How fragrance brands are digitally adapting to a pandemic holiday season

This story is part of our week-long series on the strategic trends among fashion and beauty brands for holiday 2020. To drive sales during the holiday gifting season, fragrance brands are looking to digital tools, rather than eager department store salespeople.  Fragrance relies on the holiday season more than any other category. According to data from The NPD Group, more than 35% of fragrance sales are made from Thanksgiving to Christmas in the U.S. This year, that time period happens to coincide with the peak of the second wave of Covid-19, making it more difficult to sell a product that people are used to testing in person before buying. According to The NPD Group data, one out of three fragrance consumers are influenced by in-store samples. Foot traffic in physical retail was down 52% on Black Friday this year, according to Sensormatic Solutions. Department stores’ foot traffic is around half of what it was a year earlier, according to SafeGraph. For some retailers, it’s even lower — foot traffic at Nordstrom is only at 30% of what it was a year ago.  As a result, brands are turning to social media platforms to convey scents virtually. L’Oréal Group, for example, teamed…
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