In France, there are about 80,000 hair salons, half of which are independent. And although the barber shop trend has shown both a real potential for diversification and need for differentiation, perfumes are not sold on this gigantic network. “Our objective is to manage to do with this channel what a few skincare brands did with pharmacies about thirty years ago: providing a new offering that will not eat into anybody’s market share and will generate additional sales,” Corentin Le Men explains.
Within a harsh economic climate that particularly affects the stagnating hair market, it seems a daring challenge. But again, the Mimesis co-founder can see an opportunity here. “To resist against the crisis and withstand the competition of discount brands, many salons are going for premiumization. And our offer is perfectly suited to this trend.”
Especially since, from a marketing standpoint, perfumes seem to be an ideal complement to hair care products. If the latter are very technical and need a certain expertise, they are little aspirational. By contrast, perfumes tell stories and make people dream. Even the technique to sell them is different. “A hair care product needs explanations and arguments. A perfume must be tested, and this does not require much talking, actually,” Corentin Le Men adds. “In a hair salon, where one often has to wait, it is very tempting to test a perfume if there is an opportunity to do so.”
And what is more natural than encourage hairdressers to perfume their customers when they are over and done with their hair? Theoretically, these are ideal parameters.
“In fact, the main obstacle is the price,” Marion Massiot explains. “At a hairdresser’s, one already has to pay for the haircut. So, we need to remain reasonable as far as spending is concerned. That is why we made the choice to present our perfumes in a 30ml format. Thanks to this small size, we can market high-end products for an affordable price: 34 euros.”
To this day, the line counts four eaux de parfum (Le Matin du Monde, La Possibilité d’une Fleur, Le Lit à Baldaquin, Le Guépard), which can be applied both on the skin and hair. The four fragrances were created by Karine Dubreuil. They are presented in a standard bottle made by SGD and topped with a tailor-made zamak cap.
To this are added two perfumed hair treatments: a Serum de Parfum to nourish, protect the hair, and give it some radiance, and a Brume de Parfum, a mist, to hydrate and protect it from the damages caused by UV rays. Both these products were designed by Catherine Taurin, an expert in hair formulation, who is also a professor at ISIPCA, the French high-profile international school of perfume.
The brand was launched in early September in about forty points of sale in France and is due to open its online store at the end of the month. Mimesis aims to inaugurate about a hundred points of sale in autumn 2015, mainly in Paris and large cities across France, and to become a key brand within the next three years. The brand only targets independent salons, in particular those that have created a boudoir atmosphere or a warm, cosy ambience. Conversely, it also intends to become the number one hair brand of niche perfume shops.
Outside the French market, Mimesis will mostly develop on English-speaking markets – the United Kingdom and the United States, to start with – where hair care is already very successful, and niche perfumery is booming.
