By Terry Johnson, IPF Vice Chair
Those of us who work with natural essences are actually part of a larger community of several niche supply chain markets all related to retailing flowers and plants as well as retailing the essences of flowers and plants. These niche markets include natural perfumery, aromatherapy, flower and plant garden retailers, and fresh flower retailers.
Each of these flower and plant supply chains have three things in common:
First, they all start with flower and plant growers at one end of the supply chain.
Second, they all rely on the powerful effects of at least one human sense: for natural perfumes it is the sense of smell; for fresh flower retailers it is the sense of sight; for garden retailers it is the sense of both sight and smell.
Third, they all sell products delivering important and meaningful health benefits to consumers, each in their own unique way.
Brick-and-Mortar Store Sales Versus Online Sales
What differentiates garden and fresh flower retailers on the one hand, versus natural perfumers on the other, is the retail models they follow. With garden and fresh flower retailers, more than 95% of all sales are purchases made from thousands of physical stores, with less than 5% of sales coming from online purchases. It is the complete opposite with natural perfumers: more than 95% of all natural perfume sales are completed online, with less than 5% of consumer sales of natural perfumes purchased from brick-and-mortar stores. It is also relevant that more than 90% of all $50 billion in annual perfume sales worldwide are made from physical stores.
Growing Sales for Natural Perfumers
If natural perfumers want to significantly increase sales, they need to strongly consider opening physical stores for these reasons:
1. There is a very good reason why the physical store retailers mentioned above totally dominate sales. Physical stores allow consumers to make immediate purchasing decisions based on direct sensual effects on the purchaser. Online photos of flowers can never equal the powerful effects that seeing fresh flowers in person achieve. Further, consumers can quickly decide between several perfume choices at retail store locations based on their fragrance preferences, something that is far less likely to occur from online sellers without sending perfume samples to potential customers and hope they respond.
2. Online marketing directs efforts towards the general population, which is currently as competitive as it has ever been. Physical stores, on the other hand, focus on local communities which provide opportunities for natural perfumers to become perfume experts within those communities, just as floral retailers have become dominant flower and plant experts within their markets.
Natural perfumers have something important and meaningful to share with the world and their potential customers. Learning from the successes of flower and plant retailers’ physical stores can bring those visions of their businesses and what they offer their customers to reality.
Passion, commitment, and the overwhelming need to give something great and important to the world is the ultimate secret of ensuring natural perfumers’ physical retail store success.
Each of these flower and plant supply chains have three things in common:
First, they all start with flower and plant growers at one end of the supply chain.
Second, they all rely on the powerful effects of at least one human sense: for natural perfumes it is the sense of smell; for fresh flower retailers it is the sense of sight; for garden retailers it is the sense of both sight and smell.
Third, they all sell products delivering important and meaningful health benefits to consumers, each in their own unique way.
Brick-and-Mortar Store Sales Versus Online Sales
What differentiates garden and fresh flower retailers on the one hand, versus natural perfumers on the other, is the retail models they follow. With garden and fresh flower retailers, more than 95% of all sales are purchases made from thousands of physical stores, with less than 5% of sales coming from online purchases. It is the complete opposite with natural perfumers: more than 95% of all natural perfume sales are completed online, with less than 5% of consumer sales of natural perfumes purchased from brick-and-mortar stores. It is also relevant that more than 90% of all $50 billion in annual perfume sales worldwide are made from physical stores.
Growing Sales for Natural Perfumers
If natural perfumers want to significantly increase sales, they need to strongly consider opening physical stores for these reasons:
1. There is a very good reason why the physical store retailers mentioned above totally dominate sales. Physical stores allow consumers to make immediate purchasing decisions based on direct sensual effects on the purchaser. Online photos of flowers can never equal the powerful effects that seeing fresh flowers in person achieve. Further, consumers can quickly decide between several perfume choices at retail store locations based on their fragrance preferences, something that is far less likely to occur from online sellers without sending perfume samples to potential customers and hope they respond.
2. Online marketing directs efforts towards the general population, which is currently as competitive as it has ever been. Physical stores, on the other hand, focus on local communities which provide opportunities for natural perfumers to become perfume experts within those communities, just as floral retailers have become dominant flower and plant experts within their markets.
Natural perfumers have something important and meaningful to share with the world and their potential customers. Learning from the successes of flower and plant retailers’ physical stores can bring those visions of their businesses and what they offer their customers to reality.
Passion, commitment, and the overwhelming need to give something great and important to the world is the ultimate secret of ensuring natural perfumers’ physical retail store success.
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