London - Fragrance research

We went to London last week to do some primary research about our next project. Our Next project is to produce a new concept for a fragrance idea and then present it.

My group have decided to base our fragrance on a niche market, as we felt that people feel "tied" to the mass market. We did research in Nottingham for the Mass Market, and concentrated on the Niche for London as there were many boutiques we visited. The Niche fragrance stores we visited were lovely! Firstly, the customer service was phenomenal. 

We first went to a store called "Bloom perfumery" as we had an interview with a worker there. We were in there for about an hour and a half, and she told us EVERYTHING we need to know about perfume! She showed us all of the brands that they sell, and told us every story behind the concept of the brands. I learned from this that the niche perfume brands all have a story behind it in which they portray via their scents. For example, the brand "Blood Concept" is a brand which I found so interesting. At first when they lecturers told us about it, I thought it was just a perfume for your own personal blood type (which it can be too), but the lady in Bloom explained to us that each blood type, starting with the first ever one; O, represents life. So O represents the cavemen times - and it is made out of elements like leather and metal... the raw substances. Each one of the blood types represent the growth of life, and the last one; MA, represents the ending of the world (2012) called "plasma white". It is a totally different scent compared to the others and is made to smell human, free... (She told us that most people don't like that one, I could tell why... it does't smell very nice!!)

She told us that niche brands are allowed to express more freedom, e.g. Selling wise - as they are more personal to the consumer and it may take a couple of days for the consumer to buy a product as they go away and try a scent and come back to see if they like how it lasts.

We went to many boutiques, but Bloom Perfumery is where we got the most information. Another store is "Les senteurs" where the man was also very helpful. 

What I found most interesting about these unique stores was the VM and the decor. It was all so creative and so relevant to the brand and their story, I took a few pictures!