Aussie hero brand Lano expands into 15 European countries; Boohoo to launch own brand cosmetics; global fragrance market to reach $US27.5 billion; and big-name marketplaces account for half of global online sales.
Aussie hero brand Lano expands into 15 European countries
Ten years ago, Kirsten Carriol launched the Lano brand following a six-year development program. Since then the highly respected former PR dynamo has experienced the sort of success every beauty start-up dreams of. More than one million tubes of Lano's iconic 101 Ointment have been sold and the brand is available in over 3000 stores worldwide.
Lano is the ultimate Australian brand, manufactured here from lanolin obtained from Australian and New Zealand sheep. The stats over the past decade speak for themselves, from a global launch on Net-A-Porter to its debut in 800 Ulta stores in the US. It’s one of only two Australian brands sold on the QVC shopping network in the US, and leading beauty and health retailer Boots kickstarted the brand's success in the UK.
The entrepreneurial Ms Carriol has now teamed with Sephora Europe to launch Lano in 15 new markets from November 6: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Greece, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Turkey. Lano enjoyed double-digit growth in the 2016/2017 fiscal year and is on track to repeat the feat during the current financial period.
Keeping up with the Kamanis – Boohoo to launch own brand cosmetics
Boohoo.com, founded in 2006 by joint chief executives Mahmud Kamani and designer Carol Kane, has enjoyed explosive global success. The UK-based online retailer has a market value of $AU4.41 billion and boasts five million customers in more than 150 countries, including Australia.
The glamorous Kamani family enjoys a more lavish lifestyle than the Kardashians – yachts, Rolls-Royces and exotic travel – and also own PrettyLittleThing and the recently acquired Nasty Gal. Boohoo reached sales of $AU480 million in 2016 and uploads as many as 120 new pieces of its trademark budget fashions daily.
Unlike online fast fashion competitor Asos, Boohoo sells only its own labels. It’s a strategy they are following with their debut makeup range, Boohoo Cosmetics, although they have sold makeup brands like Technic and Cougar. The 26-SKU line-up features primers, lipsticks, contour and highlighter palettes, eyeshadows and more, and will be priced from $AU6.50 to $AU32.
Global fragrance market to reach $US27.5 billion
As we've commented before, the niche fragrance category is now so large it has outgrown the name. So many women of all ages now want to stand out from the fragrance crowd, especially Millennials, that the major fragrance manufacturers and designer brands are frequently taking a leaf from the same playbook as their smaller competitors.
As we approach the Christmas season, the biggest selling period of the year, the global fragrance market has performed well, says Euromonitor International. Key markets such as the US, Russia and France remain flat because of heavy discounting, lower tourism figures and limited wage growth. But star performers such as Spain, up 5.2 per cent to $US1.5 billion; the UK, up 4.7 per cent to $US2.5 billion; and the Asia/Pacific region, up 4.3 per cent to $US3.9 billion, have lifted estimates for global fragrance sales for the 2017 calendar year to $US27.5 billion, says Mintel.
The mass segment has flatlined in Western Europe and the US, but prestige fragrances have become the main drivers in all major geographic areas. Australian retailers, such as David Jones and Myer, are hoping for a bumper festive season, springboarded by two major new prestige releases with a strong Millennial appeal: Gabrielle by Chanel and Tiffany & Co from Coty.
Big-name marketplaces account for half of global online sales
Just as Google and Facebook have cornered the lion's share of global digital advertising, the Big Four marketplaces – Amazon, eBay and China's Alibaba and JD.com – dominate global online sales, reports Forrester Research. In 2016, half of the world's online shoppers clicked the buy button on marketplaces, a figure predicted to rise to two-thirds over the next five years, says the researcher.
Amazon, eBay and Alibaba's Tmall alone pulled in $US365 billion in sales in 2016, 31 per cent of global e-commerce sales, reports Euromonitor. It's not all plain sailing, though. Half of all merchandise sold on Amazon now comes from third-party sellers and some are more legitimate than others. Many people worldwide also simply use marketplaces to browse and research.
Shipping costs remain stubbornly high because more online shoppers than ever demand free or low-cost shipping or they will look elsewhere. In 2016, Amazon's net shipping costs rose to $US16 billion but revenues from Prime membership and customer or retailer shipping costs covered only 55 per cent of the outlay. The marketplaces are in a real bind if they choose to allocate full shipping costs to customers, say analysts, who predict that their sales will sharply decline if they do so.
Other bugbears, notes Forrester Research, include less control over the customer experience because of the high number of third-party retailers, and the outsourcing of online delivery services. Another challenge is that the major marketplaces have become so huge that brands frequently get lost in the retail crush.
Snippets from the wires
- Neiman Marcus has always been hesitant about opening up shop in New York for one reason: the 107-year old US luxury retailer owns Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth Avenue. Times change and the luxe department store is negotiating with developer The Related Companies to open a flagship store at Hudson Yards, the massive $US20 billion urban redevelopment area on Manhattan's West Side.
- Jimmy Choo was recently acquired by Michael Kors, but Interparfums retains the shoemaker's lucrative fragrance license until 2021. With operating profits up 53 per cent for the half-year to June, analysts are speculating that Interparfums are looking at launching a Jimmy Choo makeup line in a bid to hang onto the license after the expiry date.
- Hermes Group's revenues rose 11 per cent in the first half of the year to $US3.22 billion. Fragrance sales rose 8 per cent, but the bulk of the money came from ready-to-wear fashion, leathergoods and accessories.