The company’s latest research in this area reveals that, while the women’s fragrance market in the country grew by more than 5 per cent year-on-year, during the five months to May, the celebrity fragrance category grew by 14 percent to reach a value of £11m.
NPD’s director of Beauty UK, June Jensen, believes that the comparatively low price point of celebrity fragrances is what is giving them a boost in the current market conditions, leading many consumers to opt for them instead of significantly more expensive prestige brands.
Male celebrity fragrances take on the females
Existing celebrity favourites such as Britney Spears’ Fantasy and Beyonce’s Heat are continuing to drive fragrance sales, but more recent launches such as Taylor Swift’s Wonderstruck and Lady Gaga’s Fame – both launched last summer, are increasingly adding to the mix.
However, the NPD research suggests that these female stars may have to move over for their male counterparts, as they increasingly start to move in on the celebrity fragrance category for women.
This Summer has seen the launch of Justin Bieber’s third fragrance, The Key, while that has been followed up by the launch of One Direction’s first ever fragrance, called Our Moment.
Beiber's first fragrance launch points to future success
Jensen believes that the success of Justin Bieber’s first fragrance, Someday, is likely to be an indication of how popular the launch of these two Summer celebrity fragrance launches will be.
On release in the US market in June 2011, it became the number one fragrance brand launch that year, suggesting continued sales of Justin Beiber’s fragrance portfolio, as well as strong launch sales for the number one selling boy band.
“The key to success here is to know your market and to know exactly which A-lister has what it takes to be a celebrity fragrance,” said Jensen.
“Time will tell if One Direction’s fragrance has the magic formula to make the top ten in the fragrance as well as the music download charts, but targeting an enthusiastic teen demographic is a smart approach as 80 per cent of teen girls say they wear perfume.”