employees at this firm (who) contacted the informants', who are unnamed. Body Shop has been embroiled in a furor over its 'green credentials' since it emerged that a US ethical investment fund had sold 50,000 of its shares because of concerns over its environmental record. 3. The Trade not Aid Program by the Body Shop. There were few critics made towards The Body Shop on its trade not aid program. Even though the Trade Not Aid program undertaken by The Body Shop in Kayapo communities has been touted as the realization of the Rainforest Harvest approach to conservation, it is in fact a wage labor relationship whereby the Kayapo are not compensated for the real product they provide The Body Shop: their photographic image. Furthermore, this program is but one part of a portfolio of income sources available to the Kayapo, and does not prevent them from engaging in environmentally exploitative contracts with loggers and miners, and so should not
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be seen as an exclusive alternative to environmentally damaging land use practices. The Body Shops Trade Not Aid program has come in for a good deal of cogent criticism, which in spite of the real differences between them applies in some measure to both. The most trenchant of the critics, Stephen Corry of Survival International, has distinguished between straightforward fair trade projects designed to help local communities produce for local markets, on terms that guarantee them a fair return for their products (which he supports). 4. Animal testing done by The Body Shop. Though the Body Shop was against the testing of products on animals, it was found out according to an internal memo of the company in 1992 that almost 50% of the companys products were tested on animals. One fierce attack came from a British television program entitled Body Search which accused The Body Shop of misleading customers with its Against Animal Testing product label. The Body Shops policy, designed as an incentive for companies to eliminate their animal testing, required rejecting all ingredients that had been tested on animals in the previous five years. The TV program, however, charged the company with using ingredients that had been tested on animals. The Body Shop brought a suit against the television station 1993 and won 276,000 in damages. Although the company won the suit, the battle had focused attention on the Body Shops ethical record and inspired additional criticism. Although the Body Shop identifies their products as "animal-testing free", they are facing counter evidence of their extensive use of ingredients that have been tested on animals by other companies. "They accept ingredients tested on animals before 1991, or those tested since then (if they were animal-tested for some purpose other than for cosmetics)". Some Body Shop products even have animal parts such as gelatine (crushed bone). In one word, The Body Shop's animal-loving image is still under suspicion. 5. Claims on charity issues. The reputation of the Body Shop for charitable giving had been an issue among the critics. The critics claim that, while responsible charitable organizations such as Patagonia and Ben & Jerrys contribute 10% and 7.5% of its pre-tax profits for charity, the Body Shop is contributing around 3% of its pre-tax profits. However, the figures do not take into account
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the voluntary activities undertaken by the employees of the Body Shop and the contributions made by the customers. Different fund raiser activities such as sale of red ribbons during World Aids Day and collection of funds from the customers in Violence Against Women campaigns also contributed to the charity activities conducted by the company. SWOT ANALYSIS STRENGTHS One of the strengths for The Body Shop is brand loyalty. The essence of the products which is made of natural ingredients is the main selling point for The Body Shop. By meeting the customers needs through the provision of high quality, good value products with exceptional service and relevant information will let the customers felt of the sincerity of The Body Shop and stay turn with their products. Loyal customers are important as they provide continuous profit to a company and it also provides the basis for brand development and improvement. Besides that, the niche marketing in The Body Shop also one of its strengths. There are several of product lines offered by The Body Shop such as body care, bath, skin care, make up, home fragrance, fragrance, hair care, aroma therapy, mens and accessories. Since every customer has different expectation, it is never an easy task to satisfy every customer needs or wants with a sole product line. Through narrowing the market away from the mainstream, it may be included less potential customers, but, on other hand, it is actually benefit to the company because can satisfy various types of customers in market. The strength in The Body Shop is the charity support. The founder, Anita Roddick can successfully build up the business of The Body Shop was through protesting against the testing on animals, campaigns against human rights abuse, environmental protection and socially uplifting activities. These charity supports lead The Body Shop being the second trusted brand in United Kingdom and the founder Anita was popularly know, had received numerous awards as well.

