Women shop for perfume at the Matsuya Ginza department store in Tokyo’s Chuo district.
11:30 JST, August 8, 2024
Young people are fueling a boom in the perfume and fragrance market in Japan, a country once known as a “perfume desert.” To attract customers, department stores are expanding their outlets and manufacturers have launched new services.
Department stores
Young women picked up bottle after bottle at Matsuya Ginza department store in Chuo Ward, Tokyo in late June. In addition to popular items such as luxury foreign perfumes, unique scents inspired by foods such as tomatoes and basil were also on display.
“Many young customers buy perfumes to express their personality,” said an official at the department store, adding that the store deliberately sells perfumes that are not too strong.
Matsuya Ginza will double the size of its perfume sales floor in the summer of 2022. Sales from foreign tourists have had a significant impact, but sales excluding duty-free sales grew 18% year-on-year in June. In addition, about 40% of customers coming to the perfume area are male.
The Isetan Shinjuku store expanded its perfume sales area by 50% last fall, and sales in May doubled compared to the same month the previous year.
According to private research firm Fuji Keizai Group Co., the size of the domestic perfume market is expected to reach ¥54.7 billion in 2024, an increase of more than 30% compared to 2020. Further growth is expected in the future.
Targeting beginners
Cosmetics are usually influenced by the culture and lifestyle of a country or region. In Japan, there is a resistance to strong odors, as expressed in the term “odor pollution”. As a result, domestic perfume sales were slow for many years.
However, during the COVID-19 outbreak, more and more people experimented with fragrances to try something new or to feel relaxed while spending more time at home. More and more young people now own and wear different perfumes as part of their personal style.
According to a study by marketing institute Shibuya109 lab, keywords related to fragrances ranked high among the trends of 2023. “Influencers promote the appeal of fragrances and perfumes on social media, which makes young people use them to express themselves,” said researcher Makiko Tanabe.
Manufacturers are capitalizing on the trend to expand their customer base. Pola Orbis Holdings Inc. has launched a perfume subscription service called “Eram” — after completing an online questionnaire, subscribers receive a perfume that matches their taste each month.
To attract newcomers, Kose Corp. is selling mini perfumes under its luxury brand Decorte, each bottle containing 15 milliliters and priced affordably at ¥3,520. “We want to convey our brand image by letting people experience fragrances,” a company official said.
