BUSINESS WOMAN OF THE YEAR

CASE 3.1. WENDY RAE BODY CARE

 Wendy Rae Body Care Centers Inc of Santa Monica, California, sells a wide range of natural cosmetics and toiletry items, through a world-wide chain of outlets. Although the company has a small number of centers of its own, most of its outlets are operated on a franchise basis. 97% of the products are manufactured by sub-contractors, according to formulas developed by the company. The main activities of the company, therefore, are warehousing and distribution. Since its incorporation eight years ago, the company has been phenomenally successful.

FILE ONE

‘The following article appeared in the October issue of "Business USA".

Read the article. 

BUSINESS WOMAN OF THE YEAR

At the World Trade Center on September 21, Wendy Rae, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Wendy Rae Body Care Centers Inc, received the Wall Street Chronicle "Business Woman of the Year" award. The award crowns eight years of phenomenal achievement by Ms. Rae.

Her rise began with an idea so simple that it is surprising no one thought of it before. Out shopping one day with her three children, she tried to buy some skin care lotion. At the time, her preferred brand was retailing in a one-size, elegant glass bottle with elaborate cardboard packaging. As money was short, she asked about a refill. "I figured I already had the bottle and I sure didn't need the box."

The reaction that her inquiry received not only irritated her, it set her thinking. The result was the now famous Wendy Rae Body Care Concept, which revolutionized the cosmetics industry, formed the basis of a business empire, and made Ms Rae a very rich woman - all within eight years!

She opened her first store in a San Francisco side street three months after that shopping trip. It was tiny and the roof leaked, but the first Wendy Rae Body Care Center was in business. There are now 360 Body Care Centers in the United States, and 598 outlets overseas. Sales are $ 82 million yearly, and doubling every eighteen months. The Wall Street Chronicle, commenting on the rate of expansion, stated that "In the US, the practical ceiling is probably 1500 outlets and the company should be there in five or six years." But overseas the potential seems limitless, because Wendy Rae has a retailing concept that is genuinely international - something few other US retailers can claim.

The concept at the heart of this explosion is a combination of practical ideas, shrewdly applied. Every product is available in four sizes and all containers can be refilled. Testers are available at point-of-sale, so that customers can check whether they like a product before purchase. Pure natural ingredients are used at all times. Whenever possible these are of vegetable, not animal, origin, and at no time are products tested on animals. Packaging is kept simple. In order to reduce costs even more, Body Care does almost no advertising.

Wendy Rae has shown that common sense and high ethical standards can be good for business. "Today Magazine" described her company as "One of the great business success stories of the last ten years."

’1. Find the explanation (1—10) for the expressions (a— j).

a) natural 1) storing goods

b) warehousing 2) cleverly, intelligently

c) phenomenally 3) liquid for the skin

d) lotion 4) in a very big way

e) refill (N) 5) limit, high point

f) reaction 6) new contents for an old container

g) ceiling 7) response

h) explosion 8) made from non-chemical ingredients

i) shrewdly 9) very rapid growth

j) tester 10) sample which customers can try

Date: 2016-04-22; view: 781