Cheap perfume because you're worth it ? #NationalFragranceDay The sweet smell of success

Every day it seems is a hashtag day.

On the 10th anniversary of twitter today is amongst the forest of hashtags is #NationalFragranceDay.

We often use the expression ‘the sweet smell of success’ as the pleasant feeling of being successful.

Suppose you’re buying a bottle of wine to share with a friend. 

You have an idea of what (s)he likes – dry whites –  you have a price range in mind, and so when you arrive at the wine shop or the supermarket, you would think making a selection would be a fairly straightforward process.

But when you arrive there, the shelves are instantly bewildering. Sauvignon blancs are muddled up with Shiraz, Prosecco and Pinot noir, expensive vintages are next to bargain 'vin ordinaires' – it all looks shambolic.

You can’t actually pick out a bottle yourself, because all but the cheapest are in a locked cabinet. The staff aren't around to unlock the cabinets or to give you any advice. Some bottles are displayed under very bright, hot down lights ( will that spoil the wine you wonder) and is that dust you can see on a lot of the bottles ?

You wouldn't be blamed for going elsewhere in search of a retailer that puts a little more effort into selling its wine.

Fragrances endorsed / created for Justin Beiber,
Taylor Swift, David Beckham, Beyonce or One Direction
Things have come on quite a way since
Faberge's Brut and boxerHenry Cooper
back in the day

A similar experience can be endured when try to buy fragrances.  All salespeople can learn from the best practitioners  of one of the oldest selling sectors - the Perfume game.

Yet despite being in the beauty business, some retailers treat their fragrance section just like the fictional wine-seller described above.

When looking at how fragrances are displayed or ranged, it’s a good idea to consider how the better wine shops stock and display alcohol. 

There is very clear sorting by type, making it easier for customers to go straight to what they know they like.

Fragrance retailers, however, can run the risk of jumbling fragrances together, making it overwhelming and confusing for customers.

Because there’s often a price focus in the fragrance section, a “bargain bin” presentation can predominate.

Displays tend to be overwhelming and testers hard to find.  If fragrances are behind glass ( or locked in a cabinet) a customer may be inclined to walk away rather than ask for help.

Often fragrances are not sorted into any order. It is good practise by the better outlets not to sort by brand – but display testers by fragrance family.

Chanel No. 5 was the first perfume launched

 by French couturier Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel.

Still selling well today after 96 years

WHAT’S YOUR FRAGRANCE  TYPE?

Apparently these fragrance families fall into 14 major categories i classified by the way they smell. Most of us tend to instinctively prefer one or more fragrance types, whether it’s the zesty, vibrant citrus family, the flowery, often powdery and abstract soft floral family, or the rich sensuality of the oriental family.

What attracts us to a perfume includes

 – the packaging,

the celebrity endorsement, 

the marketing 

– but most of all, that attraction to certain fragrance families.

A repeat customer will be able to identify the fragrance family they prefer, and look for other fragrances in that family.

These preferences are determined by their scent-memory associations (subliminally in most cases) so it’s good practise for the perfume seller to spend a bit of time with a customer helping them discover them.

Brand, packaging and popularity definitely play a part in initial choices, but a great way to build customer relationships for repeat business is to empower and educate customers on their own unique preferences. So you see the big name houses employ an educational approach to their sell.

Retail assistants play a huge role in helping customers make a purchase they like, so it’s important they have a great understanding of the different fragrance types and trained well.

Once they know the types of fragrance customers like, they can help find other fragrances of the same type, or help customers choose personalised gifts for loved ones.

Traditionally women loved perfume because it adds to their identity, whether they wear the same scent every day or different scents for different moments. But with the growth in male grooming the Identity /Signature is increasingly significant for men also.

Most wouldn't regard perfume as a luxury these days, but rather a luxurious necessity.

Much like  with wine aficionados, the fragrance industry uses the note expression. For example Floral, Oriental, Woody and Fresh notes.  

A while back....

As the  UK High Street was focusing on the Christmas season  last year  there were the usual surveys on the total cost of the carol The "Twelve days of Christmas" twelve drummers drumming right down to the partridge in a pear that true loves will be sending their to each other.

The Daily Mail on 25th Nov and the Independent a day later have featured a story about how the Lidl brand of scent  "Suddenly Madame Glamour  smells pretty close to Coco Chanel's  Madamoiselle  

To a true love who is a savvy buyer maybe this may be a bargain but I wonder whether the recipient would be so pleased. What are you saying to your beloved when you buy them  a bargain cheap scent?

