China’s fragrance market: a learning curve for businesses and consumers
A people unaccustomed to using fragrances on a daily basis need educating about the ins and outs of perfumes and men’s colognes; perfumers who are having success in China have spotted the preference for lighter scents
Cai Xinxin owns 100 bottles of fragrance. The Shanghai business owner’s original collection was twice as big, but he downsized before returning home from the Netherlands.
His fascination with fragrances was triggered shortly after he graduated from college, during a stint with perfumer Puredistance, where he learned the ins and outs of an industry that is only just taking off in China.
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Now Cai, along with business partner and scent critic Song Yuan, is sharing his passion and expertise with would-be fragrance users in a new boutique, Minorité, in the centre of Shanghai’s M50 art district. He is one of the first independent operators in China’s burgeoning perfume market.
Minorité stocks more than 15 independent fragrance brands. Bottles are arranged atop vintage wooden shelving, with some displayed more prominently under glass-domed cake platters.
Cai aims to give customers an authentic experience by taking them back in time to the perfume boom in 20th-century Paris. He asks them to consider whether a scent from the likes of Ulrich Lang New York or French fragrance house Liquides Imaginaires matches their personality.
