the perfume and fragrance market | France

1.1 Definition and scope of the study

Perfume is a cosmetic article composed of essential oils and alcohol which can be declined in different forms, such as the perfumes and toilet waters depending on the alcohol concentration and the manufacturing process. Essential oils per se are, however, excluded from the scope of this study

The perfume market includes all the toiletries intended to be applied to a person in order to voluntarily impregnate him/her with a pleasant scent and therefore includes eaux de toilette, eaux de parfum and eaux de Cologne. Are perfumeries the places of distribution of these products and can take many different forms, from the food department store to the perfumer's workshop

The world perfume market is worth approximately 45 billion dollars and presents a continuous increase for several years, a rise that is expected to continue in the future. This dynamic is driven on the one hand by the positive performance of the luxury sector, and in particular global companies such as Chanel, Dior or L'Oréal, and on the other hand by the multiplication of the number of perfume references, thus offering products adapted to all markets and all consumers.

In France, the market has recently started to rise again after several years of declining sales. This new impetus is the result of the increase in consumption and the product upscaling preferred by French customers.

In this market, the driving force behind consumption has historically been and remains western Europe which has the highest concentration of consumers even though the United States remain the largest market in absolute terms.

Several recent trends are affecting the request the development of niche fragrances, original products and more "premium" than mass-market perfumes, the appearance of customization solutions of fragrances and, as in many sectors, the increase in the number of organic and responsible approaches.

On the side of the production the market is very concentrated since a dozen companies, including several French ones, account for about half of the world's production. The France is by far the leading European producer of perfumes and toiletries before Germany and Italy, testimony of a production is still often located in countries known for their know-how in the luxury industry.

The distribution a key link in the perfumery value chain, is changing, notably with the growing impact of digital, the growth of specialized e-commerce sites is evidenced by the growth of specialized e-commerce sites. Faced with this trend, the physical distributors must innovate and communicate to continue to attract customers to their points of sale. Those most likely to resist this trend are the large and strong networks, which is why independent retailers have to join a group if they don't want to disappear.