By making smells concrete, how can fragrance brands do a good job in the olfactory business?

This article deeply analyzes the development status of the fragrance market and consumers' pursuit of quality life, and explores how fragrance brands can attract consumers through emotional value marketing. I hope that this article will inspire and help you in exploring the field of olfactory economy.

Consumers' pursuit of quality life and the need to relieve mental stress continue to drive the development of the olfactory economy. Nowadays, more and more people are beginning to use fragrance products to improve sleep and soothe their emotions, and the fragrance market is also expanding. According to Euromonitor's forecast, the scale of China's fragrance market is expected to reach 4.3 billion yuan in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of approximately 21.78% from 2021 to 2025.

Fragrance is a business based on smell. Consumers cannot perceive specific smells through the screen, which also brings certain difficulties to fragrance brand marketing. Despite this, there are still well-known fragrance brands such as Guanxia, ​​Beast Party, and Smell Library in the domestic fragrance market. How do they do a good job in the olfactory business? What is the core of brand marketing?

1. Emotional value is the core of marketing

In the current content environment of social platforms, "sense of atmosphere" and "sense of ritual" have been mentioned one after another. The French fairy tale "The Little Prince" mentions that "the sense of ritual is that a certain day is different from other days, and a certain moment is different from other moments." The sense of ritual is to treat the special moments and days of life seriously, and to discover and appreciate the beautiful details of ordinary days.

As a representative element of a refined lifestyle, fragrance has been given more meaning in today's consumer environment. It is not just a product with fragrance, but more about creating an atmosphere and promoting a unique personality. More importantly, it also carries the function of providing emotional value.

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

The "2023 China Consumption Trend Report" points out that consumers are paying more attention to their own little world and are increasingly pursuing a sense of gain, value and meaning in consumption. Rational consumption and emotional life will become the basics of consumption.

Caring for emotions and one's own mental state has become the source of today's sense of value. Women are more sensitive to emotions and pay more and more attention to the impact of emotions on life. As an important category for emotional relief and release, functional needs such as "removing odors" are gradually weakening, while spiritual needs such as emotional healing and creating a sense of ritual are becoming more prominent.

In this context, the scent and form of fragrance products have diversified to meet the emotional value needs of different consumers. In terms of scent, niche fragrances have emerged, such as oriental, forest, coffee, and ocean. At the same time, many fragrance brands have also launched a variety of fragrance products. In addition to traditional scented candles, there are also scented lamps, car aromatherapy, diffuser stones and other forms of fragrance. Some brands have also tried crystal diffusers, sachets, incense sticks and other product forms.

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

Brands have come up with unique ideas for emotional value marketing of fragrance products. First of all, it is reflected in the packaging and appearance of the products. The design of aromatherapy products is basically minimalist , with a certain amount of blank space and imagination, which brings visual beauty to consumers and can be adapted to a variety of home styles.

Stories and copywriting are the soul of the emotional value marketing of fragrance products . "A wisp of green smoke rises from the amber, the curling candlelight is filled with moonlight, and the flickering wick is the stars that can be touched, it is a person's romance, and it is a sense of ritual to please oneself." "The candlelight leaps into the night, and a thought suddenly moves, falling into a glowing dream and wandering proudly with the misty fragrance. The dream turns for thousands of years, and the thoughts drift back, a little dazed, seeing the warmth lit for myself, my heart is at peace"... This kind of artistic text has a strong sense of substitution, and at the same time it is easier for consumers to pay for it willingly.

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

In addition, more and more brands have begun to layout offline spaces, conveying lifestyles through offline entities and creating multi-scenario fragrance experiences.

2. Which brands stand out?

Before 2010, the Chinese fragrance market was dominated by foreign brands, and domestic products were known as "low-priced alternatives" and "cheap". In recent years, with the booming fragrance market, there have been some domestic brands with strong market competitiveness, such as Guanxia, ​​The Beast, and Smell Library.

Among them, Guanxia is the undisputed "marketing king", with 1,000 units sold on the first day of its launch, and annual sales of nearly 150 million yuan in the second year. Five years after its establishment, Guanxia still maintains its brand appeal of "you can never get it online, but consumers are eager to check in offline."

