China & Japan’s Fragrance Markets & Culture

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Kafkaesque

Source: bellasugar.com

I wanted to take a look at the Asian fragrance markets, and to specifically highlight the cultural attitudes towards perfumery in China and Japan. The former is undergoing some small changes in perception, at least amongst Chinese men, but scent still isn’t particularly important as a general matter across the population as a whole. As you will see, even attempts to sell an Axe-like body spray took a lot of effort (and a rather controversial spokesman) to succeed.

I will also look at Japan’s cultural mindset regarding perfumery. It seems to be a rather conflicted one, without any genuine love for fragrance, which is perhaps why they have traditionally had a very weak market. What surprised me there was something completely different: the significance of scented fabric softeners. I should warn you that this post is going to be a little long, so feel free to skip to whatever part interests you the most.

[UPDATE: If you’re interested solely in China, I’ve written an article focused purely on its fragrance culture, its fragrance history, & also the role of oud (沉香) in both the past and present.]

As always, I would like to stress that I have no background in finance, economics, marketing, sociology, or anything remotely mathematical in nature. I do not claim to be an expert on any of those things, there are limits to how comprehensive I can be in a single article, and I write about what interests me, as well as what I have access to. If you are more interested in another country, you can always check my prior pieces on the U.S. and international fragrance markets, the late 2013 U.S. industry figures and popular fragrances, the global fragrance market, the Brazilian fragrance market, and the celebrity perfume industry. Please note that almost all of the articles focus on the commercial, mainstream end of things, not the niche sector.

THE OVERALL ASIAN FRAGRANCE MARKET:

Premium Beauty News has a May 26, 2014 article that briefly summarizes the state of various Asian markets, including South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, and India. It relies on a report by the highly respected research analysts, Mintel, but it gives only cursory conclusions. Frankly, it’s not easy for me to obtain updated, annual figures for countries like China and Japan beyond what I’ve discussed from Euromonitor reports in my earlier 2013 piece, so I found it quite fortuitous to stumble across even these nutshell assessments.

Source: outsidethebeltway.com

The article states:

With the exception of Japan, where fragrance sales have declined over the last five years, the Asian fragrance marketplace is also growing at fast pace, even if it remains small relative to the Western markets. China recorded a CAGR [Compound Annual Growth Rate] of 9% over the last five years, India 25%, Indonesia 44%,Vietnam 15% and South Korea 12%.

As the likelihood for a more tailored approach towards individual cultures increases, domestic and international players will need to tailor products accordingly:

India has a strong cultural connection with fragrance as scented deodorants and body sprays are the most important products in the country.

In contrast, China is only slowly opening up to Western fragrance standards and the concept of perfume is relatively new to its consumers, who choose their fragrance to refer to Western lifestyles and special occasions.

South Korea is another example where the beauty industry is thriving but fragrance is not yet part of people’s daily grooming routine. However, fragrances are turning up in growing numbers in department and speciality stores.

In countries like India, China and Vietnam where the middle class is growing rapidly and with it the popularity of aspirational Western lifestyles, it is now a question of when and how pushing fragrance as part of daily life will begin as it is key to growing the fragrance market. [All emphasis is by PBN in the original.]

As for the other countries discussed, I was fascinated to see Indonesia leading the group with 44% growth. With regard to India, my global report piece shows that the deodorants and body sprays are indeed a massive part of their market thus far, thanks to the driving role of teenage boys. (One shudders to think of how much Axe they must purchase!) In terms of actual and proper fragrances, Indian men far outnumber women in purchases.

CHINA:

A) THE OVERALL NUMBERS & SALES FIGURES:

Shanghai skyline. Source: khongthe.com/wallpapers

I’ve talked about the Chinese market in the past, relying on an April 2013 Euromonitor report on the Chinese fragrance market. To recapitulate some of the more pertinent quotes:

Given the value sales of RMB4.6 billion in 2012, fragrances in China remained a relatively small category; around one 18th of skin care in value terms. […] As a whole, product penetration is quite low in even top-tier markets, and fragrances are just seen as unnecessary products by most consumers. No remarkable changes have been seen in consumers’ acceptance of fragrances – the Chinese account for 20% of the world’s population, but only contribute 1% to value sales of fragrances. The average Chinese person is not used to wearing perfume, unless they are extremely particular about their image, usually those who work for international companies or as high-ranking executives. [Emphasis added by me.]

Source: Fragrantica.

Despite the large number of brands present in the market, fragrances in China continued to be dominated by international companies in 2012 in value terms. Chanel accounted for a 12% share of value sales in fragrances, followed by Parfums Christian Dior with 8%. Calvin Klein Cosmetics, Hugo Boss and L’Oréal China were in third, fourth and fifth place respectively. These world-famous companies have established high brand awareness amongst Chinese consumers, as they have in international markets, mainly thanks to continued investment in advertisements on television and in fashion magazines. [Emphasis in bolding added by me.]

Source: .cosmeticsdesign-asia.com

So, bottom line, most Chinese consumers do not see perfume as a necessary product, and the main reason why seems to be that the country does not have a history with perfumery. How could it, given its political, ideological past? As a 2012 Mintel report on the country’s perfume practices explains:

“Prior to the 1980s, it was very uncommon to see any ownership or usage of fragrance in China and it was only in the early 1990s that fragrance started to become commonly owned and used. Over the last 20 years, the Chinese fragrance market has risen from practically nothing to a sizeable, though still underdeveloped category. US and UK, per capita spending on fragrance is estimated at US$10 and US$33 respectively, while per capita spend in China is only around US$0.5 (Mintel, 2011). Applying fragrance is still not considered to be a necessity for Chinese consumers, however it is slowly being integrated into the grooming routine.” [Emphasis added by me.]

B) CHANGES IN PERCEPTION:

I discovered something very interesting from the same company, outlining a slow shift in perceptions by men. The report is not new, but dates back to 2011 and 2012, and talks about the growth in the men’s market in China, their changing attitudes that fragrance is not only for women, and the slow growth of what they label as “prestige” perfumes. (Generally, those fragrances seem to fall in the $60-$80 range, roughly speaking, when discussed in America where the term “premium” is also used.)

Hayami Mokomichi, star of several popular Japanese TV dramas. Source: asiapacificarts.usc.edu/

This particular 2012 Mintel report quotes the company’s China Research Analyst, Lui Meng Chow, on men’s changing perceptions regarding perfumery, the psychological reasons why, the role of television, and the overall result of the shift:

“The word perfume often has feminine overtones among male consumers, however, thanks to the popularity of Japanese and Korean TV dramas, fashions from these countries are shaping Chinese men’s perceptions of personal grooming. As a result of this trend, younger male consumers are shifting away from their conservative traditions and have been impressed with concepts which promote individual expression. This has caused manufacturers to launch male-specific brands, including toiletries, despite the fact that they were previously associated with being a woman’s product.”

“Now this trend is extending into prestige and luxury brands and products, from aftershave to eau de toilette. Most Chinese males tend to enter the beauty-care category in the middle to high-end product category, buying into those products with credible quality, thus they are willing to spend more in their first experience of grooming products.” Lui Meng Chow continues.

