Black Friday numbers indicate fragrance is off to a strong start this holiday season, with Circana reporting fragrance unit sales grew 11 percent during the week of Black Friday, outpacing the total beauty industry’s unit sales growth of 6 percent.

According to Adobe Digital Insights, sample and discovery sets comprised roughly 27 percent of fragrance sales during the five-day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday this year. Steep discounts, meanwhile, drove consumers to purchase fragrance offerings that were “about 26 percent more expensive, on average, than those they were buying in October,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst, Adobe Digital Insights.

— Read more in Fragrance Is Beauty’s Bright Spot. How Will the Category Perform This Holiday Season? at Women's Wear Daily via Yahoo! Life.

Despite China’s economic slowdown and softening luxury demand, the country’s niche fragrance market is showing remarkable resilience. International brands are flocking to secure a foothold in the mainland.

On the heels of Frédéric Malle’s recent Shanghai flagship store renovation, Swiss fragrance giant Givaudan opened its Fine Fragrance Creative Centre, “L'Appartement 125,” in downtown Shanghai on October 28.

— Read more in Global niche fragrance brands expand in China at Jing Daily.