Victoria's Secret and Sephora most favoured brands for Millennials; L'Oréal just shy of $10 billion in sales for Q1; radio retains huge consumer reach says Roy Morgan Research; and is Guthy-Renker on the hunt for another Proactiv?
Victoria's Secret and Sephora most favoured brands for Millennials
Many of the world's leading brands, whether they are flogging cars, cosmetics or holidays, are chasing younger consumers with a vengeance. The oldest cohort of Millennials are hitting their maximum earning years and Gen-Z is hot on their heels. A new US report from Conde Nast, the publisher of Vogue, and investment bank Goldman Sachs ranks the top 10 brands with the widest appeal to Millennials.
But a key takeaway as Amazon prepares to launch in the Australian market was the e-commerce giant's unequalled hold on younger consumers. Not only did it win the " Most Loved Brand" category, Amazon was the favourite retailer across all categories for young males and the top shopping app for women.
- Victoria's Secret ( 56.6%)
- Sephora (38%)
- Nike (29.7%)
- Coach (13.4%)
- Kate Spade (13.3%)
- Michael Kors (12.7%)
- Ulta, the biggest specialist beauty retailer in the US (12.7%)
- Lululemon (11.8%)
- DSW ( Designer Shoe Warehouse) - (11%)
- Nordstrom (10%)
L'Oréal just shy of $10 billion in sales for Q1
The Consumer Products Division (L'Oréal Paris, Maybelline, Garnier etc) remains the French multinational's number one money earner. But double digit growth from L'Oréal Luxe was the main driver behind the company's 7.4 per cent overall sales uptick in the first quarter to 7 billion euros ($AU9.95 billion). According to Chairman and CEO Jean-Paul Agon: "The cosmetics market has unexpectedly proven extremely atypical in the first weeks of the year, with very strong consumption of luxury products, especially in Asia, and a very slow start for consumption in the mass and professional markets".
Slowdown or not, the Consumer Products Division delivered a 4 per cent increase to 3.2 billion euros ($AU4.55 billion) from Q1 2016. Fuelled by a 17.8 per cent spike in revenues, L'Oréal Luxe brought in 2.15 billion euros ($AU3.55 billion). While Professional Products almost flatlined at 0.5 per cent to 858.2 million euros ($AU1.21 billion).
The Active Cosmetics Division turned in a strong performance, rising 7.6 per cent to 603.2 million euros ($AU857 million). The recent acquisition of US brands CeraVe, AcneFree and Ambi for $US1.3 billion will amplify this division's growth potential noted Agon.
So will the continued popularity of the premium beauty sector and not only for L'Oréal, says Euromonitor International. The researcher predicts that the global premium beauty sector will grow by 20 per cent – about $US20 billion – over the next five years to $US127 billion. Over half the projected growth – 54 per cent – will come from the US and Chinese markets.
Radio retains huge consumer reach says Roy Morgan Research
With all the talk about micro-influencers, it's easy to forget that traditional media remains a powerful macro-influencer. More than 7 million Australians (36%) agree with the statement that "radio is an important part of my daily routine", reveals Roy Morgan Research. But the major surprise is that people who work full-time are the most regular daily listeners – 41 per cent.
It's true that retirees are an important audience (40%), but part-time workers are the third most likely to be radio aficionados (35%), ahead of home duties/not working (29%), the unemployed (27%) and students (23%).
Another major myth debunker, says Roy Morgan, is that the more hours Australians work, the more likely they are to increase the time devoted to listening to radio. People who work up to 15 hours a week listen to radio on average 126 minutes per day. But the one million Aussies who work more than 51 hours a week tune in in average for 176 minutes per day.
Think about it. For many working Australians, radio is an important part of their daily routine, says Michele Levine, CEO Roy Morgan Research. "Many employees are tuned in to radio during their working hours – whether it's streamed through a desktop or a personal device, heard over speakers in the retail store, bar or restaurant, or playing all day on a construction site.
"Not only does this give radio a distinct edge in terms of reach, but a potentially more valuable audience. Full-time workers who say radio is an important part of their daily routine earn more than $6000 per year on average than other full-time employees".
Guthy-Renker on the hunt for another Proactiv?
Dermaplaning, a.k.a facial shaving for women, has been around for decades. Facial fuzz shows up on camera and legendary screen beauties such as Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor regularly wielded a razor ahead of close-ups. But over the past few years, the practice has shifted from being a fad to a mainstream beauty ritual as regular women also seek complexion perfection.
When Dara Levy, the founder of Dermaflash, the hand-held exfoliating device that acts as a "magic wand" to remove the finest facial hairs, appeared on QVC recently over 30,000 orders flowed in within a day.
Guthy-Renker obviously think that dermaplaning has a profitable future worldwide. The owner of Proactiv, the billion dollar-plus anti-acne brand, has taken an equity investment in Dermaflash and will manage the direct response distribution channel for the brand. The device is also sold in upmarket retailers such as Sephora, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Macy's in the US. Dermaflash is an excellent addition to our portfolio, launching a new category for Guthy-Renker that complements all our other skin care brands, says Guthy-Renker CEO Rick Odum.
Snippets from the wires
- NYX Cosmetics has enjoyed explosive growth since its acquisition by L'Oréal in 2014. Walgreens has announced the on-trend but affordable brand will be stocked by nearly 2000 of its stores across the US in the Northern Hemisphere Autumn.
- No wonder beauty brands are clambering to open up shop in Australia's gateway airports. In the year to March, Sydney Airport handled a total of 15.1 million international passengers and 26.9 million domestic travellers. International passenger growth spiked 5.7 per cent in the first quarter, primarily through additional services to China, Vietnam, Korea, Indonesia and Hong Kong.
- China continues to dominate international tourist expenditure, reports the United Nations Tourism Organization. Over 135 million Chinese tourists travelled overseas in 2016, increasing their on-the-road spend by $US11 billion to $US261 billion. More than double that of the US in second place with $US122 billion, followed by Germany ($US81 billion), the UK ($US64 billion) and France ($US41 billion).
- AmorePacific has accomplished its goal to become a top 10 global beauty company. According to Women's Wear Daily's Beauty Top 100, the Korean giant climbed from number 12 in 2015 to number 7 last year with total sales of $US5.58 billion. A move that displaced Chanel from the top 10. The top four placegetters were: L'Oréal ($US28.6 billion), Unilever ($US20.5 billion), P&G ($US15.4 billion) and Estée Lauder ($US11.4 billion).
