The Perfume Shop enjoys best ever festive season

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jan 2, 2023

Fragrance continued to be a major UK choice for Christmas gifting this year with The Perfume Shop seeing a second year of successful seasonal sales following the pandemic.

The retailer reported its busiest festive trading period ever, despite the growing concerns over consumer spending, plus the harsh winter weather and rail strikes.

Britain’s largest fragrance-only retailer, with 215 stores in the UK and Ireland, said it sold a record 1.77 million items between 28 November and 24 December, while gift set sales surged 26% year-on-year in the week before Christmas, matching its year-ago performance.

The business is part of AS Watson, which also owns high street retailer Superdrug. It said its website recorded its busiest ever day on Sunday 11 December with online orders up 39% from last year’s peak.

For a second year running, its best-selling fragrances were long-time favourites such as Dior Sauvage and Chanel Coco Mademoiselle, while its biggest new launches of the year were Paco Rabanne Fame and Prada Paradoxe.

Rounding out the top-10 Christmas choices were Mugler Alien, Paco Rabanne 1 Million, Carolina Herrera Good Girl, Lancôme La Vie Est Belle, YSL Black Opium,Dior Miss Dior, Paco Rabanne Invictus and Chanel Bleu De Chanel. 

Andrea Rickard, TPS trading director, said: “We knew that Christmas was going to be a tough one for people this year and that’s why we wanted to ensure we had lots of fantastic early Christmas deals such as gift sets, stocking fillers and more to help families spread the cost of the festive season.

“Our price freeze on over 100 fragrance brands enabled people to buy gifts for their loved ones on any budget.”