In 2009, the industry launched fewer scents than it did in 2008, breaking a long streak of exponential growth. To Khoury’s thinking, this is a positive result of the financial crisis of the last 18 months. “The consumer has been overwhelmed with the number of launches, the amount of choice, and in some cases the lack of differentiation,” she says. This excess of new scents has coincided with a decline in the number of consumers buying fragrance. Khoury hopes a smaller pool of launches will feature more discerning character and “help us reconnect with the consumer.”
— That's Karen Khoury, a senior Vice President at Estee Lauder. And I hope so too. Read the rest at Fine Fragrance’s New Reality at GCI.
This is promising!
Sort of, but I’ve heard it before. Color me jaded 😉
Just what we’ve all been saying, isn’t it?
Yep.
Amen! But I couldn’t tell there were fewer releases in 2009. My mind is still reeling from the onslaught that was released!
I think there were marginally fewer mainstream “fine fragrance” releases. That does not mean there were fewer releases overall!
There are some interesting points in this article, but I contend that the problem of falling sales can never really be fixed and rather is part of a product category’s life cycle. We forget often that the fragrance industry as we know it is about 135 years old and we have doubtless peaked already and are in decline. Indeed there is evidence to show this. The fragrance industry will continue to decline until there is real innovation and revolution in how fragrance is made. This is the only way to ever see more than marginal growth in any industry.
I am not at all sure, personally, that fragrance sales really are in decline (in the US — there are still many countries where sales are going up), although it is certain that mainstream sales are in decline. It is perfectly possible that many consumers have switched to indie and niche brands that are not “counted” by the greater fragrance industry.
There is truth to what you say. I am quite certain however that in the United States there is a definite decline in sales since the nineties that cannot be attributed to the recession. The question of niche brands is really not applicable here since the article discusses mass distributed fragrances. Niche, are by nature small players and have marginal sales at best.
I believe that innovation in formulas in terms of lasting power, application and of course better more complex compositions would be ways to innovate.
Fragrance has always been with us, but the different modes of delivery, formula and marketing are dramatically different at different stages in history. Therefore, I think a revolution of the industry is needed to move forward as we are most definitely in stagnation.
“Khoury hopes a smaller pool of launches will feature more discerning character and ‘help us reconnect with the consumer.'”
Who you kiddin’, sister?
If they made it a *seriously* smaller pool of launches (like going back to less than 400 new fragrances a year), I think it would be step 1, but let’s face it, it’s not going to happen. Step 2, making the perfume shopping experience pleasant for the average customer, many of whom have made serious changes in their shopping habits because of the internet & other factors, is also not going to happen any time soon.
You can’t reconnect with the consumer if they’re a) confused by the bewildering array of products and b) don’t find perfume shopping fun.
What would help (for me at least) is to have SAs who actually know something about the product they are selling. Alas, I have never shopped at an actual boutique, but I can say that many of the salespeople in the department stores, where most consumers buy their fragrance, really don’t seem to know anything and are just reciting from a script. Knowledgeable staff would be a real asset to a customer who is contemplating a purchase that can easily run into the hundreds of dollars. I can find helpful and knowledgeable staff in the stores where I buy electronics and appliances–why not perfume?
very true!
NPR just did a piece on how customers buy more when they’re not overwhelmed with choices. Apparently stores like Jo-Ann’s Fabrics, Target and Walmart are putting oodles of money into re-fitting their stores accordingly. As the sort of person who will buy a pint of milk for $2 more because some days I can’t face anything larger than the local deli I’m crossing my fingers…
I am not overly optimistic either, but fewer and better options would be an improvement for the consumer and for the industry as well. With around a thousand (!) new launches a year, surely most of those must be flops, and each flop costs the manufacturer scads of money for product development, advertising, manufacture, distribution, etc.
On thing–do the statistics on declining sales actually tally the number of bottles sold or are they going by dollar value of sales? The sales of fragrance through the multitude of online discount outlets would tend to reduce the total revenue even if the volume of product remained the same.