Demand for supermarket beauty products is growing, here's what Kiwi shoppers are adding to their trolley
Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
Demand for supermarket beauty products is growing, here's what Kiwi shoppers are adding to their trolley
With inflation on the rise it seems like everything is costing more at the shops, retailers say it's impacting what we're buying, but also where we're buying from.
New Zealand's leading supermarkets report a growth in their beauty sales, with more people picking up mascara alongside their macaroni.
A spokesperson for Foodstuffs, the grocery co-operative behind New World, Pak'nSave, and Four Square told the Herald while the grocery category remains flat year on year across both North and South co-ops, it has seen slight growth in the beauty and personal care category of its North Island co-op over the past year, driven mainly by sales from Pak'nSave stores.
Their purchasing patterns show shoppers are actively seeking out value, 'buying in bulk, opting for mainstream brands, and using unit pricing to stretch their budgets further'.
A Woolworths spokesperson said to meet demand for its beauty products the supermarket chain is 'bringing more variety into our stores, offering customers more choice in our personal and beauty care categories'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
an hour ago
- NZ Herald
How US tariff hikes could reshape NZ's economic landscape
The suggested reasons have ranged from NZ running a trade surplus with the US (albeit a small one), and our GST rate of 15%. It also has been suggested that our political ties with the US aren't as strong as some others (the FBI opening an office in Wellington may have been too little too late), while we also have a nuclear-free policy. Ultimately, not having a bilateral free trade agreement (while Australia does) may also be a factor. The epilogue to last Friday's announcement is now likely to see some lobbying by our officials (and those of other countries) to get a better deal. This will, though, as we have seen with other agreed deals, have to include something on the other side, as there are no free lunches in Trump's trade offensive. So what happens if NZ is stuck with 15%? Before last week, we were all seemingly comfortable with our lot – a 10% tariff. We export around $9 billion of goods to the US, and duties of around $900 million would be material, but manageable. We are now faced with duties of $1.4b. Some commentators have suggested that this is still 'digestible' in the context of our $400b economy, but the reality is the tariffs will affect an important segment of exporters which have been among our brightest stars recently. Despite challenges, NZ's open economy and potential rate cuts may offer some economic relief. Photo / 123rf With much of the NZ economy stagnant, our agricultural exporters have been flourishing, and not least of which has been the dairy sector amid strong global demand. Fonterra has acknowledged that tariffs will impact sales of dairy ingredients and products in the US, which is its largest single market, accounting for 10-20% of Fonterra's sales. We sell $1 billion a year of dairy product to the US, and that is too much to divert elsewhere. The question then becomes whether Americans will be prepared to pay more for our dairy products, or will the industry have to eat the tariffs? A saving grace is that many of our global export competitors are based in Europe, which is faced with a similar tariff rate. The playing field is not so level for our red meat industry, for which the US is our largest market, with exports of over $2b. Our farmers have benefited from shrinking US herd inventory, strong demand and high prices. Beef & Lamb NZ estimates that tariffs will cost the industry an extra $300m a year. And while competitors in Brazil (at 50%) are facing much higher tariffs than our meat farmers, those in Australia, Argentina, and Uruguay are only having to deal with duties of 10%. This could well put Kiwi meat farmers (which have been used to minimal tariffs), including the likes of Silver Fern Farms and Alliance Group, at a clear competitive disadvantage, with knock-on impacts to margins and/or demand (already down 14% since April). Then there is the wine industry, set to be facing over $100m worth of extra tariffs. The US is our biggest market, with annual wine exports of around $750m. Price points for American consumers have been very sensitive, and $1 or so of duties on a bottle of sav (90% of export volumes) could make all the difference between consumers choosing our wines or something cheaper – either homegrown or from the likes of Australia, Chile or Argentina, for instance, which are dealing with lower tariff rates. A host of other industries are facing similar headwinds, including primary sector machinery (+$600m per year in sales) and seafood (+$300m per year), along with pharmaceuticals. Several other industries, including machinery, seafood, and pharmaceuticals, are also facing significant tariff-related challenges. Photo / Getty Images On that note, our largest listed company, Fisher & Paykel, derives around a quarter of its global revenue from the US and does not have a lot of pricing power with its products. However, it appears that the company is relatively insulated in that the majority of its US sales are supplied from Mexico, which is exempt under the