South Korea Perfume Market Overview, 2029

Korean perfume is a scented liquid that is applied to your skin or clothing to give it a long-lasting fragrance. The South Korean beauty industry is one of the most innovative in the world. Koreans like beauty. A perfume may be a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds, fixatives, and solvents, usually in liquid form, intended to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and themselves an enjoyable scent. The procedure to form a perfume includes the collection of ingredients, extraction of oils, blending, aging, and internal control. Various perfumes are manufactured by extracting scented oils from natural ingredients. These ingredients can include various plants, woods, fruits, and even animal secretions. Other resources, like alcohol, coal, tars, and petrochemicals, are often utilized in the production process. For scents that don’t occur in nature, synthetic chemicals are used to emulate them. Furthermore, processes like steam distillation, expression, enfleurage, and maceration happen to obtain the final product.

According to the report, "South Korea Perfume Market Overview, 2029," published by Bonafide Research, the South Korea Perfume market is anticipated to grow at more than 7.13% CAGR from 2024 to 2029. The market's growth is attributed to the growing trend of personal grooming, coupled with increasing demand for luxury and exotic fragrances. Also driving demand for fragrance and perfume in the country are growth in organized retail, the emergence of a young urban population with increasing disposable income, mounting aspirations, changing lifestyles, increased affordability of lifestyle-oriented products, and greater product choice and availability, owing to the country's growing e-commerce market. The women's segment leads the markets, as women's populations are largely inclined towards sustainable fragrances for their personal grooming purposes. Additionally, women's spending power on a cosmetic product is expected to boost the product's sales. Therefore, the women's segment is expected to drive market growth. Increasing personal hygiene and grooming awareness among men is fueling segmental growth. Men's fragrances are stronger and more aromatic in nature, which, in turn, may increase the product's adoption during the upcoming timeframe. In addition, the rising demand for fragrant flavours is likely to boost product demand.

Perfume sales in South Korea have gone up despite the suspension of perfume testing at department stores. While perfume might be considered a beauty product, unlike cosmetics, it is specialised for self-expression and consumed more similarly to fashion products. In contrast to perfumes produced under big labels, niche perfumes are generally perceived as a more personalized option that exudes character, style, and individuality. The younger generations of Koreans in their 20s and 30s tend to have a stronger preference for niche perfumes. Therefore, it is no surprise that the proportion of sales of mainstream perfume brands such as Chanel and Dior is decreasing while sales of niche perfume brands are on the rise. Shinsegae Duty Free reports that niche perfumes are also the most popular duty-free item on non-landing tourist flights.

In Korea, there's a history of people crushing flowers and spices to create their own unique smell. "More consumers are buying perfumes as they are beginning to use them as an everyday accessory," Last December, South Korean retailers suspended all sampling of cosmetics at offline vendors in accordance with government regulations, which led to a plunge in cosmetics sales at department stores. January 2022 Bluebell Group, Asia's leading omnichannel brand partner and operator, has announced the expansion to Korea of its multi-brand fragrance concept store L'Atelier des Parfums as part of the Group's strategy to strengthen its presence in the Korean domestic retail market. Over the past decade, niche fragrance brands such as Byredo, Le Labo, Diptyque, and Jo Malone have dominated the fragrance market. As consumers seek a more personalised and intimate fragrance experience, big brands are facing stiff competition from these aspiring brands. Under the L’Atelier des Parfums concept, Bluebell Korea introduced four new brands to the market: Parfums de Marly, ETAT LIBRE d’Orange, Chabaud, and Ormonde Jayne. The launch kicked off with the opening of Parfums de Marly’s very first stand-alone store in Seoul at Lotte Department Store.

The offline segment is especially driven by sales from specialty stores that provide premium products. The layouts of supermarkets and promotional campaigns by leading brands have also increased the sales volume within the supermarket and hypermarket segments. The expansion of the organized retail sector has been driving the market by providing ample space and visibility for the existing brands to offer their products. The online platform is predicted to witness the fastest growth during the next few years. The evolution of online retail channels like Flaconi, Amazon, and Parfumdreams has turned out to be a new and convenient way of distributing perfumes, despite consumers not having the ability to test the fragrance before purchase. Various modes of advertisements and promotions within the market are very prominent, thereby driving consumers to prefer online channels.



Covid-19 Impact on Perfume Market
The lockdown restrictions across the country led to a serious disruption in the supply chain, which negatively affected the perfume market. Moreover, the slowdown as a result of the suspension of various manufacturing activities and the ban on international travel in order to contain the spread of the pandemic has impeded the market's growth. Lockdowns and isolation during pandemics restricted the varied industrial operations, which created several complications for the market’s production and provide. The loss of revenue thanks to the suspended operations and the postponed activities across the industries led to reduced deliveries of perfume, further hampering the market’s growth. However, the COVID-19 crisis is probably going to accelerate market trends such as the rise of the middle-class population and the use of e-commerce, which may favour market growth. Moreover, players are adopting various safety measures to propel market growth on an outsized scale, together with the new planning and strategies introduced by the fragrance market players.

Considered in this report
• Geography: South Korea
• Historic year: 2018
• Base year: 2023
• Estimated year: 2024
• Forecast year: 2029

Aspects covered in this report
• South Korea Perfume market with its value and forecast along with its segments
• City-wise perfume market analysis
• Various drivers and challenges
• On-going trends and developments
• Top profiled companies
• Strategic recommendation

By Product Type
• Eau De Parfum
• Eau De Toilette
• Eau De Cologne
• Eau Fraiche
• Parfum
• Others

By End User
• Men
• Women
• Others

By Ingredient Type
• Natural
• Synthetic

By Product
• Premium
• Mass

By Distribution Channel
• Online
• Offline

The approach of the report:
This report consists of a combined approach of primary as well as secondary research. Initially, secondary research was used to get an understanding of the market and listing out the companies that are present in the market. The secondary research consists of third party sources such as press releases, annual report of companies, analyzing the government generated reports and databases. After gathering the data from secondary sources primary research was conducted by making telephonic interviews with the leading players about how the market is functioning and then conducted trade calls with dealers and distributors of the market. Post this we have started doing primary calls to consumers by equally segmenting consumers in regional aspects, tier aspects, age group, and gender. Once we have primary data with us we have started verifying the details obtained from secondary sources.

Intended audienceThis report can be useful to industry consultants, manufacturers, suppliers, associations & organizations related to Perfume industry, government bodies and other stakeholders to align their market-centric strategies. In addition to marketing & presentations, it will also increase competitive knowledge about the industry.