Fragrance market evolution 2024

Although the selective fragrances category is enjoying a good momentum, beauty consultants point out that consumers are also interested in affordable offerings. This is similar to fashion shopping, where consumers are looking to set their style by combining high-end and more affordable items.

The strong consumer interest in perfume has boosted its sale both in the higher-end positioning, selective and signature fragrances offering differentiated products and even artisanal work, and in the lower-priced segment, which also includes equivalence fragrances and body sprays. According to data from Circana Spain, the Body Spray category will grow 133% in volume and 62% in value by 2023, accounting for almost 45% of total turnover in the women's Body category.

On the other hand, there are consumers who, even when buying luxury brands, choose the smaller format as a cost-saving measure. According to Circana USA, within the women's fragrance category in the North American market, sales of perfumes under 29 ml grew five times more than other sizes in 2023. The consultancy points out that, while the high-end segment is evolving positively, body sprays, copies of successful fragrances and mini sizes have become interesting economic alternatives for consumers.
How are the major groups reacting to these consumer movements? The big beauty companies are responding to consumer interest in selective fragrances either with more carefully crafted, higher positioning propositions, as is the case with Coty's Infiniment, or by launching more concentrated juices with more exclusive ingredients that connect with true perfume lovers. But there have also been interesting moves in the mass market segment, with more qualitative launches and a focus on the body spray category aimed at young audiences.
Jean Holtzmann, Chieff Brands Officer at Coty, refers to the "fragrance effect" to explain the golden moment in perfumery, even in China, a country where the perfume category did not have a high penetration until before the coronavirus confinement, and which is now becoming a growth engine.

The sense of smell is predictive

A study published by Stockholm University reveals that the sense of smell is predictive and is strongly influenced by signals from other senses. This happens because of a brain strategy to process unexpected smells and understand what they are like.
According to the research, unexpected smells activate olfactory and visual brain regions, suggesting a unique multi-sensory processing reaction. When the brain tries to identify odours it did not expect, both the olfactory and visual brains are activated even though there are no visual cues.
"We have all experienced how we react when an unexpected odour appears; for example, when we walk into someone's house and find a new smell. Our research shows that the sense of smell is strongly influenced by signals from other senses, while sight and hearing are affected to a much lesser extent," says Jonas Olofsson, professor at the Department of Psychology and co-author of the study.

According to research from Stockholm University, there is a unique multisensory processing reaction for understanding unexpected smells that activates olfactory and visual brain regions.

Space Roses

Creativity in the fragrance industry knows no bounds. That's what the company IFF (International Flavors and Fragrances) must have thought when it took on the challenge of putting a rose bush on a space shuttle to test how this experience could modify its scent.
That's how the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WCSAR), NASA's Commercial Space Center (CSC) and IFF teamed up to fly the Overnight Scentsation rose in a reduced-gravity environment research facility known as AstrocultureTM.
The results were surprising. Although scientists expected the microgravity to alter the plant's essential oils, the tests resulted in a completely new fragrance that IFF has marketed as an unprecedented Space Rose note.
The first perfume to use the Space Rose note was Zen by Shiseido (2007). In 2024, this special accord can be found again in the new La Vie est Belle Extraordinaire by Lancôme, which intensifies its floral character through the synergy of three roses: a fresh and vegetal eau de rose, a sensual Damascena rose absolute and a Space Rose accord.

American Legends

Michael Edwards presents a new book, a compendium of the history of perfumery in America that documents the evolution and creativity of American fragrances, from Elizabeth Arden's Blue Grass to Le Labo's Santal 33.
A historian and fragrance expert, Edwards began working for perfume companies in 1975 and has experienced first-hand the transformation of perfumery over the past 50 years. In American Legends: The Evolution of American Fragrances, he reviews the milestones of the industry in the United States, as well as the launch of important fragrances, while unearthing curious stories about perfumers and their creations.

The book features 40 fragrances that have been milestones in the history of perfumes. "First, I selected fragrances that introduced a new note or chord so innovative that their competitors copied it en masse," explains Edwards, who points to Halston 1975's Iso E Super and Jovan Musk's musk. Also present are trend-setting perfumes such as Revlon's Charlie and Calvin Klein's CK One.
"My purpose was to create an MBA in perfumery because there is no other source where you can read the real words of the creators and visionaries," reveals the expert, who has conducted interviews with the main players in the sector over the past 27 years, which has given him a broad and varied approach to the perfume universe.

News

May 2024 highlights

Although the selective fragrances category is enjoying a good momentum, beauty consultants point out that consumers are also interested in affordable offerings. This is similar to fashion shopping, where consumers are looking to set their style by combining high-end and more affordable items.

The sense of smell is predictive

Space Roses

American Legends

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