“You put all that together,and it’s extremely difficult for any business to be able to provide any guidance in the current environment,” Chief Executive Alastair Symington explained.
In a pivot away from China,the vitamin maker said it reached its highest growth rates over the past year in markets such as Indonesia and Thailand,which each saw revenues increase by more than 30 per cent.
Symington said those markets were star performers for the company as it looks to reduce its reliance on China and thedaigouchannel - professional shoppers buying luxury goods in countries like Australia to resell to Chinese buyers.
“Just five years ago,China and Australia were really disproportionately contributing to overall revenue for the company,” Symington said “There was a period of time there when the whole vitamin category was reliant on the daigou[market] ... part of[our] diversification strategies is to ensure that we’re not overly reliant on one channel or one market,that we can actually spread the options that we have for growth and margin expansion.”
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In 2018,the daigou channel accounted for more than a third of Blackmores’ sales,but travel restrictions and a Chinese government crackdown have stymied the purchasing power of the grey-market network,taking that figure down to 10 per cent.