Overall, the fragrance market in China grew 32% in value from RMB 3.2 billion in 2008 to RMB 4.2 billion in 2011. According to Mintel’s research, the majority of urban consumers in China use fragrance to become more attractive and well-groomed (60%) or stylish (53%). And as retail channels have developed rapidly, the outlets where Chinese consumers can purchase fragrance have diversified. Today, nearly half (46%) of Chinese consumers say they purchase perfumes and fragrances from a specialist perfume shop, 37% buy at a department store and a similar number (35%) say they purchase online. Meanwhile, 31% claim to purchase fragrances from supermarkets and hypermarkets.

Edison Chen for Lynx in China. Source: Ad Age.

People say a lot of things in response to surveys. It’s not always the truth but, rather, how they like to present themselves. I bring this up because I find some of those survey response numbers — (46%) of Chinese consumers say they purchase perfumes and fragrances from a specialist perfume shop — a little astonishing in light of a 2012 Ad Age article. It talks about Unilever’s problem in introducing their Chinese version of Axe (called Lynx over there) into the market, and how they had to resort to a star with a rather scandalous past (by Chinese standards) in order to gain men’s attention.

The article is a really fascinating insight into both the Chinese culture regarding scented products and how far some companies have to go in order to make inroads in the market. It reads, in part, as follows:

Unilever had a conundrum when it came to the Chinese launch of Lynx, the body spray known in the U.S. as Axe. The problem wasn’t persuading Chinese guys to select Lynx over a competitor but to choose it at all in a country where men have never been expected to smell good.

Source: dhgate.com

“Guys are open to grooming, but fragrance is not part of the repertoire at the moment,” said Jon McCarthy, regional brand director for Axe/Lynx in Asia. “The marketing challenge for us is to integrate our product into guys’ routines, to [help them] see the benefits of a confidence boost and to feel more attractive.”

The brand achieved that and more, becoming No. 1 in the market. And it did so using a celebrity pitchman with a past so scandalous that his Lynx ads can’t even be seen on Chinese on TV.

C) PERFUME AS SOCIAL IDENTITY:

Source: labbrand.com

In the West, many perfume users see fragrance as self-expression or as signature that is part of their identity. That is obviously not yet the case in China, where it wasn’t easy to sell even a scented body spray like Axe. When perfume is purchased, it is more about belonging to an elite luxury group, with all the social cache that accompanies such membership. Mintel’s China expert breaks down the figures:

Mintel’s research also reveals that 80% of urban Chinese consumers claim to wear a fragrance that reflects their personal style, 78% claim that wearing a fragrance helps them stand out more at social or formal gatherings and 45% always look for the latest release of perfumes so as to stay ahead of the trend. However, its not all about personal image. Some 39% of fragrance users still use fragrance with the more functional purpose of eliminating body odour, and 42% of respondents own or wear fragrance because they received it as a gift.

Chinese perfume ad. Not used in the Mintel article. Source: sucaitianxia.com

“Fragrance is regarded as a luxury item, especially if it is internationally branded. Acquiring it means buying into an identity, and also expresses an emotional sense of belonging to a luxury or stylish group identity which serves as a status symbol. Following the implementation of the 1980s Open Door policy, western culture and style have significantly influenced consumer developmental trends in China, with foreign investment also having a major impact on the Chinese economy and income in these regions. All these have resulted in demand for and spending in luxury products including fragrances, toiletries and make-up amongst the affluent and emerging middle income Chinese.” Lui Meng concludes.

80% of respondents may have claimed that they wore fragrance as a reflection of their personal style, but the remainder of Lui Meng’s analysis and what I’ve noted from other sources would seem to present a very different picture. In any event, the overall bottom line seems to be that perfume is either aspirational, or a symbol of having socially arrived — not an actual habit borne out of love, longstanding habit, or any real appreciation for how a particular fragrance may smell.

JAPAN:

A) THE OVERALL NUMBERS & SALES FIGURES:

Gwen Stefani fragrance ad for the “Harajuku Lovers” Collection. Source: tlzd.net

As the Premium Beauty News article mentioned at the start of this piece makes clear, the Japanese market is very weak. It stands out amongst the other Asian nations in having actually declining sales over the last 5 years. One reason why is the recession, while another is the continued impact of the natural disaster which hit Japan.

Still, Japan has never had a particularly robust fragrance industry. A Companies and Markets report from late 2013 has some specific numbers:

Although Japan has the second biggest market for beauty and personal care, and carries one of the most developed and mature cosmetics markets around the world, Japan’s fragrances is still in its infancy, totalling mere a ¥42 billion in 2012.

The Japanese fragrances sector is fragmented. […] ‘Various distributors’ accounted for 24% value share in 2012, with the leading distributor, Bluebell Japan, leading the field. [¶] Bluebell Japan has been operating in Japanese fragrances since 1954 and the company distributes 25 international fragrance brands, including Bvlgari and Gucci. [Emphasis added by me.]

The Japanese fragrance industry has been forecast to increase at an average annual rate of 1.4% during 2007-2017, picking up pace after two years of decline in 2009 and 2011 due to economic recession and natural disaster.

B) FRAGRANCE AS A WESTERN SYMBOL & JAPAN’S CULTURAL SPLIT:

Samurai Woman “One Love” Eau de Toilette Perfume. Source: global.rakuten.com

What I find to be interesting about the Japanese market is the underlying sociological and psychological approaches to perfumery. Now, I am no psychologist, I have not looked for any expert analysis on the Japanese psyche when it comes to perfumery, and I also have not sought any sociological reports on the same. Frankly, if such reports exist, they would be in a language I do not read or know. A few, admittedly old, Japanese newspaper reports in English have stated that there isn’t a lot of detailed information on the country’s specific usage of perfumery.

However, there is an absolutely fascinating, detailed discussion of the Japanese habits, mentality and mindset regarding fragrances by The Black Narcissus, a perfume blogger who has lived in Japan for over 17 years. He makes it clear that he is neither an anthropologist nor an expert, and that he can offer only his perceptions, the individual opinion of one man. While it may not be a scientific overview of a whole nation’s culture, it’s a lot more than we have from other sources, and I thought it was brilliant.

The Black Narcissus’ post is entitled Japan, Perfume. Though it is long, I urge you to read it in full because it is truly fascinating. It talks about his personal experiences in trying to buy perfume in places that sell expensive fragrances in Tokyo, and the detached sterility of the whole process. He explains why he thinks there is such a plethora of vintage treasures to be found in antique shops. More importantly, he talks about how perfume is either an aspirational product or something that is bought because it confers membership in an elite socio-economic class. Frankly, his analysis echoes everything said by Mintel’s China Expert up above with regard to the approach and mentality of the majority of Chinese consumers.

