Tagged With ‘scented candles’

Burnt out

1 February, 2015

Just back from yet another home-fragrance launch. Nice people, perfectly nice products, but does the world really need more reed diffusers and scented candles? (For that matter, does the world really need any reed diffusers and scented candles? But that’s another question.)

Go into a big department store today and it sometimes feels like there are whole floors given over to home fragrance: rack after rack of virtually identical products and virtually identical scents. How does anybody choose? And who is buying all this stuff?

What I can’t get my head round is why anyone feels it’s worth launching yet another brand in such a super-saturated marketplace. Starting a company and creating new fragrances takes a big investment, and making your money back must be increasingly tough. But there again maybe it’s an easy way to make big profits, and I’m simply not in the know.

The people I met today obviously felt that their products were sufficiently different to stand out from the crowd, but a weary feeling of familiarity washed over me as they described the ‘story’ behind each scent, complete with misspelled press-releases. I’ve seen it all so many times before. Just please don’t buy me a scented candle for my birthday.