The station itself is made from sustainable materials and will stock the retailer’s best-selling L’Oréal fragrances including YSL’s MYSELF, Prada’s Paradoxe, Lancôme’s La Vie Est Belle, Armani’s Codem Si and My Way, and Mugler’s Angel and Alien.
The fragrance retailer and beauty multinational said they have joined forces to implement this multi-brand fragrance refill station to help meet increased customer demand for more environmentally friendly options.
All bottles sized 30ml and over can be refilled at the fragrance station, starting at a cost of £23 for a 15ml bottle, up to £100 for a 100ml bottle, depending on the fragrance brand.
The Perfume Shop also said that customers will save up to 35% versus purchasing a new bottle of the scent for the first time.
The influence of the 'conscious consumer'
Consumers are seeking out ways to help the environment, but at the same time they are increasingly greenwashed out and cost-conscious, so this could offer an ideal solution for brands and retailers to show their customers how they are making long-term changes that can benefit the environment.
In its ‘The Rise of Refillable Beauty‘ report, the analytics and data provider NPD Group estimated that the refillable prestige beauty market was valued at £34m between January and July 2023, which means it outperformed growth in the whole of the prestige beauty sector.
After a boom of refillable makeup products, there is a now a growing focus on refillable fragrances, particularly as the perfume market has seen a spike in sales in recent years.
Cost-saving benefits
MD of The Perfume Shop Gill Smith highlighted the need for this solution among the retailer’s customer base. “Sustainability for The Perfume Shop is so important to us as a business and we know that fragrance is leading innovation in the market for refillable prestige beauty products, so this couldn’t come at a better time for our loyal customers,” she said.
Meanwhile, L’Oréal increasingly puts more emphasis on looking to more sustainable solutions for the future creation of beauty products. Recent initiatives have included working with startup Interstellar Labs on its biopharming technology to overhaul the production of natural ingredients, as well as Cosmo International to pioneer a new fragrance extraction process that’s ‘based on air’.
L’Oreal UK & Ireland James Luxe Managing Director James Rickards highlighted both the environmental and cost-saving benefits for increasingly cash-strapped beauty consumers.
“Sustainability is at the heart of our business. This innovation is an important step in making refills accessible both in store with our multi-brand fountain, and at home with our strong portfolio of refill cartridges. Our luxury refillable fragrances don't just benefit the environment but also our consumers, because the more they refill their fragrances, the more money they save too!"
Stay tuned, as later this week we will run a Q&A with The Perfume Shop about this initiative with more in-depth insights and upcoming fragrance trends.