Source: goodfon.com

To quote just a small part of The Black Narcissus’ analysis:

As I have written elsewhere, this country, essentially, is not a perfume country, if by perfume country you mean somewhere, like the Arab countries, or France, Italy, Spain, places where a bottle of scent is sold somewhere every few seconds or so and is seen as something enjoyable, natural, a part of one’s public, and private, identity. Something to be enjoyed. Splashed on, used up, and bought again when you run out, with abandon. A bottle to be drained. This is emphatically not how it is seen in Japan. There are no perfume shops, the ‘profumeria’, like there are on practically every street corner in Rome or Barcelona: just a limited selection sold in particularly designated department stores. And even these are not frequented with anyway near as much enthusiasm as the clothes floors, accessories, and particularly make up concessions like Kanebo and Shiseido (Japanese women do love their skin care). Perfume, here, is very much an afterthought. […][¶]

.. [O]n the whole, the wearing of perfume, in this country, is simply not something commonplace or even ‘natural’. It is sold; it is worn; there are customers milling about the perfume stands at the department stores as you would expect, but even here there are crucial distinctions between the pleasurable act of perfume shopping in Berlin or Los Angeles and the museum-like, hygienic perfection of the testing out a high-end scent at at top level deparment store such as Isetan, Shinjuku – the busiest, biggest, and most gleaming fashion emporium in all of Tokyo. […][¶]

Isetan’s fragrance floor. Source: globalblue.com

Ultimately, like non-Japanese or gaijin (the derogatory-tinged word that is applied to all foreigners, white ones in particular), perfume, of the expensive, western variety, is seen, I think as The Other. And The Other is basically something you don’t (want to) understand, you fear, or conversely have an untoward level of respect, even deference, for, but, for me, the fact remains that ‘the other’ is a huge and integral part of the general Japanese psyche, and I would personally place perfume within its unloving, distancing, and paranoid frame. […][¶]

Source: entertainment.desktopnexus.com

… [C]oncurrently – and this brings, us finally, to Chanel, and Guerlain – a strange combination of hierarchy and snobbery (the desire to purchase expensive, branded foreign goods; the fierce, ubiquitous impulse to have the latest fashion – Japan is fad/craze/boom central par excellence -the seemingly almost genetic impulse to copy and follow other people so as not to stand out, plus the very deeply entrenched inferiority complex […] all of it creating, in the package of stylish, expensive, and particularly French, designer perfume, a very potent and covetable status symbol. […][¶]

… that perfume, in that box, baby, is there to be admired.

I OWN you, you fancy, little, French imported, Kokyu (‘high level’) objet.

And though it is possible that I may, one day, open you, to wear, perhaps, to the opera, or a classical concert, a play, or an afternoon tea party in Ginza with some of my old friends, you know, on second thought, I think that I probably won’t.

Who knows how strong this concentrated perfume will actually be?

What if in some way I were to offend others?

What if the foreign smell makes me stand out too much, and look ridiculous? No, no. I don’t think I will wear you actually. I’ll put you just in this drawer, here by the bedside. Fourth drawer down. There you go…. […][¶]

You know why all those glorious perfumed treasures were there, waiting for me, in that old, locked up glass cabinet? Because nobody, basically, wanted them. For the vast majority of the people here they would be nothing but a signifier, something that the majority of this perfume-hating nation basically never wants to understand, because, in end, wearing perfume is a foreign custom – it is not Japanese.

Old Japanese fragrance ad from The Black Narcissus.

It is fascinating, isn’t it? The Black Narcissus makes a point that one definitely does smell perfume in Japan: from young kids with their “trashy, pink and blue perfumes;” the young mothers with their de rigueur uniform of L’Occitane‘s L’Eau des Quatres Reines; the glitzy, middle-aged women who will occasionally rock Poison, Coco, or Dune; or the men on the prowl wearing what they think of as lady-killer scents (Aramis or Platinum Egoïste, according to The Black Narcissus). Yet, the bottom line is that these all appear to be exceptions to the general rule, and were noticed simply because they stood out.

The Black Narcissus goes out of his way to state he is not trying to provide any anthropological or sociological expert conclusions, but I think the economic numbers from research groups like Mintel and the Euromonitor support a lot of his conclusions. The Japanese may buy perfume, but they don’t buy a lot of it — and the vast majority of them have a mental approach to the product that is about something other than how it actually smells. For them, it’s not about an olfactory escape into other lands or times; it’s not about a love for amber or floral aldehydes; and it’s certainly not about perfume as self-expression. It’s about a symbol of Western luxury that amplifies their aspirations, or about class identity amongst the group. It is a mere object.

Ad for Japan's Mystic Angel perfume. Source: Emirates.com

Ad for Japan’s Mystic Angel brand of perfume. Source: Emirates-perfumes.com

Japan’s tricky, complicated relationship with scent is underscored in another Westerner’s account of the situation. A 2009 piece called Scents and Sensibility: Perfume in Japan by Sylvia Saracino for GaijinPot reads, in part, as follows:

What’s the biggest pot hole just waiting to receive a foreigner’s foot? His or her artificial fragrance of choice. While perfume overdoses are rightly taboo in most cultures, even a tiny whiff of store bought scent could be deemed inappropriate in a Japanese workplace.

[¶] Consider some unfortunate cases: “One day, after a pretty great lesson, my head English teacher approached me. Assuming that she’d heard about the students’ participation, I asked for her opinion and was met with this awkward silence. With what looked like a great deal of difficulty, she finally said, ‘Your perfume is very strong! The children can smell it.’” Despite the temporary embarrassment, Leela concedes that it was better to have been informed of her inadvertent transgression early on. “I got the message and, clearly, wanted to die,” she continues, “but the woman insisted on clarifying that the only ladies in this country who wear perfume are either ‘very important’ or ‘working at night’.” [Emphasis added by me.]

Ad for the Mystic Angel brand’s Milky Pearl. Source: emirates-perfumes.com

There seems to be a generational divide in Japan, based on the accounts in that piece. There is a story of about an older teacher who wore no perfume or frippery of any kind, and it is placed in sharp contrast to the account of Emiko, a young Japanese woman. Her tale:

“I studied abroad in Europe as a teenager,” explains Emiko, a young mother in Akasaka. “I love perfume! On the subway one day, I was wearing some and an old man yelled, ‘You stink!’” Momentarily miffed, Emi, then in her early twenties, took it upon herself to teach the heckler a lesson: “I got up out of my seat, went over and sat down right beside him!” In the end, personal style will always be a matter of choice.

How can fragrance companies do well in Japan when faced with such a complicated cultural and mental mindsets towards fragrance? Companies like Kilian and Estée Lauder’s Tom Ford are specifically making fragrances designed to appeal to the Asian market, whether in name, softness, style, or notes. For example, Tom Ford’s Atelier d’Orient Collection or Kilian’s Flower of Immortality. I have no idea how well they’ve done, as companies don’t release sales figures for specific products, let alone profitability statements for specific markets. I’m sure some luxury-loving Japanese people have purchased them, but I have to wonder how many.

C) PERFUME SUBSTITUTES & THE LOVE OF DOWNY:

Source: walmart.com

What I do know is that there is one olfactory genre that seems to be very successful in piercing the Asian market — and it’s not actual perfume. It is household fragrance and cleaning products! The Asahi Shinbun is a very well-established, influential Japanese paper, and it wrote an article entitled Fragrance to the Forefront in May 2013 which talks a lot about… Downy fabric softener. In fact, the newspaper article made the thoroughly disturbing, depressing suggestion that “consumers increasingly regard scented fabric softener as a replacement for perfume.” [Emphasis added by me.]

