Fragrance Sales Trends from NPD Group

Fragrance sales grew 5% during the two weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, compared to the same weeks last year.
Fragrance sales grew 5% during the two weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, compared to the same weeks last year.

NPD Group released a report on fragrance sales for Valentine's Day 2021, showing an increase in early shopping which is estimated to be a trend for 2021.

Related: Mintel's 4 Global Beauty Consumer Trends of 2021

NPD recorded sales starting earlier than in prior years, with several department and beauty specialty stores featuring Valentine’s gifts to build early excitement. The data shows that this early start was an important contributor to fragrance’s growth in February. 

Online sales fueled growth during the first week of February, up 77% compared to last year in a pre-pandemic environment, with online representing a larger portion of sales and outpacing the second week. This first week of February drove all the year-over-year gains that occurred for the two weeks leading to Valentine’s Day. 

During the two weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, fragrance sales grew 5% compared to the same weeks last year.  

NPD estimates this trend may be an indicator of what is to come, with a similar trend in early shopping around Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, dependent on the extent to which brands and retailers will leverage the trend of promoting early.

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