Michael Edwards’s annual guide, Fragrances of the World 2007, has been released this month. According to Fragrances of the World, “the new guide sorts by family more than 5,000 selective, niche, masstige, mass, direct retail, limited edition and travel retail fragrances.” 2006 has seen the addition of 693 new fragrances (compared to 545 in 2005 and 205 in 1996). The new launches have been fueled by niche and celebrity fragrance releases, according to the data used in the 2007 guide. By way of example, there were 121 niche fragrances in 2006 (as compared to 87 in 2005 and 36 in 1996) and 37 celebrity launches (as compared to 26 in 2005 and 15 in 1996). This year’s Fragrances of the World guide is the 23rd edition, proving that it remains the most reliable and valuable resource for retailers. Michael Edwards’s classification system is used by Fragrance Foundation Directory, Sephora, Nordstrom as well as World Duty Free.
More information is available at Fragrances of the World website.
4 Comments
annE: I love going through his book, and I’m always impressed that Nordstrom has a copy for customers to browse through (although, of course, I could be snarky and note that the SA’s would benefit by going through it as well).
But “masstige”? Words like this are what give marketers a bad name. January 18, 2007 at 10:09am
Joie: Just found your site. Am thrilled to find a blogger and a community who loves fragrance as much as myself! Cheers! January 18, 2007 at 5:50pm
BoisdeJasmin: Ann, I also see this book at Sephora, where the SAs certainly should take an advantage of reading it! 🙂
Masstige is a category of retail that refers to the downward brand extension. Essentially, almost all of celebrity fragrance brands are in this category. Not a pretty term, I agree, but it is catchy! January 22, 2007 at 2:30pm
BoisdeJasmin: Joie, thank you! Looking forward to seeing you here more often. January 22, 2007 at 2:31pm