It gets worse. According to the Asahi Shinbun, Japanese consumers are experimenting with combining various fabric softeners to create their own signature scent. One company even has a “Make Your Own Happiness” center to facilitate mixing and matching its products. No, I’m not joking.

Lenor’s “Make Your Own Happiness” center where you can mix and match various scented fabric softeners. Source: carpediemjapancom.blogspot.com

The rest of article explains just how successful household items have become as a substitute for perfumery:

With their sense of mild body odor, Japanese generally frown at the idea of splashing themselves with strong fragrances.

In recent years, however, scented fabric softeners have taken off in a big way.

The surge in sales suggests that consumers increasingly regard scented fabric softener as a replacement for perfume; some are even blending softeners to come up their own original scents.

The product that triggered the trend was Downy, which is manufactured by Proctor & Gamble (P&G).

Sales of household products that leave a pleasant fragrance or freshness on clothing after washing began to soar at foreign-affiliated supermarkets and other outlets from around the mid-2000s,

In 2008, P&G released Lenor Happiness, a softener touted as having a strong fragrance. Since then, the market has been inundated with fabric softeners that are sweeter, more intense and have longer-lasting aromas. […][¶]

The Lion company’s “aroma rich” fabric softener. Source: global.rakuten.com

Among fabric softeners offered by [another Japanese household cleaning company called] Lion, products emphasizing aroma saw sales in 2012 close to three times greater than those of 2005. Japan’s overall market for softeners grew from 62.6 billion yen ($644 million) in 2008 to 78.7 billion yen in 2012 according to market researcher Intage Inc.

Indoor air fresheners, insect repellents, cleaning products, kitchen detergents and other housecleaning items are also highlighting scent.

Under the concept of “Fragrant Housework” last year, Kao Corp., a major player in the Japanese consumer products market, pitched the idea of homemakers actually enjoying housework with the use of soothing fragrances. It started releasing rose-scented cleaners and other fragrant household products.

“Cleaning and washing is tedious. However, soothing fragrances can help motive people,” said brand manager Junji Shiratsuchi, 49.

TV commercial for Kao, a japanese brand of fabric softener, called “Haunted hay”. Source: YouTube.com

In an attempt to explain the situation, the newspaper turned to a Japanese scholar who has written about fragrance in the past. And he came up with a rather unexpected explanation for the whole thing:

Shigeru Kashima, a scholar of French literature who translated Alain Corbin’s “The Foul and the Fragrant,” noted there are instances in other countries of people preferring scent-free environments after a period of concealing offensive odors with fragrant smells.

Yet, he said the time eventually comes when people feel a need to start using fragrances as a means to stand out.

Still, why do people in Japan prefer scented fabric softener over perfume?

Kashima, trying to come to grips with the idea, came up with the following notion: “Japanese men seek immaturity and childishness in women rather than sexiness associated with maturity. As such, people probably prefer the cleanliness emphasized by fabric softener over the sexiness linked to perfume.” [Emphasis added by me.]

There are no words to express my astonishment. To put it politely, it seems clear that the chap is struggling to come up with any sort of possible explanation, and is making quite a stretch. If he is correct (which I’m dubious about), then his assessment seems to say more about gender-roles and gender perceptions in Japan than anything else.

What I can say is that none of this seems to indicate a widespread, actual love of perfumery amongst the Japanese. The cultural state of mind is simply not there. Fragrances may be purchased for a variety of non-olfactory reasons, but there is no genuine historical, cultural and philosophical appreciation for them. (That appreciation seems to be reserved for cleanliness, and the household items which provide it.) Without such a foundational structure, I wonder how the industry can ever really grow to strong, vibrant levels, especially in the immediate future.

ALL IN ALL:

This has been a long piece, and I want to thank you for any parts of it that you may have read. The problem in discussing any of this is that mere economic numbers are dry, while anecdotal evidence is hardly indicative of any larger trends. One must therefore combine the two together to get even a faint semblance of what may be happening within a particular country.

It’s hard not to contrast the situation in China and Japan with that of Brazil whose massive perfume market is the biggest in the world. It wasn’t always that way, but the country has an incredibly strong perfume culture and you can see the result. In the case of the two Asian countries, one can really only speculate about the larger or cultural reasons for why perfume hasn’t taken off as a modern trend. China with its booming economy and its vast population is particularly hard to categorize with any blanket statement other than the fact that its history prevented a longstanding, widespread tradition of perfumery from taking root.

Source: perfuglamour.es

As for the future, it may require a team of experts — sociologists, historians, economists, and psychologists — in each country to do a detailed study of the various socio-economic groups, their generational differences, and their attitudes to scent in order to really understand whether fragrance has a chance of taking a firm hold in their psyche. I’m talking about an actual love of perfumery, not mere purchases. In my opinion, a genuine appreciation for scent is necessary to drive a truly strong market. If it happens, I think it will take a generation, or perhaps two. The seeds are there — even maybe in Japan — but it’s going to take time.

What might help are celebrity fragrances. They capture the attention of the youth demographic which can be a very significant force in driving overall sales, as evidenced by the U.K, and America, and in creating perfume awareness as a whole. Even in India, it is the young who are demonstrating the greatest interest in perfumed creations, though it is mainly centered on hygiene products for now.

One thing is certain, though: the Japanese really love their scented fabric softeners.

Brazil’s Massive Fragrance Market

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Kafkaesque

Glass Perfume Bottles–Swedish art. Source: pixels.com

Brazil‘s roaring fragrance market is the largest in the world, and the country has an incredibly strong perfume culture. I thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at the figures, what sells, who buys, and the best-selling fragrances for both men and women.

As always, I would like to stress that I have no background in finance, economics, marketing, or anything remotely mathematical in nature. I do not claim to be an expert on any of those things, there are limits to how comprehensive I can be in a single article, and I write about what interests me, as well as what I have access to. If you are more interested in another country, you can always check my prior pieces on the U.S. and international fragrance markets, the late 2013 U.S. industry figures, the global fragrance market, and the celebrity perfume industry. Finally, please note that all of my articles focus on the commercial fragrance markets, not the niche one.

THE OVERALL ECONOMIC FIGURES:

Photo: Luxuryactivist.com

Brazil is a country that adores fragrance and, as a result, it is the largest perfume market in the world. Every research group I’ve seen makes that last point, often in a tone of great admiration. To quote a Cosmetics Design article from March 2014:

By 2013 Brazil was already the most valuable fragrances market in the world, worth more than US$6 billion, built on the back of high per capita consumption as Brazilians use, on average, three times more fragrances by volume than consumers in the U.S., the next most valuable market.

It is such a valuable market than five of the major fragrance houses in the country (being Givaudan, IFF, Firmenich, Symrise and Takasago) invested around R$160 million in Brazil in recent years, making Sao Paolo one of the most important cities in the world in terms of development of fragrances, behind only New York and Paris.

IFFs rising stock prices. Source: FoxBusinessnews.com

The aromachemical giants’ investment has paid off. If you read my prior pieces on U.S. and global sales, you will see that each company points to Brazil as one reason for their strong sales in the emerging markets. In a few cases, those emerging market figures have helped boost the company’s overall bottom line quite substantially.

