- Perfume sales have exploded since last August and jumped 45% in the first quarter.
- They have become a little luxury during the pandemic, according to Larissa Jensen of NPD Group.
- “If you think about what we’ve all been through, it could be… consumers who want to escape,” she said.
During tough times, economists have historically turned to what is known as the “lipstick index”. The idea is that even when times are tough, people will still make room for little luxuries – like, say, a tube of lipstick.
In 2020, times were admittedly tough, but buying a tube of lipstick suddenly became pointless as masks obscured our noses and mouths. Sales of lipstick and makeup in general fell throughout 2020, make the lipstick index essentially obsolete.
But there was a beauty category that not only avoided freefall last year, but flourished, leading to a shocking increase in sales in the first quarter of 2021 that even made industry veterans scratch their heads. : the perfumes.
Perfume sales rose 45% in the first quarter of 2021 from a year earlier, according to data from market research firm NPD Group. Of course, the first quarter of last year included the onset of the pandemic, when fear and uncertainty may have started to affect consumer behavior, so it’s worth comparing it to the same time period. in 2019 – when perfume sales were only up 27%.
“I’ve been doing this for 16 years and never, ever seen anything like it,” Larissa Jensen, VP and Beauty Industry Advisor, NPD Group, told Insider.
Why do people keep buying perfume?
The explosion in sales begs the obvious question: why, in the midst of a pandemic that has sickened tens of millions of Americans and shut down much of society, have people continued to buy perfume?
It’s impossible to know for sure, but Jensen has a few guesses, the main one being that the scent could be the new lipstick clue.
NPD Group recently conducted a consumer survey that asked why people buy perfumes. Half of those surveyed said it was a treat for themselves – 20% said it was a gift for someone else. It seems that in the absence of opportunities to put on makeup, consumers opted for another little luxury, one that only required a quick little spray.
But Jensen went further. She said she believed the surge in perfume sales was inextricably linked to the pandemic, a dark time when people were looking for a getaway, if only mentally.
“There is a science behind your sense of smell and how it relates directly to memory – you smell something and it takes you back to a point in time,” Jensen said. “And if you think about what we’ve all been through, it could be, to some extent, consumers wanting to escape.”
“You can see how perfume can be that category of beauty that’s really positioned to lift our spirits,” she said.
Out of control sales
Jo Yong Hak / Reuters
The fragrance category includes a whole series of products, not just the standard fragrance. As people stayed more and more at home, they started shopping for home fragrances and candles, an industry that “was, no pun intended, on fire,” Jensen said.
But what is skyrocketing sales are customers who buy giant bottles of highly concentrated fragrances like luxury brand eau de parfum – and buy them in-store, not online.
“The second stores started to open in the region in June [2020], sales immediately returned to a brick-and-mortar predominance, and they stayed that way, and they still are until 2021, “Jensen said.
According to data from NPD, the fragrance category returned to the positive in August of last year and stayed that way throughout the year before jumping into 2021 – Jensen said she expects this to happen. that sales are “out of control” throughout the second quarter of this year.
This upward trajectory more broadly reflects the beauty industry, which is experiencing a resurgence as mask mandates decline for those vaccinated and society begins to reopen. Now, consumers will not only want to look good again, but brush up on beauty products that they probably haven’t touched in over a year. Lipstick sales expected to increase Now that we no longer have to hide our mouths behind masks, weddings and travel opportunities will rekindle the need to dress up and invest in makeup, perfumes or hair care products.
After going through a pandemic, these products could signal, both externally and internally, that life is returning to normal.
“It’s kind of like a way to end and give yourself a sense of normalcy that you’ll be okay,” Jensen said.
