Guidelines For Fragrance Buyers

February 19, 2008

Posted by: admin : Category: Women

With many fragrance manufacturers to choose from, a company can easily select a house to work with and instinctively sign with the lowest bidder. After all, if 8 different fragrance creators are offering you what appears to be the same fragrance oil, why not go with the cheapest price? Right? Well…I’d have to disagree. With a handful of fragrance houses to select from, you should choose wisely and learn more about your vendors’ fragrance quality, inventories, and overall operations. Choosing by price alone, may have you sniffing for an alternate sooner than later.

There are many things a fragrance house will fail to tell you as they are pitching price to you as their major selling point. Of course, no one will admit their faults, shortcomings, or negative press when it comes to landing that 55 gallon drum order. As an 11 year veteran, with experience in all areas of fragrance creation, shipping, purchasing, and sales…I can tell you that there are many hidden thorns in that Rose fragrance you probably just purchased from the lowest bidder.

In the fragrance industry, quality is key for most…but not for all. Companies who are using an inexpensive masking agent for a portable toilet application need not worry about specific gravity or color index. However, in fine fragrance, candles, personal care, and the now growing “Green” product lines…a fragrance house needs to pride themselves on quality and consistency. Failing to remain consistent with fragrance batch formulations will result in off spec. material. This off spec. material may not be suitable to use in candles as it may cause discoloration or not properly blend in wax. For fine fragrance, it may cause irritation to the skin. These types of issues are a major concern to the Yankee Candle type companies and Revlon cosmetic type companies that hold sterling positions in the market. Companies such as these, do not purchase on price alone. Quality control plays a large role in their decision making and dictates which fragrance house qualifies as a core vendor…or not.

When considering a fragrance manufacturer, initially, you should perform a Dun and Bradstreet on the company to see its history and viability. Take that information into consideration, then meet with your area sales representative to gather more information like quality and delivery terms. Keep pricing on the back burner for now…that part is coming next. Then, you should ask for representative samples of fragrances that you either cannot find elsewhere, or comparative samples to what you are currently using to use as a benchmark for quality and price. Giving a sample to this vendor to see what their duplication capabilities are isn’t such a bad idea. However, you may want to wait until the initial sample request is completed first. After your meeting, count the days and see how long it takes for your samples to arrive. Anything over two weeks is considered slow…at least in my eyes. Samples should be able to be produced in a week to 10 days max…unless you specify that you are in no rush for them. In most cases, you will be.

When your samples arrive, have your chemist, r & d manager, or evaluation panel test the fragrances for strength, compatibility, and overall fragrance characteristic. The nose always knows. Check out the various fragrance listings possible for various products at www.robertyoreyjr.com

If all seems ok and you think you’re done…you’re not. You should then discuss the vendor’s inventory of raw materials and standard lead times. Right now, most fragrance houses turn around fragrances in approximately 7 days. If you’re not too keen on forecasting, you’d better be sure that your vendor can come through when you need them to.

Following all of these steps…the rest is relationship, consistency, and discretion. The last thing you want is a fragrance house selling your fragrances to someone else for a similar line. Also, be sure that this fragrance house can produce marketing information, and trend reports as part of their regular routine. This can be very valuable. You can find free trend information at my site robertyoreyjr.com

Hopefully, following this guidelines will help you set the tone with your fragrance vendor. Developing a warm business relationship with your vendors is key. As a buyer, you’re not always in the driver’s seat. When crops fail, or crude oil prices skyrocket…you may want to be sure that you’re close to your sales representative. He or she just may need to pull strings to get you your product on time and without a price increase.

Robert Yorey, Jr. is a full-time Sales Executive for Alpine Aromatics, covering the Northeast United States and International Sectors. Alpine Aromatics custom creates and manufactures fragrances for personal care, home air care, fine fragrance, industry, and more. He can be contacted by email at ryoreyjr@alpinearomatics.com

Tags: alpine aromatics, aromatic, candle fragrances, fragrances, mfg, reed diffuser, robert yorey, scents