The Luxury Activist website has compiled some overall figures for the beauty industry in Brazil, based on reports from Euromonitor and a wide variety of other sources:

Top Beauty segments in Brazil in 2012 by sales

Hair care products: 4 billion US$

Alcoholic Fragrances: 2.7 Billion US$

Men’s Shaving products: 2 Billion US$

Deodorants: 1.7 billion US$

Bath products: 1.7 billion US$

Children beauty products: 0.6 Billion US$

Alcoholic Fragrances and deodorants have been growing by 15% every year on the past 5 years.

source: girlandboything.com

According to a recent Premium Beauty News article, Brazil’s fragrance industry is so profitable that it is actually one of the driving forces for the growth of the global market as a whole:

Brazil was among the fastest growing markets in the last five years, with CAGR [Compound Annual Growth Rate] of 13.6% in local currency terms. While growth will slow over the next five years, Brazil will retain leadership of the global fragrance market, forecast for sales of $5.1 billion in 2017.

For Brazilians, wearing fragrance has become a daily ritual, with 90% owning and 84% wearing it regularly. [Emphasis in the original.]

WHAT SELLS & WHO BUYS IT:

The Cosmetics Design report talks about who is buying perfume and the reasons why. It mentions how men play a key role in terms of perfume sales, “consuming 48.7% of fragrances by volume.” Furthermore, even the poor buy a lot of perfume, almost as much as the very richest households in terms of overall quantity. What drives all this? The article quotes a finding by the Canadean research firm that consumers seek “‘to affirm particular visions of femininity or masculinity, including the use fragrances [sic] to deliberately break gender stereotypes[.]'” However, consumers are also motivated by a desire to try novel, new scents and/or to pamper themselves.

Natura fragrances. Source: their website.

Most of these scents are not expensive ones. According to Euromonitor, 90% of fragrances purchased by the Brazilians are mass-market creations! As a whole, two national brands control 60% of the market share, Natura and O Boticario. Remember the aromachemical companies and the R$160 million that they’ve spent on expansion? Well, according to the Euromonitor, they’re making fragrances for the Brazilian national companies, in addition to creating some for international brands.

I found a 2010 Euromonitor PDF report which gives a little more information on perfume sales and, in particular, best-selling brands:

Megan Fox ad for Avon’s Instinct. Source: trendhunter.com

In common with many other categories in Brazilian beauty and personal care, fragrance sales are typified by a very low presence of premium brands. In Brazil, the premium segment accounts for a mere 6% of the total fragrances market, and the best-selling brands are primarily those from mass-priced direct sellers such as Avon and Oriflame. This is in stark contrast to most other countries with a value market of equal size to Brazil: in the USA, for example, premium brands accounted for 79% in 2008. The difference stems again from the high taxes on luxury goods in Brazil, and also the comparatively far lower disposable incomes. [Emphasis added by me.]

One of Natura’s boutiques in Brazil. Source: naturabrasil.fr

While most perfume sales in Brazil center on mass-market local creations, the more recent Euromonitor report indicates that there is a possibility for consumers to start buying international and more expensive fragrances from the premium sector. Generally speaking, and based on what I have seen when the term is used for American sales, the “premium” sector seems to center on fragrances in the US $60-$80 range, while luxury appears to be defined as those priced at a little over $100. However, that is merely my personal observation, and is limited to U.S. pricing.

Brazilian pricing is significantly more inflated because the country imposes a whopping tariff on imported goods. The tax is well over 40%, so many consumers go abroad to purchase their high-end perfume. “In fact, the average price for premium fragrances in Brazil is more than double that of the US, at over US$100 per 50ml.” So, when the Euromonitor is talking about Brazilians possibly move away from mainstream, local scents into more expensive perfumery, there is a definite obstacle in their path.

Source: blog.jellyweb.com.br

On the other hand, Sephora has recently arrived in Brazil, and is sure to have an impact on sales of “premium” fragrances. The Euromonitor states:

While there are undoubtedly difficult challenges for premium fragrance brands to overcome in order to get a strong foothold in Brazil’s fragrance loving-market, Sephora’s presence is sure to shake up the field. As the use of fragrances is deeply embedded in the country, Brazil is forecast to not only have the highest volume per capita in 2016, but also to be the third highest spending country in per capita terms, behind only the Netherlands and Switzerland. [Emphasis added by me.]

PREMIUM FRAGRANCE BEST-SELLERS: THE TOP 30 FOR MEN & WOMEN:

I find all these numbers and figures useful, but they don’t really give me a good sense or feel of what it is like for the average perfume lover in Brazil. I don’t know Portuguese, so I’m hindered in trying to get a more micro understanding of the culture, but I found it interesting to browse the perfume section of Sephora Brasil‘s website. There, they have the horrifying Nicki Minaj perfume bottle, along with Joop!, Taylor Swift‘s Wonderstruck rollerball, and Azzaro men’s fragrances. Sephora also seems to have an exclusive for Guerlain (La Petite Robe Noire seems to be successful, as it is everywhere) and Armani creations.

What gave me a slightly better sense of what is going on was the Luxury Activist‘s list of best-selling fragrances. I assume he is talking solely about international “premium” perfumes, since the other reports listed above state that 90% of fragrances purchased by the Brazilians are mass-market creations and only 6% are “premium” brands. So, do keep that in mind when you read the list.

According to the site, Brazil’s Top 30 best-selling women’s (premium) fragrances in 2012 are:

J’Adore – Christian Dior with 4.9% of market shares
212 VIP – Carolina Herrera
Flower by Kenzo – Kenzo
CH – Carolina Herrera
212 Carolina Herrera
Hypnôse – Lancôme
212 Sexy – Carolina Herrera
Lady Million – Paco Rabanne
Ange ou Demon – Givenchy
Ck One – Calvin Klein
Dolce & Gabbana – Dolce & Gabbana
Ck Be – Calvin Klein
L’Eau d’Issey – Isssey Myake
Tommy Girl – Tommy Hilfiger
Gabriela Sabatini – Gabriela Sabatini
Amor Amor – Cacharel
Black XS for her – Paco Rabanne
Very Irresistible -Givenchy
Nina – Nina Ricci
Armani Code for women – Giorgio Armani
Dior Addict 2 – Christian Dior
Angel – Thierry Mugler
Diesel Fuel for Life for Her – Diesel
Anais Anais – Cacharel
Kenzo Amour -Kenzo
Femme – Montblanc
Eternity – Calvin Klein
Amarige – Givenchy
Lolita Lempicka – Lolita Lempicka
Organza – Givenchy

Source: boots.com

In analysing the top 30 of best selling feminine fragrances, here is what we can say from a olfactory taste point of view. 40% of these fragrances are floral fragrances. J’Adore by Dior, Very Irresistible or Anais Anais are the floral spectrum of brazilian women taste for florals. Anaïs Anaïs has been in the top selling fragrances for decades in Brazil, along with Chanel N.5 and the modern florals like J’Adore and Very Irresistible, have taken the lead.

Nevertheless, we can see that Orientals and modern orientals represent now 32% of best selling fragrances, which is new. In deed, Fragrances like Hypnôse by Lancôme, Black XS for Her and even Angel by Thierry Mugler, have found their place in a market getting more and more mature and sophisticated. […][¶]

At last, we can see that brands like Carolina Herrera, Paco Rabanne and Givenchy have several fragrances in the top 30. These 3 brands invested the brazilian market for a very long time and they are very powerful there. [Emphasis added by me.]

