Nirvana Brands Acquires Celebrity Fragrance Lovely Distribution Company
- Chaileedo Press
- May 19, 2023
- 4 min read
Nirvana Brands has strengthened its position as a major player in the luxury fragrance space with the acquisition of Lovely Distribution Company.
Recently, UK-based perfume company Nirvana Brands completed a transaction with Lovely Distribution Company, the specific amount of which has not been disclosed yet. Through this move, the company will add Lovely Distribution Company's perfumes to its product portfolio, including the Lovely fragrance by Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker.
（Sarah Jessica Parker）
The acquisition has expanded Nirvana Brands' portfolio
Lovely was created by Sarah Jessica Parker, who is known for her role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City. The fragrance was born in 2005 and was the first perfume created through Sarah Jessica Parker's collaboration with Coty Inc. According to Sarah, the perfume is suitable for all generations, "from 17 to 107." The fragrance was developed by Laurent Le Guernec and Clement Gavarry in 2005, with Sarah herself serving as the creative director and actively participating in the process from start to finish.
Nirvana Brands was founded by Dilesh Mehta in 2002 and now has a wide range of perfume products. This long list includes fragrances such as Ghost, Porsche Design, and Ariana Grande. Through the acquisition of Lovely Distribution Company, Nirvana Brands has strengthened its position as a major player in the luxury perfume industry.
Dilesh Mehta, CEO of Nirvana Brands, commented: "We are thrilled to welcome Lovely Distribution Company into the Nirvana Brands family. Their expertise in developing and distributing leading fragrance brands aligns perfectly with our mission to provide quality luxury beauty products to our customers."
（source: Nirvana Brands）
The perfume industry has been experiencing frequent changes this year
The market has been closely following perfume trends, and Estée Lauder Companies is no exception. Perfumes have become the growth engine of the company. According to Estée Lauder Companies' 2022 financial report, Jo Malone, Tom Ford Beauty, and Le Labo all achieved strong double-digit growth, driving a 30% performance growth in the perfume sector.
In March of this year, Estée Lauder's strategic early-stage investment and incubation department, New Incubation Ventures, acquired a minority stake in British perfume brand Vyrao. The announcement stated that the funds would be used for brand marketing and advertising investment, strengthening consumer brand awareness, expanding retail channels, and expanding into international markets.
China's perfume market has not only received widespread attention from beauty giants, but also attracted capital influx. On May 9th, Cathay Capital officially announced the completion of an increase in capital for French salon perfume brand Juliette Has A Gun. Weinberg Capital Partners and existing investors, Chinese high-end beauty brand group USHOPAL, also participated in this round of financing. This capital increase will support Juliette Has A Gun in consolidating its influence in major regions such as China, the US, and the Middle East, and further developing the perfume market in Latin America and Southeast Asia.
In addition, celebrity fragrances like Lovely have also been targets of major investments. According to WWD, Henry Rose, a gender-neutral luxury perfume brand founded by American actress Michelle Pfeiffer, received an A-round financing led by Sandbridge Capital, marking the first external investment since its launch in 2019. However, the terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
(source: Juliette Has A Gun)
The perfume market has become increasingly competitive in recent years
In the past few years, the pandemic has led many industry insiders to propose the "perfume effect," believing that the fragrance category with a stronger self-pleasure attribute will gradually become mainstream. The counter-trend growth of the Chinese perfume market also shows an increasing demand for fragrances among consumers. According to CHAILEEDO's intelligence data, it is expected that there will be a year-on-year growth of 20.15% in 2022, reaching 16.1 billion yuan ($2.5 billion), with growth rate far exceeding that of categories such as facial cleansers, makeup removers, serums, masks, and personal care.
According to Euromonitor data, in 2020, the global market entered a period of economic downturn due to multiple factors, and the perfume market experienced negative growth. Despite this, the Chinese perfume market still achieved a growth rate of 10.6%. In 2021, the growth rate of the Chinese perfume market reached 38.7%, experiencing explosive growth. In 2022, as the year that the industry was most impacted by external environmental factors, the growth rate of the Chinese perfume market remained higher than that of the global market.
According to data from CBNData and Tmall's 2023 Perfume and Fragrance Consumer Insight White Paper, the perfume penetration rates in international markets such as the United States and Europe have reached 50% and 42%, respectively, while the perfume penetration rate in China is only 5%. This means that the Chinese fragrance market has ample room for improvement, and also indicates that the Chinese fragrance market has a broad scene.
Take Juliette Has A Gun as an example. In the past two years, Juliette Has A Gun's revenue has doubled. Its global retail sales in 2022 reached 120 million euros, with the Chinese market accounting for over 30%. In the Chinese market, Juliette Has A Gun ranks first in fragrance sales across all price ranges on Douyin, with an average unit price of nearly 1,000 yuan. In the US, Juliette Has A Gun is currently the best-selling high-end salon fragrance brand at Sephora.
The influx of capital into the perfume category shows the prosperity of the perfume market. The rise of the "olfactory economy" has attracted celebrities to invest in the fragrance market, and the potential of fragrances is still being explored.
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