NEW YORK — ‘Tis the season of fragrance once again, and the beauty business is building momentum — thanks partly to a strong assist from upscale skin care and trendy color cosmetics, two categories seldom cited for gift-giving appeal.
At Henri Bendel, Claudia Lucas, senior vice president and general merchandise manager of beauty, noted that “skin care has been one of our strongest categories this fall, driven by the continuing success of Freeze 24/7, Chanel, Nars and Laura Mercier.” Lucas plans to keep her strong skin care business going through the holidays. “We are going to focus more on gifting,” she said, adding that she’s planning to sell gift baskets as well as single items.
At least one influential department store retailer has echoed the sentiments of others by noting that skin care, particularly high-end brands, has been a second-half growth engine for upscale retailers, and it is expected to steam on right through Christmas. “Consumers are particularly attracted to high-end skin care sets, which they perceive to be a great value,” the retailer said. Among the hot sellers: Shiseido and Clarins. A number of department stores also expect some strong performances in the fragrance department, namely from Armani Code, Calvin Klein’s Euphoria Man, Ralph Lauren’s Polo Double Black and Giorgio Armani’s Acqua di Gio on the men’s side, and Juicy Couture, Vera Wang Princess, Chanel No.5, Donna Karan’s Cashmere Mist and Romance by Ralph Lauren in the women’s aisle.
The holidays have always meant fragrance and at Bloomingdale’s, it’s a good season for scents. “We are off to a very positive start,” said Howard Kreitzman, vice president and divisional merchandise manager of cosmetics and fragrances. He was referring in part to the new crop of fall launches. “The newness piece is running at a very healthy penetration,” he said, adding that the normal cannibalization of the existing fragrance business is “the lowest we have seen in a long time, less than half our past experience.”
A major influence was this fall’s launch of the Juicy Couture fragrance, which Bloomingdale’s introduced under an unusually generous three-month exclusive. “It exceeded very high expectations,” Kreitzman said. “Juicy enabled us to recruit a new customer and brought with it a great deal of excitement. It has had a spillover effect on other brands.”
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The women’s entries have been strong and so have the new men’s scents. L’Homme Yves Saint Laurent from YSL Beauté is exclusive at Bloomingdale’s and “it has exceeded our expectations.” Others doing well are Jean Paul Gaultier to the Power of 2 and Prada Men. On the women’s side, the store has scored with Donna Karan Gold, Victor & Rolf’s Flowerbomb, Hanae Mori Magical Moon, Betsey Johnson and Badgley Mischka.
In addition, Bloomingdale’s appears on its way to anniversarying the strong gift-with-purchase business it chalked up last year. “We’ve got the momentum,” Kreitzman said. “It’s so much easier to keep a trend going than to reverse a tough trend.”
Kreitzman declined to discuss numbers or make a forecast but indicated that he expects an increase for December, particularly with the extra selling day this year. Industry sources estimate that Bloomingdale’s could achieve a gain in the higher end of mid-single digits.
Micheline Jordaan, vice president and dmm of fragrances at Macy’s East, said, “We are feeling very optimistic about the fourth quarter.” She noted that “solid comp-store growth” has been generated this year by strong performances from key existing brands, such as Donna Karan’s Cashmere Mist, Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue, Giorgio Armani’s Acqua di Giò and Jean Paul Gaultier’s Le Male, combined with strong new introductions, such as Calvin Klein’s Euphoria, Sean John’s Unforgivable and Versace’s Crystal Bright. Jordaan added she expects that the gains compiled in the third quarter and “a very good performance early in November will translate into strong December sales.”
She said the two factors driving the fragrance business is the one-two punch of “newness and the invigoration of legacy brands.” Jordaan noted that celebrity scents continue to perform well, but there now is more equilibrium with newly animated existing brands. “This holiday season we have invigorated the in-store presentation of fragrances, both visually and in terms of giftable content,” she said. “In addition, we have enhanced the marketing package significantly.”
