Will roses get harvested in Bulgaria this summer? What about mint, lavender, vetiver and orange flower growing in other parts of the world?
Such are questions being pondered by fragrance suppliers today as the coronavirus pandemic threatens to impact the culling and transport of key perfume ingredients in the months to come.
But the overriding question is when demand for prestige perfume, highly dependent on travel retail, might rebound.
— Read more at Fragrance Suppliers Look to the Future at Women's Wear Daily.
I wouldn’t have guessed that travel retail was so key to profitability for fragrances. The article doesn’t go into any detail, unfortunately.
I do not know the percentage of overall sales that are from travel retail — you would think that would be easy to find out, but I can’t find it — but I do know there is more growth in travel retail.
Plus brands have found it a good way to reach Asian luxury consumers.
This snippet is just about Guerlain, and will include the article link at the bottom:
” The brand saw a 34% growth in the category in 2018, more than double the brand’s overall growth, and she expects the sector to grow by 32% in 2019.
As a result, Guerlain has evolved its strategy to make travel retail a “spokesmarket” for the brand, wherein it launches retail concepts first in travel before doing so in local markets. Part of the reason is that the market is very “dynamic,” meaning that the brand can launch an idea, such as a perfume-only shop, and determine within one or two days whether it is a success.
“You try to catch passengers and to test things and propose products and innovations, and you can tell immediately if it’s working or not,” she said.”
https://www.glossy.co/beauty/how-beauty-brands-are-tapping-into-the-booming-travel-retail-market
The UK government were today telling people to forget about taking any foreign Summer holidays this year – I think travel retail is going to continue to have It rough for the rest of the year
I would think so. And would guess fragrance in general, plus some makeup categories, are going to have a hard year too.
Even if stores re-open, the removal of testers etc will hit hard – unless you’re re-buying a fragrance you know who would spend $$$ on blind buys