Enrique Iglesias for Azzaro Pour Homme Photo: Steven Klein. Source: fashionwindows.net

For the men, the Luxury Activist has this top 30 list for 2012:

Azzaro pour homme – Azzaro
Ferrari Black – Ferrari Profumi
One Million – Paco Rabanne
212 Men NYC – Carolina Herrera
Joop! Homme – Joop
212 VIP – Carolina Herrera
Kouros – Yves Saint Laurent
Polo – Ralph Lauren
Hugo – Hugo Boss
Polo Blue – Ralph Lauren
CH Men – Carolina Herrera
212 Sexy Men – Carolina Herrera
The One for men – Dolce & Gabbana
Black XS – Paco Rabanne
Acqua di Gio pour homme – Giorgio Armani
Montblanc – Montblanc
Polo Black – Ralph Lauren
L’Eau d’Issey pour homme – Issey Miyake
Fahrenheit – Christian Dior
Lacoste Essential – Lacoste
Armani Code – Giorgio Armani
Tommy – Tommy Hilfiger
Le Mâle – Jean Paul Gaultier
Dolce & Gabbana pour homme – Dolce & Gabbana
Kenzo pour homme – Kenzo
Ck One – Calvin Klein
Diesel Fuel for Life for him – Diesel
Euphoria Men Intense – Calvin Klein
Eternity for men – Calvin Klein
Play – Givenchy

The masculine market is more traditional with best sellers like Azzaro, Polo, Kouros, Fahrenheit or even Hugo. All fragrances with more than 20 years old. Carolina Herrera, Paco Rabanne and Calvin Klein have also a strong dominance. 3 main olfactory structures share the market. Little advantage with Aromatic structures leading the market by 42%, followed by Woody fragrances by 31% and Orientals for 27%.

One Million ad. Source: toptenplus.com/

The arrival of One Million by Paco Rabanne at the 3rd place represents a new entry, which is less aromatic and more oriental despite of some woody and yet fresh-aromatic start.

The Luxury Activist has the most detailed, lengthy list of anything I’ve seen thus far, but the Perfume Shrine has something rather similar for the female best-sellers, though not for the men. According to the Perfume Shrine (which is using NPD information and the testimony of two individuals, including Renata Acshcar who runs Brazil’s Museum of Perfume), the top 3 best-sellers for men in 2012 were:

Source: tienda.murlana.es

Paco Rabanne pour Homme
Polo by Ralph Lauren
212 Men (Carolina Herrera)

What I found more interesting there was the discussion in the comments. Specifically, the concrete example from one Brazilian, “Henrique/Rick,” about just how much more expensive the “prestige” fragrances can be in Brazil:

About the taxes, to have an idea of how much more we pay, a normal Carolina Herrera Scent in the 100ml bottle can easily cost the price of a Chanel Exclusif in USA (and a Chanel Exclusif in the 200ml bottle cost something around 430-440 dollars).

It’s obviously an astronomical difference from the prices of the same products in America. As Henrique/Rick stated in his comment, without that huge tariff, Brazilians would undoubtedly spend even more than they already do.

ALL IN ALL:

Brazil’s passion for perfumery across every socio-economic strata leaves many other countries in the dust. The only thing stopping it from having even more explosive numbers is their taxes. Without that, Brazil would probably be the answer to niche perfume houses world-wide, as would several other Latin American countries in similar situations. (Mexico is another strong market for commercial fragrances and for scented products as a whole. Argentina also has a difficult tariff problem.)

Companies who want to get ahead should — and undoubtedly will — follow the path of the aromachemical giants and invest more heavily in Brazil.

The Perfume Industry & EU Regulations

Posted on May 26, 2014 by Kafkaesque

There is a new Reuters article on what is going to happen with EU perfume regulation, and I found it interesting for reasons other than the usual repetition of how oakmoss is going to be banned. What is significant about the piece to me is what certain perfume houses said bluntly, what others did not, and the tonal shift amongst some industry leaders. So, I’m going to spend some time analyzing how various perfume brands are reacting to the EU proposals, now versus the past. In terms of actual regulatory news, the Reuters article talks a little about the small 90-day window for public consultation which just ended on May 14th, and the next steps in the legislative process. I’ll cover that, too.

BACKGROUND:

Oakmoss or tree moss.

Let’s start with some background if you’re unfamiliar with the convoluted details of the EU situation. As noted in my prior piece on perfume regulation, a 2012 Advisory Committee had offered certain draconian suggestions to the EU regulatory body on widespread restrictions of 12 ingredients. These were mere suggestions, but, as noted in a 2013 post I wrote, it had already led the perfume industry to begin changes to formulas of existing perfumes. To bring you up to date on the current situation, and to put it in a nutshell, the EU is currently:

planning on completely banning oakmoss, tree moss, and HICC, a synthetic that replicates the smell of lily of the valley (or muguet).
deliberating on how much 9 other key, very essential ingredients should be restricted and to what levels they should be limited. As the new Reuters article explains, these other ingredients include citral, found in lemon and tangerine oils; coumarin, found in tropical tonka beans; and eugenol, found in rose oil.”
deliberating on what sort of perfume labeling should be required.

Now, all of this is the exact same situation we faced when I wrote my earlier piece back in February of this year, but part of what the new Reuters article talks about is the public reaction to those proposals and the results of the consultation window where the EU sought opinion from those in the industry and its citizens. The article is called “Perfume industry braces for tough new EU rules” and was written by Astrid Wendlandt and Pascale Denis. It also talks about what the next steps in this process will be, but I found it interesting primarily for what I think it reveals about the various perfume companies and industry leaders, like Frederic Malle, Chanel, and LVMH.

THE PERFUME INDUSTRY RESPONSE:

Frederic Malle. Source: Paris.com

My favorite quote from Monsieur Malle in the new article pertains to the EU’s plans to restrict citral, though to what level we do not yet know:

“If we ban citral from perfumes, of which certain elements are allergens, we should ban orange juice. It is absurd. We should not ban nature, only learn how to live with it,” said Frederic Malle, who founded the French luxury perfume company Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle. [Emphasis added.]

Monsieur Malle also informed the reporters that he is already reformulating his fragrances:

Frederic Malle said he was forced to reformulate about a quarter of his scents due to the upcoming EU regulations, leading to extra costs – but costs which he found difficult to quantify as they also represented time invested to rework the formulas.

“It can take more than six months to reformulate a perfume, and a minimum of some 30 tests … and this is precious time that cannot be spent on creating new perfumes. So to protect a small portion of the population, we are making the rest suffer,” he said.

Note how very candid, blunt, and frustrated his comments are, and then compare them to the very gingerly worded, rather generic e-mail statements issued by Chanel and LVMH in the article. Chanel is quoted on the issue of the oakmoss ban which is going to severely impact several of its most famous fragrances, particularly Chanel No. 5. In talking about the oakmoss ban, the article states:

Source: entertainment.desktopnexus.com

Such mosses could be found in Chanel’s No.5 and Dior’s Miss Dior but the brands have been working on using altered versions, stripped of the molecules atranol and chloroatranol, regarded as potential allergens by the EU.

