As the first of the sales figures for 2014 are coming in, we can see already in France that it brought a few surprises but equally that some trends are not disappearing yet. The market intelligence presented in this article originates from the ‘NPD Group’ and it was published by ChallengeS, a French magazine.
Gourmand Notes dominate !
While in France the classic scents are suffering in the market, the Gourmand trend continues to charm female consumers and has not yet been overtaken by the ‘new woods’ and ‘chypres’, despite this being forecast.
The crown of the ‘best selling female fragrance’ in France goes to Lancôme’s ‘La Vie est Belle’, a sweet accord with caramel and cotton candy, with J’adore by Dior coming in second. And yet we also see a powdery floral note and a woody accords with hints of incense.
2014 was a better year for perfume than the previous ones. Indeed, after several years of decline, the market grew by 0.2%. Women’s fine fragrances fared the best, with a 0.6% rise in value. However, when analysing the volumes, the market shows a 3% decrease in the number of product units sold. Hence, the progress in the market can be attributed to higher prices.
Beyond the excellent results of La Vie est Belle (Guerlain), L’Oreal succeeded with the best launch of 2014 with Black Opium d’Yves Saint Laurent.
Top 10 Female Perfumes in France in 2014 (in terms of Value):
| 2014 | 2013 | |
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 |
Lancôme : La vie est belle Dior : J’adore Guerlain : La petite Robe noire Chanel : Coco Mademoiselle Chanel : N°5 Yves Saint Laurent : Opium Thierry Mugler : Angel Dior : Miss Dior Guerlain : Shalimar Kenzo : Flower by Kenzo |
Dior : J’adore Guerlain : La petite Robe noire Lancôme : La vie est belle Chanel : N°5 Thierry Mugler : Angel Chanel : Coco Mademoiselle Dior : Miss Dior Guerlain : Shalimar Kenzo : Kenzo : Flower by Kenzo YSL : Parisienne |
In this list, the sales of Opium increased because the sales of Black Opium are included in the figure. La Petite Robe Noire by Guerlain retained its position in the top 3 thanks to the inclusion of La petite Robe Noire Couture in its figures proved to be the second most successful launch of the year. Miss Dior maintained its position in the top 10 due to the success of Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet.
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Top 10 Women’s Perfumes in France in 2014 (in terms of Units Sold):
| 2014 | |
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 |
Lancôme : La vie est belle Dior : J’adore Chanel : Coco Mademoiselle Guerlain : La petite Robe noire Chanel : N°5 Thierry Mugler : Angel Yves Saint Laurent : Black Opium Guerlain : Shalimar Kenzo : Flower by Kenzo Armani : Si |
Black Opium made a remarkable entry into the top 10. This augurs well for an entry into the top 5, or even top 3 in 2015. Si d’Armani achieved the biggest progressed compared to the previous year, with an increase of more than 75%. The fragrance Repetto saw a noteworthy increase of more than 30% !
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Trends
These figures confirm that the Gourmand fragrances are still of the greatest interest to consumers. Despite the claims by forecasting agencies last year, there are few signs that the gourmand trend is giving way to Woody and Chypre Accords.
Another observation is that the classics are struggling. For example, despite a new advertising campaign Angel’s place in the market declined. Chanel No. 5 has been overtaken by Coco Mademoiselle. The new advertising campaign with Gisele Bündchen and the relaunching of l’Eau Première therefore had no real effect on the declining sales of Chanel No. 5.
The market is dominated by Oriental scents (1 perfume in 2 in value terms), followed by Floral scents, closely followed in third by Chypre. Of the top 10, 6 were Oriental, 2 were Floral and 2 were Chypre. The rise of Chypre-Fruity is noticeable.
Delving a little deeper into the notes themselves, Bergamot is the most popular top note, as it is included in half of the top 10 French perfumes of 2014. Top notes containing Red Fruits (in various forms) are worthy of note. Rose & Jasmin combination are not surprisingly, still very popular in the heart of accords. Vanilla can be found in 9 out of the 10 perfumes as a base note, which demonstrates its continuing popularity with consumers. Patchouli, a woody note, features heavily, with its inclusion in 7 out of the top 10 fragrances – most commonly as a base note.
In tough economic times, consumers continue to prefer new products. Whilst the number of fragrances launched continues to increase, the market generally remains stagnant with little or no growth. In a saturated market, the perfume houses are reviving their products, either in terms of products/fragrance, presentation/image or the purchase experience itself.
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Couture Perfume for your home
If you love the latest couture fragrance trends in France, then you should definitely try the perfumes within the PAIRFUM Collection. It is the only boutique perfumery house that brings all of the fragrances trends into your home.
Here at PAIRFUM we interpret fine fragrance trends and adapt the outstanding perfume ingredients to work in your home. The expertise required is completely different to creating perfumes for your skin, which is one of the reasons why the couture perfume house do not offer room fragrances.
Try one of our luxury perfumes candles, natural reed diffusers or room perfume sprays and you will experience it for yourself.
One phrase we hear time and time again from our customers: “PAIRFUM’s perfumes do not smell like room fragrances , they smell like Couture Perfumes that you would love to wear”.
For example, PAIRFUM’s ‘Black Orchid’ shares a lot of ingredients with ‘La Vie Est Belle’. Equally, ‘Orangerie Blossoms’ has been created with the accord that ‘J’Adore’ is based on and our ‘White Sandalwood’ compares well with ‘Coco Mademoiselle’.
