Scents of disappointment

Drug Store News, Feb 12, 1996 by Liz Parks

Was Christmas '95 a good year or a bad year for chain drug store fragrance departments?

A few drug chains did well with fragrances, and a handful of brands outperformed the category; but on average, it was not a good Christmas.

According to point of sale data from chain drug and mass merchandise chains, women's fragrance sales in mass merchandise and chain drug stores were down 10 percent for both the 12 weeks prior to Christmas and the four weeks prior to Christmas.

The value priced alternative designer women's fragrance category segment suffered the sharpest drop, down 24 percent for the period. Mass women's brands were down 5 percent while prestige women's fragrances were down 21 percent.

Only two of the top 10 mass market women's fragrance manufacturers registered sales gains for the quarter: Coty, up 4 percent for the 12-week period ending Dec. 31, 1995, and Renaissance's Dana Perfumes up 14 percent.

And just two of the 10 retailers interviewed for this story reported they had both strong sales and good profits from fragrances this Christmas. Others either said their results were "mixed" or "disappointing" or "disastrous."

Every buyer interviewed by Drug Store News singled out Coty and Dana as the two bright spots in mass fragrances this year.

Dana's success this year came as a pleasant surprise to many buyers. In recent years sales at the 30-year-old company had grown lethargic, with fragrance buyers typically reporting that some of Dana's brands like Tabu had a loyal following, but not much growth.

However in 1994, the then six-month-old Renaissance Cosmetics Corp., headquartered in Stamford, Conn., acquired Dana and put it in charge of Chantilly, French Vanilla and other older brands that Renaissance had earlier acquired from Houbigant's Parfums Parquet division.

At the time, Renaissance's management promised that they would revive the under-performing older brands by supporting them with aggressive marketing and advertising campaigns, and with high quality line extensions. Based on the fragrances' performance this past year and at Christmas, most buyers are reporting that they have lived up to their word.

POS data shows that the Dana fragrances were up significantly in almost every major drug chain. One buyer for a West Coast based chain said that Tabu's sales were so strong "it was unbelievable."

The buyer for one large chain called Chantilly's sales "phenomenal." Based on point of sale data for the mass market Women's fragrance category, Tabu emerged as the number three brand in chain drug outlets.

The only other brand that buyers consistently raved about this year was Coty's Vanilla Fields, launched in 1993. Coty's Vanilla Musk launched in 1994 was also singled out by some buyers as was Jovan Musk and Lady Stetson.

Coty, which is almost always cited for its superior work, had a harder time this year with its new launch. Much of their gains this year came from its Vanilla Fields brand, launched in 1995, and from older fragrances like Lady Stetson and Jovan Musk. Its Vanilla Musk also did well.

Buyer reports on Ghost Myst and ici, the two newest Coty fragrances, were mixed. About half said Ghost Myst sold okay and ici sold poorly while the other half gave just the opposite report. No one raved about either brand, but that doesn't mean that Coty, a very strong marketer, won't be able to grow the brands over the course of this coming year with strong advertising support. Coty also had shipping problems with ice prior to Christmas, which of course, hurt the brand's chances to be a strong seller.

Reports on Revlon's newest fragrance, Lasting, were also mixed among some buyers reporting poor sales and others reporting the fragrance did okay.

The men's fragrance category also had a soft holiday. Sales were down 9 percent for the year. According to buyers, the best sellers in men's were the old favorites: Old Spice from P&G, Brut from Unilever, English Leather from MEM, and Stetson and Preferred Stock from Coty.