On Tuesday, The Body Shop announced that the beauty chain is shutting down all of its operations in Sweden. Already earlier this year, the British parent company The Body Shop International Limited was put under reconstruction and since then a number of branches have filed for bankruptcy.
But according to Aarno Pohtola, operations in Finland continue as before. He is CEO of Bodim Port, which is the chain’s franchisee in Finland.
– Our business is not affected by what happens in Sweden because we are an independent actor, says Pohtola.
Admittedly, the last few years have also been tough for The Body Shop in Finland. In 2022, Bodim Port had a turnover of 7.5 million euros, which was 13 percent less than the year before when the company had a turnover of 8.6 million euros. The company lost 0.6 million euros in 2022, while still in 2021 it made a profit of 120,000 euros.
According to Pohtola, the deteriorating result is due to customers not shopping in the chain’s stores to the same extent as before the pandemic. At the same time, inflation and higher interest rates have affected consumers’ purchasing power but also the price level of the premises rents that the chain pays for its physical stores.
– We have weeded out stores that did not make a profit in order to make the business profitable once more. In this situation, we have to change our structures and put more emphasis on online shopping, says Pohtola.
Despite the fact that operations in Sweden cease in their current form, it is not excluded that The Body Shop continues in a different guise following the ongoing clean-up procedures have been completed.
The Body Shop was founded by British Anita Roddick in Brighton, England in 1976. The brand is above all known for its campaigns once morest animal testing in the cosmetics industry. The chain has also long advocated fair trade with less industrialized countries.
The chain has had approximately 3,000 stores in 60 different countries.