During the most severe days of the pandemic, everyone confined and without a social life, observers predicted a catastrophic year for the fragrance market. "People perfume themselves for others," they said. However, at the turn of the summer at the Shiseido headquarters in Madrid they were surprised by the unusual rise of a great classic: Light Blue, by Dolce
Byredo, in the same March 2020, launched Open Sky, an aroma with notes of Palo Santo, which made one dream of long and exotic destinations. Soon after, the brand surprised with another difficult aroma, Mumbai Noise, an olfactory walk through the tumultuous streets of the Indian city. If Light Blue took you sunbathing in Sicily, Mumbai Noise pushed you into a street crowded with strangers, and Open Sky challenged you to run free in the open.
Any fragrance that took staff out of the house through smell, one of the senses most linked to memory, was applauded by a captive market and confined by a pandemic. For this reason, in 2023, with a little more perspective and calm, analysts point to escapism as the first factor that underpinned the boom that the fragrance market is experiencing today.
More perfumes are being sold than ever before, and opulent scents triumph in their most expensive formulations. Data from the NDP Group consultancy indicate that in the first half of 2022 sales of women's perfumes touched 137% compared to the same period in 2021, while men's fragrances reached 100%. In addition, more expensive fragrances are sold. According to the same consultant, perfumes of 125 euros or more accounted for 11% of all sales in the first half of 2022. In 2021, these premium fragrances only accounted for 7% of sales.
On TikTok, generation Z has encouraged the conversation about perfumes. The hashtag
The arrival of a new generation of buyers very interested in marking their individuality and their ways of expression has been a shock to the industry. Generation Z does not wear a single perfume like their parents. Moreover, it does not invest in clean, fresh and easy-to-defend perfumes. No. The youngest prefer sophisticated, spicy, well amber and wood fragrances. And, if they can afford it, they choose the more opulent version, with a rich oil texture. Perfumes that have a higher oil content last longer on the skin.
Neuroscientists try to explain the preference of the youngest for forceful aromas. The version of Dr. Rachel Herz, an expert in the psychological science of smell, points to two factors. On the one hand, greater exposure to odors in the home during the pandemic years, when sales of scented scented candles and air fresheners skyrocketed. On the other, the desire to find a marker that initiates the transition to a different phase of life. And that indicator has to be different, it cannot be minimal, discrete or “wearable”. "They are looking for fragrances that create a sensory and emotional change," the researcher told the specialized publication Business of Fashion. This relevance given to scents explains why in 2022 zeta consumers responded in a survey that they would be willing to spend more than 150 euros on a single fragrance.
Is China entering the age of perfume? That possibility would be another of the bastions of the fragrance boom. It is estimated that only 5% of the Chinese market consumes perfumes, a smaller amount than in Europe, Russia or the United States. But the latest reports show that the Chinese market is waking up. Between 2015 and 2020 it grew by 14.9%. Observers say that the Chinese consumer perfumes less, but perfumes more expensive. Its average ticket is one of the highest in the world.
Generation Z, one of the trendiest and most energetic in the Asian country, could accelerate this trend. Chinese youth have become obsessed with scents that serve to express themselves. The website fashionchinaagency.com assures that for a young Chinese “the main criterion for choosing a perfume is not notoriety but personality”. The more unknown and niche a fragrance is, the more people will want to buy it. In contrast to the uniformity of other markets, in China they are more interested in niche perfumes, with woody, saline and herbal notes, reports the website specialized in the Asian market.
In Spain, nine out of ten people perfume themselves, and 63% do so daily, according to a joint study by Stanpa and Kantar in 2022. For the first time, Spain has entered the Top 5 European countries (together with France, the United United Kingdom, Italy and Germany) where the fragrance category has more weight in the business. In addition, it is the second global exporter of perfumes, only surpassed by France, according to the report Results of the consumption of perfumes and cosmetics in Spain and exports prepared by Stanpa.
In addition, our country is positioned as a powerful exporter of essences and aromas, especially citrus fruits such as grapefruit, lemon and orange. "The sale of fragrances is in excellent health, in 2022 the pre-pandemic figures were far exceeded, and the trend continues in 2023, where only in the week of Three Kings, more was billed than in the entire month of January 2019", explains Sónsoles Blanco Ortigueira, director of the fragrance division of the Shiseido Group.
In 2022, the Puig group acquired a majority stake in Byredo, the Swedish luxury company that already had a well-earned place in the niche perfume market. A few years earlier, he had acquired an important part of Dries Van Noten, the Belgian designer's brand founded in 1986 that today has a portfolio of high-end fragrances with one of the most sumptuous packaging on the market. The Spanish company was made in 2022 with 10% of the world share of the selective fragrance market, thanks to its own brands. For its part, the L'oreal fragrances group has led the post-pandemic recovery in Spain, with a growth of 20.5%, and it is the category that manages to attract buyers the most, according to sources from the cosmetic group.
Speculating why the consumer has decided to take more seriously the aromatic trail that they leave in their wake would deserve an almost philosophical debate. Some observers of the phenomenon believe that buying a fragrance has gone up a notch and is no longer frivolous and almost impulsive. The proof is that the buyer sets objectives when choosing a perfume that go far beyond wanting to mark status or show a lifestyle, the motivations now have more to do with their inner world, how they feel and how they would like to feel , and the role that a fragrance can determine in that aspiration.
This circumstance indicates the increasingly confusing line that separates beauty from well-being. Mia Collins, head of the Harrods department store in London, explained in an interview for the British edition of Vogue that in 2023 the decision to purchase a fragrance was increasingly similar to that of a luxury accessory, such as a bag or shoes, You acquire a tool to present yourself to the world, therefore, you have to dedicate time and a larger budget.
If perfume is part of the small daily routines that can make you happier, choosing it becomes a more thoughtful act, which requires checking information, a little time and even the help of a counselor, as happens with luxury lingerie. In short, the perfume is much closer to the skin.
