http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1198...googlenews_wsj
The article goes on to talk about the problems with promoting new fragrances and why M7 is no longer availible in the US.
Quote:
PARIS -- After years of gorging on celebrity scents and fashion-house fragrances, consumers are turning up their noses at designer perfumes.
"The offer is so enormous, you get lost going into a perfume shop," says Daniela Andrier, a perfume-maker at Swiss fragrance company Givaudan SA. "It's like eating off a plate with too much food and you lose your appetite."
Over the past few years, exclusive fashion brands such as Prada, Gucci and Hermès have been churning out new fragrances as a way to ensnare consumers who can't afford their $5,000 bags, but will splurge on a $100 bottle of "eau de toilette." Celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez and Celine Dion have also unveiled eponymous fragrance lines.
More than 200 new so-called prestige perfumes -- those sold in department stores and cosmetics shops, rather than lower-end drugstores or supermarkets -- were unveiled in the U.S. alone in 2006, according to the last available figures from market research firm NPD Group.
Yet despite the entries, sales of these high-end perfumes, which make up 60% of the overall fragrance market, have been slowing. Total revenue rose 3% to $18 billion globally in 2006, according to research firm Euromonitor, and is expected to grow even less in 2007. By comparison, the overall luxury goods sector has grown by about 12% this year.
"The offer is so enormous, you get lost going into a perfume shop," says Daniela Andrier, a perfume-maker at Swiss fragrance company Givaudan SA. "It's like eating off a plate with too much food and you lose your appetite."
Over the past few years, exclusive fashion brands such as Prada, Gucci and Hermès have been churning out new fragrances as a way to ensnare consumers who can't afford their $5,000 bags, but will splurge on a $100 bottle of "eau de toilette." Celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez and Celine Dion have also unveiled eponymous fragrance lines.
More than 200 new so-called prestige perfumes -- those sold in department stores and cosmetics shops, rather than lower-end drugstores or supermarkets -- were unveiled in the U.S. alone in 2006, according to the last available figures from market research firm NPD Group.
Yet despite the entries, sales of these high-end perfumes, which make up 60% of the overall fragrance market, have been slowing. Total revenue rose 3% to $18 billion globally in 2006, according to research firm Euromonitor, and is expected to grow even less in 2007. By comparison, the overall luxury goods sector has grown by about 12% this year.
The article goes on to talk about the problems with promoting new fragrances and why M7 is no longer availible in the US.
