Consumer

Ahead of Apple’s fall event and the release of iOS 17, Airship, the mobile app experience firm, announced its survey showing digital well-being is of increasing importance to consumers. According to Airship's new research, one in four consumers say they are using apps to either limit their screen time or avoid distracting interruptions. However, even more are adopting Apple’s Focus and Live Activities, which limit distractions and interruptions, while keeping them tuned in to the information and apps that matter most in different moments of their day. 

Danone, a world-renown health-focused food and beverage products, has announced the appointment of Kathy Cavill as the new General Manager for Australia and New Zealand - the first General Manager appointed from within the local business (everyone else being expat). With more than eleven years of experience at Danone, including Kathy’s most recent role as Marketing Director, positions her perfectly to lead the region forward in the new role of GM.

The Beauty Health Company, home to flagship brand Hydrafacial, has announced that it is expanding its strategic partnership with Sephora to provide in-store Perk by Hydrafacial treatments at Sephora stores across Australia by the end of the year. The new locations build on Hydrafacial’s robust presence in more than 500 Sephora stores in North America, as well as its Store of the Future in Singapore, where Hydrafacial joined as a launch partner in 2022.

Research by ING Australia reveals how Aussies are living life to the fullest without exhausting funds. From rejecting faddy fashion (62%) and micro-splurging in the supermarket to making the most of their time at work, Aussies are being savvy about reaching their financial goals. The 2023 ING Sense of Us Report has found fashion and beauty to be one of the biggest areas that Australians are looking to cut back (70%), with a quarter (24%) purchasing off-season items and one in five (18%) cutting their own hair. What’s more, a fifth (22%) of millennials say they are ditching fast fashion to save money according to ING's research.

Revolutionary Australian sustainable grocery subscription service Farmers Pick has announced its expansion into Queensland. The start-up will now deliver its ‘imperfect’ fruit & veg boxes to over 1.5 million households across Queensland from their new premise in Brisbane. The expansion means Queenslanders can now get a variety of affordable fresh produce and pantry staples delivered straight to their doorstep. Those living in the state can now preorder their first box from today, with the first boxes being delivered on the 25th of August.

2023 is proving to be the year of the ‘Big Brand Breakup’ with consumers across the country dumping their favourite brands for more affordable alternatives in the face of increasing financial pressure. I’m dubbing 2023 as the year of the ‘Big Brand Breakup’. Consumers across the country are already channeling Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin by consciously uncoupling with their favourite brands in order to buy products that offer more value.

Australia’s fastest growing company of 2022, Naked Life Non-Alcoholic Spirits, will give Aussie investors the first opportunity to own a slice of the country’s #1 selling non-alcoholic cocktail brand. The company which started as an experiment in David Andrew’s kitchen has grown from $400K to almost $13m in revenue in just 3 years and outsells its nearest competitor by 3 times. The raise will be managed by Birchal, the reputable equity crowdfunding platform.

Seventy-eight percent of consumers are prioritising value for money when shopping, as Australians are almost twice as likely to be stressed about higher prices of groceries and essentials than they are about the cost of housing, research from Shopify has revealed. The Shopify Australian Retail Report, conducted in partnership with YouGov, unpacks how Australian consumers’ priorities, financial stressors, and purchase behaviours have evolved amidst the current economic conditions. The research study of more than 1,000 Australian consumers sheds light on these shifting consumer behaviours and lays out effective pathways to growth for retailers to connect with customers facing economic pressures. 

FEELM – part of atomization tech company SMOORE – exhibited two new innovations, which have been developed to ‘raise product performance’ across the disposable vape category, during a major industry event in the Middle East. Presented at this year’s World Vape Show in Dubai, the brand’s FEELM Max’s ceramic coil and TOPOWER battery tech were created as part of a targeted effort to ‘level up the single-use sector’ and enhance consumer experience.

Circana, one of the world’s leading advisor on consumer behaviour, has released the latest installation of its highly respected 2023 FMCG Outlook report series, Shifting Shopper Behaviours, and the report identifies some clear challenges and opportunities for the sector as Australian shoppers change their buying habits in response to cost of living pressures.