10 thoughts on “Guest Post: Fragrance Companies – Beware Of Men And Older Women by Elena Vosnaki

  1. Great read Elena, I really laughed at the part, "Once the boar is killed they can go home; they don't need to check out the whole forest for extras." I can imagine a forest now full of cosmetics and bottles hanging off trees!

    I think maybe the nature of the beast/boar is that the sheer volume of fragrances mean, interest is diluted. To choose from over 1000 potential fragrances, and the decline in spending, it's difficult for the houses to really hit the nail on the head. Had there be only 100 fragrances to choose from, sales would show a much more focused interest in one perfume as there's less to choose from… maybe it's a snowball effect in that, the houses themselves are to pull the reigns in and focus less on "more more more" and "more" on quality.

  2. I was under the impression fragrances are primarily reformulated due to
    a) comply with revised safety regulations or
    b) scarcity of original material used in the original formulation
    -not simply to cut costs, tinker, or annoy loyal customers as the article is suggesting.

  3. You speak from my heart, Elena! Great article! It should be mandatory reading for industry executives.

  4. Liam,

    thank you! Glad you had a kick out of it! And thanks to Persolaise for uploading and hosting.

    Too much on offer unavoidably makes the things on offer seem less appealing somehow. It does drive up the insatiability to buy more, more, more, but it lessens the satisfaction derived from those purchases, IMO. It's hard to reconcile the two, I guess. Diluted interest is a good turn of phrase for that.

  5. Kev,

    since the article is directed at the fragrance companies as business beings, rather than philanthropic institutions, the business point of view has been emphasized, as in "why drive away the repeat & certain in lieu of the new". In that regard, profits and marketing decisions play a far greater role than the -largely unavoidable, by now- IFRA cuts and restrictions necessitated.
    There are several fragrances in the market for instance that have absolutely no reason to get reformulated or discontinued apart from being slow sellers in today's economy. But it's convenient to blame everything on a superior power ("my hands are tied") or loss of natural resources ("we travelled the lengths and breadths of the world to harvest this latest ingredient"). I call a spade a spade when I see it.

  6. B,

    thank you very much for the kind words!

    I sincerely hope that the power of the Internet has brought this small but compact and fervently passionate circle of perfume lovers into the attention span & scope of business decision centers. There is a market segment here and it's worth making its opinion known.

  7. Once again, I'd like to thank Elena for her article… and I'd also like to contribute to the discussion.

    I popped into Harrods the other day and was aghast at how many Christmas gift sets have been dragged back out for the summer sale. Tons and tons of unsold stock… and almost all of it was of the sort of 'disposable', uninspiring work you've mentioned in your article: Belle d'Opium, Hot Water, Polo Big Pony etc etc.

    The public voted with their feet (noses?) when this stuff first came out, but are the marketeers going to listen? I doubt it.

    This is one of life's great paradoxes. People who know nothing about education become education ministers, people who know nothing about economics become high-profile financial advisers and people who know nothing about the public's tastes become marketing execes.

  8. Great post, Elena!

    I joke (slightly serious too) that I'd like to start a men's fragrance liberation. Men haven't found what they like because the industry hasn't let them. As long as you are wearing things for others, you'll never have a fragrance voice.

I love hearing from my readers, so please feel free to write a comment or ask a question.