WEAKNESSES There are few weaknesses in The Body Shop. One of them is The Body Shop emphasis on social issues rather than business. It was not to discourage the companies from caring on social issues, but at least in an appropriate way. The existence of every business in market is to earn profit; therefore The Body Shop should not just emphasis on social issues rather than its business which may hurt company especially their shareholders. Other than that, The Body Shop also weak on their restructure strategy. After the Patrick Gournay ascent to power, he immediately implemented a retrenchment of 300 staffs in order to cut off the cost of operation in company. The action taken by Patrick Gournay had lead to the losses of the company. This unsuccessfully restricting attempt shown that when the wrong decision is made, this may bring a negative impact to the company. Besides that, poorly motivated shareholder also is one of the weaknesses. No one even voice out their opinion of dissatisfaction on how The Body Shop operate their business. This leads to tremendous loss of sales and everyone just mind their own business. OPPORTUNITY One of the opportunities for The Body Shop is the pioneer of using natural ingredient in cosmetic product. It is always benefits to be the pioneer in a market which can gain the firstmover advantages. For instance, products of The Body Shop is made by the natural ingredients which is totally different with others cosmetic product in market. The Body Shop will gain the competitive advantages as a pioneer over those starts later because it already builds a customer base and benefits from the economies of scale as well. The larger market in cosmetic line also consider as opportunity for The Body Shop. The global sales of cosmetics and toiletries are increasing every year and this show that cosmetic line is a potential market to be grown although there are lots of competitive brands in market. Nowadays, ladies are willing to spend their money in the pursuit of beauty. Therefore, the combination of beauty and healthy concepts in the Body Shop products do really provide a potential market for it to grow since the products of the Body Shop is made from zero chemical ingredients.
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The opportunity to reinforce the brand image is always there as we can see The Body Shop work tirelessly to win support from customer with its participation in the charity drive events. This is to prove that The Body shop not only sell products but also care about social issues as well and repositioning its brand as the corporate socially responsibility. THREATS The first threat faced by Body Shop is the public propaganda. The particular issues in which the Body Shop was challenged included its claims of natural ingredients, environmental protection; Trade not Aid program, animal testing and the charity issues. For instance, outsiders claim that many of the products in Body Shop contain chemicals where the source was not mentioned. Public might be influenced by the negative rumor and lose confidence towards the Body Shops products. Next, de-motivated franchisee also is the threat for Body Shop. The Body Shop used to operate with franchisee model in the beginning of business. However, in the late of 1990s, the company started to buy back the franchised outlets and offer them a job as the employees in the parent company. The actions taken by Body Shop towards the franchisees that are not willing to sell off their business turn negative impacts to his own. Due to that, hand inventory started to accumulate and on the hand the Body Shop lost revenue and customers. In addition, political involvements also consider one of the threats faced by the Body Shop. The company had involved itself into activities which had ultimately led the company into clashes with political factions. For example, the Body Shop started a protest against the oil multinational Shell which had destroyed the natural habitats of the Ogoni tribesmen in Nigeria. When these kinds of incidents keep happening, it may influence the business of the Body Shop itself. This might be given an opportunity for its competitive brands to take over their business.

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ALTERNATIVES 1. Repositioning The Brand Image In order to be a unique proposition, and having effectively created its own retail category, The Body Shop has appeared slow to evolve its brand identity. The strong association between the company and its campaigning founder, the increasing competition and changing consumer attitudes, have been significant factors in the company's struggle to realign and update its brand. The Body Shops direct competition is from the brands name like Procter & Gamble, Loreal Group, Unilever Group, Colgate-Palmolive, Esteen Lauder and so on. Positioning is about the position a brand occupies in a market in the minds of consumers. The Body Shop took on a massive repositioning activity in early 2005. The global marketing director of the company, Andy King (King) advocated that the need to reposition the brand to carve out a differentiated position in a crowded cosmetics market. King described the new brand image as masstige that is it exist between mass market and prestige. Several changes had been taken place in this strategy. The shop interiors had been changed from the traditional dark floors and walls to neutral tiles and hemp-coated backlit screens. Colourful and bulging shelves had been replaced with attractive glass counters. Apart from that, the new 'invent your scent' perfume counter and luxurious Spa Wisdom range had been designed to tempt those customers who would usually shop at the counters of a department store.

2. Packaging A brand differentiates the attributes and benefits of products or services by their distinctive visual merchandising and promotion, in order to enable consumers to make preferences. The Body Shop also made changes on its product packaging. This new design is often required to satisfy loyal customers when the visual appearance of a product has become tired on their mind while appeal to new audiences. Being a green retailer is the core value at The Body Shop. It always has and always will be. The company avoids excess packaging whenever possible. They are
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also creating the most Earth friendly packaging possible for their products. For instance, all of our tubes and bottles are made with a minimum of 30% recycled plastics. These included the black-topped bottles, which used to come in three different sizes (fitting every pocket), had been replaced with 'Boston round' containers with white caps which came only in large sizes. "The Boston Round" gives it a fresh look and feel to reflect this innovative merchandise offer.

3. Introducing Loyalty Card The Body Shop aims to expand its customer base in all the outlets through its world class customer loyalty program Love Your Body, and therefore encourage, loyal buying behavior. The company offered customers to sign up for 'Love Your Body' loyalty card with purchase a 5 (RM21.60) loyalty card which can be used online and at any participating store. The loyalty card rewards customer with an unlimited 10 percent discount, members birthday special offers, free gifts and access to the kinds of perks and privileges in a whole year. The membership card had been successful in attracting customers proven when the program was launched in the UK in 2004 after a successful five-year run in the US, and had amassed half a million members by mid 2005. The global cosmetics and toiletries industry which was growing at a healthy rate from 2000 also acted as a catalyst in this process.

