Fragrance sales, which have been swelling because the pandemic began, are getting an added lift from holiday shopping season.

In line with The NPD Group, fragrance sales grew 4 percent from Oct. 4 through Dec. 2.

The rise is due partly to climbing price averages and fewer discounts, in addition to consumers choosing higher-priced offerings — a prevailing trend this 12 months.

“Fragrance sales reached recent heights following the pandemic, and it’s particularly impressive that the market is maintaining this elevated level reasonably than softening, which is usually the case after such an unprecedented performance,” Larissa Jensen, beauty industry adviser at NPD, said in an announcement.

Brick-and-mortar fragrance sales far outpaced the category’s performance in the net channel, comprising 70 percent of the category’s sales within the nine weeks ending Dec. 3. This was fueled each by higher in-store prices versus online, and consumers’ return to physical stores.

Last month, NPD reported that fragrance sales reached $1.3 billion within the third quarter of 2022, an 11 percent increase versus the identical period last 12 months. Prestige beauty at large grew 15 percent throughout the quarter, posting $6 billion in sales.

And it’s greater than likely that the rest of the 12 months will see much more sizable gains.

“Considering that the majority holiday searching for fragrances occurs throughout the two weeks leading as much as Christmas, and December alone accounts for over 50 percent of fourth-quarter sales, much of the fragrance category’s sales success for 2022 is yet to be determined,” said Jensen.

In August, Coty Inc.’s chief executive officer, Sue Nabi, spoke with WWD in regards to the “fragrance effect” — a spin on Leonard A. Lauder’s lipstick index, which states that cosmetics sales rise during times of economic uncertainty — in light of the corporate’s strong performance within the category as of late.

Said Nabi, “Fragrances speak to everyone — regardless of the age, regardless of the gender, and what now we have seen, which is the fact of the info and statistics, is that this beauty market is lifted by fragrance consumption and this is just not female or male. It’s each and it’s mainly also Gen Z.”