Here are a few facts and figures on sales in France for 2015 in perfume, (courtesy of NPD Group and an article in Premium Beauty News) for those of you who like to see facts and figures! To see the Top 10 fragrances sold in France for 2015 read here.

A total turnover of 2.9 billion euros was rung up on the tills last year in the selective perfumery channel. When you read ‘selective perfumery channel’, think of the retail chain stores in France such as Sephora, Nocibe and Marrionaud amongst others. These retailers sell fragrance, makeup and skincare.

Information from the NPD Group revealed that sales in the selective perfumery channel dropped 0.9% in value for 2015. Yet retail brands own products had improved sales, so overall sales were relatively stable.  The terrorist attacks in January and November were presumed to have an effect, particularly in December, the key Christmas Shopping period, when sales were down 1.9%.

Now here’s the interesting part for niche perfume lovers. Not all sales decreased within the perfume category.  While women’s fragrances saw  a decrease in value of 2.8%, men’s fragrances were roughly stable (-0.9%). However the sales of niche brands or the private collections of premier brands showed continuous strong growth. Yet because they comprise a small portion of the overall market, estimated at between 2-5%, it doesn’t impact the overall figures in a significant manner.

For makeup and skincare the results were small but positive. Lipsticks however were the star product and grew by 8.5%. How to understand that trend? Well perhaps it’s the power of the pick me up treat, something that can be bought for a minimal spend, as opposed to perfume for example. The selfie craze and the beauty tutorials on youtube must be having an effect too. I have to say that I’m already in sync with this trend, lipstick is one of the few makeup items that I purchase on a semi regular basis.

Information sourced from Premium Beauty News – http://www.premiumbeautynews.com