Fiona Macleod
People who like putting their food outside as well as inside themselves are flocking in droves to the new South African outlets of international cosmetics success The Body Shop.
The rate at which the body butters thick creams made with nuts, honey, mangoes, olives, soya or cocoa have been flying off the shelves suggests we are a nation obsessed with wrinkles. And the popularity of the peppermint foot lotions and sprays indicates we do business on our feet.
Shopping at The Body Shop is also good for the head. The company is a success story built on ethics and attitude. Its products are not tested on animals, it goes out of its way to source ingredients from disadvantaged communities and to trade fairly with them, and founder Anita Roddick is a veteran activist who has made it her business to tackle corporate greed.
Though she is a grandmother and a senior business executive, she’s prepared to face the teargas with other anti-globalisation protestors outside World Trade Organisation gatherings.
Five outlets are being opened in South Africa two in Cape Town, two in Johannesburg and one in Pretoria. If these work out, another 25 to 30 stores will be opened around the country over the next two years.
In a deal with New Clicks, the cosmetics products are all developed by The Body Shop International in the United Kingdom and imported into South Africa. Some gifts and fashion items are sourced locally.
Roddick, who was in the country to launch the venture last week, says opening the shops is the first step towards being able to trade with local communities.
“The eventual aim is to source as many ingredients as possible from local suppliers from communities, not corporates but this will take time because we need to work with the communities and relevant NGOs,” she says.
The cosmetics are aimed at the upper-middle market, says project manager of Body Shop South Africa, Lynn van der Hoven. They are 10% cheaper here than in the UK, but the prices still reflect the plummeting exchange rate of the rand to the pound.
Judging by the crowds crammed into the small Sandton store over the past fortnight, South Africans are pleased not to have pay for a plane ticket and a visit overseas to get their favourite Body Shop items. The men’s grooming range, called Mechanics, is popular and the hemp skin protection range is doing well.
Young and old, hip or hippie, most of the clients appear to be white and middle class. Perhaps as an appreciation of the local buying power grows in tandem with local trade, the market will expand. What about a rooibos hair straightener?