BW Confidential - Issue #8 - October/December 2011 - (Page 46)

Insight: Fragrance Rare fragrance brands Selective appeal Five brands talk about the retail challenges facing the rare fragrance category and how they see the market developing by Alissa Demorest Nobile 1942 Italy-based Nobile 1942 is a family owned company distributed in 250 pos worldwide. The company has fewer than 15 fragrances and is currently working on scents for children and babies; home fragrances are also on the drawing board. Nobile 1942 creative director Stefania Giannino on: How retail should treat rare fragrances There is a need for retailers to be more professional. Most of our clients are traditional perfumeries and they continue to sell as they did in the past. For our kind of product it isn’t enough—customers are looking for emotion, information and something different. We try to help them by giving them support through training and organizing events. There needs to be a buzz beyond just fragrance sampling events because consumers want more. Some very traditional perfumery operators don’t understand that they can’t just sit back and wait for the consumer to walk through the door. Customers are spending less and visiting the perfumery less, so retailers also have to be more proactive to attract them. These retailers need to be more than just a place to buy cosmetics, but somewhere to learn something and to be a meeting place of sorts. This is especially the case in big cities, where there is a need for community. People go to the gym and they go dancing, so why don’t they go to the perfumery? Generally we don’t have to convince retailers to take us on, they decide on their own. I believe it’s a question of confidence, as personal relationships are very important in this business. Retailers trust us because we are giving them exclusivity and we try to foster that by being available to them. For example, we feature them on our Facebook account, and we offer our help to organize events in the perfumery. We see it as a very close and personal relationship. The evolution of the fragrance market The [rare fragrance] market is very crowded. There have been quite a few companies that have had to shut down after a few years, so I see a sort of natural selection happening. It is a pity that the market has become so massified and a lot of brands have lost their prestige. Fragrance brands in general needs to pay closer attention to the scents they are putting on the market as they are concentrating more on advertising and communication than on quality. I suggest that they make limited editions with quality natural ingredients for their most loyal clients, which would only be available in a select number of boutiques—Chanel N°5 with real roses, for example. They need to maintain their image in the face of massification. 46 October-December 2011 - N°8 - BW Confidential

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of BW Confidential - Issue #8 - October/December 2011

Cover
Comment
Contents
Update
- Brand & retail news recap
- Companies on the move
Take note
- Market facts, figures & trends
Best of BW
- Highlights from our e-publication
Launches
- The latest in fragrance, skincare & make-up
Interview
- Estée Lauder Companies group president international Cédric Prouvé
Insight: Fragrance
- Category overview
- Retailer roundtable
- Retailing strategies
- Rare fragrance brands
- Launch roundup
Wellness
- Spa chains
- Spa case studies
Retail
- E-commerce
- Store concepts
Travel retail
- Sector analysis
- Hainan & China Duty Free Group
- Retail concepts
- Passenger habits
Digital
- Industry experts on harnassing the power of social networks
Radar
- Six up-and-coming beauty brands
Market watch: Russia
- Country overview
- Prestige retailing
- Industry viewpoint
Packaging
- Market outlook
- Sustainabilty
- Trends
Last word
- Buyology Inc president & co-founder Donna Sturgess

BW Confidential - Issue #8 - October/December 2011