How did the fragrance market perform throughout the pandemic, especially in 2021? Can you speak about the current state of the market and what’s driving sales?
The pandemic impacted all sectors of the economy. Our industry was affected as well. The third and fourth quarters of 2020 were hit a bit but it did recover since many of our customers ventured into e-commerce.
2021 was a good year for us since we had a sales growth of 25 per cent, thanks to our loyal customers. Now our business is on a growing scale. We are expecting a growth of 25 to 40 per cent this year.
You’ve been around for the past eight years. How has the journey been?
Totally, I have 20+ years of experience in perfumery in that 15+ years in fragrance industry. When I started hand-in-hand with Parfex I wanted to have slow and steady growth. With the support of our customers, our local and international team (Parfex France) we could become a well-known fragrance brand in the Middle East in the past eight years.
What sets you apart from other fragrance brands?
It is our service and the trust. We work with limited customers to provide exceptional service. Since the acquisition by Croda and our expansion, now we will be able to serve more customers with the same service. Also, we maintain the confidentiality of our customers’ products and they trust us for the same.
Can you talk a bit about the creative process behind your scents?
We have an experienced and creative team at our headquarters. They work together with our customers and our sales team to provide the products our customers need.
There have been new additions of experienced perfumers and evaluators to our team to concentrate on our creations at the same time we do evaluation at our local office to provide the best creations to our customers.
Can you speak a bit about how you have developed your retail distribution around the globe, as well as the marketing strategies that have been the most beneficial for the brand?
As I mentioned earlier, we collaborate with limited clients now so we can provide exceptional service and grow through them, our strategy has always been to work as a family with our customers. We let them think it’s their business so we can provide them better service, price, and a comfortable platform.
What are consumers responding to most from Parfex? Are you seeing any generational trends among your consumers?
As far as the Middle Eastern market is concerned most of the customers are happy with quality, price and service of our products.
Yes, some improvement is needed which we are working on since we have expanded here as well as in our headquarters in France.
We could see a demand in niche fragrances as well as creating new notes. Our perfumers and evaluators are working on the same and our customers appreciate our new work.
What does the future look like for Parfex? Any projects or launches in the works?
Since the acquisition by Croda we are expanding extensively. We will have three times bigger production capacity, and recruitment of experienced perfumers and evaluators to improve our quality and service.
We are all incredibly positive about the coming year as Parfex will play a significant role in the fragrance industry.