Choosing fragrances is one of the most enjoyable parts of building a French soap range.
It can also be one of the easiest places to go wrong.
With dozens of tempting scents available, there is a natural tendency to choose the ones you personally like best. The trouble is, your customers may have completely different ideas.
A successful range usually combines familiar favourites, contrasting fragrance families and one or two scents that give customers something new to discover.
Here’s how to build one.
1. Don’t choose only for yourself
This deserves first place because almost everyone does it.
If you adore lavender, you may be tempted to order lots of lavender. If you dislike rose, you may decide nobody needs rose.
Unfortunately, customers stubbornly insist on having opinions of their own.
Your personal taste is useful, but it shouldn’t determine the entire range.
Instead, think about the different people who shop with you and give them a selection broad enough to find something they enjoy.
Your job is not to create your perfect bathroom shelf.
It is to create a range that sells.
2. Start with different fragrance families
A good first selection should offer contrast.
Rather than choosing five similar floral fragrances, try spreading your choices across several scent families.
For example:
- Floral – lavender, rose, violet
- Citrus – lemon, orange, verbena
- Fresh – marine, cotton, aloe-style fragrances
- Fruity – fig, peach, cherry
- Herbal and botanical – rosemary, thyme, verbena
- Warm or woody – sandalwood, amber-style fragrances
- Traditional French favourites – fragrances customers associate with Provence and southern France
You don’t need every category.
The aim is simply to make sure one customer saying “I don’t really like floral scents” doesn’t eliminate your entire display.
3. Include some fragrances customers already understand
Familiarity makes buying easier.
Lavender needs very little explanation.
Neither does rose, lemon or orange.
Customers already have an idea of what they are going to smell like, which reduces the risk involved in trying something new.
These recognisable fragrances are particularly useful in a first order.
They provide a comfortable foundation for the more unusual products around them.
4. Add one or two fragrances that invite discovery
Familiar doesn’t mean your whole range should be predictable.
One of the pleasures of a large French soap display is discovering a fragrance you weren’t expecting.
An unusual scent can create conversation:
“What does this one smell like?”
That question is useful.
The customer has stopped, picked up a soap and started engaging with the range.
So alongside familiar favourites, include a few fragrances that are interesting enough to make people curious.
Just don’t build your entire first order around twelve fragrances nobody has ever heard of.
There is adventurous retailing, and then there is making life unnecessarily difficult.
5. Think about colour as well as fragrance
With French soap, fragrance selection also affects your merchandising.
Five excellent fragrances that all happen to produce beige soaps may smell wonderful but won’t necessarily create the most striking display.
Where possible, choose a mixture of colours as well as scents.
A display containing yellows, greens, pinks, purples and creams immediately looks more abundant and inviting.
This is particularly valuable for gift shops and market traders, where customers often notice the colour before they notice the fragrance.
Related reading: How to Display French Soaps: Merchandising Ideas That Sell
6. Think about your type of customer
There is no universal perfect fragrance selection.
A seaside gift shop may discover that fresh and citrus fragrances perform particularly well.
A traditional gift shop may do beautifully with lavender, rose and other classic Provençal choices.
A younger lifestyle store might find more unusual or contemporary fragrances attract attention.
A market stall can often support a wider variety because customers are actively browsing and smelling the soaps.
Think about:
- who normally shops with you
- what else you sell
- whether purchases are mainly for personal use or gifts
- whether your customers tend to be traditional or adventurous
- your local area and tourist market
Then use that information as a starting point.
7. Around five fragrances is a very manageable beginning
You don’t need an enormous fragrance wall on day one.
For many independent retailers, around five well-chosen fragrances gives enough variety to create an attractive display without making the first order unnecessarily complicated.
A simple five-fragrance mix could contain:
- one floral
- one citrus
- one fresh or herbal
- one fruity
- one slightly more unusual fragrance
That provides enough contrast to start learning what your customers actually prefer.
Once you have some sales data, expanding the range becomes much easier.
8. Let customers decide what your bestsellers are
This is the important part.
Your first fragrance selection is an educated guess.
Your second order doesn’t have to be.
Once the soaps are on sale, pay attention to what happens.
