Understanding Australia's Business and Consumer Environment: A Guide for Successful Business Down Under

Understanding Australia's Business and Consumer Environment

How will Australia's economy, business environment and consumer trends impact the success of your business? This e-book examines the fundamentals businesses must understand to successfully expand or operate in Australia.

Download Now >>

Heralded as the success story among advanced economies for weathering the global economic downturn of 2008-2009, Australia’s high income levels and steady growth offer good opportunities for consumer goods and services in a wide range of sectors.

Key Findings:

• At the height of the global slowdown, advanced economies as a whole contracted by 3.5% - contrasting with Australia’s 1.4% growth.
• Whereas incomes and consumer expenditure have stagnated across many advanced economies, Australia’s per capita disposable income and expenditure have expanded by 9.8% and 3.5% respectively in real terms since 2008.
• In 2012, Australia was ranked 15 out of 183 economies on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index, meaning it is the fifteenth easiest place in the world to start and operate a local firm.
• Australia has an educated population: 99.9% of adults (those aged 15+) were literate in 2011, but suffers from skills shortages.
• In 2011, the population aged 45-49 in Australia had the highest average gross income: A$77,810 (US$80,259).

Topics include:

• Ease of doing business rating
• Corruption index
• Literacy rate
• Future challenges
• Natural resources
• Media consumption
• Consumer trends
• More

Download Now >>

Dessert Cafés Shake Up South Korea's Competitive Coffee Shop Market

Analyst Insight by Elizabeth Friend, Analyst - Consumer Foodservice, Euromonitor International 

Follow @ElizabethF_EMI

South Korea’s specialist coffee shops category is one of the largest in the world, at US$1.4 billion in value and with explosive growth driven by rapid outlet expansion. Caffé Bene, the local outlet leader, went from 17 outlets in 2008 to over 600 in 2011, and plenty of local competitors have ramped up their own outlet expansion in order to keep up. This growth has also been driven by widespread appeal among urban demographics, from young professionals to retiring baby boomers, and just as demand has exploded, so too has the competition, with no less than ten major chains now battling for share of the vibrant market. While outlet expansion remains high, saturation is becoming a threat in premium locations, and operators are seeking out other ways to grow their revenue and differentiate themselves. Amidst this, a new kind of player is emerging: chained cafes with significant food offers, modern Western-style outlets and positioning that goes far beyond coffee and baked goods.

Coffee Pod Markets in Western Europe

Coffee pods continue to be the fastest growing coffee category in Western Europe, with pods accounting for over 50% of all fresh coffee retail sales in France, Spain and Portugal. While pods are often an example of growing premiumisation in many markets, the rise of them in Spain and Portugal is actually indicative of the economic crises across the region. As income levels of many consumers decline, many are having breakfast at home rather than in cafes; thus pods and pod machines continue growth. Meanwhile, markets such as Germany and Italy continue to post solid values across all fresh coffee categories. But there is opportunity in the Nordic nations where per capita coffee consumption is some of the highest in the world, but consumers have yet to fully embrace the single serve pod format.

Soaring Beer Tax to Exacerbate Existing Trends in France

Analyst Insight by Johanna Kolerski-Bezerra, Research Analyst, Euromonitor International

In December 2012, the French government implemented a new tax on beer. The new budget law, applicable from 1 January 2013, increases excise tax by up to 160% (see table below). This legislative initiative has two objectives - firstly, to tackle alcohol abuse mainly among young people and, secondly, to curb France’s growing national deficit. The tax is likely to accelerate already established trends.

Differences Persist Between At-Home, Away-From-Home Coffee Culture in Latin America

While much of the world's Arabica coffee beans (used for fresh brewed coffee as opposed to the Robusta beans used for instant) are produced in Latin America, many nations differ in at home consumption. Brazilians and Venezuelans prefer fresh brewed coffee, while Chile and Mexico are predominantly instant coffee drinkers. However, there has been an influx of specialist coffee shops across the region, most notably in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. These coffee shops are popular as a "third place" for consumers to socialize while drinking coffee based beverages. This rise of café would lead one to assume that consumers are growing an appreciation for higher quality coffee, often more associated with the Arabica or "fresh brewed" variety compared to instant. However, as the datagraphic above demonstrates, such is not the case. While Brazil is still a dominant fresh brewed coffee nation, Colombians have begun to consume more instant coffee in relation to fresh, despite having strong coffee shop growth. Fresh brewed coffee consumption in Mexico is up, but by only a very slight margin. The growing café culture seems to have little to no affect on instant v. fresh preferences, as preparation of coffee at home is often rooted in affordability, convenience, and tradition. 

