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The next to be discontinued?

post #1 of 13
11/4/07 at 1:41pm
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  • Ged
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We all bemoan the fact Havana, Jean Patou, Balenciaga PH, DK Fuel and others have been discontinued, and are now either impossible to get or extortionately expensive. They all happen to be highly unique fragrances which were discontinued for perceived lack of sales.

So, what are the fragrances of today which may suffer the same fate? Not ones that will be discontinued because they are just plain crap, but ones which are unique, brilliant, but lost on the masses.

I'd say Dior Homme springs to mind. Dunhill Edition may follow it's brother For Men as that company pursues mediocrity in favour of brilliance. YSL M7, Rive Gauche and Opium?

Furthermore, is there any value in stocking up on these - a) as a guaranteed personal supply or b) as a (cynical) "investment"?

Ged
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post #2 of 13
11/4/07 at 2:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ged View Post

YSL M7, Rive Gauche and Opium?

I'd say yes. While you're at it, add Jazz, Live Jazz, YSL Pour Homme, and Body Kouros to the list, and expect similar cutbacks in women's fragrances.

Why? YSL Beaute is in the middle of another(!) reorganization after the departure of Chantal Roos (former L'Oreal exec Andrea Barbier is the new head). Not only that, but PPR (YSL's parent company) is seriously considering selling YSL Beaute to another company. Procter & Gamble, Groupe Clarins, and The Estee Lauder Companies have all been named as potential suitors. So, don't be surprised if the only YSL-branded men's fragrances in the near future are L'Homme and Kouros (their two best-sellers by far).
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post #3 of 13
11/4/07 at 2:58pm
Basically the whole line of YSL Fragrances except L'Homme.
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post #4 of 13
11/4/07 at 3:14pm
I think it's unfair to accuse the main french houses (YSL, Dior, Chanel, Guerlain) of discontinuing scents as none of the above mentioned houses has discontinued a mens fragrance ("variants" not counted) released within the last 20 years as far as I know. It seems like the french houses holds more respect for their older scents and their heritage. Without starting a US/Europe debate, I don't think the same could be said of the American companies that play in a market where often newer equals better. Of course when the perfume houses is being bought up by large multinational companies things could change, but still the french houses and their heritage will be respected by the these companies, perhaps not because they really care about the art of perfumery and it's part in history, but because it's in their interest to conserve the houses reputation in order to sell more.
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post #5 of 13
11/4/07 at 3:15pm
Perceived lack of sales? Perception has nothing to do with this matter....it's called stock.....When department stores have scents that don't move....this creates a problem....Macy's, Dillards, Neimans, Nordstorms, Saks and on and on must sell what's been purchased....they cannot afford to have money just sitting around.
I'm with You, don't get me wrong....It's sad to see these great fragrances leave the main stream market.....I'd say that the scents that have been mentioned will not make the grade.....M7 is one of my Faves....and is very hard to find.... Dior Homme is wonderful....I really like Dior's F. 32......what a fantastic scent.
Take a look at Polo Crest....One of the best Polo scents ever made......cannot be found anymore.....Polo (Green), Safari, Polo Sport have customers that are faithful.....but I feel that there years are numbered....I hope I'm wrong because Polo Sport and Safari are fantastic scents to me.....This is sad and this is the very reason that the Niche market is starting to see the up trend that it is seeing.....which is not a bad thing at all.
This has also opened the door to scents like Armani Prive and Chanels Exclusifs which is also a good thing......Thanks for this thread....it's a good one......Gary
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post #6 of 13
11/4/07 at 3:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by G.303 View Post

Perceived lack of sales? Perception has nothing to do with this matter....it's called stock.....When department stores have scents that don't move....this creates a problem....Macy's, Dillards, Neimans, Nordstorms, Saks and on and on must sell what's been purchased....they cannot afford to have money just sitting around.
I'm with You, don't get me wrong....It's sad to see these great fragrances leave the main stream market.....I'd say that the scents that have been mentioned will not make the grade.....M7 is one of my Faves....and is very hard to find.... Dior Homme is wonderful....I really like Dior's F. 32......what a fantastic scent.
Take a look at Polo Crest....One of the best Polo scents ever made......cannot be found anymore.....Polo (Green), Safari, Polo Sport have customers that are faithful.....but I feel that there years are numbered....I hope I'm wrong because Polo Sport and Safari are fantastic scents to me.....This is sad and this is the very reason that the Niche market is starting to see the up trend that it is seeing.....which is not a bad thing at all.
This has also opened the door to scents like Armani Prive and Chanels Exclusifs which is also a good thing......Thanks for this thread....it's a good one......Gary

This just proves my theory right about the American versus the European fragrance industry and their different values when it comes to discontinuing scents.
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post #7 of 13
11/5/07 at 1:30am
Does YSL L'Homme even sell that well? Hard to believe, given its rather... "streamlined" smell. There are different types of being discontinued, though. For example, I don't see Body Kouros that often, but I would know where to get it right away. A product leaving the shelf doesn't necessarily men it is being discontinued altogether, just leaving a more or less confined market, or even market segment. Another case would be M7 Fresh: Apparently hard to find gem in the US, a five minute walk away from me.
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post #8 of 13
11/5/07 at 6:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by fakepurseninja View Post

Does YSL L'Homme even sell that well? Hard to believe, given its rather... "streamlined" smell.

Yes, YSL L'Homme sells quite well, at least in the United States. In fact, it blew away YSL Beaute's sales expectations in the US. But, then again, the American general public tends to like scents like L'Homme with simpler, fresher compositions.

Not sure about European sales of the juice, though... maybe it does well in some countries (like the Scandinavian region where the "fresh" category dominates), bad in others.
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post #9 of 13
11/5/07 at 4:54pm
Certain YSL scents have their niche in certain places.

For the USA its hands down Kouros and Opium.

Europe - Opium Homme, M7, Jazz, L'Homme

I don't think YSL will discontinue any of their fragrances in any merger.
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post #10 of 13
11/5/07 at 5:25pm
taking a bit of a sideroad, on one of the other posts (about CdG Sequoia) a basenoter mentioned that Cdg was discontinuing Sequoia. I did a search here to find out more, but to no avail.
PLEASE TELL ME THAT COMME DES GARCONS IS NOT DISCONTINUING SOME OF THE EARLIER LINES!
Sorry, just had to all-cap it. I don't like things that go away never to be bought at retail prices again.
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post #11 of 13
11/5/07 at 5:33pm
Ged I don't think that that there is anything on the market today that I would miss as i do the classics that you mentioned. That being said I like YSL frags and hope that they continue their trend of interesting and creative innovation.
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post #12 of 13
11/5/07 at 9:26pm
Kouros is quite popular in RSA.
Its not as though any company's sales are going to greatly improved by being popular here, but every bit helps.
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post #13 of 13
11/6/07 at 1:16am
In my place, YSL has cut down NU & the bath line of thier fragrances -except for L'Homme- .
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