FRAGRANCE SALES SURPRISINGLY SEE AN UPLIFT ONLINE!
Either people are buying online to restock their favourite fragrance, or they’ve found a way around the Russian roulette-like game of buying a perfume without testing it out. Selling fragrance online is not easy. Yes indeed, an e-commerce site could be useful to someone looking to quickly restock a favourite perfume, but encouraging a shopper to invest in a scent she hasn’t even smelled? That seems like an impossible task, doesn’t it?
Right now, the beauty sector, as a whole, is not in good shape and has been significantly impacted by the global lockdown. The NPD Group’s latest report on the Prestige Beauty sector shows that in the second quarter (April-June) of 2020, sales of U.S. prestige beauty products totalled $2.8 billion, a -36% decline in sales over Q2 2019. The industry was forced to pivot with brands switching their manufacturing to produce hand sanitizers and cleaning agents and offering free beauty services for frontline response workers, as a focus on driving sales became a third or fourth priority behind health, safety and corporate responsibility .
LVMH’s cosmetics and perfume revenue took an 18 per cent hit in the first quarter, compared with the same period in 2019. Supply chains went haywire, duty-free beauty halls sat silent, and the closure of bricks-and-mortar retail spaces across the world shifted everything online.
Even though the economic magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic on brands and retailers has been far greater than any recession, there are signs that the beauty industry may once again prove relatively resilient. In comparison to the same period in 2019, Fragrance sales totalled $586.2 million (falling -37%, but growing online at +104%).
Sales were also influenced by key holidays, with fragrance rising in May and June; driven by Mother’s Day, women’s fragrances grew by 96% in the US over the prior week. During the week of Father’s Day, men’s fragrance sales increased 117%, and the increasing popularity of higher concentration formats, such as parfums and eau de parfums, continued.
London department store Liberty noted that searches for Diptyque candles increased 536 per cent in the weeks after lockdown was announced, while plant-based Austrian brand Susanne Kaufmann was surprised to find that its incense lotion, which works against muscle tension, for the first time became highly in demand. “Self‑care has become a lot less selfish.”
“Already, fragrance brands are experimenting with scents for skin and home textiles that have biocide benefits,” says The Future Laboratory’s Bishop. “So not only will they smell good, they’ll also ward off unwanted germs.” She cites iodine, which has antiseptic properties, and gluconate, which is used for sterilising and healing, as ingredients we’ll be seeing a lot more of.
“Clean beauty will evolve to mean ‘safe beauty’,” says predicts Clare Varga, head of beauty at trend-forecasting agency WGSN.. “As a result, science-led beauty brands and products will see increased demand. It doesn’t matter if the ingredients are natural and tried and tested or bio-synthesised in a lab, the consumer will trust the science.”
Hygiene anxiety is likely to infiltrate our shopping habits too. Testers and samples will remain off-limits to many. So the implementation of digital technologies will continue to rise. Pre-COVID-19 trends will likely accelerate, with direct-to-consumer e-commerce, such as brands’ websites, shoppable social-media platforms, and marketplaces becoming more important. Ways of cleverly communicating fragrance notes, maximising influencer recommendation and ‘word of mouth’ to overcome the lack of ability to sample in-store must be considered to drive sales of new fragrances and variants. Social sampling is another channel to explore and test as well as beauty sampling boxes such as Birchbox which will give customers the confidence to invest in the full size option. Across the globe, consumers indicate they are likely to increase their online engagement and spending. Beauty-industry players will need to prioritize digital channels to capture and convert the attention of existing and new customers.
“Many bright spots remain despite the continued struggle in prestige beauty, which has been one of the hardest hit industries in 2020. While online sales have been strong, the success of brick and mortar remains a key factor in the industry’s recovery. As we enter the second half of the year, this channel dynamic is one to watch closely. Agility will be important in developing a winning strategy for holiday, which may look very different this year,” said Larissa Jensen, beauty industry advisor, The NPD Group
Susan Hewlett 