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Racking Up The Prices

post #1 of 13
12/23/11 at 10:45am
Thread Starter 
Despite the very wobbly state of the planets economies and with recessions looming, (more like depressions if you ask me here in Europe) the perfume retailers seems to be racking up the prices like nobody´s business.
From my experiences the UK generally has the highest prices for fragrances in Europe, closely followed by Germany. Prices in France are approximately 15% -20% lower and Italy and Spain another 10%-15% lower than France. Some of this difference has to do with luxury goods taxes, but I find european high street prices generally ridiculously high. My price comparisons are based on staples such as No 5, Miss Dior, Kouros and the like. Prices of extrait and Eau de Parfums have shot up in price. Dior extrait (miss Dior 7,5 ml extrait - Douglas, Germany costs €105. In France the same product costs €88.
Guerlain Eau de Parfums in Germany cost a staggering €118 and the retail price for Sisley´s Eau du Soir has jumped....or should I say leaped ? from €149 to €205 over the last 6 months !!!!!! With the market now flooded with the industry´s own greed, (3 new releases per day) where will it all end ?
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post #2 of 13
12/23/11 at 12:30pm
David, Thanks for this. I have seen comments here on Basenotes which have puzzled me, for example, about Sisley being a "reasonably priced alternative" to such and such, or Eau de Soir being the "cheap chypre". I was bamboozled! Sisley is very expensive here too. On the other hand Chanel Exclusifs come in at £100 exactly here for the 70ml bottle which seems about normal?! Tom Fords (Private) are £118. Is that about right? I don't grudge a penny of it, and we Scots are NOT at all mean! (That is a cartoon stereotype, lol) ! But why the difference?
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post #3 of 13
12/23/11 at 2:04pm
Foustie , those prices are more or less the same here.
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post #4 of 13
12/23/11 at 2:32pm
Thread Starter 
Sisley is definitely out of line with their prices, as is Bulgari with their Green Tea Extreme etc., etc. I find also Serge Lutens outrageous with their 100 plus price tags for 50ml. It wasn´t so long ago that the true guru´s such as Caron and Guerlain had reasonable prices......but many, now under the grip of LVMH have had the thumbscrews turned up to max - to satisfy the greedy shareholders.
Personally, I now boycott these corporations and buy the testers in the grey markets that have sprung up.
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post #5 of 13
12/23/11 at 2:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by hedonist222 View Post

Foustie , those prices are more or less the same here.

That is interesting Hedi. David, I am sure that Serge Lutens is not so expensive here, certainly not the normal line. I am hoping that Santa will bring me some Chergui!
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post #6 of 13
12/23/11 at 2:55pm
That can't bode well then for what the prices will reflect on this side of the Atlantic in the weeks to come.
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post #7 of 13
12/24/11 at 3:15am
I know! You'd think they'd be lowering them. I'm on the lookout for sales (and I won't be fooled by marking up to mark down)
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post #8 of 13
12/24/11 at 3:50am
In a recession the relatively-protected luxury industry still has to satisfy their shareholders' profit-growth demands (except for the few companies still in private hands). The customer base is not growing fast enough (if at all) so the remainder must be milked harder. They can either cheapen the product or charge more (or both - looking at you, YSL!)
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post #9 of 13
12/24/11 at 10:41am
No one has mentioned the elephant in the room: fiat currency. The Euro's value has been dropping steadily since all the EU crises began. So, it's not the juice that has gotten more expensive, it's the paper money that's gotten less valuable.
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post #10 of 13
12/25/11 at 4:03am
€ - $ - £ they have all dropped in value.

Inflation in major Euro-countries has been modest 2%-3%, I hear. It was more like zero% with perfumes in this country during the past twelve months. This also holds true for perfumes in my focus during the past five years or longer: Dior, Editions Malle, Etro, Guerlain, Knize, Lutens, L'Artisans, Montale. Most perfumes are marketed as luxury items and if demand in this sector has decreased at all in Europe, such decrease has been more than balanced by steadily growing demands from the Middle East, Asia and South America. At Galeries Lafayette in Paris the average tourist from China is said to have spent 5000 € for each 100 € spent by a french Christmas shopper.

@David: I agree with you that perfume prices are ridiculously high in some countries, but I am curious to learn which EU countries still levy a luxury tax on perfume in Europe. Neither France nor Germany do, correct?
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post #11 of 13
12/25/11 at 7:54am
Thread Starter 
This thread is not about european inflation rates !!! It is about the greed of the giants in the perfume industry, racking up the prices. Nothing to do with inflation rates. Sisley has raised the retail price of a 100ml bottle of Eau du Soir from €149 to €205 in the space of six months.
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post #12 of 13
12/25/11 at 8:01am
I too have noticed an increase of up to 10-20% within the designer and the niche segments
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post #13 of 13
12/25/11 at 8:13am
One calls this "free market economy". It functions only if the consumer behaves accordingly: High prices = shop put (renunciation practice). If a lot is bought (high inquiry) there rises the price! One can take offence in capitalism nobody if he wants to earn with little application a lot. Retail prices contain always also the profit images of the shop assistant (has nothing to do with the production costs).
So everything no reason for the excitement, but only visible results of the system in we live!
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