vendredi 14 juin 2024

[LUXE Home] Luxury & home fragrance: analyzing the scent of success

The home fragrance market is expanding its ranges and increasing its offers to deliver multiform, multi-format, and multi-functional, products. How are luxury brands and suppliers getting in on the action?

It’s no scoop: since the 2000s, home fragrance, led by candles, has been gaining ground while moving up-market. But in 2020-2021, the momentum picked up, and last year alone, in the prestige segment and in North America/Europe, the segment generated $450m. « We’re no longer experiencing the double-digit growth seen by the category during the Covid pandemic, but the market is holding its own, with overall growth of 4% driven by gift sets, » explains Mathilde Lion, at Circana. « These continue to perform well (+32% last year) in a market still dominated by candles, which account for 63% of sales. » Meanwhile, growth in diffusers (18% of sales) has eased off with an increase of 4% in 2023, while sprays—2% of the market—posted above average growth at +6%.

D-Air x Compoz Paris: a fragrance diffuser from Dior ©Dior

« Consumers rediscovered home fragrances during the lockdowns, and despite a slowdown in the category, there has been no notable reversal since then. While controversy over the impact of home scents on health may deter increasingly well-informed consumers, the fact remains that alongside historic brands focused on air care, there is great potential for fine fragrance brands to expand product lines, » notes Lion. This is particularly true in Europe—where the market lags significantly behind the US, the leading country in terms of sales—and especially at the top and very top end of the market. « The most expensive collections are recording the strongest growth, with +12% for products costing more than $50 and +31% for references costing over $100, sold at an average price of $140, » she adds.

Beauty & fashion brands get on board

This potential for expansion has not escaped the attention of major brands in fine perfumery or fashion, among other pillars of the luxury industry. Regardless of their footprint in the segment, they are all getting up to speed. Puig, for example, created a dedicated Home department last summer. « Since the Covid pandemic, people have refocused on their interiors, and a real market exists, » says Xavier Leboucher, Director of Packaging Development & Innovation. « Of course, it’s debatable whether there’s room for everyone, but we intend to assert our presence by developing dedicated collections for all our brands. »

At Puig, Byredo, Penhaligon’s and L’Artisan Parfumeur already have a foot in the door, and while Leboucher remains discreet about projects in the works, he insists that the Group’s ambition is not to limit itself to developing candles, sprays, diffusers, and detergents based on the flagship fragrances of its brands; the established trend of translating skin fragrances into home fragrances has its limits, and some observers say it is running out of steam. The idea here is to develop new, category-specific references. « And it’s not that simple: this is a demanding segment that requires specific know-how. Whether we’re talking about our in-house teams or our suppliers and packagers, we want to structure this new division around people with this core expertise. »

Is this a call to action for suppliers? No need: they, too, are standing ready. Scentys, a major player in fragrance diffusion systems—with numerous creations for brands including Diptyque and Jo Malone, and more recently Serge Lutens—has grown its investments in recent years. « To move to full service, we have invested €1m in equipment enabling us to automatically personalize primary and secondary brand packs, » reports Chairman Pierre Loustric. This service comes in addition to the deployment of 3D printers and the opening of a subsidiary in New York, « to be as close as possible to our customers in a zone that we know to be strategic. »

For certain technical parts, as well as design elements, the company is increasingly using additive manufacturing, particularly for limited editions. « 3D printing allows us to be more responsive, while ultimately proving less costly for our customers than creating a conventional mold, » he explains. And brands are getting on board: the Olfactive Stereophonique, a diffuser co-designed by Byredo x Ojas and produced in a limited edition of 2,000 pieces, features a steel body adorned with a resin megaphone that was printed using liquid nylon.

Source : Formes de Luxe

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