Body Shop card sign of downfall

Referring to your news article about The Body Shop’s loyalty card scheme (MW September 16), how sad that you consider it newsworthy to report that this retail innovator is now playing catch-up.

For decades The Body Shop allowed (mostly) socially committed women to buy cosmetics and make a political statement. Times have changed and the Seventies’ fervour that fuelled The Body Shop’s growth has not created an army of environmental fanatics, but has given us a “light green” nation which chooses Linda McCartney not Cranks.

The Body Shop failed its customers in the early Eighties, much like Sainsbury’s and M&S, and none of these retailers can turn back the clock. The Body Shop achieved market leadership by being witty, knowing its customers and taking risks. But it has lost the Nineties’ high-street battle and is unlikely to win the war using the enemy’s choice of weapons.

Mel Saunders

(e-mail)