As most of us are aware, all of the indicators over the last few years show that the fragrance market is rapidly approaching maturity if, in fact, it is not already there. These indicators not only point out the situation in the retail end of the business, but they also tell the story for the entire fragrance industry. Every segment of the fragrance industry today is confronted with a maturing market.
Obviously, we are not the first industry to experience such growth obstacles. The electronics industry, for instance, experienced growth in the U.S. in the 60s and 70s; the sales of automobiles in this country in the 70s and early 80s not only flattened out but actually went into a very serious downslide.
One of the techniques that the automotive, electronics and other industries have used to combat market maturity has been to aggressively introduce new products at the very time of maturity. While this technique may appear to be very risky, it is almost a necessity to introduce new products during maturation of a market in order to regain the customer’s attention and stimulate new interest in the industry’s products.
