The Perfume Shop was up against tough year-ago comparisons when it came to its Christmas 2025 sales performance. So how did the retailer, which is a portfolio mate of Superdrug in the AS Watson empire, do? Very well, considering Christmas 2024 was deemed its “busiest ever”.

Total sales last month delivered 1.6% year-on-year growth while selling over 1.58 million bottles of fragrance between 30 November and 24 December, the equivalent of more than 63,000 bottles a day, it noted, up 6% on a year ago.

The hottest brands? “Timeless icons”, such as Dior Sauvage, Carolina Herrera Good Girl and Chanel Coco Mademoiselle, led the fine fragrance category. Launches such as Carolina Herrera La Bomba and Prada Paradigme were also among the strongest performers of the season.

The Perfume Shop said this year’s shopping behaviours “reflected a more intentional approach to Christmas spending”.

It explained: “[While we] saw online searches begin in September, customers timed their purchases around those major deal moments they knew were worth waiting for. Interest peaked around Black Friday and again from mid-December, culminating between the 14th and 20th of December, becoming the retailer’s strongest week of the season”.

It added: “The classic last-minute rush also played a starring role”, as 23 December became the single biggest in-store trading day.

It also noted that throughout the season, shoppers “continued their shift away from multi-product promotions and
instead responded best to simple price drops on single bottles or sets, a trend that has been consistent across 2025”.

Gift sets also delivered “another standout year” with overall sales increasing 4% on last year, while online demand for sets surged 62% during the peak Christmas period.

Across the full year, sets represented 16.8% of total sales, up from 15.7% in 2024, “a clear sign that customers still consider them one of the most reliable gifting choices”.

Personalisation was “another major success story”, from engraved bottles to personalised ribbons and gift messages, customers embraced bespoke touches more than ever”. Here, online personalisation services “rose significantly,” with December up 23.74% year-on-year. Individual services also saw strong growth, including 50,000 gift wraps (+84.6% on-year), 54,000 personalised ribbons (+106.8%), 21,000 engraved bottles and 3,500 custom gift messages introduced in November.

Meanwhile, Click & Collect services remained “a key part of the Christmas countdown, while Next Day Delivery again proved essential for last-minute gifting and the partnership with Deliveroo for last minute deliveries”, it added.