Candles & Home Fragrance

Candles remain extremely popular in 2007, though growth in this mature category has slowed since its heyday. Scented candles in glass containers continue to dominate the market, with niches for tins, especially in travel sizes; pillars and tapers, as well as a few specialty shapes. Within the container niche, the trend is toward a sleeker look, more suited to blending with formal or contemporary decor as well as traditional homes.

Scents are all over the map, but exotic destinations seem to be trending up, playing off the romance and authenticity of specific ingredients. Food scents continue to be popular, though cleaner, greener fruits seem to be pulling ahead of chocolate confections. Unscented candles remain a small fraction of the market, and show little sign of a resurgence.

Paraffin wax remains the industry standard, though soy wax continues to grow in popularity due to consumer perceptions that it is healthier, along with soy's status as a renewable resource (and one often made in the USA). Soy candles are also taking on greater color saturation and a greater variety of shapes, as well as more polished packaging, making them less distinguishable from paraffin at a glance. Natural fragrancing with essential oils also continues to grow.

Home fragrance growth is largely coming from alternative fragrance delivery systems, ranging from warmers for wickless wax to diffusers, in both reed and fragrance lamp styles. Even potpourri has seen renewed popularity, particularly in wax beads, stones, shells and other beyond-botanical formats. These offer scent without the worries of fire hazard with an open flame, making them popular with parents, pet-owners, college students in dormitories or for scenting rooms such as bathrooms, where supervision is not practical. However, the growth in these categories does not seem to be cutting into candle sales; home fragrance enthusiasts seem open to fragrance in all its forms, and prefer using the new forms of fragrancing as a supplement to candles rather than a substitute.

Other trends include a growth in name brand designer candles, especially at the higher price points; tea-inspired and pet candles, tying into general gift trends; and more representational packaging, depicting whole scenes which the scent evokes rather than a simple logo or single ingredient.