Ladies, how long did you spend in front of the mirror today? And the last time you decided to ‘stock up’ on your cosmetics and beauty collection, how much did you spend?

In our land of sun-soaked bikini babes and sexy sheilas, Australian women clock up the most time spent in front of the mirror globally! In The Woman in the Mirror research report by SheSpot, a division of Kidspot, which is a popular parenting website in Australia, it was found that 47% of Australian women spend more than 10 minutes checking her reflection in the mirror every day.

To further prove Australian women’s commitment to beauty, it was also found that they spend an average of $839 each year on beauty, which amounts to the average weekly national wage of a full time employee.

While magazines, television, beauticians and general practitioners were traditionally the first point of call for all information on beauty and health, Australian women are now turning to the Internet for advice. In fact, the study found that visiting the Internet surpassed going to a GP for the initial stage of seeking health and wellness related information.

With Australia women having the world’s third longest life expectancy, just behind Japan and Switzerland, this importance that local females place on living healthy is a strong opportunity for beauty and health brands to harness, according to Katie May, CEO of Kidspot.

May also pointed out that Australian women are not loyal to any particular destination health site and “this offers brands with strong health related content or offerings an opportunity to secure an important position in one of her key interests and priorities – especially if they partner with a website that she already visits frequently and places trust in”.

With 29% of Australian women wanting to invest in plastic surgery if they could afford to, and the majority satisfied with their looks, shape, weight or physical attractiveness, May believes that this dissatisfaction will fuel her desire for more beauty products and services.

In terms of strategies in marketing these products and services, May tells Marketing: “I think the use of models who fit society’s narrow definition of beauty isn’t resonating with Australian women, not just because [models’] sizes doesn’t reflect the average dress size of today’s woman [which is a size 12], but also because that image doesn’t align with her definition of beauty”,

“Australian women told us that they define beauty more broadly than society at large does. To them, women can be beautiful at any age through their outlook, attitude and other attributes that have nothing to do with physical appearance.”

With forums and websites being her first contact in all things beauty related, May believes that it is important for brands to be present “during the active evaluation phase where they seek out information, reviews and recommendations prior to purchase.”

“While traditional advertising remains important…businesses need to move beyond purely push-style communication and learn to influence consumer driven touch points. Leverage the right touch points online is crucial for moving her to action and sales success”.

“With the right positioning and execution an online campaign can illustrate a clear association that is easy to recall later and elicit proper audience responses that covert to an intense active loyalty between an audience and a brand” says May.