“The main source of access to fragrance and beauty information was usually through journalists; apps like ours means that the industry can reach out directly to the consumer”, Harman told CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com
Givaudan recently launched its new and improved fragrance recommendation app, iPerfumer2 which is a way for "consumers to get information straight from those in the profession", reveals Harman.
In terms of market trends that the company are seeing with these types of mobile apps Harman says; “Apart from our app, we noticed that OSMOZ [perfume and fragrance website] have been successful with transforming their online directory into an app for its consumers.”
After comments and suggestions from the iPerfumer community on its first app, the company took steps to improve its usability and search facilities to make it more accessible for consumers to buy fragrance in an informed way.
“Consumers either wanted to search for fragrances through different parameters or didn’t specifically know what perfume they were looking for, so we created a new way for them to receive information and explore the fragrance market”, reveals Harman.
The new and improved app has a feature whereby consumers can type in fragrance ‘notes’ or their favourite scent or ingredient and it will recommend a perfume for the consumer.
While its ‘Top Rated’ function allows users to see which fragrances have been most highly rated by the iPerfumer community and even allows them to post a ‘wish list’ for friends and families to see.
Fragrance information in iPerfumer2 comes from Miriad 2.0, winner of the FiFi Technological Breakthrough of the Year for Fragrance Creation & Formulation in 2010. This extensive database forms the cornerstone of Givaudan’s knowledge of the fragrance market worldwide.