Advice is an essential for small niche brands, and it has contributed a lot to the growing interest in alternative perfumery. © oneinchpunch / shutterstock.com

Of course, the days when we remained loyal to the same perfume our whole lives (or almost) are gone… if there ever were days like these. Still, most of us have a very personal olfactory style that conveys the impression we make on others’ memories. But we need to get to know it or recognize it: it is often embodied by four or five favourite fragrances for which it was like love at first sight, and which are tricky to identify among the extremely large offering in classic or alternative perfumery. “Given the number of references on the market today, it is really difficult for consumers not to get lost in the world of perfumes, especially since they no longer get the advice they did until the 80s/90s, before self-service perfume stores emerged. But they still need it,” comments Juliette Faliu, co-founder of l’Olfactorama and creator of Nez Bavard, a concept of olfactory meetings for people interested in perfume, enthusiasts, and lovers.

A new approach to advice

To make up for this lack of advice, multiple initiatives are being launched. For example, after working for professionals in her early career, Sophie Normand decided to offer private individuals her knowledge in perfumery by organizing olfactory coaching sessions.

Too many people wear ‘mainstream’ perfumes, because they just do not know what else to wear, and I think it is a shame,” she explains.

Once her clients have sent her back a first contact questionnaire, she gets a better idea of their olfactory perception during meetings at their homes or near the Opéra, in Paris: that is where most perfume stores have settled, so she can introduce them to different raw materials or notes.

The idea is to find the perfume(s) that will correspond to them, so that they know which words define what they like and feel. We do change with the seasons or the different periods in our lives, but we often stick to the same scents,” she explains.

Once this phase is over, our expert suggests a transversal selection of about ten niche perfumes or major classics to rediscover, and she invites her clients to go and test them directly in store. “A perfume may be more or less present on the skin, it may have a very different outcome depending on the wearer, so the test phase is essential to eventually keep only two or three key fragrances,” she adds.

Usually thirty-year-old Parisians, Sophie Normand’s clients do not hesitate to spare EUR80 to EUR130 (group formula) for this new approach. “Most of my clients think commercial perfumes no longer correspond to them and everything smells the same in the selective network. They feel like turning to alternative perfumery, but they are a bit lost, because they do not know this world,” adds Sophie Normand.

Advice is actually an essential for small niche brands, and it has contributed a lot to the growing interest in alternative perfumery. At Annick Goutal’s, L’Artisan Parfumeur, or other stores like Frédéric Malle’s, the objective has always been to take the time to get to know customers and offer them experience. These values are making a strong comeback, as they are used as a differentiating argument by independent perfume stores, and major brands like Guerlain or Chanel have been introducing profiling in their wholly-owned stores, for their own products. Profiling is practiced in different ways, in particular with digital technologies for a few major traditional brands or points of sale in the selective network, or at Nose’s, a cosmetics and perfume concept store that has developed olfactory diagnosis software. At a larger scale, and within the limits imposed by a format that covers the whole selective offering, there is also Marionnaud’s “Beauty Code”: advisors are equipped with touch screen tablets.

Digital technologies have limits

If they are commonly used in olfactory coaching, digital technologies can raise the same issues as the lack of advice. “Digital devices will never replace the advice provided by humans. In the field of perfumes, they still cannot make customers feel like visiting a store, so they will probably always remain a complement,Juliette Faliu asserts, “because the need for help comes from the fact that perfumery is not an easy subject to deal with, from an intellectual standpoint. And it makes it quite difficult to provide useful knowledge to the general public. Therefore, a good advisor must both be a good psychologist and a good translator, so that they can transpose customers’ words into the perfume language. In addition, they must show excellent knowledge in the market’s fragrances to determine which of their own products correspond to those mentioned by customers. No software can offset this adaptive knowledge and relationship,” she adds.

However, digital technologies are still interesting in that they create communities, in particular for young people for whom networks prevail… and contribute to providing advice.

A short-lived experience or long-lasting trend?

To manage to survive troubled times, the perfumery market tends to reposition itself on a higher-end, more exclusive world. And even if it is still a little early to predict the future of olfactory coaching, there is no doubt personalized advice is part of the luxury instruments it can integrate.