Kendra Scott Is Getting Into Fragrance
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Fragrance has a sparkling new entrant.
On the heels of expanding into men’s, Kendra Scott is entering another new category: fragrance. The brand is debuting three stock keeping units on Nov. 8 in its own retail stores and online, which range in price from $30 for 10 milliliters to $120 for 75 milliliters.
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The expansion is just one of a slew of new categories for the brand, said Kendra Scott, the brand’s founder, chief creative officer and executive chairwoman. “After 21 years in business, we’re finding our customers have these needs and we’re listening to them to find out what they desire,” she said, pointing to watches, engagement rings and Scott Brothers, the brand’s men’s range.
“Fragrance has been something we’ve been hearing from our customers for years,” Scott said. “It felt like another way to accessorize ourselves.”
The products are each named for different stones, and took two years to develop. The bottles follow suit, taking cues from the brand’s Davie and Danielle silhouettes, which are respectively horizontal and oblong gemstone cuts. Ruby Musk has notes of bergamot, pink pepper and rose; Amber Aura features amber, cedarwood and vanilla; Jade Blossom includes jasmine, tuberose and sandalwood. They were developed by Batallure Beauty.
The goal is to whet customers’ appetites for beauty, and then see which other categories they might be interested in. “Our face is our biggest accessory when we think about the colors we wear, such as from eye shadow palettes,” Scott said, saying she’s sussing out which other market segments would be of interest to her clientele. “We’re in this investigative process with our customer, and fragrance is a great way to start, but I believe there’s more to come.”
Fragrance is still on the upswing, according to first-half data from Circana. In the prestige market, the category grew 13 percent in the U.S.
The launch also comes in tandem with brick-and-mortar expansion, with her store count to hit 139 next year. Those stores are the initial distribution points for the fragrances, but Scott didn’t rule out expanding into wholesale. Her jewelry is currently available in Nordstrom Inc., Macy’s Inc. and Amazon.
“We want to touch our customer wherever she is, and we have wonderful wholesale partners that we love working with,” she said. “We want the experience, whether you’re coming into a Kendra Scott store or one of our wholesale partners, to be able to make that connection with the customer. We’re going to do it at the right time, but wholesale will definitely be a part of the strategy.”
The fragrances are projected to reach around $5 million in sales for their first year on the market.
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