How, with so many perfumes crowding the market, can there be room for so many more?

This over saturated market practically DEMANDS your perfume!

The other day my wife commented that there seemed to be a lot of new perfumes out there and she had been without television or magazines for over two weeks. But she had been online. Internet was our sole reach into the wide world of international commerce from our vacation home in Canada, and we were on vacation. The thought struck me that, as long as I can remember, there was always talk of the perfume market being saturated — too many fragrances already being sold, no room for more. Too many new fragrances being launched, each cannibalizing the sales of the others. New launches stealing sales away from market leaders. This happened year after year.

And that's the point. We already have more than enough perfume for everybody, enough perfumes to choose from, and there seems to be no shortage of variety, but there is no end to these new launches. Every year dozens upon dozens of new fragrances make their way into the maerket. What gives?

Those who launch these new perfumes know exactly what gives. They know that perfume is a fashion business. Would any clothing designer say "I think I have enough of my stuff on the market. I don't see the need to create more."

The fact, like it or not (and some traditionalists do NOT like it!) is that every year designers must produce their spring collections and their fall collections, just as automakers must introduce new models each year. Fashion demands constant innovation, newness, change. Without this ongoing demand for something new, major industries would collapse.

So never fear. Not only is there room in the market for your new perfume, the market wants your new perfume. The market churns. Much goes in; much gets spit out. That's how it works. The trick is to get in, make your money (enough to make your project profitable) and then, when your fifteen minutes of fame have expired, quickly throttle back your promotional budget and go on to your next fragrance. That's how successful companies make their money.

Not every fragrance that says 'here I am" makes it off the launchpad.

There are some conditions that determine whether your perfume makes it into the churn. Have you ever watched rowers trying to launch a boat from a beach into a heavy surf? Their timing and execution has to be perfect, otherwise the surf will drive them back and perhaps capsize their boat. They have to get past those pounding waves at the shore and out into the deeper waters where they can begin to row. The perfume entrepreneur has to get past the launch, at which the project can be sunk, and out into the market where sales can be made.

Once your fragrance is accepted into this highly competitive, over saturated market, the question is, can you make money before people lose interest in your perfume and are drawn away by something newer?

There are guidelines that will improve your fragrance's market potential: be a little bit better, be a little bit different, have just a little better story to tell, and have just a little better graphic presentation. It seems obvious but is so often ignored.

The reality is you have to work at it. In each of these areas you have to innovate a little better, work a little harder, press on a little longer, both in preparing your fragrance for the launching pad and then, when you have gotten through that heavy surf at launch time, sustaining interest in your fragrance by sustaining your own interest in promoting it.

The market will always be crowded. The market will always look fully saturated. But wise heads know there is plenty of room for a new perfume — their perfume. And, if you do it right, there is room for yours too.