If you hear the words "home fragrance" and you're still thinking about lighting a candle or putting out a bowl of potpourri, think again.
The home fragrance industry has blossomed, so to speak, and those products now have company. In addition to potpourri and refresher oils and decorative scented candles come room sprays, reed diffusers (reed sticks that wick fragrance from inside bottles and release it into the air), wax melts (scented wax cubes that are melted in warming containers) and more.
Home fragrances even come into play in home decorating.
"A fragrance will help set the tone of the room," says Shayla Copas, an interior decorator and owner of Shayla Copas Interior Design in Little Rock. "Scents definitely make an impression as to our perception of a space."
In fact, "the majority of my clients use home fragrances," Copas says, adding that a portion of them ask for her help with fragrance selection. She'll ask clients which fragrances they lean toward, and which fragrances they don't care for. "I then consider the space we are working with, and the time of year for my final decision," she says.
According to a recent report published by Kline & Co., a New Jersey-based market research firm, home fragrance retail sales reached nearly $5.5 billion in 2012 ... an increase of 3 percent, the highest recorded growth over the past five years. Candles and diffusers represented the largest product categories (premium candles alone experienced a growth of 6 percent in 2012), but wax melts were the fastest-growing segment, with 40 percent growth.
That's no surprise to Steve Lawrence, vice chairman and chief executive officer for Heber Springs-based Aromatique.
"Good fragrances can improve the mood we are in, help us relax, conjure memories from childhood, favorite foods, and transport us to exotic locations," he says. "Two, the clothes we wear help us develop our identity and individuality. The same is true for personal and home fragrance."
Multiple advantages
The power of fragrance to heighten senses, create alertness, enhance the learning process, boost moods and provide a feeling of calmness is also pointed out in "The Benefits of Fragrance," an article by IFRA North America (formerly the Fragrance Materials Association of the United States). Lawrence also cites marketing efforts in the last decade that have not only driven up the value of fragrance, but made it trendy.
Some credit the recession for the industry's growth.
"People were not going out as much because it was too costly, and instead they spent more time at home nesting," says Mindy Stewart, owner of gift boutique Powder & Smoke in west Little Rock. "They wanted things in their homes to give them a feeling of well-being and calm; thus they began using more scent in their homes," she says.
A maturing industry
Consumers today are more sophisticated with their scent choices, Stewart has noted. "Gone are the days of plain vanilla," she says. "Women typically like floral blends, men like woodsy scents and citrus works for both."
Stewart says her best-selling forms of home fragrance are the candle and the room diffuser -- candles, "because they immediately give off an ambience, especially in the evening, that is romantic and elegant," and diffusers, because they are a safe alternative for use around children and for those who may to forget to blow out a candle.
Specialty stores such as Stewart's are the leading sales channel for home fragrances, accounting for nearly 29 percent of total market sales in 2012, according to Kline & Co.: "The direct-sales channel registers the strongest gain in 2012 due to stellar sales through the Internet for the most part, plus strong sales growth for Scentsy," purveyors of direct-sold wax melts.
Kasey Heral of Jacksonville, an independent consultant in her fifth year of selling Scentsy, says her customers praise the wax-melt bars for their strong, long-lasting fragrances. The advantage of wax melts? "You can switch out your fragrance at any time." And there's the price advantage: Scentsy bars, of which about 80 fragrances are offered any given time, start as low as $4.25; warmers, about 50 of which are offered at a time, are $20-$45.
Her customers favor such scents as Luna (a jasmine blend); Nashi Nectar (citrus and Nashi pear); Peony Petals (peony and rose petals); and Zen Garden (honeydew, freesia and water lotus).
Another advantage of home fragrance items in general: They're good for sharing the love -- or rather, the scent.
"We sell quite a few [as] housewarming gifts and engagement gifts or graduate gifts," says Martiel Drinkard of Cobblestone and Vine, which has two Little Rock locations. The store offers candles and other home fragrance items by Seda France, Belle Fleur, Nouvelle and Linnea's Lights, as well as Agraria, a line also sold at Powder & Smoke.
Jim Gentry, head of San Francisco-based Agraria, says that from his 44-year-old company's perspective, home fragrance has always been a decorative accessory "that just happens to smell good." The company, which began with a Bitter Orange potpourri and a Balsam Perfume candle, now offers wares from scented burning sticks, $28, to a custom-built gazebo candle, $325.
Gentry credits the reed diffuser for helping the industry grow in the past few years. Agraria has now moved on to its "next generation" diffuser: the AirEssence line, which utilizes handmade balsa wood flowers instead of reed sticks. As the petals absorb the oils, they begin to change to those colors. "No more 'flipping sticks," says Gentry, who adds that the product has sold out on three occasions during the last 10 months.
But none of this is to say that good old potpourri should be discounted. "It really is the most environmentally friendly home fragrance product," Gentry says.
HomeStyle on 07/12/2014