Blackmores pays $23 million for Aussie Chinese herbal medicine brand, IPSOS reveals Australia's top 5 food priorities, retail spending up year-on-year reveals ARA, and Australian fragrance sales soar.
Blackmores pays $23 million for Aussie Chinese herbal medicine brand
It's not only beauty and luxury brands who are keen on wooing the Chinese consumer. , long renowned as Australia's most trusted vitamin brand, has bought Global Therapeutics for $23 million. Founded in Byron Bay in 1999 by health stalwarts Geoff Teasel and Paul Keogh, Global Therapeutics is one of the nation's market leaders in providing Chinese herbal medicine supplements through its two core brands - Fusion and Oriental Botanicals.
Australia's wellness movement has propelled Blackmores share price to an astonishing $165-plus, one of the highest in the country. The strategic acquisition will strengthen the fast-growing company's already successful expansion into the $170 billion global Chinese herbal medicine market. In the first nine months of this financial year, Blackmores posted a sales increase of 63 per cent to $532 million.
Christine Holgate, CEO of Blackmores says: "In the future, Global Therapeutics will also provide us with a new product portfolio to sell through our existing distribution networks in Asia while also deepening our understanding of Chinese herbal medicine. It will also bring us closer to our Chinese consumers in Australia which will underpin our growth success internationally".
IPSOS reveals Australia's top 5 food priorities
It isn't hard to guess the findings of the IPSOS Food CHATS (Consumption, Habits, Attitudes and Trends) 2016 report. In descending order, Australians would like to eat more fruit and vegetables (40 per cent), eat smaller portion sizes (31 per cent), reduce sugar intake (24 per cent), eat healthier snacks (23 per cent) and cut down on fat (23 per cent).
When it comes to demanding changes in the food industry, a greater availability of natural sugar substitutes such as stevia tops the most wanted list (65 per cent). Other food categories where consumers would like to see more ethical and environmental changes are: no hormone meat (55 per cent), organic chicken (46 per cent), stall-free pork (41 per cent), organic beef (40 per cent), plant-based milk alternatives (33 per cent) and vegetable protein (31 per cent).
Principles are strong, but practice reveals that there is still a long way to go. Fast food chains have an edge over restaurant and cafes when it comes to the average number of occasions Australians eat out each month - 4.6 times. McDonalds is the most popular fast food choice (28 per cent), followed by Hungry Jacks (14 per cent), KFC (10 per cent), Subway (9 per cent) and The Coffee Club (4 per cent).
In another contradiction, 50 per cent of Australians believe that there is too much sugar in packaged goods. Yet only one in four have attempted to reduce their sugar intake. On a more positive note, taste and price top the rankings when it comes to purchasing food in-store - 72 per cent and 63 per cent - with discounts in third place.
Retail spending up year-on-year reveals ARA
Australians are still being careful when it comes to discretional spending, says the Australian Retailers Association (ARA), but the latest figures from The Australian Bureau of Statistics are encouraging. National retail spending rose 3.6 per cent year-on-year in March. The Federal budget tax changes and the RBA interest rate cut should boost spending in the coming months, says the ARA, but the extended Indian summer has impacted department store sales.
The nation is clearly in a nesting mood, with sales of household goods spiking 5.8 per cent year-on-year. The ARA attributes the positive bump to popular TV cooking shows such as My Kitchen Rules encouraging consumers to upgrade their kitchen appliances and equipment.
Other categories on the upswing were: clothing footwear and accessories (+5.2 per cent), cafes/restaurants and takeaway food (+3 per cent), grocery (+2.9 per cent) and department stores (+1.7 per cent). The ACT led the pack in increased spend for the period - up 6.9 percent. But the larger states are where it counts and sales were up in Victoria by 5.3 per cent and NSW spiked 4.9 per cent.
Australian fragrance sales soar
That's the word from Roy Morgan Research. Over the past two years, the number of Australians buying women's perfume over an average four week period increased by 32 percent - from 1.14 million to 1.50 million. Men's fragrances also showed healthy growth, with the number of people buying male juices increasing from 1.19 million to 1.34 million over the same period.
If you want someone else to buy you a fragrance, it's smart to build a relationship first. Married men and those in a committed relationship are twice as likely as single guys to buy their loved ones a fragrance, says Roy Morgan. The ratio is even higher among women with married/committed females three times as likely to buy an aftershave or cologne for their partners than single ones.
In other marketing insights, the top target for fragrance retailers are consumers who aspire to the Desire Economy. Or, those who believe that the things they own and buy reflect their outlook and status. According to Andrew Price, general manager - consumer products, Roy Morgan Research: "Men who buy aftershave/cologne and women who buy perfume are more likely than the average Aussie to believe that - it's important to look fashionable - and - wear clothes that will get me noticed".
Bricks-and-mortar retailers such as pharmacies and department stores aren't the only beneficiaries of the fragrance boom, notes Roy Morgan Research. Online shopping for perfumes is also on the rise. The women's gift syndrome in men's fragrance purchases is also on the wane. Seventy per cent of Aussie males now buy their own "juices".
Snippets from the wires
- Healthy growth in Japan, Thailand and Australia buoyed Beiersdorf's first quarter results. Group sales increased to AUD$2.59 billion, in spite of a stronger euro. Year-on-year, Nivea sales were up 4.3 per cent and La Prairie's revenues jumped 6.9 per cent.
- Colour cosmetics - notably Rimmel and Sally Hansen - kept things positive for Coty's Q3, resulting in net revenues of US$950.7 million. Marc Jacobs was a winner in the scent category for the multinational, but there was a modest one per cent decline in fragrances overall. Adidas helped to soften a 5 per cent drop in the skin and bodycare division. Net revenues across China, Japan, Australia and travel retail in the region grew 6 per cent, as sales in Europe and the Americas declined. Chairman and CEO, Bart Becht, also announced that Coty expects the P&G brands buyout to close in October and provide a firm base to drive profitable growth.
- Space NK, the luxury beauty retailer, will launch new websites in four other languages apart from English - Mandarin, French, German and Spanish.
- Puig, the Spanish fashion/fragrance group, is on track to account for 12 per percent of the global fragrance market by 2020 through its major brands, including Jean Paul Gaultier, Prada, Paco Rabanne, Valentino and Nina Ricci. The company extended strongly into niche perfumery with the acquisitions of Penhaligon's and L'Artisan Parfumeur. The strategy continues with a stakeholding in EB Florals, "an ultra exclusive line of floral fragrances", sold in select Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman stores in the US.
- Q3 has been good for the Estee Lauder Group. Sales were up three percent to US$2.66 billion, as Tom Ford, Smashbox and M.A.C turned in double digit growth. The makeup and fragrance categories were buoyant, but skincare sales for Clinique and the Estee Lauder core brand slipped. La Mer was the star performer - albeit from a much smaller base - in the multinational's skincare stable.
Newsletter image: Instagram.com/gypsylovinlight/
