The perfume business is going from strength to strength. Worldwide demand is expected to grow annually by at least 5% per year over the next decade as the booming economies of China and India create a higher number of affluent people worldwide.
Euromonitor research says that overall the fragrance market grew by a strong 4.95%. The best performing segment was women’s premium fragrances. According to their research there is plenty of room for growth in Europe as currently only about 50% of the adult population buy or use fragrances.
Less then 20% of all men use a fragrance daily. They tend to stick to well known and advertised brands and are much less likely to experiment with new fragrances then women.
Profit margins are huge in the fragrance business as the cost of producing your average bottle of perfume is under one dollar with the finer fragrances costing five dollar. The retail price varies widely from cheap fragrances retailing at around $20 to over $150 for the some of the dearest.
Because costs of production are low, the retail price does not necessarily signify better smells. In fact it is better to buy a fragrance without knowing the price and base your judgement purely on the smell and longevity (how long the smell lasts). You will often be surprised to find that some of the cheaper perfumes perform better using smell alone!
Recently there has been a boom in the number of celebrities introducing new fragrances. People like Sarah Jessica Parker (famous for her role in Sex in the City) & Jennifer Lopez.
Creating lovely fragrances is very easy. You do not need to be a chemist or have a degree in physics either. Just buy some essential oils and mix with alcohol… you can add anything that smells nice. There is no correct way to make a perfume.
There are even specialist perfume labs that will create a fragrance for you. The tricky part is the marketing. How do you get people to buy your perfume? People tend to buy perfume using criteria like brand name, type of bottle and status value rather than just the smell.
Did you know that an expert on smells – a perfumer is widely known in the industry as “The Nose?” They can distinguish between thousands of different smells. I would not like to be around “The Nose” after a night out followed by a meal of baked beans on toast!
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