Online Perfume Samples Mitigate Pandemic Risks, But Malls Probably Aren’t Happy

Four years ago, retail stores packed their aisles in bustling fashion with energetic, sometimes frustrated shoppers looking for deals. Among those, an elite, often renegade, always savvy, group of perfume samplers invaded fragrance departments in search of impeccable scent.

Today, four years ago feels more like forty years ago. We’ve done some slow, hard time in our modern Shawhank Redemption tale via an unrelenting COVID-19 virus.

We’ve adapted to some version of a new normal, as much as it pains me to admit it.

Consumers of all types disdain crowded retail experiences today more than ever. The added angst regarding COVID-19 community spread now highlights an experience under scrutiny in prior years.

But as depressing and frustrating as pandemic suggestions and restrictions have been in our daily lives, it hasn’t stopped many people from wanting perfume samples.

Confidence In The Retail Perfume Sample Experience Has Dwindled

retail perfume sample

The surge in online shopping before the pandemic highlighted a shift in modern shopping. People began realizing that the mall experience offered more cons than pros. From dreadful parking to long counter lines to infernal sales associate tactics, online shopping condensed a retail experience to mostly the good.

Don’t park in the back of the lot and walk for miles with a screaming toddler; pop online, search, click and wait a day or two.

But buried in the deep, lush forest canopy of poor retail shopping points, we find the most egregious of them all: The retail store perfume sampling aisles.

Dreadful for those who want to sample perfumes, but even worse for those just trying to make way to the mall entrance. Perfume samplers stand in the middle of retail store throughways, casting scents into the air as if they are eradicating termites while shoppers stumble, stop, turn, and even contort to make way.

The fragrance department of a retail store isn’t pretty. And today, it often isn’t safe given COVID-19, and its distressing list of variants.

All that said, these years of building intolerance for retail store experiences have overhauled one of the most time-honored, intimate shopping traditions – perfume sampling.

MicroPerfumes – Online Perfume Sampling Is Here To Stay

Two decades ago, consumers would have shunned the idea of sampling fragrances via the mail. Much like shoe shopping, consumers want to try a perfume in person. At least, that is what they always thought they wanted.

Sampling perfumes via online sites such as MicroPerfumes means the comfort of knowing you aren’t in a sketchy crowd of people. But beyond avoiding COVID-19 community spread, other motivators rise to the top of the list when one begins using a perfume sampling website.

For example, a perfume sampling website like MicroPerfumes allows for more variety of fragrances. A consumer no longer has to rely on retail store’s corporate deals. Retail stores may push consumers towards more corporate-favored brands and products, whereas a perfume sampling website favors no brand.

Instead, a perfume sampling website organizes fragrance products in a myriad of ways, including popularity, bestsellers, and more. In other words, the online perfume sampling platform hinges on consumer feedback, not corporate deals or persuasions.

Flat out, using perfume sampling sites eliminates nearly all the downsides to in-store retail sampling. There are no overcrowded counters, blocked aisles, and long walks from satellite parking setups; you click, order, and enjoy.

COVID-19 ushered in new ways of life for many of us; this includes our shopping experiences. But all in all, our shopping lives have likely improved vastly from our previous courses. The perfume sampling business is just one of those ways which highlight a better path forward.