Australian retailers have a lot riding on the Festive Season and major online shopping events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday to revive their bottom lines following pandemic lockdowns and store closures over the past six months.
Christmas is traditionally the most lucrative time of the year for fragrance sales, with the first two weeks of December accounting for up to 30 per cent of total annual fragrance sales in Australia.
Sales of prestige fragrances in the UK totaled AUD$2.34 billion in 2019, reports the NPD Group.
In the first quarter of the coronavirus lockdown in the UK, fragrance sales dived 67 per cent from March to June, by contrast to the same period last year, says the researcher.
From June to September, the Northern Hemisphere summer, fragrance sales were only down 13 per cent over 2019, giving hope to Aussie retailers.
The popularity of fragrance can be attributed to a number of factors, says Emma Fishwick, account manager, NPD UK Beauty.
“Fragrance doesn’t require touch when applying or appreciating it. Retailers are also utilising unsold gift sets to encourage consumers back in-store using price promotion, and as a result fragrance gift sets have reported positive growth of +32 per cent from June to September, compared to the same period in 2019. Consumers are now increasingly price conscious and opting for products that are perceived as value for money.”