What Global Buyers Should Watch in the World’s Fastest-Growing Fragrance Landscape

As part of CDATF’s ongoing effort to provide overseas buyers with timely, actionable insights into China’s fast-evolving consumer goods sector, this analysis highlights key findings from the newly released 2025 China Fragrance & Perfume Industry Report by Deloitte China and Nirvana Group.

While fragrance sits at the intersection of homeware, lifestyle, and scent-based consumer products, it has quickly become one of China’s most dynamic categories—driving innovation across air-care, home ambience, wellness, and multi-scenario scent solutions. These product directions increasingly overlap with the sourcing interests of buyers attending CDATF.

A High-Growth Market: China Outpaces Global Fragrance Expansion

The report shows a sharp contrast between the global fragrance industry’s moderate projected growth of 4%–6% CAGR and China’s significantly stronger outlook:

• Retail market expanded from RMB 11.4B (2018) to RMB 24.9B (2024)
• Projected to reach RMB 33.9B by 2028
• 2024–2028 CAGR: 8%, nearly double global growth levels

Fragrance has shown what the report describes as “dual resilience,” performing steadily during periods of weaker consumer sentiment and accelerating quickly when overall market confidence improves.

From “Smelling Good” to “Feeling Good”: Three Consumer Segments Reshaping Demand

China’s fragrance consumption has shifted from functional purchase to emotional and identity-driven expression. Three core consumer groups are leading this change:

1. Dopamine Seekers

Trend-driven consumers pursuing sensory stimulation and instant mood elevation. They drive rapid adoption of new formats and experimental scents.

2. Mindful Escapists

A quality-of-life group focused on emotional healing, personal rituals, and home ambience.
High-growth categories include:

• sleep-aid diffusers
• calming functional scents
• fabric sprays
• interior ambience products

3. Blue-Ocean Expansion Users

Male consumers and users from emerging and fast-growing cities.

• Men expand usage scenarios to commuting, fitness, and car interiors
• Consumers in emerging and fast-growing cities show rapid adoption and quick upgrading behavior, making them an important new driver of volume growth.

For overseas buyers, these segments signal increasing opportunities in home fragrance, wellness scents, and multi-scenario lifestyle scent products, many of which are produced competitively in China.

Strategic Shift: From Symbolic Consumption to Cultural Co-Creation

The report highlights a structural transformation in China’s fragrance industry:

Product Evolution

Fragrance is becoming the “emotional infrastructure” of modern life.
Key categories gaining traction:

• portable scent devices
• stress-relief and sleep-support scents
• home ambience diffusers
• wellness-oriented scent formats
• travel- and car-scenario fragrances

Cultural Expression

Chinese brands are increasingly integrating Oriental aesthetics, tea culture, and craft-focused storytelling—moving from surface-level visual design to deeper cultural identity building.

This shift creates space for premiumization, design-driven collaborations, and cross-category scent applications—signals that international buyers can leverage when selecting suppliers or developing new product lines.

What This Means for International Buyers

Based on CDATF’s industry analysis, several implications stand out for global retailers, distributors, and sourcing teams:

1. Multi-Scenario Home Fragrance Demand Is Rising Fast

From sleep and relaxation to car interiors and fabric care, consumers now expect scent solutions integrated across daily life—expanding export opportunities for Chinese manufacturers.

2. Wellness-Related Fragrance Products Offer High Growth Potential

Aromatherapy-adjacent formats and functional fragrances for stress relief and mood enhancement continue to scale rapidly.

3. Cultural Storytelling Enhances Product Differentiation

Buyers seeking culturally inspired, design-led products can expect strong supply options from Chinese factories embracing Oriental aesthetics and artisanal narratives.

4. China’s Scent-Related Supply Chain Is Maturing

Manufacturers are improving fragrance technology, packaging integration, OEM/ODM capability, and scent-diffusion engineering—enabling higher value, export-ready products.

During CDATF, global buyers can find suppliers specializing in home fragrance, diffusers, scented décor, lifestyle ambience products, small devices, packaging, and ODM support.

Conclusion

The report concludes:

“The future of China’s fragrance market will belong to brands that empower consumers to co-create a world of fragrance that contains both identity and emotion.”

For international buyers, this means China will remain one of the most dynamic and strategically important sourcing markets for home fragrance and scent-driven lifestyle products. CDATF will continue to track these trends and spotlight high-quality suppliers capable of serving global demand.

Source: Analysis based on the 2025 China Fragrance & Perfume Industry Report by Deloitte China and Nirvana Group (Yingtong Group).
All copyrights belong to their respective owners. CDATF provides this interpretation for informational purposes only.

Publication link: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/DEYz6os3GkRCqGGZJOlzAg

Keywords
China fragrance market, home fragrance, scent trends, emotional consumption, lifestyle scent solutions, multi-scenario fragrance use, consumer behavior trends, wellness fragrance, aromatic home products, premiumization, cultural storytelling, identity-driven consumption, design-led fragrance, Oriental-inspired scents

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