2021 was a good year for premium fragrances, as consumers indulged once again after a difficult year in 2020. The 2021 shopping spree was also facilitated by the reopening of shops classified as non-essential, such as perfumeries and department stores.
Mass fragrances particularly appeal to price-sensitive consumers, especially in times of economic crisis. However, what had allowed the category to slightly outperform premium fragrances in 2020, namely distribution through channels such as supermarkets and hypermarkets, came to an end in 2021, when non-essential retail stores reopened.
2020 accelerated e-commerce and digital innovations. First, while e-commerce naturally saw a decline in 2021 compared with 2020 as a result of the reopening of non-essential retailers, in 2021 e-commerce still outperformed 2019 both in terms of actual sales and percentage share.
All categories within premium fragrances are expected to see growth in the forecast period, especially as the last remaining COVID-19 restrictions come to an end for the whole of the UK and tourism recovers following the removal of travel restrictions. Despite performing well, the rate of growth for premium women’s fragrances will slow down, with the growth of premium unisex fragrances remaining higher.
Mass fragrances is likely to see declining sales in the forecast period, for three main reasons. First, with consumers becoming savvier with regard to the beauty industry, mass fragrances increasingly suffer from the perception they are poor quality, artificial and harmful to the skin.
Transparency and sustainability are likely to be key themes across fragrances, with consumers being increasingly aware of greenwashing and keen to have truly responsibly sourced, upcycled, biodegradable and renewable products. Many players in fragrances have already been working to shift their positioning to better resonate with consumers’ expectations.
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Fragrances
This is the aggregation of men's, women's and unisex mass and premium fragrances as well as fragrances sets/kits. The distinction between mass market and premium is normally price and label/positioning (mass fragrances rarely carry a designer label) and distribution. Also includes hair fragrances with a primary function of making hair smell good and not to be confused with hair oil and other styling/conditioning products with hair fragrances, whose primary function is to either condition or style over fragrance.
See All of Our DefinitionsThis report originates from Passport, our Fragrances research and analysis database.
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