FEATURE
The fragmentation of consumer trends has created an opening for new and niche brands to take on major players ; nowhere is this more apparent than in the fragrance sector . By Nicole Kirichanskaya
T here was a time when you could define a decade by the overarching aesthetic that dominated the fashion , media and pop culture landscape of the period . In the ’ 70s , you had disco , in the ’ 80s , punk rock , and in the ’ 90s , grunge . But try to assign a singular term to the culture of today and you quickly come up short . It ’ s not just that trends have become more fleeting , they ’ re also more fragmented .
This can be attributed in large part to the introduction of image-focused social media platforms like Instagram in 2010 and TikTok in 2016 , which have made it easier for memes and fads to go viral and – just as rapidly – fade into obscurity . At the same time , the algorithmic nature of the platforms means that different people are being exposed to different content based on their interests .
“ We don ’ t see the monolithic , agenda-setting trends of the 1990s , be that grunge or Calvin Klien ’ s minimalism ,” Tully Walter , trend forecaster and cultural strategist at Soon Future Studies , told Inside Retail .
“ All of our eyes and ears were roughly on the same thing at some stage of the day . You could walk into work and there would be a great chance you and I watched the same thing on TV last night . Now , literally every person you know would have watched at least three different things from three different sources last night . We are in a new paradigm .”
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the fragrance industry , where many long-established juggernauts like Chanel , Yves Saint Laurent or Christian Dior are facing increased competition from a new class of niche brands introducing themselves on social media apps like TikTok , and tapping into a range of consumer sub-groups that had previously been overlooked .
The state of the fragrance market The rise of niche fragrance brands comes at a time of overall growth in the sector .
While multiple categories within the broader beauty industry , like color cosmetics , experienced a drop in sales during the pandemic , fragrance sales have grown exponentially in the past few years . In the first quarter of 2021 , fragrance sales were up ►
September 2023 www . insideretail . us 39