Business Featured

How to Start a High-Quality Perfume Business in India

By Shreya Durgan

Creating your own scent can be a great way to make money. It is not as difficult as you might think. All you need is the right knowledge and the right materials.

Step 1 - Choose the Product Type

Step 2 - Make your Scent

Step 3 - Label it!

Step 4 - Register your Business

Step 5 - Set up your Store

Step 1 - Choose the Product Type

When you start a perfume business, it is important to determine the type of product that you are going to sell.

Different types of perfume products include: -

Eau de toilette: This is a light and refreshing scent that is usually used by women.
Parfum: This has a more intense and longer-lasting fragrance that is usually used by women.
Eau de parfum: This has a more intense and longer lasting fragrance than the eau de toilette, but less than the parfum. This type of fragrance is often used by both men and women.
Extrait de Parfum: This has the strongest fragrance among all types of perfumes. It can last for up to 24 hours on clothes or skin, so it is often used for special occasions such as weddings or other formal events.
Cologne: This type of perfume smells fresh and clean with a short staying power which makes it perfect for everyday use when you want to smell fresh.

Step 2 - Make your Scent

Choose the Base Note

The first step in creating your own scent is to choose a base note.

This will be the main part of your fragrance and will dictate how it smells overall.

The most common base notes are:

Ambergris (warm, animalistic)
Benzoin (sweet, powdery)
Cedarwood (woodsy, earthy)
Clove bud (spicy, medicinal)
Jasmine (floral, sweet)
Labdanum resinoid (sweet, warm)
Oakmoss absolute (earthy, green)
Patchouli leaf oil (earthy, herbaceous).
Rose (floral, sweet)
Vetiver-ylang-ylang oil (spicy, floral)

Choose the Top Note

Next, it is time to create the top notes.

Top notes are the lightest and freshest part of a fragrance and will also be the first scent to fade as you wear them.

Common top notes include:-

Bergamot essential oil (citrusy)
Cardamom essential oil (spicy)
Cherry blossom essential oil (sweet)
Citrus essential oils: lemon, lime, orange (citrusy)
Damascus rosemary oil (herbal)
Geranium oil-hibiscus flower
Lemon verbena oil
Mandarin leaf essential oils: mandarin, tangerine (spicy)
Marjoram leaf extract
Orange blossom water
Pink grapefruit essential oil

Choose the Middle Note

Next, it is time to create the middle notes.

Middle notes are typically more mellow than top notes and will have a slightly more complex scent.

Common middle notes include:-

Ambrette seed powder
Angelica root extract
Benzoin gum resin
Chamomile flower extract
Clove leaf essential oil
Coriander seed essential oil (spicy)
Cucumber seed essential oil
Jasmine flowers and petals, jasmine absolute
Lavender flower extract

These items can be bought from any craft store or online.

Once you have chosen the fragrance, you will need to add some other ingredients like water and alcohol or vodka.

You will also need a dropper, a glass jar, and some kind of fragrance oil container (such as an empty spray bottle).

The next thing you need to do is:

Pour the fragrance oils into the glass jar with about two-thirds of the water (or vodka)
Shake it up until it has mixed well.
Now take the dropper and put 10-20 drops into the lotion bottle until it is full.
Put on a label if you want, and then use it just like any other perfume!

Step 3 - Label it!

Labeling is the most important thing when starting a perfume business. You can’t just start selling perfumes without labeling them.

Thus, have a clear, concise and easy-to-read label on your products so that people will know what they are buying.

You should also make sure that the labels convey what is inside the bottle or container.

For this purpose, print detailed information about the product on the label, such as: -

Brand Name and Logo
Ingredients
Instructions for use
Weight or Volume
Expiry Date
MRP
Manufacturing Date
Suitable for

But, before labeling, you should pick a name for your perfume to print on the label.

The name should be catchy and memorable enough to create a brand identity.

Next, come up with a logo design that will match the personality of your perfume.

Step 4 - Register your Business

The registration process for a perfume business in India is not complicated and can be easily done online.

You can register your perfume business as:

Private Limited Company Registration Online
One Person Company
Limited Liability Partnership
Sole Proprietorship
Partnership

For this purpose, fill out the form on your right and get in touch with an expert.

They will assist you with the most suitable business structure as per your needs and will also do the registration on your behalf.

Step 5 - Set up your Store

Setting up your perfume store in India can be challenging.

Therefore, here are some tips that you can use to set up your perfume store successfully in India:

Choose a location for the store that is easily accessible and visible to the customers.
Consider the size of the store when choosing a location.
Should be in an area with high footfall.

The second thing that you need to decide is whether you want to rent or buy your space for your store.

If it is a small-scale business then renting will be more convenient for you, but if it is a large-scale one then buying property will be more beneficial for you.

Now, once you have set up your store, make your next move. Start marketing to reach out to your customers and start selling.

Marketing a New Perfume Brand On Social Media

Social media marketing is not just posting the same type of content over and over again. One needs to be very creative in order to get people’s attention.

There are many ways that one can market a new perfume brand on social media.

For example, one can take advantage of the video capabilities and make short videos with Canva about the fragrance or even make a short video about their life story and how they created this fragrance.