Introduction: Fragrance has emerged as a critical pillar of Bulgari’s luxury strategy, now representing approximately one-third of its overall business. Speaking to The Moodie Davitt Report, Bulgari Global Managing Director Parfums Jonathan Brinbaum (recently appointed Bulgari Managing Director Watches) discusses the brand’s clear ambition: to use perfume as an “entry door to the world of Bulgari” while remaining consistent with its heritage as a jeweller.
This strategic clarity, Brinbaum explains, has helped Bulgari Parfums thrive in an increasingly challenging landscape, particularly in China and Asia Pacific where it has outperformed the market. Today, travel retail is over a third of Bulgari Parfum’s overall business, underlining its continued value for the Roman luxury house.
In 2024, the brand’s selective distribution strategy, elevation drive and innovative tech-driven approach to delivering premium retail experiences has helped it remain resilient amid challenging times. Brinbaum touches on all of the above and offers his insight into how luxury perfumery has and will continue to evolve in the channel.
Fragrance sales are now approximately a third of Bulgari’s overall business – what factors have contributed to this?
In the last four to five years, we have been very clear about the role of perfume for the brand. We are not a perfumer per se. We are a jeweller doing perfumes in the same way that we are a jeweller doing watches.
That’s very important because when we understood that it changed the role of perfume within the division.
The point is not to deliver a good turnover for the sake of doing good turnover. The role of Bulgari Parfums is to be the entry door to the world of Bulgari, which has been the same message over the last few years.
Key to this is remaining consistent to what you are as a brand. That’s why our heritage and Italian spirit are important. I think perfumes are performing well because we are very clear on this ambition and vision.
When you make decisions based on that, you’re not looking for business opportunities only for the sake of it. Today, if I look at entering a new market, or opening a new store, my first question is what does this bring to Bulgari’s jewellery business?
The softening of luxury spend in Asia Pacific travel retail, and in particular China, has been well-documented, but for Bulgari Parfums the region has been a source of growth. What has led to this performance?
Bulgari Parfum has outperformed the market in China. While the market is down close to -10% , we have grown more than +10% in China. This is because we are changing our distribution from an external distributor to an internal one, in line with the LVMH way of working. We now have much more control over our retail doors. We are selective with our retail spaces and exit the ones that don’t work. Today, we are one of the fastest-growing brands in China because of that.
We have a very successful boutique in Sanya, for instance. And yes, traffic is indeed lower. However, you have two ways to approach a crisis: You can either accept that you’re in the middle of a crisis and lose business or you fight with different weapons and gain market share.
Bulgari Parfums has been gaining market share massively in China, which means that the rest of Asia remains an important priority for the brand.
How is Bulgari Parfums adapting to the changing luxury landscape in travel retail? What are your geographical priorities?
We’re trying to see where the pockets of growth are and adapt our strategy to that. We’re living in a permacrisis world; there will be always crises coming and so we too have to keep on evolving.
China is going to remain difficult so now we’re looking at how India is going to be a new source of growth for us. India is a wonderful opportunity for us and I think it’s going to be even more of a priority in travel retail than in the domestic market.
It was an election year in the USA so that brings a lot of uncertainty, which means we are looking at where else we can compensate that growth. We all know that the luxury market in Europe is struggling, however we have never seen growth as we are seeing now in cities such as Paris and Milan.
It’s all about adapting our approach, to be where the luxury client is and to offer them the right proposal.
What role does travel retail play in that?
For us, travel retail is always growing. It’s now more than one-third of our business. It’s the fastest-growing channel in 2024, because we have been able to look for the right opportunities where they were.
In European travel retail, we have started our renovation with new counters in Rome Fiumicino, Istanbul, Paris Charles de Gaulle.
And while China travel retail is declining, we are not losing at the level of the market and we have managed to compensate with growth from other areas.
For example, we have been really focused on qualitatively growing our network in Asia Pacific travel retail this year. We have been transforming our counters and elevating our retail spaces which meant that the region has been a big source of growth for us.
We have historically been very strong in the Middle East thanks to our Le Gemme line. While our biggest store remains with Dubai Duty Free, we have also opened boutiques in Riyadh and Bahrain.
Next year Americas is going to be our big focus in terms of travel retail. This is because travel retail in the United States is transforming very fast. Travel retail’s premiumisation has not happened in the USA, but it’s going to come. There’s a lot of hope and goodwill from airports and retailers who are investing in elevating the consumer experience and we want to be part of that growth.
