How Noted Aromas Creates Luxury-Inspired Perfumes for a Fraction of the Price
Creating designer-inspired perfumes at a fraction of the high street price, local company Noted. Aromas has gone from success to success and is now preparing to go international
Imagine getting your hands on your favourite Jo Malone scent for less than £30. How about something from Tom Ford? Or maybe you’ve been dying to try something from Byredo? It may sound too good to be true, but local business Noted. Aromas is creating a range of scents inspired by your favourite brands for a fraction of the cost – and they’re selling like wild fire.
Can you give us a little insight into your background?
I’ve always been fairly entrepreneurial and my dad has always run different businesses. We had a previous business where we worked with perfume houses and supplied fragrance oils to companies that make candles, so we already knew the perfume houses. As a family, me and my dad are always looking around at what other business ideas are out there and what other people are doing. I lived in America for a long time so it’s a market I look at a lot, and we saw a company there that was doing something very similar. We thought it was really interesting that they were able to create these perfumes which they claimed smelled very similar [to designer ones] and sell them for a fraction of the price. It’s quite a cliché statement, but people always talk about how there’s a massive mark up on perfumes and that really was the prelude to it.
What was the development process like?
It took us probably about a year from when we first came up with the idea to actually launching. It took so much trial and error. There are so many little things that make a massive difference when making a perfume. It was really important for us that the product we sell we would actually wear ourselves – obviously it needed to be a good quality product.
We started out with around 30 [scents] when we first launched as we wanted to make sure we had a big enough range to cover what most people like. We spent a lot of time researching and asking potential customers what they wanted. When you’re talking to other people, you get a feel for what is currently popular and that helped us narrow down the initial ones we created.
What was the biggest challenge?
The biggest hurdle was making sure that we got the perfumes to be close enough to the versions they were inspired by, but even from there you never know. I remember the first day we launched, I was in Starbucks with my dad just waiting really. I think on the first day we had seven sales but every day it just kept growing and growing.
Another big challenge was [that] no one had heard of us. There was no trust in the brand. It’s hard at first when there’s no reviews out there. We need people to trust that we are a real brand and I think over time, as more and more customers have bought the scents, one of the big drivers of our success has been them buying from us and then telling their friends and family.
Why does perfume mean so much to us?
For some people it gives a bit of identity – some almost become known for what they wear. I know what a lot of my friends wear and they know what I wear. For some people scents can invoke memories too. For example if their mum wore a certain one during childhood, things like that.
What are some bestsellers and personal favourites?
Our bestsellers right now are typically Rome [inspired by Creed Aventus for Him] and London [inspired by Jo Malone Cypress and Grapevine] for the men. For the women Monte Carlo [inspired by Baccarat Rouge] is always very popular. My personal favourite is London (I’m actually wearing it today) and Macau [inspired by La Nuit de L’Homme]. Macau goes back for me. Someone bought me a bottle when I was younger and when I wear it, it just reminds me of things that were happening back then in my life.
Tell us about the future of Noted. Aromas?
For the past year and a half we’ve been talking about international expansion. We’ve kept growing so much in the UK it’s been kind of hard to keep up with the demand. We want for someone to be able to buy from our UK website and still get that customer service, not wait for days. Ideally, we want to make sure of that and I think we’re nearly there. Once we’re ready we will be looking to launch in either North America or Europe. We are exploring both.
