Scentbird is taking another stab at department store partnerships.
The subscription platform for fragrances has inked a partnership with Neiman Marcus, which entails 30 brands selected by Neiman Marcus buyers. Called Neiman Marcus Select, travel sizes of each are available for sampling on both companies’ websites for $16.95, starting April 8.
Participating brands include D.S. & Durga, Ex Nihilo, Montale, Mancera, Acqua di Parma, Mind Games, Navitus and Vilhelm Parfumerie, among others.
“Back in 2022, we did a collaboration with Saks, and that was our first one with a retailer,” said Bettina O’Neill, Scentbird’s executive vice president of business development and merchandising. “We realized we had this customer who loved niche, more expensive fragrances and they’re able to experience them in a larger sample size.”
Brands in the Saks partnership reported conversion rates of 3 to 4 percent on the samples to full-sized product, which O’Neill attributes to how targeted the sampling efforts are.
“Being a merchant for so many years, I would ask brands for tens of thousands of samples. With Scentbird, it’s smart sampling. The customer chooses the sample, pays for it, has the option to write a review. And the brand has the choice of where to send them to buy full-sized,” said O’Neill, who was previously the head of beauty at Barneys New York.
The selection of fragrances Neiman Marcus picked are “definitely going more niche,” O’Neill said, based on prior learnings. “We know our customers mostly join for designer fragrances, but because we’re a discovery platform, we have a great questionnaire that uses AI and makes recommendations.”
O’Neill kicks off brands that join the platform with a heavy marketing campaign, and that will continue as the partnership with Neiman Marcus takes on new brands and evolves. “Our customer loves to have newness,” she said. “It has a real impact on brands’ businesses. When brands see that and retailers see that, I think more people will want to come on board.”
Last year, fragrance was the fastest-growing category in prestige beauty in the U.S., according to data from Circana. It swelled 12 percent, overtaking skin care as the second-largest category in the market.
Every six months, the collaboration will update with a fresh assortment of product and new creative to support it.
To that end, O’Neill has a large creator-led social media push planned for each brand, as well as targeted marketing to existing subscribers. “Neiman’s is going to do a special gift with purchase for Scentbird subscribers who are buying something full-size,” she said.
Scentbird has also expanded beyond just collaborations. The company acquired the automotive air freshener company Drift in 2022 — ”Saying that business is on fire would be putting it mildly,” O’Neill said — that’s also entered Amazon, Target and Walmart.
The platform is also getting into the live events game, having debuted its first Digital Fragrance Summit on Thursday. The lineup included the company’s own team like chief marketing officer Elena Lécué, vice president of innovation and product Jeniece Trizzino and community manager Dei’Jon Parks, in addition to Marisa Auciello of Europerfumes and content creator Paul Reactss.