Body Shop picks global marketer

Body Shop appoints former Mothercare marketer to global role as chain suffers dent to sales

The Body Shop has handed its top global marketing role to former Mothercare marketing chief Andy King.

King will take over from Gail Piper, who left the company without a job to go to last summer, after less than a year in the role (MW July 24). Director of marketing operations Tina Cantelo has been acting as global marketing director since July.

King, who joins the company at the end of the week, was made redundant from Mothercare in April following a review by incoming chief executive Ben Gordan (MW April 10).

King’s position at Mothercare, which included responsibility for the company’s international and direct divisions as well as marketing, remains vacant. Prior to joining Mothercare, King was marketing and business development director at WH Smith.

It is likely that King will take on Piper’s brief to create a consistent brand strategy across Body Shop’s 50 international markets.

King joins Body Shop at a difficult time. In August, Body Shop reported that worldwide retail sales for the year were flat at £306m, with comparable store sales down three per cent.

The company blamed challenging sales in the UK, as well as Canada, Germany and southern Europe, although said sales were stronger in the US, the Middle East and South-east Asia.