‘We have a global vision': International plans on the cards for Aussie fragrance start-up offering designer-inspired scents

Perfume Oil Expressions is a family business that was established three years ago by founder Begajeta Voloder.

The company aimed to offer consumers high-quality perfume oils inspired by some of the best-selling scents on the market without the steep price tag.

“What we bring is a much more affordable alternative to buying a traditional designer fragrance, which to an average working guy may be on the pricier side. For us it’s an opportunity to introduce these scents to people and they can spend much less yet get a high-quality product,” ​said Edin Voloder, director, Perfume Oil Expressions.

The launch of the brand coincided with the global acceleration of the fragrance category and online shopping.

Speaking to CosmeticsDesign-Asia​, Voloder said the company had recently injected more capital into the marketing and brand exposure, not just in its home market but overseas as well.

“We’ve recently developed quite a significant amount of traction in Singapore. We have to attribute that to one of our influencers from Singapore who had a video that reached a lot of people. That’s really opened our minds to think about how we can expand and bring our business to places like Asia.​

“We initially started off without really considering how big we could ever get, but now that the business has grown much, we’ve recognised that we do have the ability to scale internationally. We definitely have a global vision for the future.”​

While the results of its increased exposure have been promising so far, the company is not rushing to expand too quickly.

Voloder highlighted that the direct-to-consumer (DTC) business still has many opportunities within Australia, such as expanding offline and even opening its own brick-and-mortar store.

“We are experiencing quite rapid business growth, but our main goal now is to grow within Australia. It’s a big vision we have. We haven’t nailed down a specific pathway yet, but we do want to grow the brand as big as we possibly can.”​

In the meantime, the company is steadily increasing its reach through its official website to markets beyond Australia and Singapore.

“We still want to maintain and grow our presence in Asia, and potentially in Europe, the US, and Canada. We can’t comment on how quickly that may happen but it’s all hands on deck,” ​said Voloder.

Building trust​

Like many businesses peddling fragrances online, Perfume Oil Expressions has tackled the question of how to sell scents online.

Aside from offering three-millilitre samples, and being descriptive on its website, Voloder highlighted the importance of creating trust with the consumer.

“How do we sell fragrance when people cannot smell it? That was always the biggest barrier. We needed to build that trust. For us, we worked with reputable influencers. That way we could reach these communities and breach that barrier.”

He added that the company placed a lot of emphasis on reviews. “We have about 93% to 95% five-star reviews. We also really invested time into hosting pop-ups, posting on socials, just building that trust.”​