Meanwhile, Barneys New York has chalked up “some strong double-digit increases” in fragrance, according to Bettina O’Neill, vice president and dmm. The store is having a strong season with scents from Frederic Malle, L’Artisan Parfumeur, Serge Lutens, the new men’s scent from Hermès and the indie brand L’Labo. O’Neill said the store has been selling fewer gift sets and doing more core business in fragrance this year, with stalwarts like Comme des Garçons. “We just have been editing and focusing,” she said.
Fragrance has always been a mainstay at Studio at Fred Segal in Santa Monica, Calif., and president Robin Coe-Hutshing played to that strength this week by launching a store-within-store concept called Memoire Liquide. It is an ambitious and elaborate interpretation of the perfumer’s organ with a 300-square-foot L-shaped counter that features samples of 160 scents that can be mixed like building blocks into more elaborate finished fragrances. Prices range from $30 to $75 for a three-pack, and there has been no resistance in terms of price or anything else. “It’s the easiest sale I’ve ever made,” she said. “People are crowded around the counter. They are in thrall.” Plans call for introducing the concept with a shop at Henri Bendel in New York in the spring and then perhaps at Mecca in Australia. “The biggest challenge is the training,” said Coe-Hutshing, who plans on adding a line of finished fragrances sometime in the next year.
High-end skin care is also driving beauty growth for Ed Burstell, senior vice president and general merchandise manager of beauty, jewelry and accessories at Bergdorf Goodman. “We’ve had a great fall and expect that momentum to continue through Christmas,” said Burstell. Top sellers at Bergdorf’s this fall have included Jemma Kidd and Shu Uemura in color; Clinica Ivo Pitanguy, Cle de Peau, Kanebo, Sisley and Natura Bissé for skin care, and high-end fragrances from L’Artisan Parfumeur, Clive Christian and Creed, said Burstell.
He added that there’s little resistance to price. “If it’s right, the customer isn’t concerned about the price.” For instance, “Bobbi Brown did an incredible makeup case stuffed with products that is exclusive for us,” said Burstell. “It’s $1,300, but it’s doing very well. We’re also seeing great things from an exclusive makeup organizer from Trish McEvoy and exclusive scents from Guerlain. It’s about offering interesting, high-end products that customers can’t find everywhere.”
At Sephora, “We are posting double-digit year-to-date comps again this year,” said Betsy Olum, senior vice president of marketing. She expects that trend to continue through Christmas. “Overall, we expect this holiday to be very strong compared with last year,” said Olum. “Within Sephora, the makeup category continues to perform strongly, driven by growth in brands including Bare Escentuals, Urban Decay, Nars, Benefit and Dior.” As in the past, Sephora teamed up with brands to create exclusive makeup sets. Olum added that the bath and body category is projected to perform strongly with holiday gift sets, and the fragrance gift voucher program is expected to fuel that category.
In addition to the Sephora branded makeup brushes and bags, Olum said, “The brands we expect to perform the strongest include Fusion, Philosophy, Stila, Bare Escentuals and Bliss, to name a few.” In skin care, Olum’s standouts are Philosophy, Murad and Bliss, while in fragrance Vera Wang, Bulgari and Calvin Klein are top performers, she said.
For Henri Bendel’s Lucas, fragrances are very niche-oriented. “We’re doing well with L’Artisan Parfumeur, Carthusia, Child, Caron and Aftelier,” she noted. Fragrance products for the home, such as the retailer’s private label candles, are also selling well, and Lucas thinks that fragrance diffusers will join that list for the holidays.
On the color cosmetics side, Lucas “can’t keep Chanel’s black nail polish or mascara in the store — there’s a waiting list for both” and is also seeing strong growth from YSL’s new foundation, Perfect Touch, which features a built-in brush. Mally Cosmetics and ModelCo, which entered Bendel’s in the spring, and Therapy Systems color, a fall addition, are also strong sellers at Bendel’s, she added. “Our customer is very on-trend and is looking for the latest thing,” said Lucas. “Holiday palettes do well, and we will have lots of them.” Lucas said that Bendel’s is also reinstating its holiday catalogue.