The Scent of a Man, Bought by a Woman

The New York Times
May 28, 2007
By ALEX MINDLIN



It is an industry rule of thumb that women’s perfumes account for two-thirds of annual sales of “prestige” fragrances — that is, high-end fragrances sold in department stores or boutiques, rather than drugstores.

But lately, that ratio has shown signs of shifting. A men’s fragrance was the top-selling fragrance for nine months last year, compared with one month in 2003, according to the NPD Group, a market research firm. And Unforgivable, Diddy’s citrus-tinged cologne, was the year’s top-selling introduction, a figure determined by combining its first-month and December sales.

“It used to be that if you launched a women’s fragrance, it might do $30 million better than a men’s fragrance,” said Karen Grant, senior beauty industry analyst for NPD. “Now that doesn’t happen.”

Much of the surge in men’s fragrances has been driven by Acqua di Gio, a 10-year-old Armani cologne that was the top-selling fragrance for eight months in 2006. One clue to its success was that Acqua di Gio seemed to be more popular than other colognes among women, who buy more than half of all cologne as gifts.