Most of the 100 stores that The Body Shop plans to open by 2025 will be in tier 2 and tier 3 towns of India
New Delhi: Ethical beauty and personal care brand, The Body Shop is focusing on increasing its retail presence in the country with a special focus on towns that are non-metros, said a brand representative.
The UK-based brand that entered India in 2006 is now aiming to expand its footprint by opening 100 stores across the country by 2025. Out of these, 25 will be opened this year said Harmeet Singh, vice president of marketing, e-commerce, and Product Asia South during an exclusive interaction with IndiaRetailing on the sidelines of a recent brand event in New Delhi.
Although the expansion will be across the country, the brand is trying to create a market for itself in tier 2 and tier 3 cities as it is already well spread in metros and mini metros.
“We already have a strong presence in metros and mini metros with 14-20 stores in each major city, so, we feel that we can reach more customers through tier 2 and tier 3 cities,” Harmeet Singh said.
The ethical beauty brand that follows several conscious practices sees a big potential in small towns.
“We feel that there is a big scope in tier 2 and tier 3 cities as per our survey. There has been a great response from these areas and the customers want the brand to come to them. Therefore, we are planning to go to these cities in a bigger way,” said Singh.
According to reports, India is currently the fourth largest market for the company and it has potential to become second after UK. This proves that the brand sees India as a high potential market.
The brand’s expansion spree started in December with four store launches in the month, one each at Itanagar, Surat, Indore, and Bengaluru respectively.
Customer Experience
The brand is also focusing on creating an improved customer experience at all its new retail spaces with experiential stores or activist workshop stores. “In these stores, people can go and engage with all the products for a high-quality experience,” said Singh.
This initiative of launching experiential stores is a step towards omnichannel play where the consumers can experience products at the stores and order from the comfort of their homes through the brand’s website and other channels.
Push on Digital
Due to the increasing presence of the audience on digital platforms, the brand aims to ramp up the focus on digital marketing channels.
The brand will also focus on physical marketing with mall Light-emitting diodes (LEDs), Out-of-home (OOH) activation to communicate with the customers and more. The brand aims to communicate with the audience via various channels and create larger market for itself.
Launched in India in 2006, The Body Shop considers itself a change-making beauty brand that offers vegan and natural ingredients. The ingredients are sourced from more than 30 communities, out of which three are from India. The Body Shop supports these communities by buying ingredients from them and making sure that they deliver high-quality products.
In 2022, the brand had a successful run as it achieved the targets and is looking forward to a successful 2023.
