Dive Brief:
- Amid rising beauty sales and in-store shopping, an NPD report shared with Retail Dive found that fragrance sales rose 4% between Oct. 2 and Dec. 3 year-over-year.
- In-store fragrance sales accounted for 70% of sales between the weeks of Oct. 2 and Dec. 3, 2022, one percentage point higher than in 2021.
- Beauty specialty store fragrance sales grew at four times the rate of department stores in October, NPD Checkout data indicated.
Dive Insight:
Most holiday shopping for fragrances occurs within the two weeks leading up to Christmas, according to Larissa Jensen, beauty industry advisor at NPD. And December accounts for over half of fourth-quarter sales, thus the category’s success this year has yet to be fully realized.
The NPD Group attributed the sales growth during the nine-week period to fewer discounts and higher average prices. Shoppers spent more of their fragrance budget on luxury brands and higher fragrance concentrations, the report noted.
“Consumers are returning to holiday gatherings this year and embracing the in-person store experience where they can test products and get advice from sales associates, which bodes well for fragrance sales and the beauty industry overall,” Jensen said in a statement. “As holiday crunch-time sets in, it’s important for brands to continue to work hard to capture consumer attention in these crucial final weeks of the season.”
The NPD Group’s previous research found that fragrance sales trended upward last year. The firm said 40% of annual fragrance sales were made in Q4 2021, and scents saw higher sales all year long.
Alongside fragrance, consumers have been spending more on beauty products overall this year so far. Another NPD report released in August found that shoppers earning more than $100,000 spent almost $9 billion on beauty purchases in the first six months of this year, a 14% increase from last year. Millennial and Gen X shoppers bought the most beauty products.
The rise in in-store fragrance purchases comes as shoppers are predicted to spend more of their holiday budgets in physical stores this year, a shift from the previous two years during the COVID-19 pandemic. An October JLL survey of over 1,000 people found that nearly two-thirds of shoppers planned to do some holiday shopping in stores this year.
