Strictly for display purposes

Posted by Robin on 5 May 2020 9 Comments

The directive requires sales associates to sanitize hands in front of the customer, sanitize the bottle with alcohol spray and a tissue and spritz the sample on a blotting card to hand to the customer to smell the scent. Testers on counters will be strictly for display purposes.

— From the new 'tester practices' protocol Saks Fifth Avenue will reportedly use at the perfume counter when stores reopen. (Not surprisingly, fragrance is doing much worse than other beauty categories during the lock down.) Read more in How Will We Buy Our Perfume Now? at The New York Times. Hat tip to Kevin!

Only one reason

Posted by Robin on 14 January 2020 Leave a Comment

There is only one reason Abigail Burt goes to the mall anymore: to smell the candles at Bath & Body Works.

The 21-year-old college student stops in each month, whether she has spending money or not, then makes a beeline for the exit, bypassing every other store.

— Read more at Just about every store at the mall is struggling. Then there’s Bath & Body Works. at The Washington Post.

Wise strategic moves

Posted by Robin on 21 June 2019 Leave a Comment

Estée Lauder snapped up Le Labo and Frédéric Malle in 2014, and Puig acquired Penhaligon’s and L’Artisan Parfumeur in 2015. In 2016, Estée Lauder was back with the further acquisition of By Kilian, then L’Oréal stepped in with the purchase of Atelier Cologne. The following year LVMH took the plunge, with the acquisition of Maison Francis Kurkdjian.

They were wise strategic moves. The latest 2019 financial results from these companies reveal that not only are luxury artisanal brands experiencing some of the strongest growth in their portfolios, they are, in some cases, offsetting weaker performances in designer fragrances.

Bad news

Posted by Robin on 18 December 2018 7 Comments

Shoppers 35 and under want to smell like themselves, not everyone else, and that’s bad news for the many celebrity products that occupy the midrange. At the luxe end of the spectrum, consumers in the U.S., Europe and Asia — including young Chinese shoppers — want aspirational and unusual options.

— An explanation that fails to explain Le Labo Santal 33 (among others). Read more at Millennials Don't Want to Smell Like Celebs Anymore at Bloomberg.

No secret

Posted by Robin on 24 August 2018 19 Comments

Louis Vuitton has made no secret of its desire to build a beauty empire. The $465bn beauty market is set to increase to $750bn by 2024, according to Inkwood Research, and although last year Mintel reported that the fragrance category is only set to increase by about 1.4 per cent to £1.5bn by 2022, the blockbuster perfume remains a luxury lodestar. Chanel has built a $10bn-a-year business around a few key signature scents.

— Read more at On the scent: why Louis Vuitton is putting its faith in fragrance at Financial Times.

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Now Smell This

a blog about perfume

Strictly for display purposes

Only one reason

Wise strategic moves

Bad news

No secret