The Body Shop

The Body Shop International Limited is the British natural cosmetics and personal care retailer headquartered in Littlehampton, West Sussex, England. The brand operates under Aurea Group, the British private investment vehicle led by Mike Jatania that acquired The Body Shop out of administration in May 2024 through a transaction with the previous owner Aurelius Group, marking the brand’s second restructuring transition in eighteen months.

Founded in 1976 in Brighton, England by Dame Anita Roddick, The Body Shop pioneered the ethical-and-natural-ingredients positioning in mainstream personal care decades before sustainability marketing became standard across the broader beauty industry. The 1986 launch of the Community Trade ingredient-sourcing program established direct trading relationships with marginalized communities globally for ingredients including shea butter (Ghana), Brazilian nut oil (Brazil), Babassu oil (Brazil), and additional botanical inputs, anchoring the brand’s positioning across more than four decades. The ownership history runs through multiple transitions: Anita and Gordon Roddick built and floated the company on the London Stock Exchange in 1984, before L’Oréal acquired the brand in 2006 for £652 million. Brazilian beauty group Natura acquired The Body Shop from L’Oréal in 2017 for €1 billion, before selling to German private equity firm Aurelius Group in November 2023 for £207 million. Aurelius placed The Body Shop into administration in February 2024 amid trading challenges, before Aurea Group’s May 2024 acquisition of the remaining business out of administration. Annual revenue under the Aurea Group ownership is estimated in the £400 to £600 million range. The Body Shop suspended Russian operations in 2022.

The Body Shop operates approximately 2,500 stores globally across more than 70 countries under directly operated and franchised arrangements, with the strongest concentrations in the United Kingdom, Western Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, North America, and select Latin American markets. The typical store occupies 60 to 150 square meters, with formats emphasizing the brand’s natural-ingredients storytelling, integrated personal-care category merchandising spanning skincare, body care, hair care, fragrance, and makeup, and the signature ethical-trading-and-community-impact program signage. For mall operators, The Body Shop is a Class A and Class B+ specialty personal-care tenant for regional and super-regional centers, typically positioned in the beauty-and-personal-care cluster alongside Lush, L’Occitane, Rituals, Bath & Body Works, and similar premium specialty beauty brands. The Aurea Group ownership period focuses on operational stabilization and brand repositioning following the multi-year period of restructuring.