The Body Shop doubles down on digital, influencers to reach Gen Z, millennials in India

New Delhi: As traditional media declines, The Body Shop is sharpening its India play around digital-first storytelling and influencer marketing to stay close to Gen Z and millennials, according to Harmeet Singh, Chief Brand Officer, The Body Shop Asia South.

“We have gravitated towards digital media quite a lot, and of course, it's something which we did not shy away from,” Singh told BestMediaInfo.com on the sidelines of the launch of The Body Shop’s Limited Edition Christmas Collection 2025. 

She added, “We do a lot of Meta marketing; we do performance, but we do not ignore influencer marketing as well. I think influencer marketing is one of the very important tools that we have adopted, especially at a time when traditional media is on a steep decline.”

For The Body Shop, Christmas remains a key moment on the marketing calendar. “For us, Christmas has been very special for The Body Shop for many years,” Singh said. 

This year’s festive push is anchored around three fragrances: Caramel Cuddle, Cranberry Crush, and Sugar Plum Passion.

“We run a 360-degree campaign for Christmas. The products undergo more than two years or three years of research, which is what we are going to launch,” she said. Singh also positioned product quality as a competitive edge. “None of the competitors can actually come close to the kind of quality that we are using, the natural ingredients,” she said.

On spends, Singh kept it broad. “It's a good double digit,” she said.

Singh said digital sits at the top of the funnel for the brand. “For us, digital is definitely the top funnel,” she said, adding, “YouTube really helps us to reach a lot of consumers.”

Influencer marketing, she said, has moved from cautious testing to a more structured approach. “Though we were not very aggressive a few years back,” Singh said, “but now I think it's the best way to get the influencers and the vibe and the excitement in the stores.” The shift, she added, comes with tighter filters. “Authenticity is the key right now in influencer marketing,” Singh said, noting, “That is one of the reasons that the Body Shop was not very aggressive with influencer marketing.”

Today, the brand works with a sharper roster. “We actually have a pool of influencers who work only with the Body Shop, and they have a great reach and a very, very high engagement rate,” she said, adding, “So we just don't go with anyone or everyone.”

Despite the digital push, Singh said the business remains retail-led. “We are definitely a retail-first brand with almost 200 stores,” she said. E-commerce has grown post-COVID, she added. “From a 10% business pre-Covid we have tripled the business 3x online,” Singh said, putting the current mix at “70-30 right now; 70% retail is still a very big portion and 30% is online.”

She said the brand’s on-ground plans also factor in non-metro growth. “We do have our events every month in tier 2 and tier 3 cities,” Singh said. “We never forget our consumers,” she added, saying the brand is “very mindful of the fact that our consumers are everywhere.”

On the target audience, Singh said the base is wide. “For us, TG starts from 15-50,” she said, adding, “Our biggest chunk is between 15-40,” and “That is almost like 60-70% of customers.”

Singh also flagged skincare as the next growth lever. “In skin care, we did go a little slow the last few years because we had a lot of restructuring going on, but now the next focus is definitely skin care to get more products,” she said.

The brand has also tied up with Ayurvedistry label Inde Wild for a premium wedding gifting collection in India. The limited-edition collaboration features four curated gift boxes combining The Body Shop’s body care products with indē wild’s Dewy Lip Treatments and mists, rooted in what the companies described as shared values of sustainability and authenticity.