Exclusive: How The Body Shop migrated 90 stores to a new ERP in two weeks
Andrew Simmons, CEO and founder at CoreBiz explains how they handled the “aggressive” five-month timeline.
The Body Shop has more than 90 stores across the country and needed to migrate its entire ERP from an incumbent system hosted out of the UK, to a locally hosted ERP.
After a memo from the global business that instructed regional markets to decentralise and operate independently, the Aussie arm of the beauty business needed a new ERP before last year’s Christmas rush.
Hyder Muhammad, head of operations at The Body Shop told CRN Australia, “As our business evolved, we needed a modern ERP platform that could better support our retail, supply chain, finance, and eCommerce operations.
“We were looking for greater automation, real-time visibility, and a scalable foundation for future growth.”
The Body Shop selected CoreBiz to help them implement Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Muhammad said, “CoreBiz brought deep Business Central expertise, a strong understanding of retail, and a pragmatic approach to delivery.
“They worked as an extension of our team and remained focused on achieving business outcomes, not just implementing technology.”
CoreBiz created a four-phase agile methodology beginning with discovering new ways of working for The Body Shop, weekly sprints to validate progress, an eight-week go live preparation and finally pressing play on the new ERP.
This discovery and build process took over five months.
Andrew Simmons, CEO and co-founder at CoreBiz said, “Given the scale of the business, more than 90 retail stores, ecommerce, wholesale operations and multiple third-party integrations, it was an aggressive timeline.
“We followed a structured agile approach with discovery, weekly sprint cycles, extensive user acceptance testing and a carefully planned cutover. The project successfully went live on September 1, 2025 and was completed ahead of schedule.”
The results
From this implementation, Simmons, told CRN Australia that the results were “significant” across the board.
After the five month process, they transitioned more than 90 stores and 650 staff to a new ERP in 14 days. The Body Shop reported latency down from 24 to 48 hours to about five minutes.
“We transitioned over 650 retail staff, automated a range of critical finance and operational processes and delivered the project two weeks ahead of schedule and under budget,” he said.
“Importantly, we also gave The Body Shop Australia local ownership of its systems and data for the first time after operating within a global ERP environment.”
For Simmons, what surprised him most wasn’t the technology outcome.
“It was the commitment shown by everyone involved,” he explained.
“The executive team, operations team, IT team, external partners and our own consultants all pulled in the same direction.
“It was a high-pressure project with a hard deadline, but nobody gave up, nobody pointed fingers and nobody walked away or spat the dummy. That level of commitment from all parties is rare and was a major reason for the project's success.”
Muhammad at The Body Shop has had nothing but positive feedback from staff and customers.
“Teams have welcomed the improved visibility, faster reporting, and more streamlined processes. For customers, the benefits are reflected through improved operational efficiency and better service,” he said.
“The success of the project came down to strong collaboration between The Body Shop Australia, CoreBiz, and our broader partner network. Delivering a business-critical transformation on schedule is something we're incredibly proud of, and it has positioned us well for the future.”
Next steps
Simmons at CoreBiz explained the next phase of this project will be focusing on leveraging Microsoft's ongoing investment in Business Central and the broader Microsoft platform.
“We're now working with The Body Shop to take advantage of the latest AI capabilities being introduced into Business Central,” he said.
“Microsoft is moving very quickly in this space. CoreBiz is automating end-to-end business processes using AI agents directly inside Business Central.
He added, “Rather than simply replacing manual tasks, we're looking at how AI can assist users across finance, operations, reporting and workflow management to drive further efficiency and productivity gains.”
For the next year, Muhammad at The Body Shop said their focus is on continuing to streamline operations, improve reporting and decision-making, and leverage the Microsoft ecosystem to drive further efficiencies across the business.