Case Studies

Chemist Warehouse, L’Oréal & ShopBack Australia

L’Oréal increased sales by 40 times through Chemist Warehouse & ShopBack partnership

40x

Sales Growth Pre-campaign vs During Campaign

Sales Growth From New Customers

$4.68

ROI During Campaign

117x

Above Goal

About Chemist Warehouse

Chemist Warehouse is Australia’s largest pharmacy retailer with over 365 stores across the country. Many well-known brands, including L’Oréal, are stocked at Chemist Warehouse. The pharmacy prides itself in enhancing each customers’ beauty and healthcare outcome while also offering great savings to the end user.

Rakuten Advertising partnered Chemist Warehouse with ShopBack Australia to increase sales of L’Oréal skincare products. ShopBack is a leading cashback site in Asia-Pacific with over 37 million users across 10 markets, enabling shoppers to discover the best product prices and offers while also getting rewarded for shopping. They work with over 10,000 brands across fashion, beauty, travel, food delivery tech and much more.

The Challenge

Chemist Warehouse’s strong offline presence and regular in-store promotions create challenges for their online affiliate program. Blackout periods that restrict online offers and budget constraints make funding long-term campaigns nearly impossible.

To overcome this barrier, experts at Rakuten Advertising proposed a new partnership model: a brand-boosted campaign. This is a short-term campaign funded by the beauty brand, L’Oréal, to deliver swift results through a discount plus cashback strategy. ShopBack was chosen as the preferred partner for its ability to execute this strategy at scale.

Chemist Warehouse’s objective for this campaign was to increase sales of L’Oréal skincare products by 25% during a four-day period. As one of the first retailers to launch this strategy in-market, this campaign will also act as a test to prove the effectiveness of brand-boosted partnerships.

The Solution & Results

Rakuten Advertising used affiliate marketing to exponentially increase sales and ultimately outperformed Chemist Warehouse’s objectives. The campaign succeeded through the following strategies:

Brand-boosted Partnership

Chemist Warehouse funded this low-risk, short-term campaign through L’Oréal, creating a win-win situation for both the pharmacy and the brand through a performance-based strategy.

Discount Plus Cashback

Chemist Warehouse offered ShopBack customers a boosted 50% off all L’Oréal skincare products plus 20% cashback.

Limited Time Offer

The campaign was carefully timed only go live for four days in mid-June to create a sense of urgency during a non-promotional month.

Rakuten Advertising outperformed the goal set by Chemist Warehouse and L’Oréal by 117-fold. The campaign generated 4,438% uplift in sales compared to the four days prior to launch and averaged $4.68 ROI.

In addition, the campaign also achieved:

+1,179% Sales Post-campaign vs During Campaign Not only did the campaign boost short-term sales during the promotional period, it also helped retain L’Oréal’s sales growth even after the campaign has ended.
+4,720% Sales From Existing L’Oréal Customers As a result of a highly successful campaign, Chemist Warehouse has committed to run two brand-boosted campaigns per quarter featuring more top-performing brands moving forward.

Partnering with Rakuten Advertising has been a pleasure. Affiliate marketing is an emerging channel for us at Chemist Warehouse, and Rakuten’s support and expertise has been indispensable in developing our affiliate strategy. Our e-commerce sales and customer acquisition have improved exponentially as a direct result of Rakuten’s expertise, technology and commitment to client service.

Grace Reed
Digital Marketing Manager, Chemist Warehouse

Why Rakuten Advertising?

Innovative partnerships

Rakuten Advertising’s team of experts are dedicated to creating and nurturing partnerships to build a strong foundation for success for Chemist Warehouse. Drawing on years of experience in affiliate marketing and an in-depth knowledge of our clients’ business, together we outthink strategies to outperform expectations.

Revolutionary solutions

Our team is always seeking revolutionary solutions for our clients to help them achieve their business goals, no matter the challenge. Our campaign with Chemist Warehouse and L’Oréal is an example of innovative strategies combined with advanced technology to deliver outstanding and long-lasting results.