USMCA agreement. That said, this agreement is up for review in 2026. All in all, there are a host of implications from last week's tariff announcement, and none should be treated lightly. Many of our industries that have been outperforming, particularly dairy and meat, will now be faced with competitive headwinds. They will have to decide whether to try to divert their products elsewhere or possibly absorb the effect on their margins, with consequent potential impacts to profitability, employment and investment intentions. This will have knock-on effects on our broader economy. The headwinds will trickle down to affect underlying economic growth, investment, confidence, and employment when we least need it. The Reserve Bank (RBNZ) was already predicting that increased global tariffs were likely to slow global economic growth, and we now have a direct hit on our economy, just as it's crawling out of recession. Estimates were for our economy to grow around 2% next year. That is now looking like a tougher ask. There is the added complication that China, our biggest customer, has yet to ink a trade deal with the US. There are some positive takeaways, though, and it could be worse. Even in the light of last week's announcement, we still have an open economy with free trade with three-quarters of the world, covering products that are regarded as very high quality and are in strong demand. Some traditionally US exports may be diverted elsewhere. There will be a clear economic impact, but one that should compel our own central bank to cut rates when officials meet next month. This would provide support for positivity for domestic borrowers, local businesses and consumers. This is against a backdrop where our inflation rate has already fallen, and the scope exists for Trump's tariffs to put additional pressure on prices in NZ as products destined for the US are shipped here at lower prices. From an equity market perspective, our biggest company stands fairly insulated, as are many of our other big blue chips. Overall, global equity market confidence has also remained strong, despite the macroeconomic uncertainties of recent months, some of which have been resolved (the US has agreed trade deals with Britain, Japan, Europe, and several Asian countries, including South Korea). The equity markets have had a lot thrown at them in the past months, but have been resilient – the world's biggest stock market, the S&P500, is trading around record highs. Ultimately, stock markets are forward-looking and are sending positive messages, as are corporates with the earnings season in the US and Europe under way. For a world that has seen plenty of crises in recent years, are we just possibly looking at another shock that will play out better than feared?
NZ Herald
3 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Why new US tariffs could be a turning point for NZ trade policy
University of Auckland Emeritus Professor Jane Kelsey is with us to discuss what this means for Kiwi businesses – and whether we need to reprioritise our trade relationships.
NZ Herald
3 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Could Trump's tariffs force NZ to rethink its trade diversity?
Italy got the same deal as us, 15%. The Italian Institute of International Political Studies dug into the numbers and found that the country's agricultural, pharmaceutical, and automotive sectors are likely to be hit the hardest, with the country's GDP projected to dip by 0.2%. On the other hand, the likes of Australia and the UK have secured a 10% tariff. So, how will the duties actually affect Kiwi businesses? Or is it really American consumers who'll pay the price? University of Auckland Emeritus Professor of Law Jane Kelsey told The Front Page it's hard to know the impact. 'It's very hard to be specific about what the consequences would be, and when people put figures on that, you should be quite skeptical. 'Tariffs are kind of blunt instruments, so it will mean that exports from New Zealand imports into the US will have a higher cost for importers in the US and consumers in the US. That could affect how much New Zealand goods they buy,' she said. She said New Zealand has a 'pretty basic export commodity model' and suggests that recent events should serve as a 'wake-up call to start thinking differently' about the diversification of our domestic market. 'There are real opportunities here, and we seem to have an aversion to taking those opportunities. 'It's not simply about diversifying to other markets, but it's also about rethinking our domestic economic model, which is currently based largely on the housing market and secondly on relatively low-value-added exports to a relatively small number of countries. 'But, we have a great difficulty generating that discussion here. There was a Productivity Commission report several years ago, before it was disbanded, that set out a process for diversification, which would thicken our domestic production, and that, unfortunately, seems to have fallen on deaf ears,' she said. Listen to the full episode to hear more about: Why the World Trade Organisation is 'in chaos'; The erosion of the rules-based trading system over successive US governments; And why it might be a mistake to view Trump's tariffs as purely economic. The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016. You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