It is observed that Guanxia has almost no large-scale investment and advertising, but the brand is very good at telling stories. From the fragrance itself to the bottle packaging, product copywriting and the concept behind it, there is a complete content system. According to the calculation of Growth Black Box, the cost of the theme content of Guanxia's first phase, including the output of the theme content of pictures, texts and videos, cost as much as 300,000 to 450,000 yuan, which is much higher than the cost of the product.

For example, when describing the summer limited edition Pure Summer "Unsent Letter" perfume, the copy used is "An unsent letter is not just a plain white paper. Papyrus simulates the astringency of wood stained by time, like a yellowed old letter with rough edges and a fragile touch. When the paper is turned over, guaiac wood and cedar play the role of faded rough ink...", giving users a strong sense of picture.

In terms of packaging design, Guanxia adopts a minimalist Chinese style, retaining only a few elements of Chinese style, and even only implanting Chinese style elements in the product names, such as Kunlun Boiling Snow, Yihe Jingui, etc., but the overall appearance tends to be Nordic minimalist. This makes Guanxia products highly ornamental and brings consumers beauty from the design perspective.

Image source: Taobao screenshot

In addition, the use scenario of fragrance is also the marketing direction of the brand. Nowadays, fragrance is no longer exclusive to the bedroom. You can use your favorite fragrance to accompany your living room, office and even hotel when you are on a business trip. According to data from China Business Network, the top five scenarios for users to use fragrance are: watching movies at home, driving, reading before bed, focusing on work and study, and meditation.

Guanxia uses space as a clue to sell fragrances for different spaces, from home space to car space, applying abstract fragrances to specific scenes, bringing users unique personal memories and integrating products into users' lives. From the name to the smell, from the brand story to the lifestyle, Guanxia touches the minds of consumers through product content and continues to grow into a leading brand in the domestic fragrance track.

Compared with Guanxia, ​​Smell Library appeared earlier. Its founder, Lou Nanshi, believes in the logic of explosive products: when a brand has a star hit and contributes more than 20% of its performance, it means that both revenue and profit will reach a turning point. In 2017, Smell Library launched the scent of "Liangbai Kai", and the cumulative sales exceeded one million bottles in the following year, accounting for more than 30% of the total revenue. At that time, this brand, which was established nearly 10 years ago, finally became a hit.

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

Whether it is "Boiled Water", "Jasmine", or "White Rose and Magnolia", the Scent Library can always stimulate consumers' olfactory memory with daily life items and strengthen the sense of companionship between the brand and users. At the same time, the Scent Library is constantly expanding its product matrix. Shower gel, body lotion and other personal care products with low threshold and high repurchase rate are also the focus of the brand.

In addition to these pure fragrance brands, MINISO aromatherapy is also very popular in the market. In 2017, MINISO quickly became popular with its "10 yuan for Zuma Long Blue Wind Bell" body spray.

In 2022, MINISO upgraded and launched the Master Classic Series of Flameless Fragrances, the scents of which were prepared by perfumers from Jo Malone, Armani, and Gucci, and the raw materials were customized by giant suppliers in the global flavor and fragrance market. This has driven the price to increase from 9.9-49.9 yuan to 39.9-129 yuan, thus achieving product upgrades.

Image source: Taobao screenshot

At present, MINISO has launched several aromatherapy series including cocktails, master floral aromatherapy, 24 solar terms, famous art paintings, etc., and the richness of its products is constantly improving.

3. Conclusion

At present, the huge potential of the fragrance market has yet to be tapped, which is also attracting more and more brands to join this track. For each player, paying attention to market dynamics and consumer demand can help maintain a keen sense of the market, so as to better grasp every opportunity in the market and go further on this track.

References:

1. What is the logic behind the explosion of aromatherapy? | New Eyes

2. With the rise of the "olfactory economy", how can brands understand women's fragrance needs? | Moment Insights

3. Imagination is mentioned in olfaction studies. What kind of scent-seeking story are fragrance brands telling? | DIGITALING

Author: Aries WeChat public account: Marketing Kanke (ID: yingxiaokanke)