Following a tough start to the year, beauty and personal care sales are on track to soar for this year’s major online shopping festivals such as Black Friday and over the crucial Christmas period.
That’s the verdict of a new global survey – Road to Recovery: 2020 Shopping Peaks Re-Imagined – from Rakuten Advertising, the international marketing specialist.
The beauty industry has reported patchy results during the on-going COVID-19 crisis. Prestige beauty sales have been strongly impacted. But other categories such as dermo-cosmetic and mass skincare and haircare have weathered the storm.
According to the report, 87 per cent of those surveyed were preparing to shop as usual over the festive season and during key end-of-year online shopping festivals such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
“This lack of intent to curb spending during peak shopping periods is good news for brands and retailers, presenting an opportunity to drive revenue success in the second half of the year,” notes Rakuten Advertising.
Just over 41 per cent of global consumers also said they had not changed their spend on beauty and personal care since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
One-fifth – 20 per cent – had increased their beauty and personal care spend which was great news for the industry, said Abi Jacks, vice-president of international marketing at Rakuten Advertising.
Discounts, deals and free shipping for online purchases will be the major motivators for beauty consumers over the last six weeks of the year, adds Rakuten Advertising.
On home turf, Australian retailers enjoyed a strong overall performance for July, reports the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
A robust 3.3 per cent uptick in retail turnover from June to July fueled a 12.2 per cent increase in turnover for July by contrast to the same month in 2019.
Victoria was the only state to record a fall of 2 per cent in July because of the current second wave lockdown.
Paul Zahra, CEO of the Australian Retailers Association, noted that the government’s stimulus and support payments were important to the ongoing strength of retail sales.
While encouraged by the latest results, he added that the October to December quarter will make or break many retailers, with stores relying on a strong Christmas trading period to support their recovery.