Which fragrance disappears first?
Which one do people pick up most often?
Which one gets reordered by the same customers?
Which fragrance barely moves?
That information is far more valuable than anybody’s opinion about what ought to sell.
If lemon keeps selling, order more lemon.
If something you expected to be popular sits untouched for three months, reduce it or replace it.
Retailers sometimes feel they should maintain equal quantities of everything.
You shouldn’t.
Give the winners more space.
9. Don’t abandon a fragrance after one slow week
There is a balance here.
A slow start does not automatically mean a bad product.
Sometimes a fragrance is simply badly positioned.
Move it.
Put it beside a contrasting colour.
Add a tester.
Mention it to customers.
Place it beside your bestseller.
Give people a reason to notice it.
If it still doesn’t sell after a fair trial, then you have learned something useful.
But first make sure customers actually had the opportunity to discover it.
10. Use testers to settle difficult decisions
If you sell in a physical shop or at markets, testers are invaluable.
A fragrance name only gets you so far.
Someone may insist they dislike verbena and then smell it and immediately buy three bars.
Equally, a fragrance that sounds irresistible may turn out not to suit them at all.
That is why selling soap in person can be wonderfully simple.
Hand them the bar.
Let their nose do the work.
11. Describe fragrances clearly online
Online retailers have a more difficult job because customers cannot smell through a screen.
Yet.
So product descriptions matter enormously.
Try to give customers something more helpful than:
“Beautifully fragranced French soap.”
Is the fragrance:
- fresh?
- sweet?
- floral?
- herbaceous?
- warm?
- citrusy?
- subtle?
- bold?
Give them enough information to form a picture.
If appropriate, mention familiar fragrance notes or the atmosphere the scent evokes.
You’re trying to bridge the gap between a photograph and an experience.
12. Remember that fragrance is often part of the gift
When soap is purchased as a gift, customers may choose differently.
They may avoid something highly unusual because they don’t know the recipient’s taste.
That is where familiar fragrances become especially useful.
Lavender, rose, citrus and fresh scents can feel safer when somebody says:
“It’s for my mother-in-law and I have no idea what she likes.”
At this point, your role as retailer becomes very valuable.
A few sensible suggestions can turn indecision into a sale.
13. Seasonal changes can refresh the range
Your strongest core fragrances may sell all year round, but seasonal changes give you an excuse to introduce variety.
Spring can favour fresh florals.
Summer naturally suits citrus, fresh and Mediterranean scents.
Autumn can support warmer fragrances.
Christmas creates opportunities for richer scents, festive soaps and gift combinations.
You don’t need to replace your core range every season.
Just add enough change to make regular customers look again.
14. Give bestsellers prominent positions
Once you know what sells, say so.
A small Bestseller or Customer Favourite sign gives new customers confidence.
It also makes choosing easier.
If someone is faced with twenty fragrances and has no idea where to begin, pointing to your three strongest sellers immediately reduces the decision.
Popularity is useful information.
Don’t hide it.
15. Build the range gradually
Perhaps the most important fragrance-selection advice is simply this:
You don’t have to get everything right on the first order.
Start with a sensible, varied selection.
Watch what happens.
Reorder the winners.
Replace the weaker fragrances.
Introduce something new.
Repeat.
Over time, your customers will effectively design the perfect fragrance range for your shop.
All you have to do is listen to them.
One final thought
Choosing French soap fragrances should be enjoyable.
Start with variety rather than volume. Include familiar favourites, add a little discovery, think about colour and — above all — pay attention to what your customers actually buy.
Your bestselling fragrance may be exactly the one you expected.
Or it may be the one you nearly refused to order because you couldn’t stand it.
Retail has a sense of humour like that.
Related reading: The Ultimate Guide to Selling French Soaps: 15 Retail Tips for Retailers
Ready to choose your first French soap range?
Our French Soap Essentials Starter Pack is designed to give retailers a manageable introduction to the range, with five fragrances and colourful display options to help you get started.
Prefer to choose your own selection? Explore our 125g French Soaps and build a fragrance mix that suits your customers.
Need help before ordering? Visit our Retailer Help Centre for information about trade accounts, ordering, box quantities and delivery.