"Access" or "Exclusivity": what role does fragrance play in current luxury strategies?

It has been said a lot that exclusivity is no longer (or less and less) a key dimension of luxury. Why ? Because of the growth of internet and e-commerce that makes luxury brands accessible to everyone, everywhere and all the time. But not only. Beyond the paradigm shift initiated by the internet, a generational and cultural evolution is also at work: it is now essential for brands to be young and hype, to advocate diversity and inclusiveness, to stage their logo and sign increasingly “spectacular” collaborations. In short, to be more and more "loud" and "in your face" ... And finally, quite far from the exclusivity values traditionally associated with luxury.

What to think of this analysis? Does it really reflect reality? We must first reconsider the "myth" of a luxury that would only be reserved for happy-fews only. Couture houses have been working on the accessibility of their products for a long time; this function was very early on devolved to make-up and especially to perfumes which were designed as tools for democratization allowing them to increase their clientele. Number 5 dates from 1921, Ricci perfumes were created in 1941…

Is this initial role still the same once most of luxury houses have operated a massive stretching? What is fragrance’s role now when a belt, a pair of sunglasses, a scarf or a small leather goods accessory also allow access to the universe of the House?

Certainly, perfume remains today a product of access to the luxury market. It now also has another function, that of recreating exclusivity, the (more) rare and the (very) expensive. We can see this in particular through the rise of niche perfumery, also called haute perfumery or prestige perfumery. We find in this very dynamic category specialist and “confidential” brands (such as Penhaligon's, Diptyque, l'Artisan Parfumeur or Annick Goutal) who are now joined by newcomers, such as Editions Frederic Malle, By Kilian or Perfumes Francis Kurkdjian House.

These “prestige”brands are not the only ones to claim the attributes of exclusive luxury (i.e. perfume as an act of “free” creation or free from marketing constraints, high quality raw materials, ultra-selective distribution, a price of high sale, etc.)

The major brands, the “big players” in the category, have also developed over the past fifteen years a more exclusive offer (with restricted distribution), more qualitative and more expensive (Prada - Exclusive Collection in 2003 - The Private collection of Dior , Hermessence by Hermès and Armani Privé in 2004, L'Art et la Matière by Guerlain in 2005 - Miroir Miroir by Mugler, Private Blend by T. Ford and Les exclusifs by Chanel in 2007, La Collection Extraordinaire by Van Cleef & Arpels in 2009 ...).

These key players in modern perfumery are developing a "niche" offer to move upmarket and thus compete with niche brands, which, while failing to generate the highest volumes, offer strong visibility (offline and online) and become the new "must-have". But also to segment their offer and avoid excessive trivialization.

There is indeed a great risk of becoming very (too much?) mass-market as perfume has become a category very similar to most of FMCGs … The big international perfume successes are very much based on aggressive marketing mixes (huge TV investments, quite similar tv commercials with standardized creative work, etc.).

These exclusive collections have literally exploded: today, there are about 80 of them. As they become widespread, they lose their ability to recreate difference. This is why some brands are now going further by offering for instance real personalization (Miller Harris) or an olfactory layering (Narciso Rodriguez, Dior).

We are therefore witnessing a new segmentation of the category, which allows original and high-quality products to coexist with more mainstream offers. This allows perfumes to continue to play their role of "access to luxury" without falling into the trap of an offer that would have become commonplace.

(Article published in Journal du Luxe - @journalduluxe_officiel - https://journalduluxe.fr/parfumerie-strategies-luxe/)