Buying perfume? Beware!!!

donnac2558

I remember Superdrug back in the early 90s, and they really did have great deals back then. Now they and The Perfume Shop all seem the same as Boots.

There are some small independent perfume shops but they sell Niche which is expensive.

Aqua Manda is vile, I used to drown myself in the stuff and now cannot stand the smell of orange. It has been released again but its reformulated so will not be the same and far more expensive.

I loved Coty Wild Musk Oil, but it has to be the oil version. A friend sent me a bottle from the US about 10 years ago as you cannot get it in UK only the edt.

Jimjams00_2

I wonder what they paid when buying wholesale? If Savers can sell a bottle of DKNY 50ml for £19.99 and still make a profit. It makes you think if retailers are buying for a few pounds and selling it to us for £40-50 that's a huge markup and a whole lot of profit.

Perhaps the moral of the story is that we should buy wholesale instead of retail. :rotfl:

zagfles

The thing about perfume is it costs virtually nothing to produce, the retail price is nearly all advertising, marketing, retail markup and profit. That's why there's so many annoying pretentious perfume adverts at this time of year.

When you have a product with such a massive gross profit margin, you end up with massive price differentials in different countries. The price is set to maximise profit, so if they charged say £400 in the UK, no-one would but it, but they would at £40. More people may buy at £20 but maybe not twice as many so there's less profit selling at £20. So the price is £40 as that's the figure which maximises profits.

But the equation in other countries will be different. In poorer countries £40 might be too expensive for nearly everyone, £15 might be the max profit figure. So it sells at £15, Remember it costs virtually nothing to produce, so they're still making a big profit selling at £15.

This opens up the "grey market". People buy in bulk from distribution channels aimed at poorer countries and offload to discount retailers in the UK.

There was a big fuss made by the manufacturers a few years ago that it breaches their copyright, this was upheld by the EU for some reason, and this limited the grey market to some extent

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_market

LilElvis

hollydays wrote: »

Here's another 1970s wonder-Aqua Manda

........ and Babe by Faberge.

Christmas present buying as a kid always involved a Saturday trip to Boots with my dad and sister. We squirted ourselves with every tester before selecting the one mum would get, returning home with all 3 of us smelling like we had been in a house of ill repute. Mum always managed to look surprised on the big day

I bought my MIL a nice bottle of Chanel Coco a couple of years ago. She returned it to me, unopened, a few months later as she prefers Panache :rotfl:

heartbreak_star

donnac2558 wrote: »

I loved Coty Wild Musk Oil, but it has to be the oil version. A friend sent me a bottle from the US about 10 years ago as you cannot get it in UK only the edt.

Try Joven Musk, I got some for my Mum last year and while not identical, it's very similar to the Wild Musk scent

HBS x

his_missus

I'm sure that eau de toilette is cheaper than eau de parfum. Eau du toilette is usually weaker and the scent doesn't last as long. Brands often sell both types in the same fragrance.


Perhaps the gift sets you were comparing didn't both include eau de parfum.

Jimjams00_2

his_missus wrote: »

Perhaps the gift sets you were comparing didn't both include eau de parfum.

It wasn't the gift sets we were comparing. My brother chose the gift set because it was cheaper and it would enable him to buy his missus another present. As for whether they were eau de partum or toilette I think they were eau de parfum in all the shops but the prices at Westfields were a whole lot dearer than Savers

Although the gift set he purchased was the same price as the single 30ml (or 50ml can't remember which) bottle of Nina Ricci. He really wanted to buy either the Lacoste Pink or the DKNY Be Delicious (50ml) but they were both priced around £50.

If we were buying for our mother it would have been a whole lot easier. Don't get me wrong she would love a bottle of Hugo Boss but she is just a pleased with a bottle from M&S, Next or a bottle of Charlie.

Me on the other hand I can't stand the stuff I tend to have a some kind of allergic reaction to most if not all of it. Now if we were talking about chocolate that would be a whole different matter. :rotfl:

pulliptears

robatwork wrote: »

I also remember Drakkar Noir which sounds very unappealing to me. "Black Drak" ....mmmmm nice.

I'd not seen that for years and then DH came in with a bottle the other week (superdrug), it's actually really really nice once you get past the name

Someone on my local FB selling page is selling boxes of One Million with the printed label 'Paco Rebenne' on them Bet those are quality.

timbstoke

TBeckett100 wrote: »

Interesting comment about the discounter selling old stock, you may have something there. I bought some Creed which was £120 a bottle, cheaper than anywhere else at the time. The smell wasn't as good as the tester which had my PA swooning when I intitially dabbed it on.

£120?!? And that's cheaper than anywhere else?!?

I'll stick with this, thanks: