In August 2021, Cosmetics Design announced the Middle Eastern luxury fragrance house was coming to the US following a surge in online demand for fine fragrances.
“Amouage has been preparing for its ambitious expansion plans for more than two years, adopting a new strategy that aims to strengthen the house’s digital presence, build scale, and establish new connections with the next generation of fragrance enthusiasts worldwide,” reveals Robert Sorce, Senior Vice President of Amouage Americas.
The luxury fragrance name consolidated its creative and manufacturing capabilities in Muscat, Oman, and opened a sales office in Dubai, UAE, which serves as Amouage’s hub for business development.
“With these critical structural changes in place, Amouage set its eyes on the US,” Sorce shares.
2021: An ambitious year
The luxury fragrance house opened Amouage Americas earlier in 2021, with the goal to make the US its second-biggest market. “We aim to achieve this bold objective by establishing strong brick-and-mortar presence in top ultra-niche perfume retailers across America, as well as through our e-commerce fulfillment platform,” explains Sorce.
In June 2021, Amouage launched its e-commerce and opened in a number of luxury brick and mortar department stores, including Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Looking to the immediate future, in September 2021, Amouage will relaunch in Bergdorf Goodman and expand its presence in Neiman Marcus in other cities, including Houston, Atlanta, and Bal Harbour. As of early 2022, the perfumery will continue to expand its presence at Nordstrom and launch in Canada with Holt Renfrew.
The new e-commerce fulfillment platform
“Our e-commerce strategy at Amouage is focused on the luxury customer experience, reimagining each moment of truth—each moment when our clients are in contact with us, from the experience of our clients to experiencing our products,” highlights Sorce.
Detailing its new e-commerce fulfillment platform, Sorce highlights: “We will be elevating the end-to-end customer experience, from the interface to the ‘unboxing’, creating a full branded experience including branded boxes, thank you note, client services.”
Working with its logistics partner in the US, Amouage hopes to improve the overall experience by giving its clients choice. Through the platform, its clients will have the option to choose to gift-wrap their purchases, select the color of the wrapping paper, add a message and choose their favorite complimentary sample.
Meeting its increased online demand
“Amouage’s decision to expand into the US was strategically planned to cover the biggest fragrance market in the world, where there is a lot of potential for future growth,” says Sorce.
The perfumer’s first objective was to move its logistics to the US to deliver from its New Jersey-based distribution center. Adopting this approach will enable the fragrance house to contain its logistics within the US, thereby eliminating international shipping challenges and providing a better overall end-to-end customer experience.
The second objective was to create a luxury client experience. When establishing its e-commerce fulfillment platform, Sorce notes it was vital “to identify a like-minded local logistics partner who not only understands the nature of the luxury business, our quest for creating olfactive masterpieces as well as our commitment to quality, drive for innovation and respect for individuality.”
Several technical aspects underpin the online experience from a technical point of view, including delivery capacity, product return capabilities, and inventory management. It has been imperative, Sorce explains: “to establish an agile infrastructure that will allow us to seamlessly manage all these touchpoints, ensuring a personalized and special experience on our website.”
