The Body Shop’s Suppliers Day was hosted by the firm’s operations team and brought together a selection of suppliers from Europe, Asia and North America to engage suppliers with its strategy.
The event brought together 35 existing or potential suppliers in trade sourcing from around the globe with the objective to strengthen relationships and to engage suppliers with the company’s strategy as well as with its vision and values.
The UK based company stated that no subjects were off limits and that views were shared on subjects from cost efficiency to value creation through quality, time-to-market, innovations and eco-friendly or natural products.
The day began with a presentation from the brand’s director of operations, Philippe Reale, who spoke about building the future through supplier relationships, with many references on key factors from the past about end-to-end process, from raw materials to the product being in the consumers’ hands.
The Body Shop claims the event helped it to re-emphasise its individuality and uniqueness in business, and reinstated the strategic role of its suppliers around the brand’s five pillars:
- Against Animal Testing
- Support Community Fair Trade
- Activate Self Esteem
- Defend Human Rights
- Protect Our Planet
The team also shared challenges and expectations to ensure that its brand sourcing strategy will fuel business growth and to enable it to establish a competitive advantage with a few best-in-class suppliers for particular products or technologies.
“The day was very successful with a lot of inputs coming from both sides, a strong engagement of our suppliers and very clear expectations about the ways to improve our business relationships,” commented Jerome Courtaigne, director of sourcing.