Yet Lidl stated they sold 1 million bottles over that Christmas period.

So as in so many selling situations, it's "Different strokes for different folks." or " Different smells for different gals ( and guys)"

Coco Chanel once said "In the laboratory we make perfume. In the store we sell dreams" 

What ever your business do you really know what you are selling?

 Get it right and you'll smell the sweet smell of success. 

Good Selling

Gin Glorious Gin

Title of Book:   Gin Glorious Gin

Subtitle:  How mother's ruin became the spirit of London

Author : Olivia Williams

Publisher  Headline Publishing Group

ISBN  978 1 4722 1534 5

Genre:            A history of London seen through the prism of the story of Gin

Style:  A fun and quirky read, telling the stories of the famous and unknown who shaped the city and the business of its signature drink. 

Contents page: Two pages - 25 Chapters

Index: No Index - so you may like to read it with pencil in hand if you wish to refer back for the many quotes , anecdotes and interesting selling parallels to today's selling. Good Bibliography and Picture Credits.

Flick through eye appeal:   Comfortable short chapters and illustrations. Easy to dip in and out of.

‘Time for a breather’ stops :   25  easy-to-read Chapters describing the back story of Gin.

Golden Nuggets:   Loads from over the 300 years of the business

Topic Summary:  As Olivia Williams closes her book " It (Gin) is 300 years of London life - distilled"

War Stories:  Genuine war stories relevant to their effect on Gin sales- where you could still get Gin in the wars.

Illustration:  Some photos , Maps, drawings of botanicals (copyright) and adverts for  famous brand we recognise today such as Gordon's and Pimms. Reproduction  of Hogarth Prints plus  Sectional diagrams of Pot , Coffey and Hybrid stills 

Quotes:  

“No Gin, No King” –the cries of a subversive mob in Newgate street arrested on the night before the Gin Act of 1736 for their subversive chanting.

The James Bond of the original books
 stipulated a " Gordon's
  for his Martinis and Negronis" 
unlike the  Bond of the films.

"Gin drinkers love the heritage of the product so none (no distillers) have dropped their historic symbols - whether Tanqueray and their pineapple, Gilbey's and their wyvern, Plymouth and the Mayflower or Bombay Sapphire and Queen Victoria"

"To daffy shops for luscious drops

Folks stalk in now so numerous,

And soak their clay with sweet, sweet gin,

And jest and joke so humorous"  ( Popular rhyme back in the day -'Daffy' was a nickname for Gin)

Short Review:  Every business needs to stay fresh to be competitive.

This may mean regularly refreshing your products or services, taking them to new markets or even coming up with an entirely new offer.

 

An example revival of today's Gin drinking
outside of London.
Display board for The Wheatsheaf
Farnham ,West Street

The  Ginnnaisance  or Renaissance of Gin in the UK is the word Olivia Williams to describe the growth of new distilleries particularly in London. Olivia Williams tells the story of Gin in London from the time of William of Orange up to the present day.

She traces the real world of Politics, Economics, Society and Fashion, Technology, Legal and Environment (PESTLE) which Sales and Marketing Professionals would recognise in today’s marketing models through her history of Gin and London .

We learn of the unintended marketing consequences of governments raising and lowering of taxes, issuing more or reducing the licences from past times.

Back in the early Victorian period the footfall of a gin shop would have put many current ' to go ' outlets to shame.

We learn how the bar tender of West End Cocktails of the early twentieth century have a thing or to teach today's coffee shop baristas in  promotion and pizazz.

We see the effects of lobby groups such as the Temperance Movement, Supplier Trade groups, Publicans and their effects on the market.

We learn of the challenges and opportunities of export marketing in the growth of popularity of Gin

We discover how store refurbishment and outlet makeovers can be traced back to their roots the Gin Palaces.

This book is a light and engaging read .There would be no shame to have it on your business bookshelf or saved in your e book. 

Gin Glorious Gin reminds us that in the world of selling, most strategies and tactics have been thought of before – the skill is to rethink them or reread them. 

Related links

PESTLE - grinding out the real world pests in marketing

Nespresso and 7 Ps of Marketing

Product in your marketing mix

Life's a soda now - Brand master Coco Cola