TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Most customers are tightening their wallets amid financial uncertainty, showing less inclination to spend significantly on luxury items but displaying interest in budget-friendly goods, such as perfumes.
The e-commerce platform Pattern analyzed online product search data across various websites, including Amazon, and revealed a remarkable 270% surge in demand for rollerball perfume this year compared to last year, along with a 183% growth in perfume samples.
Explaining the reasons for exclusively selling 10-ml perfumes, Li Kuo-jung, a soap shop brand director, explained, "It is more convenient to carry small-sized perfume around when traveling."
He added that contemporary consumers prefer having more options for affordable gifts, "which also relieves the recipient from feeling pressure since it is normally less costly."
Many economic analysts likened this phenomenon to the "lipstick effect," an economic theory describing how consumers tend to spend on small indulgences during economic downturns.
Another report from the market research firm Circana revealed that mini-bottle sales constituted 38% of the total fragrances sold this year, marking a 3% increase from the previous year.
As small-sized perfumes become the preferred luxury item for cash-constrained shoppers, analysts noted that perfumes less than one ounce, roughly one-third the price of larger counterparts, are selling three times faster than the entire fragrance market.
Chou Yu-tien, a researcher at the Institute of Economics under the Academia Sinica, observed, "Luxury shoppers remain unaffected as they continue purchasing while perusing department stores."
Chou, however, emphasized that an unstable global economy still "impacts overall consumption due to lower purchasing power, explaining why consumers are cutting back on spending."
Despite shoppers' unwavering desire to buy luxury goods regardless of economic performance, the increasing demand for portable perfumes could emerge as a new indicator of a nation's economic health.
