An increasing number of domestic and overseas perfume and fragrance brands are competing in Shanghai, as the city's young folks continue to embrace their olfactory self-expression.

At the Notes Shanghai 2025 Spring Exhibition on March 27-30, more than 200 perfume and fragrance brands from 19 countries and regions were on hand at the West Bund in Xuhui district.

The rapidly growing fragrance event, which debuted in 2024, is held twice a year.

This year, the exhibition expanded to nearly 4,000 square meters and featured over 300 exhibitors, positioning itself as China's first premium commercial platform dedicated to perfumery.

Organizers say the number of exhibitors has doubled since the inaugural event.

By contrast, Esxence — held annually in Milan, Italy — is renowned as the most prestigious artistic perfumery event, with over 360 exhibitors.

As a result, in terms of scale, the new Notes Shanghai exhibition is now said to rival Esxence, based on the number of exhibitors.

At the Notes Shanghai 2025 Spring Exhibition, more than 40 percent of the brands were homegrown.

Among the international exhibitors, half had not yet entered the Chinese market and were looking to explore opportunities in the country through the exhibition, said Wu Yue, founder of the exhibition.

"Compared to the relatively saturated skincare segment, perfumes offer substantial untapped growth," said Ni Lishi, the entrepreneur behind the Shanghai-based deluxe niche perfume brand Melt Season.

In December 2023, US beauty giant Estée Lauder Companies Inc made a strategic minority investment of tens of millions of yuan in Melt Season.

Elsewhere, local brand To Summer attracted investments from French cosmetics titan L'Oréal Group in early 2024.

Over the course of her four-year entrepreneurial journey, Ni says she has witnessed growing interest from the world's top five flavor and fragrance companies in the Chinese market.

The companies have set up R&D centers in Shanghai and employed leading perfumers to create fragrances tailored specifically for Chinese consumers.

Notable moves by major industry players to strengthen their presence in Shanghai in 2024 included significant investments.

Spending nearly 100 million yuan ($13.76 million), International Flavors & Fragrances Inc opened its largest creative center in Asia in Shanghai.

Swiss fragrance and flavor pioneer Givaudan, a century-old leader in the industry, also launched a creative center in Shanghai this year.

Source: Jiefang Daily