Beer: Identifying the Key Trends for 2013

Analyst Insight by Spiros Malindrakis, Senior Analyst -Alcoholic Drinks, Euromonitor International

Craft: Semantics, definitions and existential questions

What makes a craft beer, well, craft? Is it the flavour profile, ingredients, branding and word-of-mouth promotional strategy? Is it pricing and positioning? Or does it come down to the brewer’s ultimately independent nature and small scale production? However, even accepting that last and marginally more consensus-driven definition, what constitutes independence and small scale? Is it set in stone? Can a successful craft brewer fall victim to the momentum of its own success, raising volumes and revenues at the expense of its integrity and authenticity? Do consumers really care?

Global Consumer Habits Drive Breakfast Sales

Analyst Insight by Elizabeth Friend, Analyst - Consumer Foodservice at Euromonitor International

Follow @ElizabethF_EMI

Consumer foodservice is often talked about in terms of nitty-gritty details, like menu items, popular new flavours, and décor; but ultimately, the industry is about bigger picture lifestyle trends. The most successful chains find ways to fit into consumers’ lives in ways that mesh seamlessly with existing behaviors and encourage the formation of newer ones, developing  first-time visits into recurring habits that eventually become simply a part of what consumers do each day.

Major Opportunities in China—But Where?

For many global foodservice operators, the question of expansion into China has moved far beyond “if” and focused instead on “where,” as operators look past the largest cities and try to determine which second- and third-tier markets hold the greatest opportunities. Euromonitor International’s new Cities data offers a glimpse into the metrics that can help answer this question, breaking down GDP, annual disposable income, population growth and other relevant data by major city in the world’s largest markets.

A closer look at China’s cities, in particular, highlights major potential opportunities in consumer foodservice. While Shanghai and Beijing have so far seen the majority of international expansion, for example, cities like Shenzhen, Dongguan and Xiamen all offer higher per-capita annual disposable incomes despite slightly smaller populations. It’s also important to note that China’s incredible size means even some of the country’s second- and third-tier cities have populations that rival entire countries in other world regions. Shanghai’s population is larger than that of Australia or Chile, and Beijing, Chongqing, Tianjin and Guangzhou all out-size Greece, Belgium, Hungary and Sweden.

Of course, population size doesn’t tell the whole story, and foodservice operators also need to go where the money is. In per-capita income terms, many Chinese cities also measure up to major foodservice markets: Ten Chinese cities, including Dongguan, Xiamen, Ningbo, Wenzhou and Suzhou, have higher per-capita disposable income figures than Brazil, which boasted US$150 billion (R$251 billion) in foodservice value in 2011. These figures illustrate the immense potential opportunities present in these markets, many of which are far from saturation in terms of global chained foodservice.

Other key metrics illustrate the full extent of the potential for future growth in these areas. Tianjin, for example, has among the lowest per capita annual disposable income among the richest Chinese cities, but it saw 18% real GDP growth in 2011, higher than Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. Similarly, despite already boasting one of the highest current figures, Xiamen will see a 9% CAGR in per-capita disposable income over 2011-2016, among the highest in major Chinese cities. Finally, Shenzhen will see a 7% CAGR in households over the forecast period, adding over a million new potential consumers in this already thriving city.

Mediterranean Way of Eating Under Threat

Analyst Insight by Simone Baroke, Contributing Analyst at Euromonitor International

A new piece of research by the Catholic University of Campobasso, Italy, highlights a disconcerting trend, intensified by the global recession: The demise of the Mediterranean diet at its very heartland as financially hard-pushed consumers spend less money on “expensive” healthy foods and shift towards more convenient and economically priced packaged food options instead.

Vive Le Roi! Burger King Returns to France

Earlier this week, Burger King announced its re-entry into the French market, producing considerable excitement among French burger fans—17 years after pulling out of France, Burger King has acquired a certain mystique, combining flame-grilled indulgence with American authenticity. In this new podcast, Head of Foodservice Michael Schaefer notes this perception is not unique to France, with the Whopper burger in particular possessing a singular international appeal, one which the chain has only begun to tap.  

Download as an Mp3