Rahul Shanker, Group CEO, Quest Retail (The Body Shop), says the brand expects to add around 20 stores this year as it expands beyond metro markets
The festive season is upon us, and The Body Shop India is expecting the season’s revenue to grow 20-25 per cent over last year, with gifting, quick commerce (qcomm), store expansion and newer categories such as fragrance and haircare emerging as key growth drivers for the business.
While speaking to BW Retail World, Rahul Shanker, Group CEO, Quest Retail (The Body Shop), said the brand expects the festive period to remain an important consumption window, particularly as gifting becomes an increasingly year-round behaviour.
Gifting: A Year-round Ritual
“Gifting is part of our consumers’ ritual. It’s got a brilliant fit with The Body Shop. We’ve got 40 per cent of our business coming from skincare because there’s a huge portfolio of bath and body,” Shanker said.
During the Diwali period, gifting accounts for between 15 per cent and 20 per cent of The Body Shop’s sales, according to Shanker. The contribution is not restricted to the festive season, with gifting accounting for 8-10 per cent of the company’s overall business even during months without major festivals. The contribution is higher on ecommerce, he added.
Speaking particularly about the festive period, Shanker stated, “For The Body Shop, there is self-consumption, there’s gifting consumption, and then there’s family consumption. We double down during this period.”
Premiumisation Moves Beyond Metros
Shanker pointed to a marked shift in where premium beauty products are finding buyers. The brand is seeing the boundaries between metro and non-metro consumption blur, particularly as social media has widened access to prestige and premium brands.
“The lines have blurred, especially with Instagram reaching everywhere. It was compartmentalised earlier. Luxury was largely getting consumed in top metros. That’s not the case now,” Shanker stated, as consumers in Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets increasingly engage with premium categories.
The Body Shop has expanded its own-store presence outside the major metro cities. More than 40 per cent of our stores are now based outside metro cities, according to Shanker. The brand sees stores as discovery and engagement hubs, while digital and qcomm drive convenience-led purchases.
A Roadmap in Place
The focus on growth comes as The Body Shop’s India business reportedly closed FY26 with operating income of around Rs 411.4 crore, down about 5.7 per cent from FY25.
Shanker said the company has a roadmap focused on its top, middle and bottom lines, with revenue growth remaining a key priority alongside measures aimed at improving profitability. “We have a clear roadmap to drive all three lines — the top, middle and bottom line. You cannot compromise on revenue. Revenue continues to be our big dial that we continue to do,” he said.
Store expansion and online growth are the twin engines. “We are driving store expansion aggressively. We are driving online expansion aggressively. Online is already 33 per cent of our business; it used to be 20 to 25 per cent till two years back,” he said, crediting quick commerce for much of that jump.
“Almost 20 per cent of our business in certain months, depending on festive occasions,” comes through quick commerce channels, he added. The company has also seen 2-3x growth from quick commerce.
Influencer marketing has also become a meaningful lever in the brand’s digital mix, now accounting for around 25-30 per cent of digital ad spend, as The Body Shop leans on creator-led content to reach festive shoppers across platforms.
On margins, the brand is leaning on local manufacturing and new formats. Around 7-8 per cent of the business currently comes from India-produced Body Shop products, Shanker said, adding that the company has also started making products in India. “All of these are a series of things that we’re doing across the board to amp up brand sales, performance and profitability,” he said.
Not A Retreat From Stores
Despite the rapid growth of digital commerce, Shanker said the company’s increased investment in digital and qcomm should not be viewed as a reallocation away from physical stores.
“When the revenue grows, your overall absolute spends also grow in line. India is a growth market for Body Shop, so we are investing in the brand,” he said.
For the Diwali season, the company has created three films, with two planned to release, as the brand continues to invest across channels. “We are continuing to increase our spends across all channels. The store is an important part of our distribution mix. That’s what the consumer sees, engages with, discovers the brand at the store and then for convenience’s sake, may go and execute the purchase sometimes through Quick Commerce or through the other platforms,” Shanker said.
The brand’s marketplace expansion is accelerating heading into the festive quarter. “We’re going on Amazon now next month. We’re already on Nykaa. We will be on Myntra by next month. Fully on Flipkart Minutes by the end of October or November,” Shanker revealed, framing the multi-platform push as non-negotiable for a brand of its scale.
The Road Ahead
While skincare and bath and body remain the core of the business, the company is looking at newer categories to drive incremental growth.
“Fragrance will be a big driver, where we’re seeing the fastest growth right now. Between bath and body and skincare, we have about 75 to 77 per cent of our business. The balance is the rest of the categories,” Shanker said.
Haircare is another area where the company expects to expand. Following the launch of hair oils, The Body Shop plans to introduce more shampoos, conditioners, masks and serums. The category expansion forms part of the company’s broader ambition for its India business.
The brand currently operates around 200 stores in India and has laid out a plan to double that to 400 over the next four to five years. In the near term, the pace will be steady rather than explosive. “We should be adding 20 stores this year. We already added a few stores, and there are more that are going to be added,” Shanker said.
Marking 50 Years
The conversation also touched on The Body Shop’s 50 years globally and 20 years in India — celebrated through the “Rebellious by Nature” and “Ban The Gyaan” campaigns. “We got some fantastic responses from the consumers. Very engaging campaign. Everywhere, everyone is giving some gyaan. Now people are fed up with it. So, we asked people to choose the gyaan that they want to ban. And we hashtagged it #BanTheGyaan,” Shanker said, describing the concept behind it. In-store boards let customers publicly nominate the unsolicited advice they wanted banned.
Shanker was emphatic that the rebellious positioning isn’t a festive marketing flourish but core to the brand’s DNA. “The brand is inherently the voice of the people. That’s been the position of the brand for the last 50 years,” he said.
