How The Scent Wardrobe Collection Launch Went
What it means to launch:
Most people don’t really know the effort that goes into launching a product. Months of trial and error, testing versions that don't work, running into operational issues, and second-guessing whether people will even care.
When starting a fragrance brand, you have to have a level of naivety, because if people realise just how much effort goes into it, they might not even start in the first place. I’m in a different position because I’ve quit my job, have enough savings to sustain myself, and now I’m way too committed to quit. However, sometimes I would get out of breath just thinking about the pressure of having to make this business work, including what it means for me, my relationship, and my family. And the pressure to make it work starts with every launch, and if you’re in business, you know that the most important things happen before you even put a new product on the market. What it means is survival, both personally and professionally, and to identify a problem and provide a solution. By targeting this, you target the essence of what it means to have a successful launch, and in turn, a successful business.
Complexities behind launching a product:
Just thinking about our SWC (Scent Wardrobe Collection) launch, the most complex thing we had to figure out was clarity. Since our approach is to go into retail stores, we wanted to make sure the product can sell by itself on a shelf, which means customers who pick it up for the first time know exactly what it is. Figuring out how to do that, as well as to make a quality product, took months of planning, designing, and curating the right scent profiles. Not to mention that this was a capital-heavy process as well. However, at the end of the day, we felt this investment was justified, as it ties into the theme of the whole scent wardrobe collection: removing the confusion around niche fragrances, and making a f*** great fragrance in the process.
Lessons we learnt:
The lessons we learnt from this launch are that generating hype and demand for a product before launch is more important than what happens after launch. Sure, keeping up to date with marketing post-launch is important, but we noticed that when we focused on generating hype beforehand, we achieved better results than when we focused on building hype post-launch. For the SWC, we doubled our total revenue compared to the first range we put out. I guess this is because people are always looking for the next best thing, and new launches also help keep the business, as well as our range, new and exciting.
However, even though our e-commerce strategy paid off well, we faced a new challenge: entering retail. We greatly underestimated this process and just how long it would take to enter stores, draft favourable conditions, and set a fair margin to justify retailers accepting our product. When entering retail, it's all about lower profit margins, but that's offset by a higher AOV (average order value).
Selling out of stock:
As of the 5th of March, we have been accepted into 3 retailers and have officially sold out of Cold Current within the first week (which goes to show the importance of hype before launch). This just reinforces how we have great products, that there is genuine demand for high-quality fragrances, and the need to stand out from the crowd and not smell like everyone else. For the future, our goal is to expand our retail sites, sell out even more stock, and bring you guys along on the journey.
Lakdinu D.
Founder of Inox Parfum.