Get ready for the Christmas rush with Emily Hunter’s guide to selling fragrance over the festive period

Love it or loathe it, Christmas is coming and retail shelves are already groaning under the weight of innumerable gift options. For most people in the fragrance business, the festive period is the culmination of their year’s work, with the past three months being their busiest and most profitable time. Gill Smith, managing director of The Perfume Shop, says: “Christmas is what we build up to all year; everything we do is to build up that Christmas momentum. We start the year by looking at our last Christmas period and all our learnings from it – what worked, what didn’t, and what we need to remember for next year, and from that we build up our plans for the year.”

The reason for this festive focus is simple – Christmas equals sales. Smith says that 80 per cent of The Perfume Shop’s sales come in November and December. Alex Stark, UK head of advocacy at P&G Prestige UK & Ireland, adds: “Sales across October, November and December are a large share of our full year sales. Increasing levels of advertising will be placed across this key gifting period to engage and inspire consumers, and make them aware of the great range of fragrances available. This can help reinforce the fact that fragrance is a great gift choice that makes the recipient feel special, valued and understood. A recent Boots survey found that 85 per cent of people say that receiving fragrance as a gift is special.”

Use your expertise

Buying fragrance as a Christmas gift for loved ones can be tricky for customers, but this gives you the perfect opportunity to use your expertise and offer guidance. Men in particular can find the fragrance buying experience baffling. Sarah Binns, training manager at Kenneth Green Associates, advises:

“Try to ascertain from the gentleman what fragrance the person wears already. Even if he doesn’t know the name, can he describe the bottle? Does he know if it’s floral, fruity or spicy? This is where your knowledge not just on the brands you sell, but on the wider industry, can help you get the sale.”

Stark adds: “Men like to find what they are looking for easily, and are discouraged by the overwhelming choice on offer. You can help them by asking key open questions around lifestyle and what fragrances are currently being used, and really listen to their responses. Once you have understood who they are buying for, showing a maximum of three or four fragrances demonstrates your expertise and shows you have listened to their needs.”

For women buying scents for men, Binns suggests: “Ask the customer questions to establish a bit more about the gentleman’s personality – hopefully she will be able to tell you if he likes to wear well-known designer brands and have his scent recognised by his friends or is someone who likes to be more individual and not go with current trends. Would he want a fragrance that will make a bold statement, or something more subtle? Once you’ve established this and offered a few options, it’s important to win her over with the scent too.”

 

 

Linked in

Increased footfall in-store and launch activity around Christmas provides the perfect opportunity to maximise each transaction by link-selling. Stark suggests: “Asking your customer if they have considered fragrance for anyone else they still have to buy for is a great idea, and don’t forget to suggest they treat themselves for Christmas.”

Purse sprays are another great product to introduce to customers. Brands are increasingly offering these – often beautifully designed – portable versions of their popular scents, which are perfect for popping into a clutch bag.

Arguably the most obvious opportunity for link-selling, however, lies in bodycare, and understanding both the customer’s budget and purchasing motivation will help you to make the most of this opportunity. Binns explains: “Depending on the customer and their needs, you can go down the practical or the luxury route. From a practical point of view, it’s important to explain that fragrance lasts longer on well-hydrated, oil-rich skin. Therefore, using a body lotion or cream will prolong their fragrance, meaning they possibly don’t have to reapply the scent so often. This is the same for other body products such as shower gels and deodorants that layer the scent on the skin, helping to improve longevity.”

Alternatively, if your customer is someone who appreciates the finer things in life or they are buying a special gift, Binns suggests highlighting what a luxurious treat it would be to have the beautifully packaged matching bath and body products.

 

Merchandising matters

The way fragrances are displayed in-store can have a positive impact on performance. Stark advises: “Merchandising on your main fixtures should follow the approved guidelines to ensure brand consistency and impact. These are designed to assist shoppers in making choices and provide ease of selection, which is very important at this busy time of year. There are often separate display units for gift sets and grouping products by brand, gender and price can be really helpful to shoppers for ease of selection.”

Quentin Higham, Yardley of London managing director, adds: “Ensure that all testers reflect the latest fragrances and that takeaway samples are available for customers to try at home. If you’re running a promotion, it’s key to hold enough stock so that you don’t lose a sale.”

New versus classic

Many Christmas displays and promotions will focus on the latest launches, and with most of the major players introducing new scents in recent months, these are likely to fly off the shelves. However, classic fragrances also make popular Christmas gifts.

Smith says: “We have lots of customers who say, ‘I always get my Mum this, I want to buy her this again,’ or ‘My daughter would never buy herself Chanel, so I’m going to,’ so remember the classics just as much as the new. Then you‘ve got gift sets, which offer such great value for money; you usually get the body line included for the same price as the standard fragrance.”

Successful sales assistants won’t give up on the scents that may prove a little harder to sell during this peak time, and Binns has some useful tips for encouraging sales: “First, it’s important that they are merchandised well and can be seen easily by the customer. Then it’s up to you and your skills as a fragrance expert and salesperson to entice the customer to buy. Are they looking for a fragrance that not everyone else is wearing? Is there a particular note in there that they like already? Make sure you know the ‘pros’ of everything you stock. Even if it’s not something you would personally wear, you need to be able to appreciate why someone else would.”

Yardley’s Higham adds: “There’s always an occasion for every type of fragrance, so it’s important to know the inspiration behind each fragrance and the olfactive notes that make up the scent. This way you can sell the fragrance story to the customer.”