The discount powerhouse is going full throttle on the fragrance category, which has been lethargic and overlooked in big box stores over the past decade. The fragrance assortment expands beyond the standard mass market fare to include exclusives, clean formulas, and customizable collections.
An added boost is the proximity to premium scents, including Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande in the Target doors, with Ulta Beauty inside. Target, by a store count on its website, is well on its way to operating 800 of the hybrid beauty departments within the next year.
Mass merchants have eyed with envy the results posted in prestige fragrances over the past two years. Luxury fragrances represent 60% of the full category volume of $12.7 billion, according to Circana (formerly NPD and IRI). The combined channels pumped out sales gains of 11% in 2022.
Digging deeper into the gains, sales in drug, food, discount, and dollar stores only advanced a little over 1% in 2022. Shoppers showed they were willing to dig deeper into their pockets for products they felt were a treat and worth the extra spend.
There is a whiff of change to date in 2023, proving Target could be onto something. First quarter results released by Circana showed prestige fragrances jumping and mass escalating 13%. While some of the mass growth is attributed to rising prices rather than unit movement, the upward trend is a welcome sign.
Target is embracing the category with a bevy of launches that address some of the reasons mass merchants have lagged behind department and specialty competitors. The roadblocks include a dearth of launches, locked cases, and a lack of sampling.
Three of the initiatives at Target are from the creative minds at Maesa—Fine’ry, Being Frenshe by Ashley Tisdale, and Mix:Bar.
According to Maesa executives, the trio delivers fresh ideas to mass. “Newness drives the category. Customers are craving differentiation, and we are giving it to them. They are accessible and fit for purpose in the mass market environment. Glamour and sophistication shouldn't have to come exclusively at high prices; everyone deserves a bit of luxury. We provide affordable luxury to the consumer, and with most prices below $20, it's an easy pickup for shoppers that are willing to try."
Fine’ry, an exclusive at Target, features eau de parfum and body sprays with formulas that are clean, vegan, cruelty-free, and void of parabens and phthalates. Scents include Not Another Cherry, Sunphoria, and Jungle Santal. The brand retails between $12.99 to $27.99, and there is a mini discovery set (priced at $19.99).
“Before Fine’ry was even fully set, Target consumers started to discover the brand organically and post about it on TikTok; it quickly went viral. We noticed some TikTokers with less than 100 followers getting hundreds of thousands of views,” says Scott Kestenbaum, Chief Growth Officer at Maesa. “Within just a couple of weeks, there were over 10 million views of #fineryperfume. All are 100% organic. We sold 450% above our forecast and sold through about six months of inventory in about six weeks.”
Cassandra Jones, Target’s Senior Vice President and General Manager Essentials, Beauty, and Health, says Fine’ry fits with guests’ attention on what they are putting in and on their bodies. “We are responding to this with new brands like luxury-inspired perfume from Fine’ry,” she explains. Fine'ry, in most stores, is merchandising on the shelf near fast-moving categories like artificial nails. What makes Fine'ry stand out is upscale packaging and a set of testers.
One of the biggest issues of selling scents at mass is that they are often locked away to prevent theft. Upon a visit, only one tester was pilfered—not surprisingly the best-selling Not Another Cherry. According to a former mass market retailer, the cost of replacing one tester is far offset by the volume that testers deliver.
Being Frenshe, also a Maesa brand, was a brisk seller last holiday season and continues to resonate with consumers. “Being Frenshe is the first cross-category wellness brand in the masstige market segment,” explains Kestenbaum. “Founded by Ashley Tisdale, Being Frenshe encompasses a full range of wellness products. The brand is positioned in Target's Clean area because it stretches beyond fragrances. That's critical, says the former retailer, because that is the department where wellness enthusiasts shop. They don’t tend to venture into fragrance, so this helps introduce them to the category.
Mix:Bar is the other fragrance innovation sold at Target incubated by Maesa. The brand delivers the ability to customize a fragrance in a mass market setting. Prices range from $9.99 to $19.99. Shoppers can buy one single scent or cocktail them for a bespoke fragrance.
Target started its expansion in fragrances beyond the typical designer and mass market staples with the addition of Good Chemistry in 2017. The brand was an early player in clean ingredients. One of the goals of the brand was to bring the quality and trends of prestige to mass. Its latest launch is Coffee Cloud. “People are loving the nod to coffee in this gender-neutral scent,” says April Mueller, Vice President of Creative at Good Chemistry. The company also introduced a sustainable innovation in candles with vessels designed to be refilled with its 100% sustainable sources biodegradable vegan plant-based candle refills.
Good Chemistry is also sold at CVS, Walmart, and Amazon.
In addition to exclusives, the partnership with Ulta Beauty burnishes Target’s online fragrance assortment with access to premium scents including Carolina Herrera’s Good Girl and Mont Blanc’s Legend for Men.
Walmart also upped its fragrance game last year with a brand uncovered during its Walmart Start program. Dossier is a collection of fragrances inspired by pricier options such as YSL's Black Opium or Jo Malone's Wood Sage and Sea Salt. Retailing for $29, the formulas of the mimics are clean, cruelty-free, and vegan. While there are other designer knockoffs on the market, Dossier's packaging more closely resembles a premium brand versus the competitors.
