Following Sephora’s playbook, Harmay launches its own fragrance line

Following in the footsteps of Sephora, which elevated its brand positioning when it launched the Sephora Collection in 1997, Harmay has become the first Chinese beauty-focused retailer to create a private-label fragrance collection. The beauty retail disruptor is stepping into China’s increasingly competitive niche fragrance space with a whisky-inspired perfume collection — Harmay Concept, curated as a travel exploration of cask flavors and cocktail bars from Hokkaido to Islay. Minimalist and functional in form but evocative and personal in scent expression, the perfumes have resonated with Harmay’s core consumers of urban millennials and Gen Zers, climbing to the bestseller spot in the retailer’s diverse range of beauty products within months of their summer release. “Before launch, our supply chain forecast for the whisky fragrance was an initial production of 12,000 bottles,” says Will Wang, co-founder of Harmay. “We truly didn’t expect certain scents — such as the most popular Tokyo Clear and Islay Sea Water — to sell out within the first three weeks. It definitely caught us off guard.” Harmay rides China’s niche fragrance wave The arrival of Harmay Concept collection comes amid intensified competition in the fast-growing Chinese fragrance market coveted by international luxury maisons and niche brands alike. Recent months have seen launches of scents by Chinese designer brands Songmont and Feng Chen Wang as well as sportswear brands like Champion. Luxury fragrance is expected to keep outperforming overall beauty over the next three years growing at over 8%, according to McKinsey. Recent strategic moves such as L’Oréal acquisition of Creed, and LVMH Luxury Venture’s investment in BDK Parfums, prove the untapped potential for the category. “As the fastest-growing category, fragrance would drive higher competitiveness, new players and more investments,” says Sandra Picciarelli, luxury beauty and fragrance strategy advisor. “Retailers have a strong opportunity here as the physical space is essential for niche perfumes to drive discovery and trial.” Sephora’s perfume success offers a blueprint for multibrand retailers Sephora successfully tapped into the private label fragrance opportunity adding quality but affordable scents to its Sephora Collection of beauty products in the early 2020s. Its first collection, the limited edition “Do Not Drink” series of “tasty” natural scents, which launched in 2020, may have provided a spark of inspiration for Harmay’s own whisky perfume collection. Sephora’s perfumes played on the creative brand name, suggesting they are delicious enough to drink and offering a range of gourmand scents such as iris and mocha, jasmine and pink pepper, coconut and marshmallow. Creative marketing, limited edition appeal and fun notes all contributed to the success of the collection. A proprietary brand can help elevate and complete beauty retailer’s assortment Sephora’s private label fragrance line forms an integral part of an overall retail strategy to elevate the LVMH-owned beauty powerhouse into a distinctive brand with its own voice and values. Beyond fragrance, the Sephora Collection — the retailer’s eponymous brand, offers a comprehensive range of beauty products — from skincare and make up, to hair care and beauty essentials. “Sephora experience illustrates the potential of owning a proprietary brand to complete the assortment, offer an accessible entry point and to embody the retailer’s voice through a tangible product proposition,” says Picciarelli, who oversaw the Sephora Collection fragrance launch for the retailer. Today, Sephora Collection is associated with a broad, qualitative and well-curated offer, says Picciarelli, which plays a major role in recruiting and educating younger consumers. As of 2025, Sephora has over 2,700 stores globally and is valued at $6.3 billion. Harmay’s evolution from e-commerce to brick-and mortar By comparison, Harmay’s retail footprint at present remains within mainland China with 24 stores across key cities. Precise up-to-date valuation figures are not available, but in 2022 Harmay raised a combined $200 million in series C and D funding, signalling a significant growth since its 2019 round of fundraising, which valued it at 71 million British pounds ($81 million). Evolving from a cosmetics e-commerce business, Harmay launched its first physical store in Shanghai in 2017, generating plenty of buzz in the industry. From the wet market style of its warehouse-like store to the sample-selling model that attracted younger consumers eager to try new brands, Harmay positioned itself as a beauty retail disruptor right from the start. Betting