Speaking of partnership, Bulgari recently partnered with The Shilla Duty Free and Changi Airport for the Allegra Art of Living animation. Tell us about this campaign.
We believe that to be at the forefront of travel retail, we need to partner with retailers to showcase new innovations in exciting ways.
Last year we did our AI animation at Istanbul Airport and this year we chose Changi Airport for the Allegra Art of Living campaign. This underscores our belief in the potential of travel retail in Asia. We are betting on Asia and that will continue.
How is Bulgari embracing digital, personalisation and omnichannel to elevate the fragrance shopping experience?
I am very passionate about the AI experiment, as evidenced our AI Mixology pop-up partnership with Geber. Heinemann Unifree Duty Free in Istanbul. That AI Mixology experience travels across five different stores throughout the year and this year we are bringing another one to life.
Every year we try to do something different with AI because it enables the client to have a concrete understanding of fragrance, which is intangible. I believe that AI is linked with the DNA of fragrance, which is all about emotions so we will keep innovating in this space. If we’re able to translate those emotions into concrete experiences then that’s a benefit to us all.
In terms of personalisation, we were among the first luxury brands to launch a collection that was fully personalised. The Allegra line, pre-launched with CDFG, introduced Magnifying Essences and the Maxi Shelley silk scarves and is one of our biggest success stories. Today, launching a new collection is impossible without personalisation.
Every year our Magnifying Essences business is growing. Whenever we launch a new Eau de Parfum we always consider what Magnifying Essences will go with it. That’s the core of the Allegra line and its one of the reasons why it has been so successful.
Personalisation is not a new thing, but we were the first to treat it in the Bulgari way and communicate it effectively.
In terms of omnichannel – I have a controversial point of view because I believe in retail. I believe in brick and mortar, touching, smelling and experiencing. I see online as a replenishment and convenience channel but not something that can replace the in-store experience.
I believe in elevating brick-and-mortar retail, especially in travel retail, because that’s the moment you can really engage with your clients. With omnichannel I think you must be smart where you invest. Online can be a good complement but I don’t think it’s the first destination for fragrances.
There’s also a lot of discounting and price wars in the online world and we need to be careful with that. I respect all business models of different partners, however, the exercise we did for our brand over the last few years is to exit this discount strategy. Online is still 15-18% of our business at Bulgari Parfums, and I want to maintain it at that level.
In your view, what do you think has led to the post-pandemic fragrance boom in the channel?
There was a shift and retailers and brands both made the decision to reinvest into the fragrance category. In the last five to six years, fragrances moved from inside of the triple-axis boutiques of luxury Maisons and into elegant perfume halls.
Here, you will see brands such as Byredo, Jo Malone London, Acqua de Parma and Le Labo in retail spaces that are delivering incremental growth. That’s where I want to focus because that’s where clients want to shop for fragrances.
What is fragrance’s role in engaging the next generation of luxury consumers?
Beyond Bulgari, I am seeing a lot of Maisons investing in fragrances that have not done so before. Look at Dolce & Gabbana, Céline, Loewe and even Richemont creating a beauty division and Kering buying Creed. I’m seeing a lot of luxury houses understanding the potential of offering fragrances as the entry door to luxury.
We didn’t invent anything. The first one that did that was Chanel in the 1960s with their lipstick line.
However, we have always understood that as Bulgari Parfums, we are engaging with a consumer who wants to step into the world of luxury and so fragrances have an important role to play in terms of recruiting new customers. They may not yet have the money to buy a US$10,000 watch or US$15,000 necklace, however they still want the luxurious Bulgari experience.
For example, if you speak to Jacques Chevallier or Alberto Morillas about how they craft a fragrance, it’s the same craftsmanship and attention to detail as fine jewellery. So, clients can have a luxury experience for US$350 rather than US$10,000.
We understood this quite early on and so we built Allegra and Le Gemme and our other luxury fragrance lines around that thinking and now we are reaping the rewards.
What would be the dream scenario for Bulgari Parfums in travel retail over the next year?
We want even more business growth and a stronger share in travel retail. We want to have fewer points-of-sale, but each one being much more impactful. We want to offer more retail surprises, following what we did in Istanbul. ✈
