The U.S. home fragrances market registered its strongest growth since 2010 last year, adding over 3%, according to Kline, a worldwide consulting and research firm. Their just-published report, Home Fragrances: U.S. Market Analysis and Opportunities, further reveals that the luxury market enjoyed an even-more-robust 5% increase. Strong portfolios of seasonal or limited-edition scents and vibrant new-product activity are the primary reasons that this segment outpaced the overall category. However, after experiencing flat-to-declining sales in recent years, the mass segment also registered the highest annual growth it has seen in the last five years.
While Bath & Body Works is one of the largest and fastest-growing brands among prestige candles, smaller brands, such as Nest, RibbonWick, Dyptique, and Illume, among several others, are the ones igniting the market with strong, double-digit expansion.
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- Illume
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- Nest Fragrances
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- Scentsy
Candles continue as fragrance-category leaders. That said, wax melts posted the highest compound annual growth rate since 2010, with expansion in the double digits in 2015. Due to the continued demand and focus on wax melts, all other product types in the category, such as fragrance lamps, fragrance oils, and simmerings, continued to register sales declines in 2015. As the popularity of wax melts expands, many new specialty and mass marketers are entering this segment or adding to their portfolios. However, Scentsy remains the category’s market leader, according to Kline.
The diffusers category remains healthy, driven primarily by active diffusers, which includes Bath & Body Works’ Wallflowers and S.C. Johnson’s Glade plug-ins. Within this segment, both mass and luxury brands have performed well.