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DECISION

Based on the 3 different alternatives available, we decided to choose repositioning the brand image. This is because after suffering from periods of losses, coupled with poorly motivated shareholders, de-motivated franchisees, unsuccessful restructuring attempts and public propaganda against the company, there is a strong need for The Body Shop strives to reposition their brand image. It is all about how the company merges as an outstanding Cosmetic and Toiletries Company among the competitors and became popular among the consumers. Andy King, the global marketing director of the company emphasis on repositioning the brand to create a differentiated position in this saturated cosmetics market. This is due to the high street stores such as Boots and newly emerging Lush Cosmetics have developed their own successful natural beauty products in recent years, erode into The Body Shop's traditional niche. Thus, they come up with numerous changes made in rebranding the Body Shop's new brand as 'masstige' - somewhere between prestige and mass market, offering the company the opportunity to compete with prestige brands. Meanwhile, The Body Shop have to determine the needs, wants, and interests of target markets and to deliver the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that preserves or enhances the consumers and the societys well-being. The change more apparent than in Body Shop's newly refurbished store in London's Covent Garden. It is one of 18 outlets across the world that has been given a facelift to prepare for the brand repositioning. This year between 75 and 80 stores in the UK, and 250 globally, will get the same treatment. After almost three decades, the trademark dark green 'box' has gone. Dark floors and walls have been replaced with neutral tiles and hemp-coated backlit screens. Colourful and bulging shelves, once a mecca for teenagers browsing for sweet-smelling bargains, have been replaced with sleek glass counters. The new 'invent your scent' perfume counter and luxurious Spa Wisdom range, introduced in March, are also designed to tempt customers who would usually shop at a department store beauty hall.
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IMPLICATION 1. Provides confidence regarding purchase decision The Body Shop has been advocating about the social issues such as natural products, environmental claim, trade but not aid program, animal testing and charity issues. But due to some controversies in the mid and end of 1990 has badly affected the company image and affect the customer trust of this brand. Thus, as The Body Shop tried to restructure the internal company operation and also repositioning it brand image, customers become more confidence about the Body Shop products and they feel they have made the right decision by purchasing the products after the brand repositioning. 2. Customer loyalty to the brand As the brand champion in few social and charity issues, the winning of Royal Society for prevention of cruelty to animals (RSCPA) was the life changing event for The Body Shop as it fights its survival. Good time seems to be back for The Body Shop and customer loyalty increased after The Body Shop successfully reposition its brand, differentiate itself from other cosmetic line and proved that they really employ the best practice in terms of treatment to animals in the cosmetic, fashion and food industries. The Body Shop was still considered as prestige brand in Middle East and Asia which comprises of 25% of the global cosmetic and toiletries market which is supposed to leverage the brand needs. 3. Increase in Sales and Profits Repositioning helps in make the sales and profits soars as a strong corporate image allow the company to charge more for the products. Most customers believe that they get what they pay for. Better quality often associate with higher price. This can lead to improve mark up margins and profits of the firm. At the same time, global cosmetic and toiletries was growing at a healthy rate starting from year 2000 also acted as a catalyst in the process of repositioning The Body Shops brand.

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CONCLUSION From a small stall in Brighton England to 2400 stores in 61 countries and second largest cosmetic franchise in the world following O Boticario, a Brazilian company, the Body Shop is headquartered in Littlehampton, West Sussex, England, was founded in 1976 by the late Dame Anita Roddick and is now part of the L'Oral corporate group. In its earliest years, The Body Shop did not visibly market itself as committed to social causes. Its products we considered at the time "natural"; however, the bright colors and strong fragrances were created by chemicals, including from petrochemicals, which were also used as preservatives. The social activism dimension of the company begins in 1986 when The Body Shop proposed an alliance with Greenpeace in the UK to save the whale. Roddick began launching other promotions tied to social causes, with much public and media interest. The Body Shop regularly featured posters on shop windows and sponsorship of local charity and community events. Over time, Roddick blossomed into a full-time critic of business in general and the cosmetic industry in particular, criticizing what she considered the environmental insensitivity of the industry and traditional views of beauty, and aimed to change standard corporate practices. Despite of protesting against animal testing, campaign against human rights abuse, environmental protection and social uplifting events, The Body Shop company spark controversies on how ethical is the company to its commitments to the issues. The company no longer focused on ethical business aspect for generating revenues, a fact emphasized on the mission statement. As a result, the business during Anita reign had to suffer from tremendous loss and the Body Shop has restructured the company operations. Unfortunately, the restructuring was in vain and it leads to more sales loss and the top management had to do massive repositioning activities in order to build its brand image again in 2005. Finally in March 2006 The Body Shop agreed to a 652.3 million takeover by L'Oral.

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Encyclopedia of leadership, Retrieved 29 September 2011, from Volume 4 edited by George R. Goethals, Georgia Jones Sorenson, James MacGregor Burns Loreal 2010 Financial statements, Retrieved 29 September 2011, from http://www.loreal-finance.com/_docs/us/2010-annual-report/LOREAL-2010-AR-volume2.pdf Mc Donalds. WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE BODY SHOP? Retrieved 29 September 2011, from www.mcspotlight.org/beyond/companies/bs_ref.html. TED Case Studies Is The Body Shop www1.american.edu/TED/bodyshop.htm The Body Shop (2011) Retrieved http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Body_Shop Retrieved 29 September 2011, from

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