This week, I checked in on the arrival of the fragrance layering trend at Bath & Body Works. Additionally, Paula’s Choice doubles down on sports as an official FIFA World Cup sponsor, and NielsenIQ data shows an uptick in social commerce and “quick commerce” among U.S. consumers.
Why wear one perfume when you can wear two? Fragrance layering has long been a popular way to wear perfume in the Middle East, but as more U.S. consumers adopt fragrance wardrobes in place of a single signature scent, brands are finding ways to capitalize on the trend through discovery kits and single-note scents.
That now includes mall stalwart Bath & Body Works.
In October, Bath & Body Works experimented with a pilot program offering single-note scents intended for layering at 500 stores. The program proved successful enough that, on Thursday, the Ohio-based personal-care brand announced the expansion of its “Blend Bar” to all 1,900 of its stores and its e-commerce site.
“As people are more intentional with what they’re wearing, and I mean that in terms of style and apparel, fragrance really is kind of that completing of the outfit,” said Kristie Lewis, evp of merchandising at Bath & Body Works. “[Fragrance] gives them the ability — and this is why I think layering is important — to kind of change with the mood they’re feeling in the day and express themselves differently based on the outfit that they’re wearing.”
