Gen-Z’s preferences have shaped the beauty industry in recent years, from acne stickers to faux freckles. But the fragrance category has especially felt Gen-Z’s influence.
As maturing Gen-Z customers began to discover and experiment with scent, fragrance has emerged as a consistent bright spot for the beauty industry since 2021. That growing interest provided something of a cushion to the overall sector throughout the past year as it dealt with slowing sales; a study from consulting firm McKinsey noted that while fragrance is the smallest category in beauty, it was 2024’s fastest-growing.
But the heavy reliance on the category has tested its resiliency. Gen-Z is still buying fragrance, but their preferences are shifting. Driven by PerfumeTok, today, these shoppers build up perfume collections, chase trends (like gourmand scents) and layer multiple fragrances at once, rather than sticking with a signature scent. But because they want to try so many scents, they’re also embracing more low-cost ways to do so.
These behaviours are changing the category: In 2024, sales of prestige perfumes and colognes, the largest segment in fragrance, grew 14 percent year-over-year. But more consumers went for less expensive options when purchasing prestige — the largest fragrance segment — perfumes and colognes, with growth among 18 to 24-year-old shoppers predominantly driven by mini or travel sizes, according to market research firm Circana. Meanwhile, the mass channel has continued to face slowing sales between 2022 and 2024, growing just 2 percent year-over-year by September 2024.
Fragrance is well positioned heading into 2025, but to keep the hot streak going, brands and companies will need to find ways not only to connect with Gen-Z, but convince them to trade up to full-size prestige and luxury fragrances.
Doing so largely depends on brands releasing innovative products in unique packaging and finding entertaining avenues to reach customers amid a looming TikTok ban. But they also must address the Gen-Z — and increasingly, Gen Alpha — desire for less expensive scents in the form of body sprays, hair perfume, perfume solids and minis without getting them too used to shopping for the least expensive item. Whether Gen-Zers will find these attempts appealing could prove extremely consequential for the future of fragrance.
“There’s an opportunity to continue to drive this business through younger shoppers, at least for some time,” said Wendy Liebmann, CEO of insights firm WSL Strategic Retail.
The Innovation Race
Gen-Z wants more out of fragrance innovation than just perfumes and candles.
That desire has boosted the popularity of products like hair perfume and body mists, and now is giving way to a slate of other iterations of fragrance.
Indie brand Perfumehead, for example, is leaning on fragrance oils, which are alcohol-free and said to last longer. Meanwhile, Glossier, Fenty Beauty and Byredo have all turned to solid fragrances, offering travel friendly options in visually friendly packaging. Separately, Jo Loves, the second brainchild of Jo Malone, sells fragrance paintbrushes for $58 which contain a perfumed gel to swipe across the skin.
Mood-boosting fragrances are also on the rise. When Puig-owned Charlotte Tilbury launched fragrances space in April, its collection of six was designed with “mood-boosting” properties in mind. And in September, Coty partnered with Adidas to launch six scents based on “vibes” that elicited positive emotions.
“Packaging and presentation are important, because fragrance can be a status symbol,” said Liebmann. “As are promotions that drive exclusivity, like [product] drops that are new or limited edition; and all those [other] ways to make it [popular] digitally and physically and drive demand.”
For example, the team behind British Gen-Z makeup brand Lottie London launched fragrance through a partnership with Netflix’s show “Outer Banks,” dropping two limited-edition direct-to-consumer eau de parfums. The 50 millilitre and 100 millilitre sizes retail for $35 and $49, respectively.
“It was an easier route for us to play in by [working with] a massively engaged audience, and that allowed us to test it with our community and the fans,” said Lyndon Robertson, brand director for Lottie London. “People also crave out-of-screen moments with [television] shows, so this felt like the right first step into fragrance.”
Lottie London plans to roll out body spray with its retail partners, which include CVS and Walmart, in early 2025, and perfumes are planned for the second half of 2025. Body sprays and mists have gained significant traction among Gen-Zers, with Circana reporting that these products have average prices under $25, and have more than doubled in sales revenue since the first half of 2023.
“Every [retailer] is looking for the next Sol de Janeiro,” Robertson said, referring to the L’Occitane Group-owned brand, whose beachy scents have become a Gen-Z and Gen Alpha favourite. Last year, Sol de Janeiro was Sephora’s top-selling brand.
Communicating On and Offline
According to Circana’s most recent consumer fragrance study, 73 percent of Gen-Zers wear fragrance at least three times per week. And oftentimes, social media spurs those purchases: TikTok ranked No. 1 for Gen-Z in influencing fragrance purchases at 66 percent, while Instagram came in second at 64 percent, followed by YouTube at 41 percent.
“Fragrance had historically been behind the other categories in social, and more and more, it’s finding space to grow because there’s more of a passion and the community is driving it,” said Malena Higuera, general manager of Noyz, a Gen-Z-centric brand from incubator Beach House Group. “People are excited to share their personal cocktail of what they feel like that day, and as a result, what they want to evoke and emote and smell like.”
Noyz is about “raw emotion” and not taking yourself too seriously, she said, as demonstrated with the names of its initial fragrances,“Shitty Day” and “Unmute.” Noyz launched nationally in Ulta Beauty when the brand debuted in June. It offers four fragrances for 50 millilitres at $85 each, plus a sample discovery set for $22, and individual 15-millilitre sprays for $35 each.
“Storytelling in fragrance is aspirational but fantastical to the point that it doesn’t reflect how you truly feel,” she said. “We want to be there where we’re ready to get [emotionally] raw.”
Higuera said that keeping Gen-Z engaged in fragrances requires more than just product innovation, particularly around aligning with their values. For World Mental Health Day last fall the brand created a voicemail box for its customers, meant to encourage unfiltered emotional expression; fans could call and “leave a message” with their thoughts and concerns.
Feeding into online communities is a key sales and brand equity driver in a social media age. Unlike the splashy and highly-sexed perfume ads from fashion brands and celebrities that have long dominated, digitally native fragrance brands aim for conversations with customers, not aspirational dictations. Glossier first teased its two latest fragrances, Rêve and Doux, in Sept. 2024 on Instagram, and sent locked boxes with the scents inside to a number of influencers who, on the day of their release, received a code to open them.
However, while Gen-Z is significantly more likely to be influenced by social media than other generations, online reviews and recommendations from friends and family also play a big role with this cohort, according to Circana. And they’re still making impulse purchases in-store. Higuera said she anticipates more experiential opportunities in 2025, especially in the face of a TikTok ban, and Noyz already plans to partake in offline marketing. Lottie London invested in offline events with Netflix to promote its “Outer Banks” scents, with plans for more in 2025.
“The sensory side of beauty is so important to [Gen-Z] and taking it off a screen to interact in-real-life is key to build even stronger consumer-brand connections,” said Robertson. “[But] events do need to have a pull beyond products — they need to be made into a ‘day out’ with multifaceted events that invite consumers to be fully immersed into the brand world.”
