Walgreens Boots Alliance eyes Australian market, Australian online ad spend to reach $6 billion, TV still dominates Aussie viewing habits, and the top 10 eyeshadow brands.
Walgreens Boots Alliance eyes Australian market
The government is currently reviewing the law that pharmacies must be owned by pharmacists, not by corporations. The findings of the independent review are due in March next year, and no one is watching the outcome more closely than Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), the largest retail pharmacy, health and living conglomerate in the US and Europe.
Before the recent merger between Boots Alliance and Walgreens, the British part of the iconic business originally attempted to set up shop in Australia 100 years ago. The global giant has 31,100 stores in 11 countries, and Australia stands out as one of the leading developed markets where WBA has little presence. Whatever the recommendations of the 2017 report, the law which restricts the location of pharmacies will remain in force until 2020.
Currently, Boots has a partnership with Sigma Pharmaceuticals which distributes the Boots Laboratories brand in Australia. In an interview with Fairfax Media, Ken Murphy, global brands president for WBA, revealed that the company was looking at several options but, to justify a major investment in Australia, WBA would prefer to establish its own chain. The company is also considering the acquisition or distribution of Australian brands looking to launch in the US and UK. Boots already has incredibly high brand recognition in Australia, noted Murphy.
Australian online ad spend to reach $6 billion
That's the prediction of the latest IAB/PwC Online Advertising Expenditure Report. For the calendar year 2015, online advertising increased 24 per cent to $5.9 billion, capping five years of double digit, year-on-year growth of at least 21 per cent since 2010.
Only nine years ago, online ad expenditure totalled $1.3 billion. Mobile advertising surged 81 per cent in 2015, increasing by $695 million to $1.55 billion. Sixty five percent of the spend was directed to smartphones and 35 per cent to tablets. Mobile advertising now accounts for 40 per cent of all general display advertising, up from 25.5 per cent in 2014.
All of the big three advertising categories measured in the IAB/PwC report posted major growth last year. General Display increased 46 per cent to $2.1 billion, Classifieds recorded a 22 per cent uptick to $1.1 billion, and Search and Directories enjoyed an uplift of 14 per cent to $2.8 billion.
Video advertising was also on fire, spurting 75 per cent for the year to $484 million - 23 per cent of general display advertising. Motor vehicles, real estate and retail retained their stranglehold on general display advertising, accounting for 17.2 percent, 12.2 percent and 10.1 per cent of the sector, respectively.
TV still dominates Aussie viewing habits
Leading consumer psychologist, Adam Ferrier, recently made the salient comment - don't overestimate the speed of change. Nowhere is this truth more evident than in the nation's viewing habits. According to Nielsen's Australian Multi-Screen Report for the last quarter of 2015, 85 per cent of all viewing continues to emanate from at-home TV sets - free-to-air and cable.
On average, Australians watch just over 85 hours of broadcast TV each month. By contrast, they divide 15.5 percent of their video viewing time across smartphones, computers and laptops, averaging 15 hours and 40 minutes per month. Attention spans are divided between broadcast content ( streaming sites, apps and TV network catch-up) and non-broadcast (YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook).
According to Deborah Wright, Chair of Regional TAM and Nine Entertainment's Director of Regional Strategy: "The Australian Multi-Screen Report continues to provide a holistic national overview of consumers' viewing habits across platforms and devices. In a market where consumers have an ever-growing list of options to view video content, the in-home TV set remains the predominant screen of choice".
The top 10 eyeshadow brands
The continued popularity of the natural look has dented eyeshadow sales in Australia, reports Roy Morgan Research. Four years ago, 16 per cent of Australian women regularly reached for a new palette of colours or a single hue in any given six-month period. But in 2015, the percentage dropped to 13 per cent of women aged 14-plus.
There are winners and losers. Maybelline New York and increased sales in the category by 3 percent each over the same period in 2011. Revlon's popularity among women aged 35 to 49 delivered a sales uptick of 2 per cent. But L'Oréal Paris and COVERGIRL have not fared so well. It's important to remember that, in spite of all those articles about the need to regularly cull makeup drawers, many women hang on to eyeshadows for a long time. Especially if they don't wear eyeshadow on a daily basis.
The top 10 eyeshadow brands in Australia in the 12 months to September 2015 were:
- Revlon (13%)
- Maybelline (11%)
- M.A.C (7%)
- L'Oreal Paris (3%)
Snippets from the wires
- TruRating, the British point of payment system, has been road-testing the Australian market for the past six months through a select number of leading businesses, including , Jones the Grocer and the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Using the payment terminal, customers are asked to rate their shopping experience on a scale of 0 to 9, so that companies receive instant feedback on service, speed of transaction and more.
- Elizabeth Arden has appointed George Cleary as president of Global Fragrances. Most recently the CEO of Illuminage, which specialises in hair removal and anti-aging beauty devices, Cleary was formerly Coty's president for the Americas.
- Euromonitor predicts that the Middle East and Africa ( MEA) region is on track to become the world's second largest fragrance market by 2019. Sales spiked 7 per cent in 2015 to US$5.2 billion, says the analyst. The top two markets are: Saudi Arabia ( US$1.7 billion) and the UAE, principally Dubai and Abu Dhabi (US$423 million).
- Inditex, the parent company of Zara, posted a 15 per cent increase in sales in 2015 to US$23 billion. Zara opened 79 new stores last year, but has announced it will focus more on online sales to spur growth, principally in Asia and Europe.
- No wonder. Online fashion retailer Yoox Net-A-Porter delivered a 26 per cent rise in profits for 2015. Sales increased 31 per cent to 1.7 billion euros (AUD$2.54 billion) for the calendar year.
- Acqua di Parma is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Now owned by LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods group, the storied fragrance brand is teaming with Aurora, the first Italian fountain pen manufacturer. The new range of ballpoint and fountain pens, one with a 14 carat gold calligraphy nib, will only be available at Acqua di Parma boutiques in Milan, Rome and Paris.
