This time last year I was working in retail. The idea that I won’t be working in retail this Christmas is slightly strange, a mild relief and somehow it makes me weirdly nostalgic.
Personally, I was a lingerie girl but I found one afternoon of selling perfume the most interesting experience of retail. In just as few hours I couldn’t keep count of how many bottles and gift boxes I’d sold. One of the highest selling gifts year after year, the psychology of scent is fascinating- how a single sniff can evoke a memory of a summer holiday, an ex boyfriend or even take you somewhere you’ve never been before. Perfume is so personal, so intrinsically linked to how we perceive ourselves that it’s usually a case of marketing over mind.
As we continue to move from retail to eTail I believe selling perfume online one of the greatest retail challenges. Few products are as sensual and sensory as perfume. From the aesthetics of the packaging, through to a scents that are complex, that develop and change from first spray into a story with layers.
It might well be abstract overly sexual images like this that sell us on the value of perfume (personally I’m sold on anything in the world that would make me remotely Rosie-Huntington-Whiteley like) but we too need the tangible.
I’m not talking here about the classics- everyone knows what Chanel No.5 smells like but it’s a crowded market- one that survives on NPD and new releases- it’s the new products that are so tricky to sell online, Whilst the high street may be dying, scent is an area that still needs a physical presence to drive online sales. As a market driven predominately on gifting, for many buying without trying is not a risk worth taking.
For the future? sampling may be the way to cut out the high street middle man but the question is can it ever match the experience of browsing in a department store? There really is something special about finding yourself in the perfume department…literally.
