Perfume is not just a flashy product. It's chemistry and there's a lot to learn, says store owner Johan Svensson.
In recent years, his design store on Södermalm in central Stockholm has been converted into a dedicated perfume store. But on the shelves, you won't see the products of fashion houses, but rather much smaller, niche perfume brands. Some of the brands started as recently as during the pandemic.
It's a bit like wine, you can nerd out on it.
The global fragrance market is larger than ever before and is expected to grow by another 3.3 percent this year. By 2025, the market is expected to generate almost 600 billion kronor, according to figures from Statista.
Creates community
The perfume industry has received an extra boost from the growing interest among young people on Tiktok. Under the hashtag "perfumetok", both tips on specific products and how to use perfumes are shared. A trend on Tiktok is so-called "layering" where the consumer should apply several layers of different perfumes to create their personal scent.
It's absolutely fantastic for the perfume industry, of course, that it's no longer enough to have one or two scents at home, but now you need to have a pharmacy in the cabinet with different fragrance components that you yourself should put together, says Jacob Östberg, professor of business administration at Stockholm University.
Johan Svensson has noticed that the store is sometimes visited by groups of guys who share an interest in perfume. There are also forums and groups on Facebook where the interest is discussed.
It's fun to see, there's very little for guys to adorn themselves with. Perfume becomes an artistic expression.
Treats himself
Jacob Östberg says that Tiktok's algorithms are skilled at picking up signals about what users are interested in and rocking them into their own filter bubble. The trends on Tiktok then contribute to the growing interest.
You get support for the fact that this is something that many others are engaged in. It gives a legitimizing effect.
It also becomes important for users to actually buy perfumes.
Just sitting inside with a lot of knowledge and knowing a lot and watching a lot, then you don't get this last piece of the puzzle in identity building.
