LOS ANGELES — California retailers rang up some sizable, if not quite earthshaking, increases in the fragrance category for Mother’s Day.
Stores reported gains ranging from 8 to 18 percent, with classic fragrances as well as new entries helping to boost volume at the counter.
Retailers said an aggressive promotional schedule and appealing gift-with-purchase offers did the most to attract consumer dollars, as the recent crop of launches, though solid, did not provide any blockbusters like those of past years.
Fragrance sales for Mother’s Day at Carter Hawley Hale Department Stores increased more than 15 percent from last year, with year-to-date sales gains slightly below that, according to industry estimates.
Margo Scavarda, senior vice president of cosmetics, declined to discuss specific figures, but said that “it was the best Mother’s Day I’ve had here in many moons.”
The top five fragrances for the store at the end of April were Calvin Klein’s Eternity, Elizabeth Taylor’s White Diamonds, Klein’s Escape, Wings by Giorgio Beverly Hills and Jessica McClintock.
Scavarda said McClintock was a sleeper that had been helped by good marketing and a strong “romantic” in-store environment.
Last fall’s launches all contributed to the recent sales surge at CHH, with no one launch outshining the others, Scavarda noted. The most successful spring launch has been Christian Dior’s Tendre Poison, which has added significantly to fragrance volume.
Scavarda also noted a resurgence in classic fragrances since the beginning of the year. Many fragrances have been boosted by viable bonus offerings and gift-oriented promotions.
“Fragrance success has been not only in overall volume but in the best percentage increase [for classic scents] in the past five years,” Scavarda said. “That’s even with four earthquake stores closed.”
Scavarda said she is especially looking forward to two launches later this year: Sun, Moon and Stars by Karl Lagerfeld and CK One by Calvin Klein.
“There’s a magic to that whole Calvin Klein thing,” she said.
Fragrance sales at I. Magnin, San Francisco, for the year through Mother’s Day increased 8 percent from last year, sources said, and were slightly higher for the period just before Mother’s Day. A combination of the new and the classic dominated the list of best-selling fragrances.
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For Mother’s Day, the most popular scents were Thierry Mugler’s Angel, Donna Karan New York, Lalique, Gio by Giorgio Armani, Sublime by Jean Patou and Annick Goutal.
Fragrances that also performed well included Hermes, Joy by Jean Patou and Chanel No. 5.
Leila Bailey, women’s fragrance buyer, noted that vanilla-based scents such as Angel, Guerlain’s Shalimar and Must de Cartier were beginning to take off with consumers.
And those consumers are not hesitant to spend money on fragrances if they perceive the value is there, Bailey said.
“People are looking for special items, special sets or special bottles,” she said. “Price isn’t so much an issue if it’s for something of value.”
A leather-covered bottle of Hermes was popular at I. Magnin. In addition to being unique, Bailey said, the special presentation protects the fragrance from sun rays, which can change a scent over time.
Another popular special value was the Jil Sander No. 4 Charisma set, which included a knapsack with the fragrance.
Although CK One has not reached the store yet, customers are already asking for it, Bailey said.
Escada’s summer fragrance, Summer in Provence, has been an early hit at Magnin’s, far surpassing projections and drawing the Escada ready-to-wear customer over to the store’s fragrance area.
“From what I’ve been seeing out on the floor, the Escada customer is buying it more for herself, as opposed to as a gift,” Bailey said. “It’s certainly something new, and the industry can always use that.”
At Gottschalks, fragrance sales were 16 percent ahead from Jan. 1 to Mother’s Day and 18 percent ahead for Mother’s Day exclusively.
Robert Wiser, divisional merchandise manager for cosmetics and accessories, said some of the growth can be attributed to logging more fragrances into the Electronic Data Entry system, so that the store never runs out of important brands.
A strong promotional calendar and aggressive gift-with-purchase programs also contributed to growth.
The top five fragrances at Gottschalks have been EstÄe Lauder’s Beautiful, Eternity, Lancome’s TrÄsor, Wings and White Diamonds.
The five fastest-growing scents are Lauder’s White Linen, Giorgio’s Red, Elizabeth Arden’s Sunflowers and Tuscany per Donna from Aramis.
Liz Claiborne’s Vivid was the store’s strongest spring launch.
“We’re particularly pleased at how large these figures were, considering all the diversion that was going on for Mother’s Day,” Wiser said.