“Adapting is a challenge but it is precisely the talent of our “nose” to be able to preserve the qualities and olfactive (scent) identity of our perfumes while also taking into account new regulatory constraints,” Chanel said in an e-mailed statement.

That’s all Chanel seems to be willing to say on the record, which is consistent with prior articles where they have either refused to comment entirely, or the reporters have implied that Chanel doesn’t want to talk about what it’s doing to its perfumes in response to the EU situation.

As for the other luxury companies, the Reuters piece only had this to say:

Hermes as well as Dior and Guerlain – [the latter 2] both owned by LVMH – have also been preparing themselves for the new rules by progressively changing their formulas.

“The European Commission approach guarantees the security of consumers and preserves Europe’s olfactive heritage,” LVMH said in an e-mailed statement. Hermes, Dior and Guerlain declined to comment. [Emphasis to names added by me.]

Mitsouko, a LVMH fragrance from Guerlain that has already been impacted badly by EU/IFRA regulations. Photo source: Guerlain.com

LVMH’s comments demonstrate a distinct change in tone, if you ask me. Back in the earlier Reuters article that was the focus of my January 1, 2013 post on the widespread split in the industry, the journalists said this:

LVMH, which owns Dior and Guerlain, and Chanel are lobbying Brussels to protect their perfumes, many of which were created decades ago.

“It is essential to preserve Europe’s olfactory cultural heritage,” LVMH told Reuters in an emailed statement.

What a difference. Before, we had an industry leader demonstrating a willingness to fight and telling journalists that it was lobbying Brussels in order “to preserve Europe’s olfactory cultural heritage” against the proposed EU regulations. Now, we now have the exact same company saying that it is the European Commission’s approach which “preserves Europe’s olfactive heritage.” There is a night and day difference between those two LVMH statements.

My guess is that companies do not want to appear to be working against regulations that have been presented as protecting consumers. You and I know that the EU regulations are based on iffy science and the mere possibility that some tiny, minute portion of the population may perhaps, one day, maybe, hypothetically get a skin rash — but the general public does not. The way all of this is being presented on the surface is that the EU is kindly and benignly working in the public good. Companies may not want to risk the negative PR from appearing to be against regulations that are ostensibly intended to protect consumers. In truth, their fears aren’t wholly illogical. It’s not impossible to imagine tabloid headlines from ragsheets like the Daily Mirror or News of the World screaming, “Greedy Chanel wants to keep its massive perfume profits from Chanel No. 5 even if it makes consumers sick!”

Chanel’s jewellery window at Le Place Vendome. Photo: my own.

I think that is the only explanation for why some brands refuse to publicly discuss the EU changes at all. Consider Chanel’s bland statement on how its noses are talented enough to compensate for the total oakmoss ban in its most famous fragrances, and then compare it with Frederic Malle’s outraged bluntness on the complete idiocy of the situation. Do you think Frederic Malle doesn’t have the most talented noses who could also deal with the oakmoss situation? He does, but he’s willing to publicly stand up for the perfume makers in this battle perhaps because his company is not a multi-national conglomerate that puts out everything from skin care to fashion and expensive diamond jewellery.

His business is limited primarily to perfume, so he is in a much more life-and-death struggle. And he’s said so, bluntly. Back in that earlier Reuters piece which I keep talking about, Malle said:

“If this law goes ahead I am finished, as my perfumes are all filled with these ingredients,” said Frederic Malle…. The impact on luxury perfume brands as a whole would, he said, be “like an atomic explosion and we would not have the means to rebuild ourselves.”

Chanel’s 1932.

Here, in the current 2014 Reuters article, Malle talks candidly about how he is already reformulating his fragrances. Contrast that to what Chanel and others had to say in the earlier Reuters article:

Chanel declined to comment on whether it has ever changed the formula of its world-famous perfume, as did Guerlain, Dior and luxury brand Hermes, which all make high-end perfumes using natural ingredients.

“No comment” in this context pretty much speaks volumes, if you ask me.

I’ve seen the same divide in article after article. Frederic Malle is consistently the most blunt and critical; LVMH (owner of Guerlain and Dior) is never critical but is usually quite direct about its views of the EU regulations; Chanel sometimes makes a rare, always bland statement that never attacks IFRA or the EU, and is never about anything of any significance whatsoever; and Hermès lets the other luxury manufacturers fight its battles.

L’Oreal’s La Vie Est Belle, by Lancome. Source: myfdb.com

In the meantime, L’Oreal essentially smirks in the corner and appears not to give a damn, perhaps because a good chunk of its creations for such brands as YSL, Lancome, Viktor & Rolf, and many others are rather synthetic concoctions. The earlier 2012 Reuters article is much more tactful than I am about L’Oreal, probably because they aren’t nursing a serious grudge against the company as I most definitely am for what they’ve done to YSL perfumes. So, Reuters says only:

L’Oreal, however, already uses many synthetic ingredients in its perfumes and is thus keeping a low profile on the issue, industry representatives said.

Other companies making perfumes on an industrial scale for luxury brands, such as IFF, Givaudan and Firmenich, are less concerned about the SCCS proposal because they can rely on synthetic materials and make new perfumes using them but the restrictions, if enforced, would force them to reformulate many of their scents on a scale never seen before.

Givaudan and L’Oreal declined to comment for this report.

Pierre Sivac, President of IFRA. Source: Cosmeticsbusiness.com

Yes, I’m quite sure that Givaudan declined to comment…. Speaking of the aroma-chemical giant, and its toady servant, IFRA, I found it interesting that the new Reuters article on the current situation did not discuss the perfume industry’s supposed representative. In fact, there was not one single mention of IFRA in the whole piece. Yet, IFRA was positively bowing at the EU’s feet back in February, rubbing their hands approvingly at the proposed restrictions. The Reuters piece from back then that I talked about in part in my previous post has IFRA’s president saying:

“We broadly welcome the proposed measures,” said Pierre Sivac, president of the International Fragrance Association [IFRA], the perfume industry’s self-regulatory body…. which is financed by scent makers such as Givaudan, New York-listed International Flavors & Fragrances and Germany’s Symrise [….] [Emphasis added by me.]

THE NEXT STEPS IN THE PROCESS & LABELING:

So, what is happening now and in the upcoming months? Well, according to the new Reuters article, we should get a report in July about the results of the open discussion period and what issues were raised. The article says,

[t]he consultation triggered more than 200 responses from industry players, consumers’ associations and researchers, which the EU said was a relatively high number.

“This has stirred quite a lot of passion,” said Hudson of the European Commission.

The Berlaymont building in Brussels, headquarters of the European Commission. Photo and source: acmphoto.photoshelter.com

The European Commission’s headquarters at the Berlaymont building in Brussels. Photo and source: acmphoto.photoshelter.com

Then, in August, a proposed amendment of the 2009 Cosmetics Regulation act with the new rules is expected to be sent to individual EU member nations. In September, a final version might be sent to the overall EU Council and Parliament. At that point, there would be 3 months in which the governing body or individual members could oppose it. I assume at the end of that time, roughly in December 2014, the whole thing would come to a final vote, but I’m rather hazy on how the EU legislative rules work. The bottom line, however, seems to be that January 2015 will be the start of a different perfume landscape.

