Asian Consumers Are Rewriting the Fragrance Brief, Says Eurofragance

Twenty-five years ago, vanilla, toffee and chocolate scents rarely survived a first meeting with Asian clients. Today the briefs arriving at Barcelona-based fragrance house Eurofragance ask for pandan cake, onde-onde, kue lapis and mango sticky rice.

"In the past, trends largely came from the West," Balwinder Rolley, general manager for Asia Pacific at Eurofragance, told Inside Retail. "Today, we're increasingly seeing influence coming from the East."

Suppliers like Eurofragance rarely appear on a label, but they see a brand's brief before the product exists. That makes them an early read on where consumer taste is heading — and the signal is pointing east.

Who is driving the shift?

Millennials and Gen Z are increasingly driving fragrance spending across Asia, according to Rolley. They want something distinctive, good value and a story that feels personal. That has opened the door to local brands offering decent quality at prices that suit Asian wallets.

Where these shoppers buy matters as much as what they buy. Fragrance was once sold mainly through supermarkets and boutiques; it now increasingly sells through TikTok, Xiaohongshu, WeChat and Instagram, where a new label can reach buyers without winning shelf space and influencers carry more weight than big-budget campaigns.

Speed has become the price of entry. "When brands approach us, they often want a fragrance almost immediately," Rolley said. China, she added, is probably the fastest market of all. The industry's biggest players are repositioning accordingly: in June, Givaudan, the world's largest fragrance house, agreed to buy a majority stake in Eurofragance, citing a stronger presence in local and regional markets.

What does taste look like now?

The return of gourmand scents is the clearest sign of change, and the inspiration is increasingly local. Onde-onde, a sesame-coated glutinous rice ball, and kue lapis, a steamed layer cake, are flavors Indonesian shoppers grew up with; a scent built on them feels familiar rather than imported.

A second shift is the spread of Middle Eastern styles — stronger, richer scents, often built on oud. Rolley linked this partly to global trends and partly to the role fragrance plays in religious life in Muslim-majority Indonesia and Malaysia.

Thailand follows its own path. Thai consumers favor complex blends of floral, fruity and other notes over one dominant note, and "don't simply follow olfactory trends across the region; in many ways, they lead with confidence," Rolley said. Preferences also vary within countries: in Vietnam, tastes in the south differ from the north, and central Vietnam has its own character.

Why formats and rules differ

Body mists and eau de toilette make up a large share of Asia's fragrance market — cheaper, smaller bottles with lower concentrations of fragrance oil, suited to a hot, humid climate. For many consumers, owning a fragrance is still aspirational, and a body mist is an affordable way in.

Regulation shapes the product too. In Indonesia, fragrances must use halal-approved ingredients and be made in certified facilities. Cosmetics distributed in Indonesia had to hold halal certification by October 17, 2026, Personal Care Insights reported.

China's homegrown moment

Asked which market excites her most, Rolley picked China for its size and speed of change. When she lived there about 20 years ago, consumers aspired to multinational brands.

"Local brands are no longer aspiring to become global brands or simply copying what international players are doing. They're creating their own identities," she said. To Summer and Documents, which build scents and stores around Chinese references such as ink, wood and incense, have drawn investment from L'Oréal — backing Documents in 2022 and taking a minority stake in To Summer in 2023.

"Their storytelling resonates with Asian consumers, their price points are realistic and the quality is excellent," Rolley said. "They're really shaking up the market."

Will the flow reverse for good?

Rolley expects Asian tastes to travel, the way K-pop and Korean skincare already shaped Western spending. Younger consumers are pulling iced tea, fruit-flavored matcha and bubble tea into fragrance; mass-market brands in Europe are now developing products around ube, the purple yam from the Philippines. Body mists could appeal to Western shoppers hunting value, and as European and US summers grow hotter, demand may rise for the clean, fresh, long-lasting scents that have long sold well in Asia.

Her advice to global brands: "Asia is incredibly diverse. It isn't one single market." Countries, cities, seasons, religions and traditions all shape what sells. "Global brands need to listen closely, invest in local insights and create products together with Asian consumers," she said. The winners of the past few years started with the local shopper — and many of them are local themselves.