How We Do Business: Bath & Body Works’ U.S.-Based Supply Chain
We are known by many for our expertly crafted fragrances and our best-in-class retail store presence, but a full understanding of our business begins with a closer look at our unique supply chain.
Powered by agility and innovation, our predominantly U.S.-based, vertically integrated supply chain enables us to deliver high-quality, on trend luxuries at affordable prices. Our extended value chain includes inputs, like our ingredient and raw materials sourcing; suppliers, like those for our components, contract fillers and packaging manufacturing; inbound and outbound logistics; marketing and sales; and the use and end-of-life of our products.
One of the unique aspects of our supply chain model is Beauty Park, a consolidated group of suppliers in New Albany, Ohio that primarily, but not exclusively, supports several of our value chain activities like research and development, product manufacturing and formulation and packaging manufacturing. Having Beauty Park close to our headquarters is a key competitive advantage for our business that allows us to be more agile in responding to shifting consumer demands. As we continue on our sustainability journey, we are proud that Beauty Park supports our efforts to reduce our carbon footprint as its geographic efficiencies reduce our freight emissions across our vertical supply chain.
Additionally, our company-operated distribution and fulfillment centers and shipping facilities, located in central Ohio, are core to our operations. We also use third-party-operated direct channel fulfillment centers and regional distribution centers located throughout North America to position inventory geographically closer to our customers.
In our most recent ESG report we shared that as of 2023, Bath & Body Works reported:
- 38% proportion of total spend with Ohio-based suppliers (23 vendors; 32 factories)
- 238 third-party manufacturing facilities (as of Feb. 3, 2024) *Figure accounts for factories paid in fiscal 2023
- 6 company-operated distribution and fulfillment centers (as of Feb. 3, 2024)
In 2023, we also continued our efforts to incrementally move production to North America. These geographical production shifts support supply reliability and enhance the speed and agility of our business, along with reducing the distance finished components need to travel. Examples of production moves to North America include:
- Key lip tube manufacturing moving to the U.S. from China and Mexico
- Foaming hand soap pump moving from China to the U.S
We understand that in order to meet our ESG commitments, we have to work collaboratively with our supply chain partners, at all levels of the supply chain, to maximize the impact we can make in the future.
Learn more about our sustainable sourcing updates and other initiatives in our 2023 ESG report at bbwinc.com.