Two issues remain open for further discussion and fine-tuning before they are submitted to any legislative body for consideration. Specifically, the question of how much 9 of the 12 targeted ingredients (like the citral mentioned above) should be restricted, and then the exact nature of labeling that will be mandated. With regard to the latter, the new Reuters article states:

The regulations will also require perfume makers to inform consumers about potential allergens contained in their products but it has not yet decided how this will work in practice and how many of them should be labelled.

It has raised the number of ingredients that must be labelled from 26 to more than 80 and is looking at ways to allow perfume makers to provide information about them on the Internet or through smartphone scans to avoid having to cram them on the package.

80 seems like a lot, but it’s a little less than the 100 which the Advisory Committee initially suggested a long time ago. What always amuses me about the labeling situation is what happened in 2005 when consumer groups forced an EU amendment requiring perfume companies to list 26 potentially allergenic ingredients on their bottles. According to the old Reuters piece, the perfume companies did so… in Latin!

Part of the problem for perfume companies when it comes to label lists seems to be that they don’t have any intellectual property protection. As the old Reuters piece explains:

Most perfume brands are reluctant to label their products. Unlike artists and writers, perfume creators have no intellectual property rights to the fragrances they compose for big brands, and so perfume brands fight hard to keep their formulas hidden.

Of course, it’s always possible to ascertain the ingredients in a particular fragrance by putting it through highly specialised machines that will detect not only the various elements, but the proportions thereof. That’s how cheap copies and fakes are already made. Yet, obviously, things become much easier if the full list is provided by the company itself under mandate of law. The proportions may not be there, but everything else would be.

If perfume companies are going to be forced to label their products down to the smallest minutiae, it seems only fair that parallel legislation be pushed through to confer intellectual property protection at the same time. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard of any such proposals. If any of you have, I’d love to hear about it.

In the midst of all this, perfume lovers have little choice but to wait and see how events transpire. This brings me to the Parfumo Petition which I told you about some weeks ago. It was delivered to Brussels on May 14th with 2,500 signatures. A press release statement recently sent to me by Angelika Foerster of Parfumo reads:

From the standpoint of the individuals fighting on behalf of the art of perfumery, 2,500 signatures cannot be overlooked in Brussels or dismissed as “insignificant”. Moreover, the campaign is ongoing and additional signatures will be collected after the petition is submitted. “The issue will not go unnoticed in EU everyday routine”, Foerster foresees. “We’ll continue to buttress our point of view with more and more signatures. The only thing that will stop us is if the commission acknowledges our position and thus revises the bill in an acceptable way.” Accordingly, signatures will continue to be collected at http://www.parfumo.de/petition – in favour of perfume and against overregulation.

In short, the petition is ongoing, so if you haven’t done so already, please sign it and spread the word. It doesn’t matter if you’re not an EU resident. “Signatures by non-EU citizens are welcome as per the Commission’s request for input from ‘any interested parties’.”

In the meantime, Hermes, Dior, Guerlain, Malle, and many others are already changing their perfumes. Over in the Middle East, it seems that IFRA/EU-like regulations are going to be adopted in places like the United Arab Emirates, with ripple effects already impacting Amouage’s production of its attars.

By one estimate, over 9,000 perfume formulas are going to be changed when this is all over, if they haven’t been already. In my opinion, that is probably a very conservative number, in part because it comes from the agenda-driven IFRA group. Given that there are well over 1,000 new fragrances which hit the market each year and the significant role of the 9 key ingredients which are being targeted for reduction, I suspect that overall figure may be higher. In short, 2015 may herald a new year in more ways than one.

Petition to the EU regarding perfume regulation

Posted on April 12, 2014 by Kafkaesque

“Save Perfume’s Soul.” That is the plea behind a well-crafted, factually detailed, and heavily researched petition to the EU on the issue of perfume regulation. It has been put together by the people at Parfumo.net, and I was rather hoping that a few of you may take a moment to sign it.

The petition begins with the following arguments:

The EU Commission should protect health, AND the cultural asset perfumery:

We, the undersigned consumers, hereby voice our objection to the amendment currently proposed, which would render colourless the range of European perfumery.

Accordingly, we strongly oppose any further ingredients restrictions.

Please be advised that we, the undersigned, support the contribution by the “Consumers’ initiative for the protection of perfumes as a cultural asset“.¹ This contribution has been presented as part of the public consultation on fragrance allergens pursuant to Regulation EC No 1223/2009 on cosmetic products.^{2, 3}

With our signatures, we request that the decision-makers obtain a comprehensive perspective beyond the scope of the narrow confines of the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) opinion.⁴ This broad and complete perspective must include the following considerations and interests:

Consumer protection,

Cultural identity,

Economic considerations,

Consumer interests above and beyond mere health and safety.

I have to applaud the individuals behind this petition. They have clearly spent a massive amount of time doing their research, annotating the petition with links, and being very strategic about how they have presented things. I think my favorite part was when they used German governmental findings (from the German Federal Environment Agency [Bundesumweltamt]) against the EU bureaucrats in Brussels:

Research has demonstrated that it is impossible for an allergic event to be triggered through the use of perfume by a third party in proximity to a susceptible individual. The pertinent study, conducted by the German Federal Environment Agency [Bundesumweltamt], concluded that the mere act of inhaling potential contact allergens did not, in fact, result in the development of allergic symptoms by the test subjects.

From a legal perspective, I think it was also very astute of them to phrase one of the upcoming labeling proposals as the potential first step on the road to a de facto ban:

Three substances are currently scheduled to be prohibited under the proposed amendment (Lyral^® and [Chloro-] Atranol, thereby oakmoss and treemoss). Further substances (including elementary substances such as Geraniol, Coumarin or Linalool) are to be labelled above the threshold of 0.001% in leave-on products. This miniscule allowance is tantamount to an outright ban in most cases, insofar as the concentration is so minute as to render the ingredient undetectable by the human nose in the finished product. A labelling requirement which demands that a trace amount of an ingredient be listed, is the first step toward a de facto ban, to the extent that the tiny concentration permitted is virtually undetectable. This would also affect about 90% of all essential oils because these substances are primary components. [Emphasis added by me.]

Legislators and judges are always very influenced by whether the indirect effect of something amounts to total exclusion, so I think they have been very strategic, indeed.

Signing the petition itself takes less than a minute, followed by another minute to check your Spam folder for email confirmation that you subsequently have to click on. That’s all it takes.

However, I wanted you to know that the Petition does require one to list one’s country of residency. I raise this only because I wonder if the EU would really care what someone outside its borders might think? Would they not be more convinced if the signatories all appeared to be EU citizens and, thus, from their voter base? Just to be clear, I’m not telling you to lie. Please follow the letter of the law. I’m merely raising the theoretical possibility that government legislators may care more if the signatories appeared to be their own constituents. Purely hypothetically, of course. I would never suggest that you … er… just casually … er… put down a different country than your own. Oh no, not at all.

At the end of the day, the bureaucrats in Brussels will do what they want to do, but a petition like this can’t hurt. So, please, if you can, sign it, spread the word, and pass it on.