P&G to axe fragrances in mass-market rethink

Procter & Gamble is planning to sell its mass-market fragrance brands including Insignia, Mandate, California, Rapport and Blue Stratos.

The move is understood to be part of a decision taken in P&G’s global headquarters in Cincinatti to get out of the mass-market fragrance sector.

In the US, this means that P&G will sell NaVy, NaVy for Men, California and California for Men, Le Jardin, Incognito and Toujours Moi. P&G says its main mass-market fragrance brand, Old Spice, will be unaffected.

In Cincinatti, P&G chief operating officer Durk Jager says: “Mass fragrances make up a relatively small business for us when compared with our cosmetic and fine-fragrance business.”

But a source close to the company says: “This is another example of P&G’s cost-cutting drive. The mass-market fragrances are low margin products in struggling markets.”

According to IRI Infoscan figures for the year to May 19, the value of sales for the Insignia range fell by 17.3 per cent to 6.4m compared with the previous year. The Mandate range fell by 26 per cent to 1.3m and Rapport fell by 24.5 per cent to 1.8m. Old Spice, which is not being sold, fell nine per cent to 9.6m. P&G bought Insignia in 1984 from Shulton.

A spokesman for P&G would not comment.