Bisnis.comJAKARTA — The body storebusiness beauty products of England, has reportedly closed its operations in the United States and closed a number of stores in Canada.

Earlier this month, The Body Shop announced in its official press release that its subsidiary in the United States would cease operations as of March 1, 2024.

Reported by CNN, The Body Shop explained that 33 of its 105 stores in Canada will soon be liquidated.

“Online sales through Canadian e-commerce stores will stop, but all locations in Canada will remain open for the time being,” CNN wrote, quoted Monday (11/3/2024).

One of the reasons for The Body Shop's closure, CNN reports, is that high inflation in recent years has hurt traditional retailers, particularly retailers like The Body Shop that operate outside of malls aimed at the middle class, which is also in difficulty.

Meanwhile, The Body Shop is famous for its products marketed as natural, sustainable, ethical and cruelty-free.

The Body Shop was founded in England in 1976 by human rights and environmental activist Anita Roddick. The Body Shop becomes the first company to ban testing of its products on animals.

In 2019, the company was certified as a “B Corp,” a designation given to companies that meet certain standards for transparency and environmental awareness.

By 2023, the product had expanded to over 2,500 retail locations in over 80 countries and was available for purchase online in over 60 markets.

Since its inception, The Body Shop has changed hands several times. The product was bought by cosmetics giant L'Oréal in 2006 for more than $1 billion, before being sold to Brazilian company Natura in 2017 for $1 billion.

The Body Shop has struggled in recent years. In its preliminary report for 2023, Natura noted that The Body Shop “(faces) challenges” with a year-on-year decline of 13.5% in 2022, a year the company called from “far from easy” for the brand.

The direct-to-consumer channel, which “benefited during the pandemic,” returned to “more normal pre-pandemic levels,” which further impacted sales figures, Natura said.

Late last year, The Body Shop was sold to asset management group Aurelius for around $266 million.

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