Competition heightens amongst High Street beauty retailers

Boots has become the latest high street retailer to feel the effects of the economic downturn, reporting a mere 0.4% annual like-for-like sales growth. However, their international parent company, Alliance Boots, has announced a 15.1% increase in revenues in comparison with its UK retail business which achieved a 1.7% revenue increase. The results for Boots UK are likely to be a result of a fall in consumer confidence as well as a number of other market factors. The Ernst & Young Item Club has recently predicted that -retailers face a decade of challenging trading conditions.-

In an attempt to boost their market performance Boots is looking to launch a mobile platform to strengthen its digital presence and stay ahead of its main supermarket competitors. Boots’ main UK retail competitor, Superdrug, is launching an above-the-line marketing campaign to promote its new Beauty Card loyalty scheme. The campaign will consist of TV ads and celebrity endorsement in order to support the aim of the campaign which is to reinvigorate the Superdrug brand. It is likely that this development will have created new marketing jobs at Superdrug.

The launch of the Superdrug’s Beauty Card is an attempt to challenge Boots’ Advantage Card and improve consumer loyalty. Boots has been focusing its customer retention strategy on its online loyalty development known as -Treat Street’, which enables Advantage Card holders to collect Advantage points when shopping with a number of online retailers including Apple, Thomas Cook and Arcadia brands. The launch of the Superdrug loyalty card will allow them to collect customer data in order to target and reward customers with relevant promotions. Neil Saunders, Consulting Director at Verdict Research, commented that -the key challenge for the retailer was one of differentiation, as it faced stiff competition not only from Boots, but also from the grocery sector and department stores.-

Alex Carter, Managing Consultant at Brand Recruitment has noticed that -there has been an increase in the number of clients requesting candidates with marketing promotions experience from relevant industry sectors. Brand Recruitment has therefore seen an increase in the number of marketing jobs available across the East.- Brand Recruitment recruits for a wide variety of clients across the East of England and is therefore continually recruiting for marketing jobs throughout the region.

To find out more about marketing jobs across the Eastern Region please visit: http://www.brandrecruitment.co.uk/pr-and-marketing-jobs Brand Recruitment is the only specialist PR and Marketing recruitment agency in the Eastern Region. With the widest variety of marketing jobs in the area, we work with clients ranging from boutique marketing agencies to global FMCG giants.