Can we improve the retail perfume buying experience- please? Retail perfume buying is often an unpleasant and frustrating experience. Please, if any perfume retailers read this, could they maybe consider rethinking their strategy for perfume sales in store? Let them train the sales staff to actually be knowledgeable about perfume types so they can advise clients properly. If a client says his favorite fragrance is Davidoff cool water then the sales person will hopefully understand what type of fragrance it is. Maybe he will recommend several other suitable aquatic fragrances. In theory this should be far more effective than shoving the new designer launches into the clients noses. One would think that this should also increase the shop’s sales of perfume. Let me browse undisturbed in store….. A survey by HRC retail advisory showed that shoppers are increasingly moving away from the help of retail associates for help. They are increasingly turning to social media are well, online and from friends and families. 95% of shoppers want to be left alone to make their choices. 85% would prefer to use scanners in store themselves to check prices than ask a sales person. These trends don’t just relate to retail perfume, as they also apply to all industries. But they will affect what people want in store for perfumes too. The same report showed that younger shoppers want to receive promotional information directly to their smartphone. Free wifi in store is also very important for these shoppers. Nowadays people would prefer to use the store’s own app to give recommendations than to ask a sales associate. In store events for retail perfume were only important to 19% of the survey population. Although among generation Z participants the figure was 24%. In the UAE we are often experience staff pushing us to ‘smell this’ or ‘try that’ in perfume stores. Personally, I find it very frustrating and it makes me feel almost afraid to set foot in the store. I fear being pushed to buy something I don’t like. Retail staff offer all the new launches from all the big brands. They fail to ask anything about what we like or were looking for. Fragrance staff should ideally be asking questions about the preferences of a client – what do they already like and buy. This is essential in order to get an idea of the client’s preferred fragrance types. It’s far more effective than ‘try this’ or ‘smell that’ approach. How it is done in niche perfume retail In France a couple of years ago I visited NOSE, the Paris retail shop owned by Mark Buxton. He is responsible for creating many of the famous designer brands in the world and some great niche perfumes. The approach of his sales team was so refreshing – they asked some questions about my preferences. Also how I use my perfume, what sort of thing I was looking for.. They used a database set up in an iPad and from that a shortlist of suitable fragrances emerged. They sprayed a selection of perfumes onto smelling strips and we found the perfect one almost immediately. In the normal retail perfume store staff normally bombard me with countless random perfume smelling strips. I doubt I would have made the purchase in that situation. Finally I succumbed to a very expensive vanilla gourmand perfume. I guess that this is the way it used to be done in the days when perfumery really was seen as an exclusive art, not a mass industry fixed on quick sales – with a one size fits all approach. Are you the type of perfume buyer who likes a lot of help and guidance in store?Or are you the type who likes to be left alone to meander and make your own decisions?Do you find it helpful or a hindrance when sales staff bombard you with new perfume launches to sniff? Does it confuse and annoy you or make you relieved, that help is at hand? New ways of signalling to staff to leave you alone In some retail perfume outlets overseas it’s already possible to pick up shopping baskets marked with different colors. The colours indicate whether the client wants assistance or not. The sales associate will know that they should not disturb clients who chose baskets with red . This is similar to having a ‘do not disturb sign” on them. True perfume aficionados such as myself are truly ready for retailers to rethink their approach. We would all love to have a much more pleasurable experience when buying our next perfume. For more information about perfume retail please read our article about online sales vs retail sales of perfume. […]
Enhancing the retail perfume experience
