Musicians’ Fragrances Not Big Sellers
Aparently the bond between celebirty and fan does not extend to the olfactory receptors. Cosmetics giant Elizabeth Arden reported their largest quarterly loss and laid the lion's share of the blame for said losses at Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber's feet.
The company lost $155.9 million in the three months ended June 30 while sales dropped by 28.4 per cent to $191.7 million for the quarter, losses in part driven by what the company says are declining sales in celebrity fragrances.
Total sales for the company dropped by 13.4 percent in the year ended June 30 with half of that loss from celebrity branded fragrances. “A steeper-than-anticipated erosion among most celebrity license brands contributed to” bigger-than-planned drop in shipments, Chief Marketing Officer Kathleen Widmer said on an investor conference call.
Elizabeth Arden makes about three quarters of its money from fragrances and the company featured five of the top 10 celebrity perfumes in the United States last year but it is a shrinking market. Analysts at research firm Euromonitor International noted that these celebrity fragrances are generally aimed at young consumers, a demographic that has less discretionary income with unemployment amoung youth remaining stubbornly high.
However, Widmer said that the company plans to continue its celebrity fragrance offerings, with a full line of new fragrances in Autumn 2014, as well as new products under its existing brands, including Britney Spears, Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj. – via Celebrity Access