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Product Details
Name: LA VIE EST BELLE
By: Lancôme
Year: 2012
Gender: Woman
Olfactory Groups: Oriental – Floral
Top Notes: Pear, Blackcurrant, Aldehyde
Heart Notes: Orange Blossom, Jasmine, Iris
Base Notes: Vanilla, Praline, Patchouli, Tonka Bean
Name: J’ADORE
By: Dior
Year: 1999
Gender: Woman
Olfactory Groups: Floral – Fruity
Top Notes: Violet Blossom, Champaca
Heart Notes: Rose, Orchid, Plum
Base Notes: Vanilla, Blackberry, White Musks, Amarath Wood
Name: LA PETITE ROBE NOIRE
By: Guerlain
Year: 2012
Gender: Woman
Olfactory Groups: Oriental – Floral
Top Notes: Almond, Cherry, Bergamot, Red Fruits
Heart Notes: Rose, Licorice, Lapsang Leaves, Black Tea
Base Notes: Vanilla, Patchouli, Iris, Tonka Bean
Name: COCO MADEMOISELLE
By: Chanel
Year: 2001
Gender: Woman
Olfactory Groups: Chypre – Floral
Top Notes: Bergamot, Orange
Heart Notes: Jasmine, Rose
Base Notes: Vanilla, Patchouli, Vetiver, White Musks
Name: N°5
By: Chanel
Year: 1921
Gender: Woman
Olfactory Groups: Floral – Aldehyde
Top Notes: Bergamot, Lemon, Aldehyde Notes, Neroli
Heart Notes: Jasmine, Rose, Ylang Ylang, Lily-of-the-Valley, Iris
Base Notes: Vanilla, Sandalwood, Vetiver, Amber
Name: OPIUM
By: Yves Saint Laurent
Year: 1977
Gender: Woman
Olfactory Groups: Oriental – Spicy
Top Notes: Cinnamon, Pimento, Pepper, Orange
Heart Notes: Jasmine, Carnation, Rose, Ylang Ylang
Base Notes: Benzoin, Vanilla, Oppoponax, Patchouli
Name: ANGEL
By: Thierry Mugler
Year: 1992
Gender: Woman
Olfactory Groups: Oriental – Vanilla
Top Notes: Bergamot, Mandarin
Heart Notes: Passion Fruit, Peach, Apricot
Base Notes: Vanilla, Caramel, Patchouli, Chocolate
Name: MISS DIOR
By: Dior
Year: 2005
Gender: Woman
Olfactory Groups: Chypre – Fruity
Top Notes: Violet leaves, Strawberry Leaves, Green Mandarin
Heart Notes: Wild Strawberry, Pink Jasmine, Pop-corn
Base Notes: Patchouli, Crystalline Musk
Name: SHALIMAR
By: Guerlain
Year: 1925
Gender: Woman
Olfactory Groups: Oriental – Vanilla
Top Notes: Cedar, Bergamot, Lemon, Mandarin
Heart Notes: Jasmine, Rose, Patchouli, Iris
Base Notes: Peru Balsam, Benzoin, Vanilla, Leather
Name: FLOWER BY KENZO
By: Kenzo
Year: 2000
Gender: Woman
Olfactory Groups: Oriental – Floral
Top Notes: Hawthorn, Blackcurrant
Heart Notes: Violet Blossom, Jasmine, Rose
Base Notes: Vanilla, Oppoponax, White Musks
Additional Product Details
Name: BLACK OPIUM
By: Yves Saint Laurent
Year: 2014
Gender: Woman
Olfactory Groups: Oriental – Spicy
Top Notes: Pink Pepper, Orange Blossom, Pear
Heart Notes: Jasmine, Coffee
Base Notes: Vanilla, Patchouli, Cedar
Name: SÌ
By: Armani
Year: 2013
Gender: Woman
Olfactory groups: Chypre – Fruity
Top Notes : Freesia, Blackcurrant
Heart Notes : Rose, Patchouli
Base Notes : Vanilla, Blond Wood, Orcanox
Name: LA PETITE ROBE NOIRE COUTURE
By: Guerlain
Year: 2014
Gender: Woman
Olfactory Groups: Chypre – Fruity
Top Notes : Raspberry, Bergamot
Heart Notes : Rose, Floral Notes
Base Notes : Patchouli, Vetiver, Oakmoss, Tonka Bean
Name: MISS DIOR BLOOMING BOUQUET
By: Dior
Year: 2014
Gender: Woman
Olfactory Groups: Floral – Fruity
Top Notes : Mandarin
Heart Notes : Rose, Peony, Peach, Apricot
Base Notes : White Musks
Name: PARISIENNE
by: Yves Saint Laurent
Year: 2009
Gender: WOMAN
Olfactory groups: Floral – Woody Musk
Top Notes : Blackberry, Vinyl Accord, Cranberry
Heart Notes : Violet Blossom, Rose, Peony, Leather, Powdery
Base Notes : Patchouli, Sandalwood, Vetiver, White Musks
Name: REPETTO
by: Repetto
Year: 2013
Gender: WOMAN
Olfactory groups: Floral – Fruity
Top Notes : Pear, Cherry blossom
Heart Notes : Rose, Orange Blossom Absolute
Base Notes : Vanilla, Amberwood
