Priceline is an Australian health and beauty

retailer Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

. The Priceline brand has two store types; a traditional Priceline and Priceline Pharmacy."About Priceline"
. ''priceline.com.au''. Priceline. 2009. It is owned by Australian Pharmaceutical Industries, which was acquired by

Wesfarmers Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate, headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. It has interests predominantly in Australia and New Zealand, operating in retail, chemical, fertiliser, industrial and safety products. With revenue o ...

in 2022.

History

Priceline was established in 1982; the first store opened at

Highpoint Shopping Centre Highpoint Shopping Centre is a super regional shopping centre located in Maribyrnong, Victoria, in the western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. Highpoint is Victoria's third largest shopping centre and the fifth largest in Australia, with an an ...

, and started as a beauty retailer. In 2004 Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API) acquired the New Price Retail business which operated the retail brands of Priceline, Priceline Pharmacy, House, and Price Attack. API divested its House and Price Attack chains in 2007 to focus its retailing strategy on the Priceline brand. In 2008 Priceline launched a brand re-positioning with a new visual identity, store format and merchandise. This is when the livery changed to the recognisable magenta pink shade synonymous with the Priceline brand. In November 2021, Priceline was included in the sale of Australian Pharmaceutical Industries to

Priceline Brand

Priceline is a health and beauty retailer of cosmetics, skin care, hair care and health care products."Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Limited 2009 Annual Report"
. Australian Pharmaceutical Industries. Priceline is involved in pharmaceutical retailing through the Priceline Pharmacy brand.Fisher, Leo D'Angelo. "A new script", '' BRW'', 25 February-31 March 2010, p. 33. There are currently over 470 Priceline stores throughout Australia. Australian business publication '' BRW'' ranked Priceline as Australia's 16th fastest growing franchise by revenue in 2010.Fisher, Leo D'Angelo. "A new script", ''BRW'', 25 February-31 March 2010, p. 28. Total network sales for the financial year 2019 were up 2.4 per cent to $2.2 billion. Priceline sponsors the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football league for female players. The first season of the league in February and March 2017 had eight teams; the league expanded to 10 teams in the 2019 season, 1 ...

team. Current brand ambassadors include

Ita Buttrose Ita Clare Buttrose (born 17 January 1942) is an Australian TV network chairperson, television and radio personality, author and former magazine editor, publishing executive and newspaper journalist. She was the founding editor of ''Cleo'', a ...

Chrissie Swan Christina Swan (born 3 November 1973) is an Australian television and radio presenter and media personality. Swan co-hosts '' Chrissie, Sam & Browny'' on Nova 100 with Sam Pang and Jonathan Brown. In 2022, she served as a judge on ''The Masked ...

Tanya Hennessy Tanya Hennessy (born 1985) is an Australian digital content creator, comedian, writer and television presenter who works in Australia. Hennessy taught drama and worked in theatre as a stage manager at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe before switchi ...

and

Lindy Rama-Ellis Lindy Rama-Ellis (née Rama, previously Klim) is an Australian-Indonesian model, entrepreneur and Indonesian Princess. Early life Rama-Ellis' mother, Frances Parker, was a school teacher in Arnhem Land when she took a cheap holiday to Bali ...

Ada Nicodemou Ada Nicodemou (Greek: Άντα Νικοδήμου) (born 14 May 1977) is an Australian actress of Greek Cypriot descent . She began her acting career in 1994 in TV serial ''Heartbreak High'' as Katerina Ioannou. She also starred in ''Police Res ...

Loyalty scheme

Priceline's

loyalty program A loyalty program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of a business associated with the program. Today, such programs cover most types of commerce, each having varying features and ...

, Sister Club, has over 7 million members, making it one of the largest health and beauty retail loyalty programs in Australia. Members earn points when making purchases and are rewarded with discount vouchers and prizes. Sister Club members accounted for more than 40% of retail sales in 2009, with the average Club member sale more than 30% higher than for a non-Club customer.

Industrial relations case

In 2007, Andrew Cruickshank, a store layout planner, was dismissed from his job from Priceline for 'operational reasons' under the WorkChoices Legislation. He alleged Priceline fired him on his $101 000 a year contract, replacing him with someone on a $75 000 contract. Priceline claimed otherwise, saying "It was not the same role...the person wouldn't have been capable of doing the same things".Schubert, Misha
"Priceline case puts focus on IR laws"
''The Age'', 25 April 2007. The

Australian Industrial Relations Commission The Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC), known from 1956 to 1973 as the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission and from 1973 to 1988 as the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, was a tribunal with powers ...

ruled in favour of Priceline and found that Cruickshank's termination resulted from Priceline's financial difficulties and the subsequent decision to reorganise its structure.Godfrey, Kelly & Moulton, Adam
"Employees fail in operational reasons termination claims"
, ''Human Resources Leader'', 15 May 2007.

Class Action Lawsuit

A potential class action lawsuit in 2021 was being planned by law firm Levitt Robinson on behalf of Priceline franchisees. The class action centered around control of the pharmacies faced trouble initially when the litigation funder withdrew. Then in 2022, the class action was discontinued after too few franchisees joined the class action.

References

External links

Priceline Website
{{Wesfarmers, state=collapsed Pharmacies of Australia Retail companies established in 1982 Wesfarmers 1982 establishments in Australia