Shinsegae Inter·LF Show Clear Growth in Perfume Category
Perfume Shifts from Luxury to Essential Item
Domestic Perfume Market Expected to Grow to 1 Trillion Won by 2025
Major Fashion Companies Aggressively Expand New Brands
The number of consumers "wearing" fragrances is increasing day by day. Perfume, once strongly perceived as a luxury item, is gradually evolving into the ultimate fashion item that completes one's unique style, leading to rapid growth in the perfume market. While the overall apparel market is struggling due to weakened consumer sentiment, the domestic perfume market is expected to reach 1 trillion won by 2025, prompting major fashion companies to accelerate efforts to secure new brands and position perfumes as a new growth engine.
According to the fashion industry on the 27th, Shinsegae International's online perfume category sales increased by 60.6% as of November compared to the same period last year. After recording a high growth rate of 107.8% in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic boom, the company continued strong growth with 65.3% last year and over 60% this year.
Shinsegae International experienced a decline in apparel sales due to weakened consumer sentiment, resulting in an 18.5% decrease in third-quarter sales compared to the same period last year. However, imported cosmetics sales led by perfumes rose 7.9% to 75 billion won, marking the highest quarterly performance. Shinsegae International officially entered the perfume business in 2014 by launching the niche perfume brand ‘Byredo’ and the beauty edit shop ‘La Perva.’ Currently, it operates 12 perfume brands, leading the domestic perfume market.
LF also faced poor performance with both sales and operating profit in the fashion division declining in the third quarter this year, but the perfume business showed a different trend. For example, the French niche perfume brand ‘Officine Universelle Buly’ has seen its sales double on average every year since its domestic launch in 2016, and this year it has continued to show double-digit sales growth month-over-month in the second half. The French niche perfume edit shop ‘Jovoy,’ which debuted last year, also successfully achieved a soft landing with 50% growth in the first half of this year compared to the second half of last year.
The recent rise of the domestic perfume market is mainly attributed to changing consumer perceptions of perfume. Once strongly regarded as a luxury good, perfume is now increasingly seen as a means of self-expression as the domestic fashion market matures. In particular, as more consumers use perfume to showcase their unique personality and style, the status of perfume is shifting from something simply "sprayed" to something "worn." An industry insider said, "Following fashion, there is a growing tendency to seek 'niche among niches' scents that are different from others, leading to more customers looking for rarer brands and fragrances than before."
In fact, the domestic perfume market has shown rapid growth as consumer awareness and recognition of niche perfumes have steadily increased over the past few years. Resistance to the relatively high prices of niche perfumes has significantly decreased, and with more options available, niche perfumes are no longer a 'niche' but have become mainstream in the perfume market. According to market research firm Euromonitor, the domestic perfume market, which was around 500 billion won in 2015, grew about 20% to 600 billion won by 2019 in four years and formed a 750 billion won market last year. The industry expects the market size to exceed 1 trillion won by 2025.
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