THE CONSUMER SEGMENT WE WERE LOOKING TO STUDY WERE MALE BUYERS OF PERFUMES IN THE

AGE BRACKET ON 28-35.

Perfumes have been used for centuries as a way of hiding or spicing up, everyday musk. Over the course
of time, the process of creating perfumes has altered somewhat. The alchemy of mixing flowers,
essential oils & the mystical Ambergris, has been replaced by synthetic techniques and mass production.
The 1900s saw further development, as producers capitalized on growing disposable income, with new
smells and new marketing techniques. Today, fragrances are available to the masses, come in a variety
of different smells and taste & are available to the rich and poor alike.

With this particular study we wanted to explore & understand how consumers (belonging to our chosen
demographic bracket) behave before, while and after the purchase of perfume, as well as to study the
channel specific ways employed by the retailers to entice shoppers to buy. We chose to study 3
independent retail spaces of which two were multi-brand stores and one was a single brand outlet.

The backend and supply, preliminary enquiry revealed that all the Perfumes are not supplied directly by
the manufacturing cos, instead buying houses/agencies in India acquire rights to import, promote and
retail one or more luxury perfume brands; who in turn supply these multi-brand retail stores.

THE STORES

We visited the DLF tri-mall (Ambiance, Promenade & Emporio) and visited:

1. Project Eve (Reliance Retail)

2. Shoppers Stop
3. Diesel Brand Store

Project Eve: Recently opened multi-brand retail outlet, primarily targeting high end women.

Shoppers Stop: Among India’s largest multi-brand retail chains

Diesel: Popular Italian brand

Perfume Section: Size, Location & Layout:

PE: The perfume section is located right at the entrance. Roughly, 20x20 ft space, which was lined on 2-
sides by wall mounted shelves. Each shelf measured about 2 ft in width and carried a unique brand.

The open side of the 20x20 square space had 2 standing open-cabinets, which carried Newly launched
brands.
SS: Huge area allotted to perfumes, 4 sub sections with walkways in between one each near the
entrance & exit. The approximate dimensions of the zones were roughly 12 x 8 ft. Similar wall shelf
arrangement as PE. Multiple single brand carrying shelves were also placed apart from the wall shelves.

D: The single brand outlet was much smaller than their multibrand counterparts, their perfume display
was a bright red vinyl display rack near the cash counter with led light accents. The brand positions the
perfumes, so as to be able to induce an impulsive purchase.

FOOTFALL:

PE: 5-6 customers/day.

SS: 2000-4000 customers/day

D: Less than 300 customers/day

NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS: During the 40 mins shadowing session.

PE: 3 walk-ins, no conversions

SS: Total of 35 customers visited the section, of which 7 ended up buying a product.

D: None of the customers observed during the session were shopping for perfumes

Lighting:

PE: The perfume section used bright white ceiling mounted spot lights, one for each Brands shelf on the
wall

SS: Spotlights on each shelf with illuminated shelf trays

D: perfume rack has internally fixed spotlights and red led accents

Sensory:

PE: The perfume section staff are instructed to spray a few shots from a randomly chosen perfume
sample, every few hours. Extensive POS advertising including standees and on wall celebrity
endorsement adverts. Shelves were stocked with products.

Sampling was done using pre-designated ‘tester’ bottles which were full sized products specifically
marked as not for sale.

SS: Routine sampling in the area keeps the place pleasantly scented. POS advertising was minimal with
only illuminate brand labels on top of the shelfs & 3D brand names on the racks of non wall mounted
racks.

Sales Personnel:

PE: There were two 2 sales staff, both male in the section during the course of our visit. Sales staff were
allotted by suppliers, thus usually had to service more than one brand (all brands under that particular
supplier), however they were employees of the retailer. Staff wore all black uniforms and are trained on
the brands by the agents of the suppliers.

Each sales representative had a monthly sales target of Rs 1 lakh, with instructions to check skewness of
sales across brands that he represents.

SS: Being an establish outlet had, more sales representatives (5-6) in the perfume section, all of whom
were male, however the sales staff were divided along supplier lines. Staff wore a black and white, crisp
formal uniforms. The staff are regularly trained and brief on the brands and products by the SS over and
above briefings by supplier representatives. Were well versed with perfume fragrance textures (woody,
earthen, aqua, etc)

D: The store had 3 representatives in total, two male and one female. The representative who spoke to
us, seemed management educated describing in detail how the brand approaches the perfume sales,
and how customers treat such a purchase in their store.

Promotions:

PE: The promotions and sales activities are coordinated by the supplying agencies; the retailer takes no
part in the same. Arrangement of products on the shelf is also set by the supplier. Brand representatives
augment the same when new products are launched. Supervisors (reps) of the suppliers come down
once a month to review the merchandising activity at the outlet.

SS: Promotion and sales handled by supplying agency with assistance from SS, a separate product
sampling station was observed, measuring 12x5 for sampling and promotion of the Hermes line of
Perfumes.

D: No special promotions are offered for perfumes but usual diesel sales and discount apply on entire
bill.

The CONSUMER

Broad similarities were observed between customer behavior at the multi-brand outlet vs the single
brand one. The understanding of the consumer behavior at the outlets was extracted after carefully
observing the consumers during the buying process on a busy Saturday evening and detailed discussion
with the sales staff themselves. An interesting observation was that the representative at the Diesel
outlet seemed extremely well versed in behavioral science and was possibly Management educated
using terms such as “affective buying” and “impulse purchase” during the conversation. While those at
the Multi-brand retail outlets were pre-college educated, but trained and presentable young
professionals.

MULTI-BRAND OUTLETS

Age: Buyers were mostly in the 30-40 age bracket, which tallies with the higher purchasing power that
this life-stage brings.
Customer Movement: The consumers observed could broadly be bracketed into two categories:

Loyals: This group has a brand in mind when he walks into the perfume section. He
directly gravitates towards one particular brand in the section. The sales staff are trained to quickly spot
such customers and offer assistance.

Butterflies: Seemingly more intent on exploring the offerings on display, he loiters, from
brand to brand, checking samples at a few. Often attracts the assistance of a sales personnel at this
stage.

High Involvement: While this was difficult to gauge we used two metrics to judge. i) Time spent in
the section, ii) who he shops with.

“of customers who spend more than 25mins in the section 60% end up buying a
perfume”
- staff manager at shoppers stop

This was also observed during the shadowing sessions, customers who spent under 5minutes didn’t
usually buy. An exception to this was for the above described ‘Loyals’, one particular customer observed
during the session in fact completed a Davidoff Coolwater purchase in under 10mins(including
checkout).

Actual buyers were often accompanied by persons of influences, friends & family. Again, most Loyals
were an exception to this.

Brand Preference: The younger buyers and the older buyer had different brand preferences. The
younger buyers preferred brands such as Ck, Boss, etc; while older buyers preferred luxury brands like
Bvlgari.

SINGLE BRAND

The consumers at the single brand store are mostly apparel &/or accessory shoppers, thus the brand
positions the perfumes to evoke an impulse purchase. Described as an “affective decision” by the
representative. Buyer were male less than or around 40. Unfortunately, shadowing was not possible at
the outlet as customers present at the time were mostly shopping for apparel. However, most buyers
were seen looking at the perfume display during billing.