Fragrance Isn't a One-Bottle Category Anymore

Most shops we talk to already carry a line, and the instinct is that adding a second one just splits the same sales.

Here's what actually happened at a shop that carried two lines when they brought us on. We didn't take sales from them. Their other two lines kept selling right along with us, and ours moved on top of that. The shelf got bigger, and so did the total.

The reason, as far as I can tell, is that fragrance stopped being a one-bottle category. Buyers used to pick a signature scent and wear it for ten years. Now they build a wardrobe. A few for work, a few for date night, a few for fall, a few for summer. They're not choosing between lines. They're collecting across them.

That's why a second line doesn't cannibalize, at least not in what we've seen. It gives the person who already bought from you a reason to come back.

Ruth+Bo tends to pull a slightly different customer on top of that too. Most buy for themselves, but a good number buy it as a gift. That's one place Ruth+Bo tends to outperform other fragrance lines: it moves well as a gift, not just a self-purchase.

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