'50% of The Body Shop’s Marketing Spend Is Digital-First'

With the festive season underway, brands are stepping up their Christmas marketing through campaigns, promotions, and limited-edition launches. This year, The Body Shop unveiled its Limited Edition Christmas Collection 2025 across key markets, with activations in Gurgaon (Ambience Mall), Bengaluru (Indiranagar High Street), Hyderabad (Inorbit Mall) and Mumbai (Palladium Mall). 

The brand has also partnered with Ayurveda-led label indē wild to tap into the premium wedding gifting segment. Priced from ₹1,495, the curated gift boxes are available across all The Body Shop stores as well as D2C platforms, supported by a dedicated marketing campaign.

To understand the strategy behind the festive push, limited-edition launches, and the collaboration, we spoke with Rahul Shanker, Group CEO, Quest Retail and House of Beauty and Harmeet Singh, Chief Brand Officer, The Body Shop Asia South. 

(Quest Retail is a beauty, fashion, and lifestyle retailer operating in India since 2006, managing global brands such as The Body Shop, Kiehl’s, Anastasia Beverly Hills, and Kylie Cosmetics in the country)

Edited Exceprts: 

Q] When a limited-edition collection has a lifecycle of just 10–15 days, how do you design the marketing strategy to create urgency without diluting long-term brand building?
Rahul: A limited edition functions like a tentpole moment within the overall marketing calendar. It’s a high-impact, big-bang initiative anchored to a specific cultural or festive trigger, be it Christmas, Diwali, or another key occasion, when consumers are already in a celebratory, high-intent mindset.
The objective is to leverage the seasonality to pull consumers into the brand ecosystem, generate excitement, and fuel broader brand engagement. The success of a limited edition isn’t defined by whether it runs for 15 days or a month, but by its ability to ride the moment, capture eyeballs, and create meaningful brand momentum.
For the Christmas Collection, we started the distribution in early November, as the peak seasons start, it is already available in the stores. 

Q] What was the strategy behind The IndiWild x The Body Shop collaboration?
Harmeet: It is a first-of-its-kind collaboration for The Body Shop, marking the brand’s first partnership with another beauty label. While it surprised many in the industry, the decision was strategically sound for us. The collection is positioned firmly within the wedding-gifting space, with price points ranging from ₹1,495 to ₹4,000, clearly targeting the premium and luxury gifting segment.
The collection is exclusively available through The Body Shop’s own channels.

Q] A dedicated campaign backs the collaboration. How significant is the marketing investment behind this launch?
Harmeet: The marketing spend, as a percentage of expected sales, is in double digits, which underscores the strategic importance of this collaboration for us. For this, we are leveraging digital and in-store visibility as well.
Christmas collections tend to see stronger demand in Tier 1 and upper Tier 2 cities, where we expect higher volumes. However, distribution is not limited by geography. The collections are available across our entire store network, including Tier 3 cities. With The Body Shop’s established footprint beyond metros, availability remains consistent nationwide. The difference lies in demand intensity, not access.

Q] Do festive limited-edition collections primarily target metro and Tier 1 consumers, or do Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets play a meaningful role as well? 
Rahul: Christmas collections are definitely more skewed towards Tier 1 and upper Tier 2 cities, where we expect higher volumes. That said, we distribute these collections across all stores, including Tier 3 cities. The Body Shop has a strong presence beyond metros, so availability isn’t restricted; only demand patterns vary.

Q] How does consumer behaviour differ between metro and non-metro markets?
Rahul: In metros, shopping is typically done by individuals or small groups of friends. In Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, purchases are more often made by families or larger groups.
This works in our favour because The Body Shop operates as a family brand. It’s common to see mothers and daughters shopping together, or families browsing the store collectively. Since our products cater to multiple age groups and genders, purchase decisions and consumption often happen at a family level.

Q] Beauty is a cluttered category in terms of media spend. How do you decide where to allocate budgets and what platforms to say no to?
Harmeet: Digital now accounts for the largest share of our marketing spend, but we don’t view it as performance marketing alone. Our approach is balanced, combining performance-led activity with platform marketing on channels like Meta and carefully selected influencer collaborations. Influencers are chosen based on genuine alignment with the brand and its values, not just reach.
At the same time, physical retail remains a critical touchpoint. Our stores host regular monthly events for loyalty members, offering exclusive previews, curated experiences, and targeted offers. 
Around 50% of our marketing efforts are digital, with allocations flexing based on the season and the nature of each campaign. Channel-wise investments, including quick commerce, are adjusted on an event-to-event basis. Quick commerce, in particular, has been a strong growth lever for the brand, enabling consumers to receive The Body Shop products in under 10 minutes.

Q] Men’s skincare is seeing strong growth across the market. Are you witnessing this trend as well, and what’s driving the shift?
Rahul: The entire men’s grooming category is on a strong growth trajectory, and we expect this momentum to continue.
Earlier, skincare was often incorrectly associated with makeup or femininity, which limited male adoption. That perception has shifted significantly. Today, grooming is seen as self-care about looking good, feeling confident, and maintaining overall well-being, irrespective of gender. The desire to look younger and healthier is universal.
Skin and body care are inherently gender-neutral categories. Reflecting this shift, men account for nearly 30% of The Body Shop’s consumer base, with strong uptake across fragrances, bath and body, and skincare products.