Body Shop rolls out loyalty card

The Body Shop launches its first customer loyalty scheme next month which allows shoppers to donate the money collected through purchases to charity instead of swapping them for products.

The Body Shop People’s Card is on trial and is due to roll out nationwide in October.

Customers get one stamp for every £10 they spend. After collecting five stamps the customer receives a voucher for £2.50 which can either be spent in store or donated to one of the retailer’s chosen charities.

Friends of the Earth and Children on the Edge are the charities involved so far but The Body Shop is believed to be talking to others about the scheme. After completing an application form, customers receive a loyalty card and a membership number and are mailed with details of the scheme, new product ranges and catalogues. The scheme was developed by Archibald Ingall Stretton.

The Body Shop has been looking to turn around its falling sales and out-of-date image. It suffered a 91 per cent profit slide, from £38m to £3.4m, in the year to April 1999 and cut 300 jobs.

Donald Damask, from US retailer The Brown Shoe Company, has been appointed as the company’s first board-level marketing director. Former Miss Selfridge managing director Bernie Foster joined as UK managing director last month.