on China’s young and digital-first curious consumers, Harmay moved beyond Sephora’s “assisted self-service” by dispensing with beauty advisors and giving its consumers the freedom to browse, try and purchase mini-size beauty products before committing to a larger investment in full size luxury beauty brands. Nearly half of Harmay’s current brick-and-mortar stores opened in 2025, marking a year of explosive growth for the retailer. Harmay’s USP: Experiential themed retail stores These 11 new stores — all with their unique designs and themes, are spread from Beijing and Shanghai Hongqiao Airport to emerging new first-tier cities like Foshan, Wuxi, Changsha and Nanjing. The spatial concepts are unique to each store themed around a “bamboo forest,” “post office,” “textile factory” and “power station.” The Changsha store, for instance, went viral with its “alien UFO landing” theme underscoring the retailer’s unconventional approach to novel retail experience. Maintaining a strong experiential differentiation places Harmay in a unique position among beauty retailers. Picciarelli draws comparisons with l’Officine Universelle Buly, which operates more than 25 stores across Europe, North America and Asia, each boutique being unlike the others. Buly demonstrates that, even with higher operational complexity, a clearly defined core concept may be scalable. “The key for Harmay’s scalability will depend on a clear, rigorous definition of its non-negotiable core values and brand essence, allowing a flexible expression through different local formats while preserving the brand’s soul” she says. “Since opening our first store in Shanghai in 2017, we have pursued innovation and fun,” says Wang. “These are the core values of the Harmay’s brand. We express this through store spaces and experiences, through our buyers’ rigorous curation, and through distinctive private-label products.” Whisky’s growing popularity among Gen Z The new Harmay Concept whisky perfume collection is the latest example of playful experimentation by the Harmay team. Developed in partnership with perfumers from Firmenich, the collection blends key trends dominating the Chinese consumer market — the rise of cocktail culture, experiential travel and niche scents discovery, in one “tipsy map” of whisky perfume scents. Harmay Concept presents 12 perfumes associated with scents of iconic bars as experienced by the members of the Harmay team — from Hokkaido and Louisville to Scotland’s whisky distilleries. Presentation is sleek and minimalist, with interesting notes of green plum, seaweed, ambergris, tequila, liquorice interspersed in the compositions. “Whisky helps us relax — be bold, uninhibited, and fearless,“ Wang says about the concept. “While drinking together, ideas naturally emerged. Each creator had completely different sensory impressions of whisky and different cultural connotations to it.” Whisky is popular in China. It accounts for 47.5% of revenue in the dark spirits market, according to Daxue Consulting, and 57% of people who frequent bars and pubs are aged between 18 and 24. Transforming storytelling Yet, bridging the sensorial worlds of whisky and niche perfumery is a bold move argues A-Hua, a Guangzhou-based perfume critic and influencer. “Boozy scents are not a mainstream fragrance category,” she says. “They are fashionable and interesting, but the storytelling may resonate more easily with consumers in tier-one cities. That said, the gender, age, and cognitive barriers are higher than those of fruity or floral notes.” Retailing between 183 RMB and 230 RMB ($22-28) for a 30 ml bottle, the Harmay Concept collection offers an affordable entry point for young consumers to embrace the brand. While lifestyle retailers Miniso and KKV have already launched their own private-label scents, A-Hua believes they show little artistic or creative ambition and still follow a supermarket-style FMCG approach, with obvious “inspired-by” traces. A-Hua would like to see more curated in-store experiences that bring the Harmay whisky collection stories to life. Picciarelli concurs: “Transforming storytelling into story-living through experiential retail is a key strategic component for niche fragrance business to grow.” Will Harmay’s private label collection become an inflection point in the retailer’s blueprint for growth? The jury is out. Antoaneta Becker is the director for consumer economy at the China-Britain Business Council. She is a China consumer consultant, working with fragrance, beauty and luxury brands to support their entry and growth in the most dynamic consumer markets.

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Following Sephora’s playbook, Harmay launches its own fragrance line