In a surprise move, The Body Shop, the leading and beloved skincare brand in India, introduced Braille signs across all its stores. 6 June 2024 marks the brand’s 18th anniversary, and it celebrates this momentous occasion by taking a step towards inclusivity. The brand has always focused on hearing the voices of its customers, and it pulled through with this thoughtful move. Harmeet Singh, Chief Brand Officer, The Body Shop – Asia South, who is an inspiring figure in the industry, headed the initiative, along with Ankita Mehra, an LGBTQIA+ activist.
Ankita Mehra and Harmeet Singh with a Braille Book
The Body Shop – 18 Years of Sustainability and Inclusivity
The Body Shop, originating from the United Kingdom, is an ethical beauty and skincare brand. Its focus is on creating cruelty-free, high-quality skincare that caters to everyone, regardless of gender expression. The Body Shop was one of the first vegan brands established. It is the blueprint of ethical skincare. The brand also has a rapidly growing online presence in the e-commerce sector, with popular websites like Amazon, Nykaa, and even Bigbasket bringing it to your doorstep. The skincare brand has always vowed to improve its shopping experience by upgrading its inclusivity initiatives as time progresses. 2024 is a day and age where there is more than enough awareness about different social issues. The Body Shop is only one example of an ethical brand, but it is definitely the most prominent. It first launched in India on 6 June 2006, a full 18 years since its establishment, and still going strong.
The 18 Years Anniversary cake
Harmeet Singh says, “We want our customers to feel very valued and enhance their shopping experience when they come to The Body Shop. So, this is the great initiative that was suggested to us by the Youth Collective Council (YCC) team members, which is Ankita Mehra, Virali Modi, Sudhanshu Kaushik, and Rishabh Vig.” The YCC, created in 2023, supports The Body Shop’s business strategies. Every brand needs to adopt a similar initiative to stay in touch with the current generation. This ensures they stay sustainable, ethical and youth-centric.
Following the advice of the YCC members, Singh comments, “This is what we as a beauty brand want to offer you all. We stand here with a responsibility, and this responsibility is very critical. It’s very crucial to listen to our young changemakers, like Ankita and YCC members. But whatever their suggestions are, we want to incorporate it and make it a very critical business strategy. We are not only looking at it as running a business, but we’re looking at making a better, sharpened experience for our customers.”
We can all learn from The Body Shop’s amazing initiative and learn to be more inclusive and open-minded. Despite being such a huge brand, The Body Shop puts its ego aside and listens to criticism. This is how a company should run and a practise they should live.
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