Global fragrance leader Givaudan acquires Naturex stake for $AUD837.5 million; more premium beauty brands play catch-up to mass on Tmall; luxury and prestige finalists in 2018 US Fragrance Foundation Awards; and cashed-up Millennials drive Australia's yoga boom.
Global fragrance leader Givaudan acquires Naturex stake for $AUD837.5 million
Givaudan is the global leader in the fragrance and flavours industry and boasts the world's largest perfumery team. The star perfumers who have worked for the Swiss giant ranks as a who's who of the world's finest noses, including Christine Nagel, Jacques Polge, Jean-Claude Ellena, Thierry Wasser and Rodrigo Flores-Roux.
Givaudan makes fragrances and flavours for the perfume industry, home fragrance sector, laundry, food and health industries and has long been beefing up its chops in ethical sourcing and the production of natural and organic ingredients and products. The company's acquisition of 40.6 per cent of the shares in Naturex for $AUD837.5 million is another milestone in its 2020 strategy to strengthen its reach in natural flavour and fragrance solutions.
"Givaudan is the global leader in the space of natural flavours", says CEO Gilles Andreier. "Naturex further complements our capabilities with its strong portfolio of plant extracts across the food and beverage, nutrition and health and personal care sectors".
More premium beauty brands play catch-up to mass on Tmall
It's become an almost weekly occurrence for a major cosmetics company to announce the opening of a store on Alibaba's Tmall, China's largest e-commerce platform. Yet in spite of New York think-tank L2's latest report that taps Estée Lauder and L'Oréal as the two most digitally competent cosmetics companies in China, premium beauty brands have been playing catch-up to mass brands over the past three years.
Mass-market beauty brands on L2's index have had a Tmall adoption rate of 97 per cent since 2015. But prestige beauty brands have upped their game from 55 per cent with official stores in 2015 to 82 per cent in 2017. Newbies who signed last year include YSL Beauté, M.A.C Cosmetics and Benefit. The long-held fear for luxury and fashion brands is that Tmall is too mass market. But the online giant rolled out its Luxury Pavilion in August 2017 and attracted the likes of La Mer and Guerlain fragrances, skincare and makeup.
High-end beauty brands such as Giorgio Armani Beauty, YSL Beauté and M.A.C have also signed up with JD.com, Tmall's main competitor, which also unveiled a luxury platform called Toplife last October. There's still a way to go for prestige and premium beauty brands says L2. The top 10 beauty and cosmetic brands with the highest rank of visibility on Tmall are all mass brands.
Luxury and prestige finalists in 2018 US Fragrance Foundation Awards
The US Fragrance Foundation Awards are the Oscars of the global perfume industry. The 2018 gala presentation event is slated for June 12 at New York's Lincoln Center. Drum roll please for the 10 finalists in the top two categories.
Women's Luxury
- Armani/Prive New York
- Byredo Velvet Haze
- Clementine California - Atelier Cologne (owned by L'Oréal)
- Gabrielle Chanel
- Jason Wu Eau de Parfum
- Miss Dior Eau de Parfum
- Tiffany & Co Eau de Parfum
- Tom Ford Fabulous
- Twilly d'Hermes
- Woman in Gold by Kilian
Women's Prestige
- Black Tulip - NEST Fragrances
- Good Girl by Carolina Herrera
- Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue Eau Intense
- Goldea The Roman Night - Bvlgari
- Gucci Bloom
- Juicy Couture Viva la Juicy Glace
- Narciso Rodriguez Parfums - For Her
- Fleur Musc by Shiseido
- Terre de Lumiere Eau de Parfum by L' Occitane
- Woman by Ralph Lauren
Cashed-up Millennials drive Australia's yoga boom
Ten years ago only 5 per cent of Australians regularly rolled out yoga mats. In 2017, the number of Aussies increasing their strength and flexibility through yoga increased to 2.18 million, reports Roy Morgan Research. Women make up the bulk of devotees – 1.7 million in contrast to 480,000 males.
Female dominance in pilates is even more pronounced – 1.1 million compared to 120,000 males. Aerobics also remains popular with just over one million jumping to the music with a gender ratio of 73 per cent in favour of women.
Millennials account for a huge percentage of yoga fans – 750,000 – and pilates aficionados – 300,000 – reveals Roy Morgan. Good news for the future growth of both exercise regimes. According to Michele Levine, CEO of Roy Morgan – " All three activities are dominated by Australians in the top two socio-economic quintiles".
Over 50 per cent of participants in all three activities are in either the AB or C quintiles – the two most affluent quintiles comprising the top 40 per cent of the population in the socio-economic sense, she adds. "These results show that yoga in particular, but also pilates and aerobics to a lesser extent, are great places to reach a consumer market of growing importance – young affluent women with cash to burn".
Snippets from the wires
- T Galleria by DFS, housed in a heritage red brick building in The Rocks, has been a landmark of travel retail for nearly 30 years. On April 14, Sydney's only downtown duty-free destination celebrates the official opening of the refurbed premises. More than 150 brands across fashion and accessories, beauty and fragrances, watches and jewellery, food and gifts will showcase their wares. Beauty and fragrance fans will find the world's leading brands on the 4th floor.
- Super hydrating shea butter has become a ubiquitous ingredient in natural skincare and bodycare. Extracted from the nut of the African shea tree, Nigeria produces about 425,000 tonnes and hopes to double production over the next few years to reach a production level worth $US320 million a year.
- The Australian Society of Cosmetic Chemists will host its 50th annual conference in Canberra from May 16 to 18. Under the banner title – The Golden Touch of Beauty – highlight presentations centre on sustainability, stem cell technology, bioactive delivery systems for cosmeceuticals and the customisation of cosmetics. For more information, go to ascc.com.au/annual-conference
- Amazon has doubled the number of sellers on its Australian site to 10,000 since January. Analysts estimate that Amazon Australia will exceed 50,000 sellers by the end of the year.
