Page 27 - EM PERFUMERY EDITION SUPPLEMENT

INTERVIEW

EM: Do you continue to sell the same brands as
when you started?
FH: No, there are brands that come and go, sometimes
they just don’t work with us but are successful
elsewhere. However, I never publicise the brands that
leave us and we have the same number of brands
on the shelves now as when we started. There are
some brands that we only sell online: this is generally
because we want to help them, maybe they were not
a success at first but we want to give them a second
chance and more time.

EM: You were called the “ambassador of niche
perfumes” in your early days. Do you still feel you
play that role?
FH: What do ambassadors do, usually? They promote
their countries! In our world of niche perfumes, made
up of different brands, we all have responsibilities,
connected with the need to secure the capacity to
produce and create, to feed our team and to afford
considerable success for how they are presented, after the necessary investments. As far as our company is
many years deserve a freshening up! concerned, ambassador or not, Jovoy is like a guarantee
for niche perfumes: maybe because we’re crazy enough
EM: What are your thoughts on e-commerce? to try our best. Let me say that being on sale at Jovoy
FH: This is another of our forthcoming projects: we are definitely means something in the perfume world!
going to create a You Tube channel in the flagship store
in Paris, with a big table, chairs, lights and cameras and EM: Are you planning any new launches?
an “On Air” sign in the back. The staff will be trained to FH: Yes, we are launching a new fragrance called Musc
build up client profiles. Pallas by JOVOY brand. It will have its official launch
at Exsence, the exhibition in Milan where we’ll also be
EM: Your business is clearly growing, is your exhibiting this year. We are working on an important
structure in line with this? change as far as the bottle is concerned, going from our
FH: Of course. Until four years ago our boutique in traditional 100 ml size to 75 ml. Without changing the
Paris, only 200 square metres, also housed all our stock, DNA which characterizes the original Jovoy bottle, we
today our warehouse outside Paris is too small to cope! think that the 75 ml size is easier to handle and also
EM: is the distribution system changing? suitable to be carried around in a handbag. For the
FH: Absolutely. In some countries, agents are disappearing design of this bottle, we collaborated with an important
and it has become common to sell directly to the Parisian design agency but which is little publicized and
stores. Some countries, such as Italy or Spain, have the which works for the large multinational corporations
characteristics of requiring classic distribution, i.e. an and has a team of about 30 designers.
exclusive distributor with a network of agents. E-commerce Claudia Stagno
deserves a different story. The Internet is powerful, but I
cannot understand why some brands are signing with pure
web players: how can they stand out from the crowd like
that? How can they be promoted? Of course the Internet is
successful because its prices are discounted, therefore it’s
a very bad idea to start a war with who is going to be the
cheapest on the market. I have even asked some brands to
stop selling in the wrong channels, for example on the grey
market. It’s the perfect way to spoil a brand.

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